Browne enjoying major success

While tutoring a young Olin Browne, former PGA Tour golfer and instructor Jack Grout once held up two hands displaying five digits each.

The message? It takes 10 years to get this game figured out. And in Browne's case, Grout was about right.

Browne finally broke through on the old Ben Hogan Tour -- now the Nationwide Tour -- with a pair of victories in 1991.

"It had been nine years," Browne said. "And that opened a lot of doors for me."

Though he didn't pick up the game until he was 19, Browne has since fashioned himself into one of the more competitive players on the Champions Tour.

His shining moment came last week at the U.S. Senior Open. Browne, 52, won his first Champions Tour event -- and major -- in wire-to-wire fashion. His birdie on the final hole capped a stellar week of play, a 15-under-par total of 269 good for a three-shot victory over Mark O'Meara.

The victory means Browne joins Ron Streck, Keith Fergus, Tom Lehman and Gary Hallberg as players with at least one victory on the Nationwide Tour, PGA Tour and Champions Tour.

"This is my 12th week on the road," said Browne, who has dabbled in some TV work recently. "But it's a good tired."

After finishing his pro-am round in preparation for this week's 3M Championship at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Browne was asked Wednesday if winning the U.S. Senior Open was a validation like those victories back in 1991.

He paused eight seconds, then said, "It hasn't really sunk in yet. I can't really say what it is yet. This is really special, obviously. I've been getting a lot of congratulations from guys out here and that means a lot. You want the respect of your peers. To win a tournament like that wire-to-wire -- I think a lot of guys were genuinely happy for me.

"I wouldn't call it a breakthrough, but something along those lines. It feels great, I just can't say how or what it is yes. It certainly motivates me."

Browne later made a bold statement when he commented that David Frost's record score of 25 under par from last year's 3M Championship might not be enough this weekend.

Reel 'em inAs a pre-tournament event, Champions Tour players participated in a bass fishing competition for the second consecutive year in some of the ponds around TPC Twin Cities.

Fuzzy Zoeller, along with bass fishing pro Brad Liferman and amateur angler Gayle Schmidt, reeled in 42 pounds of fish to win the competition.

Jacobsen honoredPeter Jacobsen has been awarded the Old Tom Morris Award, the highest honor given by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. It is given annually to the person who, "through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris."