1986 Florida Open - Innisbrook Golf Resort

Mitch Adcock

Unfortunately for the golfers chasing Mitch Adcock, there was no surprise ending at the 45th annual Florida Open golf championship.

Adcock, who entered Sunday's final round at the Innisbrook Golf Resort with a 6-stroke lead over PGA Tour player Gary Koch, held on to win the $50,000 event despite a 4-over-par 76 final round. He shot a course-record 65 in the first round and never looked back. "The last round wasn't very pretty, but it's finally over and it feels great to win," the 31-year-old from Apopka said.

Adcock finished at 9-under-par 278, 6 shots better than Koch, Bruce Fleisher, Charlie Bowles and Mark Bucek. Adcock won &7,500. The four golfers tied for second each won $2,935.

"When a guy shoots a 76 and still wins by 6, that doesn't say much for the boys behind him," said Koch, who also shot 76 Sunday. "None of us could get anything going."

The best score Sunday among the top-five finishers was Buck's even-par 72. Adcock had a double bogey, four bogeys and two birdies. A 76 was all he needed. The field began with 180 players and was cut to 100 for the final two rounds. Golfers played one of their first two rounds on the par-71 Copperhead course and the other rounds were played on the par-72 Island course.

Adcock led by 8 shots over Koch after eight holes. Koch birdied No. 9, parred 10 and birdied 11 to close the gap to 6. "I thought I was going to blow the whole thing," Adcock said. "I was so afraid of blowing a 6-stroke lead. I kept watching my numbers on the board instead of concentrating. I lost the mental part of my game."

Luckily for Adcock, no one else did much better. One reason was the weather. Sunday was an ugly day, with heavy rain and wind suspending play twice.

"We lost a lot of concentration because of the rain," said Bill Buttner of St. Petersburg, who had to rush his putt on the 15th green when sheets of rain started to come down. He was tied for second at the time, but ended up tied for sixth at 2-under par 285. "We just weren't in sync all day and Mitch had too many shots to play with," Buttner said. "After 10 holes I thought we'd make a move, but Mitch birdied 11 and I knew it was a dogfight for second."

Adcock, who said he'd never had such a wide lead entering a final round before Sunday, found life at the top of the scoreboard isn't easy."The first nine holes, I didn't know what I was doing," he said. "I felt a lot of pressure. I wasn't used to being that far up in front." He started with two pars and a 45-foot putt for birdie on No. 3. But when he realized his position, he said, he got nervous and stopped playing his game. He drove into the bunker on the par-4 No. 6 hole and snap-hooked his second shot into the woods to finish with a double bogey. He three-putted No. 8 for bogey, hit into the trees on 10 for bogey, bogeyed 14 and 16. "It was a grind for me, but it was a big thrill to finally win," said Adcock, who lost his PGA Tour card in 1978 and has been trying to get it back ever since.