Keith Fergus with the trophy after winning the Regions Charity Classic at Ross Bridge in Hoover on May 17, 2009.
Keith Fergus was the only one carrying home the winner’s trophy and $255,000 in prize money. The other winner — Mother Nature — had to settle for claiming the final 18 holes of the tournament. “I wish we could have gone 54 but the weather wouldn’t allow it,” Fergus said after winning a Champions Tour event for the second time this season. “So I’m the lucky one standing up here and accepting the trophy. I’m not going to give it back.” He shouldn’t have to after putting together two solid rounds — albeit disjointed ones — over the past three days to finish three strokes in front of runner-up Gene Jones and four shots ahead of third-place finisher Joe Ozaki. Fergus fired a 66 on Friday to finish in a three-way tie for second place behind leader Dan Forsman. Fergus shared the lead with Jones after a rain-shortened Saturday and pulled in front with a pair of birdies when play resumed on Sunday morning. “I’m not really a real good mudder,” Fergus said. “I kind of like the warm weather, being from Texas, so that kind of concerned me a little bit. I thought ‘If it gets cold and windy and rainy, that’s not really my cup of tea.'”
That didn’t seem to hurt him on his back-to-back birdies on a cold, windy and rainy Sunday morning. The first birdie came on the par-3 14th hole when he put a 7-iron off the tee about six inches from the hole. He followed that by making a 30-foot putt for birdie on the 15th hole.