KAHUKU — Jerry Pate found his way into the eye of the windstorm with an early charge and held on for dear life yesterday to outlast everybody and win the Turtle Bay Championship by two shots.

Pate's second Champions Tour victory came in the first full-field event of the year. It was Hawaiian-style golf at its best and breeziest at the Palmer Course, which bit back with 30-mph gusts after laying low the past few years. Pate's winning score was 5-under-par 211 — 18 shots higher than Fred Funk's winning score a year ago.

It was the largest differential in a 54-hole tournament in Champions Tour history. It was also the highest winning total in eight years at Turtle Bay, by three. Pate's final-round 70 was the lowest round of the day, matched only by Wayne Grady, who jumped from 23rd to a share of fourth.

In the final two wind-wracked days, only one player (Dan Pooley, Saturday) shot in the 60s. On the final day, Pate appeared to be playing a different course than his pursuers, who averaged more than 76. He put together three straight birdie putts from Nos. 8 to 10, all from within 8 feet, to get to 6-under while everyone else was in reverse.

"The wind plays right into my hands," Pate said over and over. "My game has always been one where the tougher the better. When I won in Tampa, Tampa is probably the toughest golf course we play. I only had to shoot 8-under to win. When I don't have to stand up there and knock in every putt from here to the airport ... and these guys do that, I don't know how they do it. Unfortunately, golf becomes a putting contest instead of the whole game.

"For me, when it's just who can hit it the best and hit the fairways and greens, when a par means something, that plays into my hand. I won the U.S. Open and was second there, I won the U.S. Amateur. Those are tough challenges. ... I did all that before I was 28."

Even a bogey hiccup on the final hole yesterday would have no impact, not that Pate knew it then. He can still recite all the three-putts that have cost him major titles and he grew agitated when he mangled the 18th.

"I'm thinking 'Oh my God, where do I stand?' " Pate recalled. "My caddie said, 'Don't worry, you've got a four-shot lead.' I looked at him and said, 'Are you kidding?' He said, 'I swear you do.' So I figured it was over and I two-putted and went on."

Champions rookie Fulton Allem (73) and good buddy Jim Thorpe (74) birdied the last hole to share second and win $128,000 apiece. It was Allem's third senior start and he described the Palmer yesterday as a place "where you could hit putts where the wind would make you look stupid." He was still ecstatic after launching in a 25-footer on the final hole.

"You expect the wind here," said Allem, a South African who played with Pate. "We're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean."

The final group shot a combined 11-over with four birdies. Gil Morgan, who led after the first two rounds, shot 77 in his quest for a 26th Champions win. Thorpe salvaged his 74 and second, while World Golf Hall of Famer Bernhard Langer — the last golfer with a legitimate shot at catching Pate — bogeyed three of the last four to shoot 76 and fall into a tie for eighth.

"I was playing with two of the finest players in the world, Gil and Bernhard," said Thorpe, whose three-putt for par on the ninth hole started his slide. "You see those guys struggling with a 20-footer just to get it where you can tap it in.

"Today was survival. These are probably three of the toughest days I've ever played, where you just didn't have a clue of what it was you were doing."

Funk, who won the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai last week, was in contention going into the final round of his "Hawai'i Slam," despite suffering from a viral infection. He finally faded, surpassing last year's score — which led to a record 11-shot win — on the 12th hole and finishing with an 81.

Still, Funk won some $510,000 the last four weeks here, starting with two PGA events.

In contrast to Funk, Pate was looking for a place to play as a non-exempt Champions player — until yesterday. The 1976 U.S. Open winner finished 41st on the money list last year with $443,000 — about $200,000 more than he won yesterday. His only senior win came two years ago, before his fifth shoulder surgery and nearly 24 years after his last victory.

His health problems helped him become close friends with trainer Kevin Wilk, who helped rehabilitate Pate "eight hours a day, five days a week" more than once. Wilk's 26-year-old son, Justin, recently died, and Pate dedicated his latest win to the family, and "the most perfect rainbow from tip to toe" that he and his wife woke to yesterday.

"That's a great omen," Pate told her. "I'm going to win today."

Scott Simpson had the best finish of the players with local ties, birdieing the last hole to finish at even-par, one of just 17 players at par or better.

NOTES

Hokuli'a's Hale Irwin closed with 77 to finish at 221 and win $10,012. Turtle Bay representative Kiyoshi Murota, who was second here last year, shot 78—222 and won $7,840. O'ahu's Dave Eichelberger (75—223) won $6,560 for 44th, and Hawai'i Golf Hall of Famers David Ishii (77—228) and Dick McClean (83—232) won $2,640 and $1,264.

Monday qualifier Robert Thompson made eagle from the bunker on the last hole to go from 18th to a tie for fourth, and qualify for the next event.

Loren Roberts shot one of the day's four sub-par rounds and finished in a tie for fourth, giving him a first, second and fourth in three years here.

On the other end of the spectrum, Walter Zembriski shot 90 yesterday. It was the first 90-something score on the tour since John Mahaffey had 91 and withdrew at last year's Senior British Open. The second round of that event was the last time, until yesterday, that no one shot in the 60s.

Pro golf will take a week off for the first time this year in Hawai'i. The 30th Hawai'i Pearl Open is next, Feb. 8 to 10 at Pearl Country Club. Ryo Ishikawa will play after turning pro this month, at age 16. Ishikawa won a Japan pro event last year.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.