Tag: Doug Barron

Doug Barron wins first PGA Tour Champions major at 2024 Regions Tradition

Steven Alker had the best round Sunday but no one was going to catch Barron.

Just before the start of the final round of the 2024 Regions Tradition, the first of five majors in 2024 on the PGA Tour Champions schedule, Steve Stricker withdrew from next week’s PGA Championship, the second major of the PGA Tour campaign. Stricker was in that field by virtue of his win in the 2023 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.

He’s also the two-time defending champ of the Regions Tradition at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama, but a final-round 69 left him short of an eighth Champions tour major.

Sunday started with Doug Barron and Ernie Els, both chasing their first PGA Tour Champions major title, tied for the lead.

While Els could only spin his wheels, shooting a 1-under 71 to finish 14-under, Barron, who said he woke up at four in the morning but sounded like he didn’t mean to, took control of the event. He followed his third-round 66 – the best round of the day by three shots – with a bogey-free, final-round 68 to finish 17 under and win his first senior major by two shots.

“Today was just a dream come true, beating all these great players,” Barron told Golf Channel on the 18th green minutes after his victory. He was in the final group alongside Els and Padraig Harrington.

Barron, 54, earned $390,000 for the win. The total purse for the tournament was $2.6 million. He now has three victories on the senior circuit.

He praised his putting coach for his success on the greens all week.

“I got one of the best putting lessons from my coach back home last week, and I really got my putter going. I felt like I could make an 8-footer again,” he said. “It was huge because I didn’t hit any fairways. I hardly missed a fairway coming into today.”

Steven Alker was solo second after firing a 9-under 63 on Sunday, the best score of the week by two shots.

Stewart Cink finished tied for third with Stricker and Els. Charlie Wi and K.J. Choi tied for sixth. Bernhard Langer, in his second event back after recovering from Achilles surgery, tied for eighth with Kenny Perry. Padraig Harrington, Brian Gay and Stuart Appleby tied for 10th at 9 under. Harrington was in the final group but posted a final-round 74.

Ernie Els wins Hoag Classic; Bernhard Langer denied record PGA Tour Champions victory

Bernhard Langer falls short of winning for 46th time on senior circuit.

Thanks to a late-round putting-grip change, Ernie Els is a winner on the PGA Tour Champions for the first time in three years.

Meanwhile, Bernhard Langer’s record-setting victory is going to have to wait at least another week.

Els rode a 65-65 weekend to win the Hoag Classic at Newport Country Club in Newport Beach, California, on Sunday. He birdied Nos. 2, 3, and 4 to get things going, then birdied the seventh. After eight straight pars, he birdied the 16th to get to 12 under. He found himself in a bunker on 18 but got up-and-down, draining one final birdie to get to 13 under. Els went to a left-hand low grip on his last two birdie putts.

Steve Stricker and Doug Barron tied for second at 12 under. Barron started the day one shot back of the lead and needed a birdie at the last to get to 13 under. With Els hitting 7-irons on the range to stay loose, Barron stuffed his approach but then missed a four-footer for birdie that would have forced a playoff.

Els is the fifth different winner in five Champions tournaments in 2023.

Langer, who was at 12 under after 36 holes and held the solo lead after two days, built a two-shot lead Sunday but bogeys at Nos. 6, 9 and 14 did him in as he never really got anything going in the final round. A birdie on 11 was negated by his fourth bogey on 14. He then missed a short putt on 17 for his fifth bogey of the day before a closing par for a 73.

Langer won for a record-tying 45th time on the Champions tour a month ago. His next victory will break the record held by Hale Irwin since 2007. Langer’s first senior win came 10 months after Irwin’s last.

The PGA Tour Champions returns to action next week at the new Galleri Classic in Rancho Mirage, California, on the Mission Hills Country Club course that was home to an LPGA major for 51 years.

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Bernhard Langer defeats Doug Barron in a playoff at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic

The first of three Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs went to overtime in Richmond, Virginia.

“I gotta go play in playoff, I think,” Doug Barron could be heard on Golf Channel telling a group of young fans as he signed autographs after his final-round 68 at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.

Barron had minutes before birdied the par-5 18th hole at The Country Club of Virginia to take a one-shot lead over Bernhard Langer, who then matched Barron with a birdie on the last to force extra holes.

They played the 18th hole again, and each missed the green with their second shots. Barron’s settled left of the green while Langer’s missed to the right. After Barron chipped on, Langer putted from off the green. They then faced similar birdie putts, with Barron going first but he watched his putt lip out. Langer then drained his, letting his putter fall to the green and raising both arms in celebration.

Langer, 64, is the oldest player to win on the Champions tour. He also earned his 42nd Champions title, which draws him within three of Hale Irwin for most all-time wins. Langer had lost his last five playoffs but is now 7-9 all-time on the circuit.

The Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs points leader also extended his lead in the points as he seeks his sixth Schwab championship and first since 2018.

Notables in the field

Ernie Els shot 70-72 before closing with a bogey-free 63, a round that included nine birdies and goes down as the best round in tournament history.

Jim Furyk, second in the points race, 69-68-69 and finished tied for eighth. He had a tap-in birdie to close with a 69 and finish 10 under but lost ground to Langer in the points.

Phil Mickelson was attempting to become the first Champions tour golfer to win four of his first five events on the circuit, but he shot 71-74-71 to finish tied for 47th. For the second straight day, Lefty posted a quadruple-bogey 9 on the ninth hole, which was his final hole of both his second and final rounds. He started his final round with seven birdies in his first 12 holes but also had a double bogey five holes before his second quad in two days.

Tom Byrum eagled the 18th hole for a 70 and a tie for 16th place. That moved him into the 54th spot in the points, which just squeaks him into the next round of the playoffs at the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton, Florida, in two weeks. The field will then go to 36 for the playoff finale, Nov. 11-14 at Phoenix Country Club.

Shot of the day

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When Bernie turned 64: Langer shoots his age on birthday (Friday), shares lead at Ally Challenge in bid for 42nd senior win

A day after Bernhard Langer shot 64 on his 64th birthday, the ageless wonder birdied two of the last three holes on Saturday to shoot 66 and claim a share of the 36-hole lead with Doug Barron at the Ally Challenge

A day after Bernhard Langer shot 64 on his 64th birthday, the ageless wonder birdied two of the last three holes on Saturday to shoot 66 and claim a share of the 36-hole lead with Doug Barron at the Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

“I didn’t age two years today, I just want to say that,” Langer quipped. “I’m not 66 today.”

 Langer shot a bogey-free round and credited a hot putter for his low score.

“Didn’t make too many of the closer ones, but made three or four long ones, which is fun,” he said. “I haven’t done that in a while.”

It put Langer, who is winless since March 2020, in a strong position to pick off his 42nd title on Sunday since joining the PGA Tour Champions at age 50. Only Hale Irwin with 45 victories has more wins on the senior circuit.

Langer said he was serenaded three separate times with a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday,” by the gallery on Friday. In the rain-delayed first round, he carded nine birdies and a bogey at Warwick Hills in shooting his age for the first time in a tournament.

“I was texting with my family this morning because of the rain delay and I said, ‘My goal is to shoot my age today and give myself a birthday present,’ ” Langer recalled after the round. “Just shows you the strengths of the mind if you put something in your mind and a goal and sometimes you can achieve it.”

Barron, who won two weeks ago at the Shaw Charity Classic, fired a bogey-free 64 to improve to 14-under 202.

“I’m playing with kind of a heavy heart. My sponsor, my dearest friend, had a stroke last Sunday and he’s in ICU, and really his son told me to play this week for him. So, Mr. George Brian, I’m just thinking of him. He owns Waverly and a course called Mossy Oak in West Point, Mississippi. Really just thinking about him all day.

“And my son gets deployed next week, I’m going to see him tomorrow night. I’ve got a lot of things on my mind, golf’s not really important. So I guess the lesson of the week is don’t think about golf so much.”

Langer enters the week third in the Charles Schwab Cup point standings and said a victory would cap off a wonderful birthday week.

“It’s going to take a low one because it’s really bunched up, it’s not just Doug Barron and I, there’s about 15, 20 guys that can still win this tournament going low,” Langer said. “We can’t afford to sit on our laurels and make pars and hope to win this tournament. You’ve got to go low tomorrow to have a chance to take the trophy away.”

Doug Barron holds off Steve Flesch, nabs Shaw Charity Classic on PGA Tour Champions

In the first professional golf tournament in Canada since the COVID-19 pandemic, Doug Barron closed with three birdies to hold off Steve Flesch to win the Shaw Charity Classic on the PGA Tour Champions. Barron posted three consecutive 64s in the …

In the first professional golf tournament in Canada since the COVID-19 pandemic, Doug Barron closed with three birdies to hold off Steve Flesch to win the Shaw Charity Classic on the PGA Tour Champions.

Barron posted three consecutive 64s in the 54-hole event to claim the title. It was his first title on the senior circuit since he won the 2019 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

Barron closed his second round with an eagle on the 18th hole Saturday to take a one-shot lead. He opened his Sunday round with a bogey but birdied Nos. 4 and 5 to make the turn in 1 under. He then eagled the 11th and birdied the 16th, 17th and 18th to hold off Flesch, who had six birdies in his final round.

Barron finished at 18 under, and Flesch was 16 under. Billy Andrade and Brandt Jobe finished tie for third at 13 under. Billy Mayfair, who revealed an autism diagnosis in June, finished 12 under to claim solo fifth.

The PGA Tour Champions heads to Snoqualmie, Washington, next week for the Boeing Classic.

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Doug Barron, Scott Parel emerge as Chubb Classic leaders

Doug Barron and Scott Parel are two of the relative unknowns on the PGA Tour Champions. 

Doug Barron and Scott Parel are two of the relative unknowns on the PGA Tour Champions.

Neither had much of a career on the regular tour. Parel didn’t have one and didn’t even play college golf while attending the University of Georgia.

That hasn’t stopped either from finding success on the Champions Tour.

Both shot rounds of 7-under 64 on Friday to share the first-round lead at the Chubb Classic at The Classics at Lely Resort. Three-time winner Bernhard Langer, Fred Funk, Ken Tanigawa and Stephen Leaney are tied for second at 6 under.

Before turning 50 last year, Barron had played seven seasons on the PGA Tour with a best finish of third in 237 starts, and hadn’t played tour golf since the Korn Ferry Tour in 2012.

In his Champions Tour debut last July, he tied for fifth at the Senior British Open. Then he went all the way through prequalifying and qualifying to get into the DICK’S Sporting Goods Open. He shot a 6-under 66 to beat Fred Couples by two strokes. It was the first time in tour history a winner went through both rounds of qualifying.

It was his first career victory in 377 events across three sanctioned tours.

On Friday, Barron left an 8-footer for birdie on No. 18 one revolution short, but otherwise was more than solid. He made four birdies on the front nine, then holed out for eagle on the par-5 11th from 30 yards before adding another birdie on No. 17.

“I played really good,” Barron said. “I drove it great today. And I didn’t do anything special. I missed a couple short putts, as a matter of fact. I made two good pars all day, but I hit it really nice. I didn’t really have to struggle for pars. I had a lot of good looks all day, so it was an easy 7 under, if there’s such a thing.”

Parel, 54, worked as a computer programmer and database administrator for 10 years after college, and didn’t turn pro until he was 31. He hasn’t won yet on the tour but was second three times and had 10 top-10 finishes last year on his way to finishing eighth on the Charles Schwab Cup points list.

Friday, he had eight birdies, including a pair of three straight – Nos. 2, 3, 4, and Nos. 10, 11, 12 – but it was a bogey at No. 7 that stood out to him.

“I lost the ball in a palm tree,” he said. “Hit a good tee shot, hit it in front, and chipped in for a 5, so that was a huge momentum. Even though it was a bogey, it could be six or seven easily. And I wasn’t that concerned.”

Langer closed with a 12-foot birdie on No. 9. Langer, who is going for his 41st Champions Tour victory, has gotten off to another good start. He tied that into making Florida his home years ago.

“I noticed it early in my career, when I lived in Germany, I always had a slow start to every season and it took me to May or June to get my stride,” he said. “And when I moved to Florida, I was ready to go from the get-go. So that helps. That’s probably the main thing.”

Barron has made himself home all week. On Tuesday, he spoke at the Men’s Golf Fellowship at Pelican Bay.

“Me and Larry Mize and Larry Moody, our Tour chaplain,” Barron said. “And they do that every year. So we had a good time. I like to tell it like it is, so I like to entertain the guys and be real. I think everyone had a good time, so it was cool.”

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