Tag: SAS Championship

Fred Couples makes 12 birdies, shoots 60 to win 2022 SAS Championship and snap five-year PGA Tour Champions winless streak

Couples had gone five years, three months and 21 days since his last victory on the PGA Tour Champions.

Keegan Bradley wasn’t the only golfer to break a slump this weekend.

Fred Couples, who had gone five years, three months and 21 days since his last victory on the PGA Tour Champions, is on top once again after claiming a four-shot victory at the 2022 SAS Championship.

Bradley won in Japan at the Zozo Championship earlier in the day Sunday for his first win in 1,498 days. Couples did him one better, or perhaps 441 better, earning his first win in 1,939 days dating back to the 2017 American Family Insurance Championship.

He has finished runner-up five times in that span but after starting the final round tied at 8 under with Y.E. Yang, Couples made sure he wouldn’t have another second-place this time around.

“Everyone thinks we can win out here and today was my day,” he said, perhaps the understatement of the week.

Couples closed his front nine with five straight birdies on Nos. 5-9. On the back, he made five in a row again on Nos. 12-16 to put himself on 59 watch, as he was at 10 under with two to go at the par 72 Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, North Carolina. The 17th is a par 5 and the closing hole is a par 4.

Couples birdied the 17th for a sixth consecutive birdie to get to 11 under and needed a hole-out eagle on 18 to break 60. He didn’t get the eagle but he did close with a seventh straight birdie to shoot a 60—shooting 30 on each side—which was good enough to beat his age by three shots, and, more importantly, earn him his long-awaited 14th PGA Tour Champions victory at 20 under.

Couples had Steve Flesch’s son, Griff, working as his caddie this week.

“My caddie, Mark Chaney, has been with me a while and he’s with his mom in London, and then I had Joe LaCava’s son caddie,” Couples said. “I just texted Griff, he thought I was joking, I said just get to Raleigh on Tuesday and we’ll have a good time, and we did.”

Steven Alker who had five birdies and an eagle on the 17th closed with a 64 to claim solo second at 14 under. He’ll start the Schwab playoffs in the No. 1 spot but count him among those impressed by Couples.

“Yeah, that’s insane. Obviously Freddie’s just got it in the groove and has it rolling. You don’t shoot 12 under, 11 under without putting well. Good on him, that’s fantastic, good to see.”

Jerry Kelly finished at 12 under to take solo third. Rocco Mediate finished at 11 under, which was good for solo fourth. Miguel Angel Jimenez and Alex Cejka tied for fifth at 10 under.

Dick Mast, who Tuesday qualified into the SAS with a 66, five shots better than his age, shot 78-74-72 to finish 73rd.

The SAS Championship was the regular-season finale for the 2022 PGA Tour Champions season. The top 72 on the points list advance to the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs with the field reduced to 54 for the second playoff event. From there, only the top 36 advance to the final.

Schwab Cup playoffs lineup

  • Dominion Energy Charity Classic, The Country Club of Virginia Richmond, Virginia, Oct. 21-23
    Defending champion: Bernhard Langer
  • TimberTech Championship, Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club Boca Raton, Florida, Nov. 4-6
    Defending champion: Steven Alker
  • Charles Schwab Cup Championship, Phoenix Country Club Phoenix, Nov. 10-13
    Defending champion: Phil Mickelson

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Dick Mast shoots a 66, breaks his age by five shots, qualifies for SAS Championship on PGA Tour Champions

Let’s take a minute and acknowledge one of the old dudes.

With all this talk about the next generation of golf stars, let’s take a minute and acknowledge one of the old dudes.

Two days after Tom Kim, all of 20 years old, won for the second time on the PGA Tour, 71-year-old Dick Mast shot a 66 to break his age by five shots and earn his way into the final regular-season event on the PGA Tour Champions, the SAS Championship.

Mast qualified into an event last year when he was 70 but outdid himself Tuesday, carding seven birdies and two bogeys at Pine Hollow.

Mast notably once won a regional PGA Tour qualifier at 32 under in 1985. He’s made a combined 656 starts on the three tours. He has four Korn Ferry Tour wins but none on the other tours.

Now that Mast is in the SAS, there’s more than just trying to win this week on the line. The PGA Tour Champions has a “Wildcard Weekend” subplot in play which could see him sneak into the three-tournament Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs.

The top 72 golfers after the SAS make the playoffs, but, if a golfer not in the top 72 finishes in the top 10 this week, that golfer gets a spot in the playoffs, and, bumps out whoever was 72nd (unless the first playoff event does not have a full field, then no one gets bumped out). Michael Allen is currently 72nd in the standings.

The “Wildcard” has been in play since 2016 and there’s only one spot available, but no one has pulled it off yet.

Mast has only played one other Champions event in 2022 where he earned $2,327 in prize money. Steven Alker, who has three wins in 19 events, leads the Schwab standings at $2,730,615.

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Jim Furyk’s son fills in as caddie as Fluff Cowan misses SAS Championship on PGA Tour Champions

In Jacksonville last week, it was Furyk & Friends. This week in North Carolina, it was Furyk & Son.

In Jacksonville last week, it was Furyk & Friends.

In North Carolina this week, it was Furyk & Son.

Jim Furyk, competing in the PGA Tour Champions SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club, finished tied for third with his son Tanner on the bag.

“I’m sure he enjoyed it and I promise you I enjoyed it 100 times more. Special week,” Furyk said after his round. Regular caddie Fluff Cowan was taking the week off. “I feel bad that Fluff went down, that he wasn’t able to be here. I hope he’s healthy and getting better.”

This was a week after he and his wife hosted the first ever Constellation Furyk & Friends tournament on the PGA Tour Champions.

Furyk and Tanner were teammates in the PNC Championship last December in Orlando. The SAS was the first time Tanner caddied for his old man.

But he wasn’t the only Furyk child at the tournament.

“It was a real special opportunity for our family. Caleigh [daughter] came in from college,” he said. “To have Tanner on the bag, just really cool. Then to have a real solid week and kind of come down the stretch and feel like you’ve got to make a putt on the last.”

Furyk briefly took the clubhouse lead at 11 under after draining a birdie on the last.

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“I had him in there reading it. He put a great read on it, actually. Noticed something about the green that I didn’t early in the putt. Yeah, just really cool. A great memory for me.

“To go out and play well was a little icing on the cake.”

Furyk is among the 72 golfers who have advanced to the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs, which starts this week at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.

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Lee Janzen tops Miguel Angel Jiménez in playoff at SAS Championship; Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs start next week

Lee Janzen knocked out Miguel Angel Jimenez to collect his second senior circuit victory.

“How?” Lee Janzen said on Golf Channel minutes after winning for the first time in six years.

Consecutive birdies on the 18th hole is how.

Janzen made a long birdie putt from the fringe on 18 at the SAS Championship Sunday to get into a playoff against Miguel Angel Jiménez. Janzen then made another birdie on the first playoff hole to win on the PGA Tour Champions for the first time since 2015.

Starting the final round two shots back of co-leaders Jiménez and Alex Cejka, Janzen opened with a bogey but he made six birdies after that, including the long one on 18 to shoot a final-round 67.

A playoff seemed a bit unlikely after Jiménez made a birdie on the 11th hole to take a three-shot lead. But his irons got a little loose on the back nine, opening the door for others to track him down.

Janzen did just that, cutting the lead to one after making a birdie putt on the 15th hole. Jiménez then bogeyed the 14th, knotting things up at 11 under. Jiménez had a birdie look on 18 in regulation to win it but left it out to the left.

On the first playoff hole, Jiménez hit his drive into a bunker, then pulled his second against the grandstands left of the green. Janzen then hit his approach to a spot close to where he was in 2 on 18 in regulation, although this time the ball ended up on the green.

He calmly rolled in the putt and was incredulous after his round.

“I haven’t had a top-10 in I don’t know how long,” he said. “If you looked at my performance, you’d say ‘I’m not going to pick him this week.’

“But I saw progress lately. Who knew it was going to turn into a win.”

Janzen has one other Champions tour win, the 2015 Ace Group Classic. The SAS was his 157th start on the tour.

This week marked the final regular-season event of a 39-tournament “super season.”

Up next: the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs, a three-tournament postseason that starts at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, next weekend.

The top-72 players on the money list advance to the playoffs but there was room for a wild-card entrant. If any golfer outside the top 72 posted a top-10 finish, he’d make the postseason.

Monday qualifier Thongchai Jaidee poured in a 10-footer for birdie on 18 to shoot a 69 and and finish tied for fifth. He entered the week in the 82nd spot.

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PGA Tour Champions: Woody Austin grabs an early lead at the SAS Championship

Woody Austin leads by one at this weekend’s PGA Tour Champions event in Cary, North Carolina. He fired an opening round 66.

Woody Austin owns the early lead at the SAS Championship, this weekend’s PGA Tour Champions event in Cary, North Carolina. Austin is seeking his fifth career victory on the senior circuit as he fired an opening-round 66, good for 6-under par and a one-shot lead at the Prestonwood Country Club – Highlands Course.

The Tampa, Florida, native more than made up for a bogey on the fourth hole with seven birdies — two of them coming late on No. 17 and No. 18. He credits his short game with keeping him in it, especially early.

“I putted better than I have putted in a long time for the first nine holes,” said Austin, 56. “First nine holes I looked like Brad Faxon out there today. It was a bad start, but the putter kept me in the game. Then I finally started to hit some good shots.”

One shot back of Austin is the duo of Gene Sauers and Corey Pavin, who both carded 65. Sauers, from Savannah, Georgia, kept himself clean but managed just one birdie in the first 11 holes. The 58-year old vaulted himself into contention by calmly depositing an uphill eagle putt at No. 17. So far, he has only won once on the PGA Tour Champions.

SAS CHAMPIONS: Leaderboard

Pavin, 60, is the most decorated of the three. The Oxnard, California, native has 15 PGA Tour victories under his belt and was named the 1991 PGA Tour Player of the Year. Like Sauers, he is looking for his second Champions Tour victory and went bogey-free on the day. Of his five birdies, three of them came at the par-3 holes (No. 3, No. 8 and No. 11).

“You know, I like this golf course,” Pavin said despite his inconsistent play at Prestonwood in earlier years. “I thought with the bent greens they were — it was like dartboards and now you’ve got to really think about your iron shots and what it’s going to do once it hits the green. You’ve got to shape your shots.

“Today, I just went out and just tried to play golf and not worry about anything but try to hit my golf shots and wherever it went, it went. Just kind of went from there and it worked out OK.”

Rounding out the top six are Kirk Triplett, Marco Dawson and Colin Montgomerie, who find themselves T-4 at 4-under. Triplett faltered out of the gate with bogeys at the first and third, but righted the ship with six subsequent birdies. The Moses Lake, Washington, native owns eight PGA Tour Champions wins.

Dawson, an American born in Freising, Germany, played a very different round from Triplett. The 56-year old ripped off six birdies, four in the front nine, but set himself back with a frustrating double bogey at No. 13. He has a chance to win his third Champions Tour event this weekend.

Montgomerie of Glasgow, Scotland, has been prolific abroad, with 35 of his 42 international wins coming on the European Tour (good for third all-time on that circuit). He has seven PGA Tour Champions victories and counting to add to that resume.

Like Triplett, Montgomerie had to overcome early bogeys at the third and sixth, but did the job with six birdies. The 57-year old is poised to push his American counterparts for the title at Prestonwood. Round 2 of the SAS Championship will take place on Saturday.

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