Montgomerie Wins SAS Championship
- Details
- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2017-10-16
(Photo/SAS Championship)
CARY, North Carolina (AP) — Colin Montgomerie is feeling even more confident entering the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs.
Montgomerie earned his second victory in five weeks, a three-stroke win at the SAS Championship. He shot a bogey-free, 8-under 64 in his final round at Prestonwood Country Club.
He earned $315,000 for his sixth career victory on PGA TOUR Champions, and improved two spots to No. 7 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings in the Tour's regular-season finale.
The victory "gives me a huge amount of confidence going into the Playoffs, and I look forward to the next few weeks with added incentive now," Montgomerie said.
The 54-year-old Scot finished at 16-under 200. He won the PGA TOUR Champions' first-ever event in Japan — the JAPAN AIRLINES Championship — last month. The Hall of Famer won 31 times on the European Tour and topped the tour's money list a record eight times — seven in a row from 1993-99 and the last in 2005.
Vijah Singh and Doug Garwood each shot 66 and tied for second at 13-under 203. Corey Pavin was one stroke behind them after his 67.
"I was just trying to make birdies," Pavin said. "That's all I could do out there. I just hit a couple bad putts. But I hit a lot of good shots. I can't really think of a bad shot I hit really. So pleased with my ball striking."
Bernhard Langer shot 69 to finish tied for 11th and push his season earnings over $3 million. The 60-year-old German star leads the Schwab Cup standings by nearly $600,000 over second-place Scott McCarron.
Montgomerie had two bogeys during his three rounds in suburban Raleigh — only one on his final 51 holes.
"The standard of golf here is extraordinarily high," Montgomerie said. "Every time you make a birdie, you feel you have to make an eagle because someone else has made a birdie."
He began the final round sharing the lead with Phillip Price and Jerry Kelly. He had three birdies on the front nine before pulling away with five birdies on the back nine — including on the 14th, 15th and 17th holes — before closing with a par on the par-4 18th.
Montgomerie is trying to stay in peak form for the Schwab Cup Playoffs — which begins this week at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond, Virginia, for the top 72 players — after he started the season slowly because of injuries. He was sidelined for 2 months in the spring by torn ligaments in his left ankle.
Montgomerie said he plans to arrive in Richmond on Tuesday "and grinding it out and see what we can do there as well.
"Have to keep going," he said.
TOURNAMENT NOTES
Colin Montgomerie, 69-67-64 – 200 (-16)
• His closing-round 8-under-par 64 led to a 54-hole total of 16-under-par 200 and a three-stroke victory over Vijay Singh and Doug Garwood.
• Wins for the second time in his last four starts after winning the JAPAN AIRLINES Championship on September 10th.
• Made just one bogey over his final 51 holes.
• Wins for the sixth time on PGA TOUR Champions and has won at least one title on Tour four consecutive years.
• Twenty-three of his last 24 rounds have been under par.
• With a first-place check for $315,000, he moves from ninth to seventh on the season-long Charles Schwab Cup money list.
• Led all players with 18 birdies and led all players in putting average at 1.600.
• The 54-year-old Scotsman won seven consecutive Order of Merits on the European Tour.
• A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, he captained the victorious European Ryder Cup team in 2010 at Celtic Manor.
• Resides in Perthshire, Scotland
ADDITIONAL NOTES
• Doug Garwood closed with a 6-under-par 66 to finish T2 in defense of his 2016 title. Garwood had a chance to claim sole possession of second place, but his short putt lipped out and he settled for a par on No. 18, tying him with Vijay Singh. It was the best showing by a defending champion since Tom Pernice, Jr., the 2009 champion, finished second in 2010.
• David McKenzie, who open qualified on Monday, claimed fifth-place, his third top-10 finish as an open qualifier this year. He was T9 at the Senior Open Championship and T3 at the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship. McKenzie had secured the fourth and final spot in a playoff on Monday. His finish jumped him to 57th on the 2017 Charles Schwab Cup money list.
• Jerry Kelly’s record streak of consecutive rounds in the 60s ended at 16 when he finished with a 2-under-par 70 on Sunday.
• Kenny Perry turned in a gutsy performance with his T8 finish. Perry has been battling a torn rotator cuff and will have surgery on the injury at the close of the season.
• Charles Schwab Cup money leader Bernhard Langer posted rounds of 68-69 and finished T11. He earned $38,523 which increased his 2017 earnings to $3,012,358, the third time in the last four years he has surpassed $3 million in season earnings. He holds the PGA TOUR Champions record with $3,074,189.
• Bernhard Langer now leads Scott McCarron by $577,464 in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup money list as the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs get underway on Friday at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond.
• Two holes in the event doomed Vijay Singh’s chances in the tournament. A triple bogey on No. 1 on Saturday and a double bogey on No. 3 on Sunday cost him five strokes and left him T2 with Doug Garwood.
• There were no changes onithe top 72 on the Charles Schwab Cup money list as the final regular-season came to a close. Bart Bryant, who was 72nd coming into this event, finished T30 to move to 69th, while Russ Cochran’s T51 finish dropped him from 71st to 72nd. The top 72 players earned spots in this week’s Dominion Energy Charity Classic, the first of three playoff events.
• The field averaged 71.284 for the tournament, the lowest since 2013 ((71.131). Hole No. 4 was the most difficult with an average score of 4.216 (+.216). There were just 19 birdies for the event. No. 17 was the easiest at 4.328 (-.672). That would make it the fourth-easiest hole on Tour this year.
• Michael Bradley’s T8 finish was his best showing of the year. He was T10 earlier this year at the Principal Charity Classic.
• One day after matching his age for the 16th time in his career, Hale Irwin was forced to withdraw after four holes due to back spasms.