FedEx Kinko's Classic: Final-Round Notebook
By Phil Stambaugh, PGA TOUR Staff
LAKEWAY, Texas -- Denis Watson won his fourth career title on the Champions Tour in his 40th start on the circuit. Watson's victory Sunday was also his second title of the 2008 season, and he joined Scott Hoch, Bernhard Langer and Tom Watson as the fourth player to win multiple titles this year.
| Inside the Numbers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Final Leaderboard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
• For the second time this year, Denis Watson came from a considerable distance back on the final day to win. His five-stroke come-from-behind win Sunday was the largest comeback in FedEx Kinko's Classic history (Larry Nelson, three strokes/2004; Jay Haas, three strokes/2006) and marked the fourth time in the six-year history of the event that the winner has come from off the pace on Sunday to win. Earlier this year, Watson came from seven strokes back to win the AT&T Champions Classic.
• Denis Watson made two double bogeys this week but he also made three eagles. He became the first FedEx Kinko's Classic champion since Hale Irwin (2003) to survive a double bogey and still win. In fact, each of the last three winners on the Champions Tour at stroke play this year have made a double bogey and still won the tournament.
• Denis Watson earned a $240,000 check for winning this week but also earned 240 Charles Schwab Cup points. In the season-long Charles Schwab Cup race through 11 of 29 official events, Bernhard Langer (911) now leads Scott Hoch (820) by just 91 points and Jay Haas (692) is still in third place. Denis Watson's win Sunday moved him into the fifth position in the Schwab Cup standings with 599 points. Tom Watson is still fourth with 633 points on the year. At the end of the official season at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma, Calif., the player earning the most Schwab Cup points will earn a $1 million payout.
• In the six-year history of this event, the winner has now come out of the final grouping in each of the odd years, beginning in 2003, and has come from a grouping other than the last in the even years.
• Scott Hoch managed to record the best finish ever by a defending champion in this event. Hoch tied for second this year at The Hills. The previous-best finish by a defender in Austin was Jay Haas, who was 10th in defense of his 2006 title.
• The Hills Country Club played to a stroke average of 72.987 this year, the second-easiest the course has played in event history.
• Hubert Green's 1-under-par 215 total for 54 holes gave him a tie for 24th in this week's event. It marked the first time since 2003, when Green was diagnosed with cancer on his tongue, that he recorded a finish among the top-25 on the Champions Tour. The 61-year-old World Golf Hall of Famer was making just his fifth official start of the 2008 season this week. His previous-best effort this year was a tie for 57th at the ACE Group Classic near Naples, Fla.
• Nick Price's runner-up finish this week at the FedEx Kinko's Classic was his career-best effort on the Champions Tour and was also his fifth consecutive top-10 effort this year. Tim Simpson's runner-up performance this week in Austin matched his career-best on the Champions Tour. Earlier this year at the Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach, Simpson finished tied for second.
• John Ross' final-round 67 Sunday vaulted him up into the top 10 (tied for eighth) and earned him a spot into the Regions Charity Classic in Birmingham, Ala., in two weeks. Ross open qualified for this week's event after shooting a 67 at Barton Creek's Palmer Lakeside Course.
• Mark Balen finished tied for 66th in his Champions Tour debut. Balen played collegiately at Ohio State with both Joey Sindelar and John Cook.
• Kirk Hanefeld's 7-under 65 Sunday was the field's lowest round and equaled the tournament record for best final-round score held by Bob Gilder (2004) and Jay Haas (2006).
• Fuzzy Zoeller had perhaps the strangest round of the day. Zoeller recorded nine birdies, including the last five holes, and five pars but shot 67. He ended up tied for 24th in the tournament.
• Ben Crenshaw's 4-under performance was good enough to finish tied for 13th in the tournament, the highest finish by a Texan in the field. Other performances by players with Texas ties included: D.A. Weibring (tied for 20th), Keith Fergus (tied for 24th), Phil Blackmar (tied for 31st), Tom Jenkins (tied for 31st), Tom Kite (tied for 35th), Dave Eichelberger (tied for 35th), Brad Bryant (tied for 45th), Mark W. Johnson (tied for 49th), Bruce Lietzke (tied for 58th), David Lundstrom (tied for 68th) and Larry Degenhart (76th).
• Loren Roberts made the most birdies in the tournament (18) while Scott Hoch and Nick Price had the fewest bogeys (3). Hoch, however, had a triple bogey in the event (18th hole of Round 2) while Price recorded double bogeys on consecutive holes on the back nine on Sunday.
Get the best deals on the best equipment all at the SHOP.PGATOUR.COM.
FANTASY GOLF
