Regions Charity Classic: Sunday notebook

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Keith Fergus wound up with his second Champions Tour win of the season after the tournament was shortened to 36 holes.

HOOVER, Ala. -- Keith Fergus won the rain-plagued 2009 Regions Charity Classic by three strokes over Gene Jones. Fergus and Jones were tied for the lead when second-round play resumed at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. Fergus played five holes in 2 under (Nos. 11-15) while Jones played his final four holes (Nos. 15-18) of the second round in 1 over. After the tournament was officially shortened to 36 holes at 11:55 a.m., the remaining 21 professionals resumed their second round at 1:30 p.m. Fergus went birdie-bogey-par over his remaining holes.

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Keith Fergus now has three wins on the Champions Tour.

Keith Fergus' Tournament Statistics:

Category Average (Rank) Driving Distance 282.5 (20th) Driving Accuracy 19 of 28 (T62) Greens In Regulation 30 of 36 (T9) Putting 56 (26th)

• Keith Fergus' victory today gives him his second win on the Champions Tour in his last four starts (Cap Cana Championship) and he joins Bernhard Langer as the only other multiple winner this year.

• Keith Fergus became a multiple winner in the same season for the first time since claiming a pair of events on the Nationwide Tour in 1994 (Panama City Beach Classic, Boise Open).

• Keith Fergus claimed his third career title on the Champions Tour, matching his victory total on the PGA TOUR (1981 Memorial Tournament, 1982 Georgia-Pacific Atlanta Golf Classic, Bob Hope Desert Classic).

• Keith Fergus is the 17th different winner in the 18-year history of the Regions Charity Classic.

• Keith Fergus collects 255 Charles Schwab Cup points for winning this week's Regions Charity Classic and moves up into third place in the season-long race with 570 total points. After nine official events, Bernhard Langer continues to lead with 922 points. Loren Roberts, currently in second place in the Schwab Cup standings, finished T4 this week and earned 66 points. He increased his point total for the year to 572. At the end of the official season, the player earning the most Schwab Cup points will receive a $1 million payout.

• This is the first time in the 18-year history of the Regions Charity Classic that the tournament had to be shortened to 36 holes due to weather. It also marked the first time since the 2006 Administaff Small Business Classic that a 54-hole Champions Tour event was shortened to 36 holes.

• Bob Tway, a winner of eight PGA TOUR titles including the 1986 PGA Championship, made his Champions Tour debut this week and finished T68.

• Jay Don Blake's second-round 67 moved him up into a T4. As a result of his top-10 finish, Blake earned a spot into The Principal Charity Classic in two weeks. Blake's performance in Birmingham this week was his best since finishing third at the 2002 Sony Open in Hawaii. In his PGA TOUR career, Blake's lone title came at the 1991 Shearson Lehman Brothers Open. In his PGA TOUR career, he didn't record his first top-10 finish until his 31st start (T10-1987 Provident Classic).

• Gene Jones' runner-up performance this week matched his career-best effort on the Champions Tour. Jones finished second at the 2008 Charles Schwab Cup Championship and was a runner-up earlier this year at The ACE Group Classic.

• Bernhard Langer did not make enough money this week to eclipse the $1 million mark. Langer finished T18 this week and his check for $21,322 increased his yearly earnings to $968,886 through nine official events. Last year at this event, the 10th of the season, Langer's T5 finish allowed him to become the first player to go over seven figures. Langer will have another opportunity to go over the million-dollar mark at next week's Senior PGA Championship, the 10th official event of the 2009 season.

• With Keith Fergus' opening-round 66 this year, there still has been no Regions Charity Classic tournament winner post a score higher than 70 in the opening round.

• Brad Bryant's second-round 65 allowed him to record another good finish at Ross Bridge. The only two-time winner of the Regions Charity Classic has now finished T8 (2005), 1st (2006), 1st (2007), T11 (2008) and T4 (2009) in his five career appearances in Birmingham. He has also strung together a streak of 13 consecutive par/better rounds at this event.

• Next week's Senior PGA Championship at Canterbury GC near Cleveland is the first of five major championships on the Champions Tour in 2009. Jay Haas is the defending champion and will try to win his third Senior PGA title in four years. Double Charles Schwab Cup points will go to all top-10 finishers next week.