Notes: Haas tallies 10 birdies on Sunday

By Dave Senko
PGA TOUR staff
 

Jay Haas' Sunday card included just five pars. He tied the Champions Tour’s season-best run for consecutive birdies with five (Nos. 2-6) on his way to making 10 on Sunday. He also made three bogeys. His 7-under-par 65 was the low round for the tournament and his 20 birdies for the event topped all players. He also made nine bogeys for the week.

With his victory, Haas wins for the second consecutive week and the fourth time in 20 starts on the Champions Tour. He earns a check for $240,000 victory which pushed his Champions Tour career to $2,396, 308, an average of $119,815 per start. He has posted 13 top-10 finishes in that span.

In addition to his winner’s check for $240,000, Haas also picked up 240 in the year-long Charles Schwab Cup race and closed the gap on leader Loren Roberts, who did not compete in this event. Roberts leads with 935 points, but the 240 points gives Haas 801 points. Tom Kite moved into third place with his tie for second finish with 504 points. Hale Irwin (461) is fourth and Morris Hatalsky (444) is fifth.

Haas 7-under-par 65 tied the tournament record set by Joe Inman in 2003 and later matched by Tom Kite (2003) and Bob Gilder (2004).

Haas becomes the third winner in four-year history of the event to come from behind in the final round. The lone exception was last year when Jim Thorpe was tied with Wayne Levin after 36 holes.

Haas certainly enjoys playing in Texas. Sunday’s win was his fifth in the state. In addition to Sunday’s victory, Haas has won three times in San Antonio, including two victories on the PGA TOUR. He also owns a win in Houston on the PGA TOUR.

Haas needed just 21 putts on Sunday and had just 77 for the week, the fewest by any player. He birdied all four par-3 holes on Sunday.

Mark James posted his best finish of his brief 2006 Champions Tour season, finishing tied for second along with Tom Kite. It comes just one week after he was tied for 13th at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in Savannah. He broke a tournament course record when he closed with a 64 on Sunday.

It was a solid week for the Champions Tour’s three Austin residents. Tom Kite had the best effort, a tie for second, but Tom Jenkins was fifth and Ben Crenshaw narrowly missed a second top-10 finish when he finished tied for 11th.

Kite nearly made history. If he had won the tournament, he would have won the 800th Champions Tour event. Earlier in his Champions Tour career he won both the 600th and 700th tournaments.

Overall, the field averaged 73.365, the fourth straight year the field had finished with an over-par average. The average score was 74.013 in 2005, 72.729 in 2004 and 73.438 in 2003.

After three rounds, hole No. 9 emerged as the most difficult on the Champions Tour so far in 2006. The field averaged 4.498 (+.498) for the week. There were just 12 birdies, while the hole yielded 80 bogeys, 19 double bogeys and three triple+ bogeys. The second most difficult was No. 16 and the 3.279 (+.279) makes it the 13th most difficult.

R.W. Eaks withdrew prior to the start of Sunday’s round with a back injury.

Pat McGowan posted his best finish on the Champions Tour, a tie for 11th. After an opening-round 74, McGown shot 69-70 on the weekend.

Rookie David Edwards posted three straight sub-par rounds and finished fourth in his Champions Tour debut, earning $96,000.