Jeff Maggert won the Charles Schwab Cup—for Scott McCarron.
Maggert holed out from 123yards for an eagle to beat Retief Goosen of South Africa on the third playoff hole and win the PGA Champions Tour’s Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club www.phoenixcountryclub.com in Phoenix, Ariz.
Had Goosen won the playoff, and he missed a four-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole that would have done the trick, he would have won the Schwab Cup and the $1-million prize that goes with it.
Instead, all that money went to McCarron.
“I heard a roar and I knew Goosen was already on the green, so I figured Maggert had made it,” said the 54-year-old McCarron, from Sacramento and UCLA. “And sure enough, he did. Are you kidding me?
“ … I was very fortunate to have a good stretch early in the year. I didn’t play great in the playoffs, but it was good enough.”
McCarron (pictured left), who captured the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, the Insperity Invitational and the MasterCard Championship and 14 top-10 finishes to build his lead in the Charles Schwab Cup point standings, never really got going in the three playoff events.
His tie for 27th in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, which included only a 36-player field, followed a tie for 17th in the opening Dominion Energy Charity Classic and a tie for 43rd in the Invesco QQQ Championship at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.
Jerry Kelly was second in the final point standings, followed by Goosen, five-time Cup winner Bernhard Langer of Germany and Colin Montgomerie of Scotland.
Maggert (pictured right), who has six titles on the PGA Tour Champions but won for the first time in 97 starts since 2015 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, led much of the way, but had to make a birdie on the final hole of regulation to cap a bogey-free, 5-under-par 66 and tie Goosen at 21-under 263.
“I’ve seen it happen … I never, ever thought it would happen to me,” said Maggert, who won three times on the PGA Tour. “Retief was in there pretty close and I was just trying to hit it in there and give myself a chance.
“ … (McCarron) owes me some red wine or something. Congrats to Scott. He played some great golf this year. Hats off to him.”
Goosen, a two-time U.S. Open champion whose only PGA Tour Champions victory was another major—the 2019 Bridgestone Senior Players Championship—birdied three of the last four holes of regulation to cap a 64.
Woody Austin, who finished sixth in the point standings, carded a second straight 64 and was two strokes back in third, while Montgomerie eagled the last hole for a 65 and was five behind in a tie for fourth with Langer, who aced the eighth hole in a 67, Joe Durant, who totaled 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain, who wound up at 70.
Kevin Sutherland of Sacramento and Fresno State carded a 68 and was one more down in a tie for eighth with Marco Dawson, who had a 68, while Kelly birdied four holes on the back nine to shoot 66 and finished seven shots behind in a tie for 10th with Paul Goydos of Coto de Caza and Long Beach State, who came in at 67.
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