Haas snatches Senior Players Championship from Watson

Mike Dudurich

Posted 2009-10-04

Say it ain’t so, Tom!

What possibly could the odds be of a guy being in control of two major championships in the same calendar year, coming to the 72nd hole of each and … winning neither?

I’m guessing they’re pretty significant against something like that happening, but call Tom Watson lucky because this morning he’s now the most unhappy owner of a pair of runnerup finishes in the British Open and the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, the final major of the year on the Champions Tour.

Don’t be fooled by the Huck Finn smile on the face of the man from Kansas City. He said all the right things after missing a British-clinching putt on the 72nd hole at Turnberry in July, admitting he was disappointed, but not crushed. This was different, this was a senior event, one that a 60-year-old man is supposed to be able to win.

But Sunday was one of those days where one of the best players in the history of the game couldn’t make any birdies on the back nine --- well, ok, he made one on the 15th. He was trying to become the oldest major winner on the Champions Tour, but after making only one bogey in the first three rounds at Baltimore Country Club, he made three on the front nine Sunday.

That performance was just average enough to allow Jay Haas to hang around, the catch and go past Watson with birdies on the 17th and 18th.

“I didn’t play with the type of aggressiveness I needed to play today,” Watson said. “I played tentative golf. I made a couple of putts, but I hit some wayward shots and didn’t have a feel for the distance today.”

What was even more remarkable about what happened on a cool and breezy Baltimore afternoon was the fact that Watson started the day with a four-shot lead. One of the best front-runners of all time, Watson bogeyed the first, Haas birded the second and third and then Watson birdied the fifth to go back up by three.

But as Watson would later say, “Your lead’s not safe unless you do something and I didn’t do that something.”

That something would be birdies, in this instance. And because he couldn’t, the curtain came down on what will surely be viewed as his best and last opportunities to be called a major champion again.

But credit has to be given to Haas, who tied the course record with a final-round 64, allowing him to finish at 13-under par and give him his third senior major crown. He has 14 wins on the Champions Tour, including the Greater Hickory Classic two weeks ago.

“All day, I was right there,” Haas said. “I missed some very makeable putts on the front nine, and I was very disappointed in that. But I felt like I was going to get some more, the way I was hitting it and the way I felt today. I had a nice calm about me and Tom didn’t go nuts behind me and shoot 3 or 4 or 5 under himself.”

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About Mike...
As a sports writer for over 35 years, Mike Dudurich has seen a lot of great things, covered spectacular events, but his passion is, and has been golf. He recently ended a 29-year career at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and will now be a frequent contributor on GolfGearReview.com. Mike hosts a weekly golf radio show on 1250 ESPN in Pittsburgh from the beginning of April through the end of August. The show airs Saturdays from 8-9 a.m. and can be heard online at http://stations.espn.go.com/stations/espnradio1250/show?showId=insidepghgolf - Listen to Mike Here!.

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