Haas wins for 17th time on Champions Tour
Jay Haas became the 18th player to win a Champions Tour at 60 or older, closing with a 5-under 66 Sunday for a two-stroke victory in the Greater Hickory Kia Classic.
The 60-year-old former Wake Forest player has 17 victories on the 50-and-over tour after winning nine times on the PGA Tour. He also won the event in 2005 and 2009.
“Sixty is some sort of benchmark, not that many guys have done that,” Haas said. “It’s just a number, I guess. I still like feel I’m capable, especially after this weekend, and it certainly gives me some confidence for the last couple events and into next year. Hopefully, I won’t completely fall off the map when I turn 61 in December.”
Haas extended his streak of under-par rounds to 23 and finished at 17-under 196 on Rock Barn Golf and Spa’s Champions Course. He ended a 27-month, 49-event winless streak since June 2012.
Players 60 and older have won 22 events on the tour, with Hale Irwin accomplishing the feat three times and Tom Watson and Jimmy Powell doing it twice each. Mike Fetchick is the oldest winner at 63 years in the 1985 Hilton Head Seniors Invitational.
Joe Durant and Kirk Triplett tied for second. Durant and Triplett, the winner last week in Cary, shot 66.
Haas began the round with a two-stroke lead over Durant, Triplett and David Frost. Durant who joined the Champions Tour in April birdied five of the first six holes to tie Haas for the lead.
Baek wins LPGA event: Kyu Jung Baek won the LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship in her first tour start, beating fellow South Korean player In Gee Chun and American Brittany Lincicome with a 4-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff.
The 19-year-old Baek made the winning putt after Lincicome missed her birdie try from 4 1/2 feet. Chun hit her third shot into the greenside water hazard on the par-5 hole.
Baek finished with a 5-under 67 to match Lincicome and Chun at 10 under on Sky 72’s Ocean Course. Lincicome and Chun each shot 66. Second-ranked Inbee Park was a stroke back after a 67.
Ilonen world match play champion: Finland’s Mikko Ilonen beat top-seeded Henrik Stenson of Sweden 3 and 1 to win the World Match Play Championship. Ilonen also won the Irish Open this year and has five European Tour titles.
Wheatcroft tied for 63rd: Steve Wheatcroft finished at 4-under and was tied for 63rd in the Shriners Hospital for Childrens Open in Las Vegas. Ben Martin finished with a 2-stroke victory.