By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Pernice wins Champions Tour playoff
Placeholder Image

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Tom Pernice Jr. won the Champions Tour’s season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Sunday, beating Jay Haas with a birdie on the fourth hole of a playoff.

The 55-year-old Pernice got up-and-down from the left bunker on the par-5 18th, holing a 6-foot putt after Haas made a 12-footer for par.

“I just said, ‘He’s going to make it, so you need to be prepared to play it on the right edge. And it rolled right in,” Pernice said. “It was pretty scrappy. I hung in there. Short game is part of it as well and my short game held up and carried me through.”

Pernice closed with a 3-under 67 — also making a 6-foot birdie putt on 18 — to match Haas at 11-under 269 on Desert Mountain’s Cochise Course. The 60-year-old Haas had a 66.

“Jay and I have become good friends,” Pernice said. “I’ve gone back and played in his charity event in Greenville. I hate for anybody to lose.”

Pernice earned $440,000 in the event limited to the top 30 on the money list. He also won a playoff in Iowa in June and has four career victories on the 50-and-over tour after winning twice on the PGA Tour.

“I was just thinking last night, it’s such a privilege to be able to be out here, first and foremost, to be out here playing with Freddie Couples and Jay Haas and Kenny Perry and Bernhard Langer and Hale Irwin and Tom Watson,” Pernice said. “To be able to do that and compete and do what we do at our age is pretty amazing that this is here for us.”

Haas had birdie chances to win on the second and third playoff holes, but missed both to the right.