Golf Capsules: Mahan grabs lead, then hangs on at Bridgestone
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — On a day when the two biggest names in golf played like weekend hackers, Hunter Mahan grabbed the lead midway through the final round of the Bridgestone Invitational and refused to let go.
Mahan shot a 6-under 64 on Sunday and made several huge swings down the stretch to hold off Ryan Palmer by two strokes for his third career win and a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
"I was nervous," said Mahan, a 28-year-old player who took the lead for good with his second straight birdie at the ninth hole. "I wanted it so bad and I was playing so good. I just didn't want to make any bogeys. I didn't want to give them any momentum out there."
From there he played carefully but not conservatively, putting up eight pars and a birdie at the 13th hole.
At the par-5 16th, the signature "Monster" hole at Firestone Country Club, he hit a 5-wood second shot instead of laying up short of the large lake which fronts the green. He didn't think it was much of a gamble.
"The thing was, there was no out of bounds anywhere — that we could see," he said with a laugh. "The only place you couldn't hit it was short, obviously. There's just not a bad spot to be except exactly where I hit it."
Mahan's shot slid right of the green near a flower bed, and was stopped by a bush. He received a free drop, chipped onto the green, lagged a 60-foot putt to 2 feet and then tapped in for par. Two more pars left him at 12-under 268 and capped a huge comeback from a seven-shot deficit after the opening round. He played the final 27 holes in 10 under, without a bogey.
"To win is ... the best feeling in the world," he said. "To do it when you have to, when you're kind of behind and you need to do something special and do it when you need it, to make putts like I needed to, it feels great."
The $1.4 million check will go a long way toward a nice honeymoon when he and girlfriend Kandi Harris, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, get married in January.
Despite Mahan's flawless play on Sunday, the tournament might be remembered for the failures of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Woods, a seven-time winner of the Bridgestone, had the worst tournament of his pro career, closing out a dreadful week with a 77 that left him at 298 and tied for next-to-last in the 80-player field. Struggling all week with every aspect of his game, he ended up 18 over, with 25 bogeys or worse, and finished 30 strokes behind Mahan — all career worsts.
Woods, whose world has turned upside down after revelations of marital infidelity, said he wasn't surprised by how poorly he played.
"It's been a long year," he said simply.
With Woods struggling, Mickelson could have moved up a spot to become No. 1 in the world rankings. Instead, he also had an abysmal round, shooting a 78.
"You're only as good as your last performance," Mickelson said after falling from a tie for 10th place all the way to a tie for 46th. "This wasn't very good."
Meanwhile, others did well on a long course which should provide a good snapshot of what it'll be like next week at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
Palmer, tied with Sean O'Hair for the lead at the start of the final round, played the front side in 1 over. He birdied the next two holes and then parred out — never able to quite catch up with Mahan.
"It was a good day; I can't be disappointed," said Palmer, who had missed the cut in 10 of 12 events before the Bridgestone. "I finished second in a World Golf Championship and I played good today, being under the gun like I was. You've got to hand it to Hunter Mahan. He went out and did what I expected somebody to do and shot a low round. I didn't lose the golf tournament."
Retief Goosen (65) and Bo Van Pelt (67) shared third at 271. O'Hair's closing 71 left him at 272. Jim Furyk, whose third shot to the green at the 16th hit the pin and ricocheted back into the water, had a 64 and shared sixth with Jeff Overton (69).
Amid all the wreckage left behind by Woods and Mickelson, Mahan stamped himself as one of the top young Americans in the game. He said a win like the Bridgestone changes everything.
"To win anytime on the PGA Tour is great, but an event like this, 80 of the best players in the world, this is something special," he said. "All the players all over the world come here to play, and it's definitely the best win of my career, for sure."
Then, nodding to the unique Wedgewood urn that goes to the winner, he added, "And it's probably the coolest trophy we get, too."
It'll make a nice wedding present.
On Golf: Woods at his worst going to final major
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Tiger Woods has never looked worse.
As he has done so often on Sunday at the Bridgestone Invitational, Woods doffed his cap as he walked up toward the 18th green to warm applause from fans who occupied every seat in the grandstand.
Only there was no trophy waiting for him. This sounded more like a sympathy cheer.
The world's No. 1 player looked utterly beaten, and he was.
"Shooting 18-over par is not fun," Woods said. "I don't see how it can be fun shooting 18 over."
He missed one last birdie putt to close with a 77. That gave Woods the highest 72-hole score — 298 — of any PGA Tour event he ever played, even as an amateur. It was the first time he shot over par in all four rounds since the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill.
This from a guy who had never finished worse than fifth at Firestone in 11 previous events, who had not shot over par on the South Course since 2006, who last year made PGA Tour history by winning for the seventh time on the same course.
The numbers associated with Woods always have been staggering, now more than ever.
His 298 was 39 shots higher than the record score he shot 10 years ago at Firestone. He tied for 78th, the highest finish of his PGA Tour career. Only Henrik Stenson (20-over 300) kept Woods from finishing dead last. He set a career low by making bogey or worse on 25 of the 72 holes.
No one expected him to dominate as he did before revelations of his sexual escapades in November.
No one could have imagined this.
"He's just not the regular Tiger we're used to seeing," said Anthony Kim, who played his first tournament in three months after thumb surgery and beat Woods by two shots. "He's obviously had a lot of stuff going on, and he's dealing with that, and that's obviously more important than golf. Because I think golf is an easy thing to do once your personal life is straightened out. And I'm sure it's going to happen soon for him."
How soon?
Not even Woods knows. Perhaps more troubling for him — and the PGA Tour — is he doesn't know how much longer he can play this year. With two tournaments remaining before the FedEx Cup playoffs get under way, Woods is not guaranteed of being in the top 125 to get into the opening event at The Barclays.
CBS Sports, which televises the most weekends on the tour, has not had Woods live on Sunday since the Memorial two months ago.
Woods will slip further down the Ryder Cup standings, and the question is no longer whether he would play as a captain's pick. The question is whether U.S. captain Corey Pavin should even pick him.
He looks like any other player out there. Just watching the shots he hits, someone could question what he's doing on the PGA Tour.
On the par-3 seventh, Woods got the club stuck behind him and caught the ball so fat that he came up 25 yards short, barely getting into the bunker. Worse yet was the 14th. He came up just short into the collar of the rough, about 45 feet short, leaving him a straightforward chip. Woods knocked it 12 feet by the flag, just off the green, putted 5 feet by the hole and took double bogey.
Even in the best of times, Woods has hit bad shots. Everyone does.
But this was amateur stuff.
Pavin might be doing him a disservice to put him on the Ryder Cup team and expose him at an event where players have to be sharp in their thinking and the shots they play.
Woods began the week by saying he intended to qualify for the Ryder Cup team. Asked if he even wanted to play, Woods replied with a stoic look, "Not playing like this, definitely not.
"I wouldn't help the team if I'm playing like this," he said. "No one would help the team if they're shooting 18-over par."
Would he pick himself if he were captain?
Woods isn't ruling himself out, saying there is a lot of time between now and the Ryder Cup on Oct. 1-3 in Wales. That starts Thursday with the PGA Championship. Does it end there, too? Because if Woods plays at Whistling Straits the way he did at Firestone, he won't be around for the weekend and might not be eligible for a PGA Tour event — unless he plays Greensboro — until the Ryder Cup.
His mood has not been that dour despite the low scores. He worked hard on his swing on the practice range Sunday morning, constantly rehearsing and exaggerating some moves to get the club where he wanted it. And he smiled and chatted with Kim throughout the round.
Toward the end, however, Woods looked resigned. There was only so much he could take.
The double bogey at 14. Then came a tee shot on the par-3 15th so far right that it hit a spectator. The loudest cheer Woods got all day was signing his glove and giving it to the man, and then he tossed him the ball after making bogey.
On the 16th, Woods didn't finish his swing as the ball sailed into the trees. He hit a tree on his next shot, which went 20 yards. From 261 yards out, he tries to slice a 3-wood out of the forest, back toward the green and over the water. It was vintage Woods, the gallery stunned by the flight of the ball, cheering in anticipation as it neared the green.
Splash!
It came up a few yards short. Another double bogey.
It was strange to see Woods playing the eighth hole, and realizing the entire back nine at Firestone was empty. He was in the second group off for the final round. As he lined up his putt on the 18th, a volunteer came over to her colleagues to hand out lunch vouchers.
By lunchtime, Woods was on his way to the airport for a quick flight to Wisconsin, where he planned to play Whistling Straits.
"I could probably play 18 and still watch the guys finish (the Bridgestone Invitational)," he said with a smile.
Woods felt as though he were making baby steps. His driving was the best it had been all year at Aronimink and St. Andrews, only for his putter to let him down. This week, nothing worked.
Woods said he was not surprised.
"It's been a long year," he said, looking and sounding like a player who has lost his direction.
Doug Ferguson covers golf for The Associated Press.
Sergio Garcia to take 2-month break after PGA
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Faced with choosing between the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs on the PGA Tour or the final Ryder Cup qualifying event on the European Tour, Sergio Garcia reached a surprising decision.
He's not playing either.
Garcia said Sunday he plans to take a two-month break after the PGA Championship next week, not returning to competition until the end of October at the Castellon Masters on his home course in Spain.
"It's been a long year," Garcia said after a 70 in the Bridgestone Invitational. "I haven't had a nice, long break my whole career."
The only event that could get in the way of that break is the Ryder Cup.
Getting on the team would seem to be a long shot.
Garcia, who has not won in nearly two years, likely would have to finish among the three in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits to have any chance of qualifying for the team on the European points list, which is based on tour earnings. Otherwise, he would need captain Colin Montgomerie to use one of his three wild-card picks on him.
"I've talked to him," Garcia said. "He knows what I'm planning to do."
The 30-year-old Spaniard has competed on every Ryder Cup team since he was a 19-year-old at Brookline in 1999. Garcia has a career record of 14-6-4 in the Ryder Cup, and he has never lost a foursomes match.
This year, however, has left Montgomerie with Europe's strongest collection of players ever. The group in the running for the three picks could include Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose, Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer.
Garcia didn't seem bothered. He has played only 17 times this year, with his best finish losing in the semifinals of the Match Play Championship in Arizona at the start of the year.
"I need the break," Garcia said. "I need to miss the game a little bit."
The only other tournament he has planned this year is the Australian Masters in Melbourne in November.
Adam Scott recalls a few years ago when he felt as though he was getting nowhere and needed a break. Told of Garcia's decision, he thought it was a good move.
"It's so hard not to play when you're a competitor because that's what you've done your whole life," Scott said. "Good for Sergio. We have a 30-year career out here. Two months is not much time at all."
-- Doug Ferguson
Notebook: Mickelson fumbles shot at being No. 1
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — It could have been a coronation. Instead, it was a disappointment.
The world No. 1 ranking was there for the taking. All Phil Mickelson had to do was finish in the top four at the Bridgestone Invitational.
But as has been the case for the past few months when a win or a strong finish would have gotten him past a faltering Tiger Woods and into the top spot, Mickelson couldn't do it.
"It was a rough day," Mickelson said after an ugly 78 in Sunday's final round. "I felt pretty good today. I felt good on the range, I hit some good shots. I felt like I was sharp and ready to go attack the golf course and make some birdies. And it just didn't happen."
Mickelson was tied for 10th heading into Sunday. But seven bogeys and a double-bogey (and one lonely birdie) left him at 3-over 283 and tied for 46th instead.
"I don't know what to say," Mickelson said
Meanwhile, Woods had the most dreadful tournament of his professional career. His final-round 77 left him at 18-over par — his worst showing ever over 72 holes in relation to par. He beat out only one player in the 80-player field, posting his worst finish ever in a four-round tournament by ending up in a tie for 78th.
Ireland's Padraig Harrington is one of a number of players lurking behind the second-ranked Mickelson and third-ranked (but injured) Lee Westwood. He has his own opinion of the pecking order.
"Lee Westwood is the most consistent player in the world. Phil is playing the best golf in the world when he plays well. And Tiger is the best player in the world," Harrington said. "That kind of sums it up."
Woods' lost weekend opened the door for Mickelson to take over the No. 1 spot in the world. But he fumbled the chance.
He said he was frustrated that he hasn't taken over No. 1 even though Woods has been stuck in neutral (or worse) all year.
"If I keep finishing ahead of him every week eventually it'll happen, but the problem is there's guys behind me that will pass me because I'm not playing well enough right now," Mickelson said. "I've got some work to do to get my own game sharp."
NO LUCK FOR FURYK: Perhaps the best shot of the final round of the Bridgestone Invitational was also the unluckiest.
Jim Furyk came to Firestone's 16th hole, the famed 667-yard "Monster," challenging for the lead.
"I had some momentum going and was pretty much thinking birdie," Furyk said. "I'm trying to birdie every hole on the way in, trying to make it interesting."
So he followed a 350-yard drive by laying up in front of the large lake fronting the green. Then he pulled out a lob wedge that zeroed in on the hole from the moment of contact.
"I hit it well. One thing, I was hoping it wasn't going to spin too much that I knew it was going to be on the green and I was going to have a good look, I thought, for birdie," he said. "It really had a chance to be close, and of course I flew it in."
Only one problem: The ball hit the pin and ricocheted back toward him, trickling into the lake.
"(It was) just disappointing. I knew that if I could get it to 9 under early, maybe I could put some heat on," Furyk said. "It kind of took any hope of that happening away."
After taking a drop, he hit a shot to 7 feet and made the putt for bogey.
He handled the devastating turn of events far better than most would.
"It happens," he said. "It's disappointing, but there's nothing you can do about it. I've always been able to accept things when I've hit good shots. When I've done all I could, when I hit a good putt and it didn't go in, or I hit a good shot and it turned out bad, I can kind of accept that."
He birdied the final hole for a 6-under 64 that left him at 7-under 273 and tied for sixth.
"The things I've beat myself up over in my career are when I've hit poor shots or haven't done the right things or haven't made a good stroke," he said. "When you lose tournaments that way, it lingers with you. But I did all I could today."
TOGETHER AGAIN: Two of the biggest names near the top of the leaderboard after three rounds of the Bridgestone were Ernie Els and Justin Leonard. They were tied for fourth.
Things didn't turn out well in the final round for either.
Els had a triple-bogey on the ninth hole and shot a 76. Leonard mustered just one birdie and also shot a 76. They ended up tied, again, for 22nd.
BOUNCE BACK: One well-known player who did not have a final-round meltdown was Retief Goosen. The South African's closing 65 left him tied for third at 271.
It was his eighth top-10 finish on the PGA Tour this year, best along with Matt Kuchar (who tied for ninth).
Goosen led through 36 holes before struggling to a 73 on Saturday.
"That's why I have a top 10 and not a win, because I had one bad round in four," he said. "If I could put four rounds together, I'd have a chance."
Goosen said he was traveling to Wisconsin on Sunday night and would be at Whistling Straits early Monday morning to begin preparations for next week's PGA Championship. He was injured and did not play in 2004, the only previous time the course hosted the PGA.
FAST FINISH: Bo Van Pelt closed with a rush at the Bridgestone.
After double-bogeying the ninth hole in third round, he was just 2 under for the tournament. Over the final nine holes on Saturday and the final round, he was 7 under, with nine birdies and two bogeys.
"I fought pretty hard the last 27 to give myself a chance," he said after finishing off a 67 that left him tied for third. "I'll try to concentrate on the positives. I'll be a little ticked off for about 30 minutes and then go kiss my kids and forget all about it."
PLAYING THE ODDS: Padraig Harrington will be keeping an eye on who the oddsmakers select as the player to beat at this week's PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
"Since the bookies normally get it right, I'd like to see who's favored," he said. "Players know nothing. Those bookies know everything. They have to draw that line absolutely perfect, so I'll be interested to see where they draw that line next week because they get it right all the time.
DIVOTS: Ryan Palmer hit a 402-yard drive on the par-5 16th hole. ... Adam Scott holed out for eagle from 166 yards on the fourth hole, rated the hardest hole on the course. ... Winner Hunter Mahan received a free drop from flowers near the 16th green, and was able to save par. ... J.B. Holmes averaged 332 yards on his eight measured drives during the tournament. ... The only previous time before Sunday that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson each shot 77 or higher in the same round as pros was the third round of the 1998 British Open. Woods had a 77 and Mickelson an 85.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Padraig Harrington, on the world's No. 1 player's troubles: "It'd be a very naive and and a very foolish man to write Tiger Woods off."
-- Rusty Miller
PGA
Lunde rallies to win Turning Stone Championship
VERONA, N.Y. (AP) — Less than five years after Bill Lunde quit competitive golf, he earned a spot in next week's PGA Championship by winning the Turning Stone Resort Championship on Sunday.
Lunde shot 6-under 66 and rallied for the come-from-behind victory with a 17-under 271 total on the 7,482-yard Atunyote Golf Club layout. He earned $720,000, a PGA Tour exemption through the end of 2012 and 250 FedEx Cup points for his first PGA Tour win in 53 career starts.
"I started driving it really well, hitting it down the fairway," Lunde said. "So that kind of changed the whole game. I went from scrambling to make pars to having 9 irons that I could hit close.
"All these guys out here, you're never far from playing good. You can sit here and say, 'I'm playing awful, I don't know how I'm going to break 80 today,' but you're never that far off."
J.J. Henry finished runner-up at 16 under after he tied the course record with a 63. Jerry Kelly, Josh Teater, Michael Sim, Billy Mayfair and Alex Cejka tied for third place at 15 under. Cejka was the leader after the second and third rounds, but closed with an even-par 72.
Lunde made the weekend cut by one stroke at 3 under and vaulted into contention with a 64 on Saturday. He still trailed Cejka by four shots heading into the final round. Lunde climbed to the top of Sunday's leaderboard with six birdies and a 30 on the front side. He first reached 17 under with a birdie at No. 9.
Lunde lost a stroke on the par-3 11th where he couldn't get up-and-down from a greenside bunker. He remained stuck at 16 under until the par-3 16th. Lunde's 6-iron from 177 yards stopped 4 feet from the pin and he made the short birdie putt to take the lead for good. He parred the last two holes to clinch the win.
None of the success seemed possible to Lunde in 2005 when he stopped playing after a tough year on the Nationwide Tour. He went to the PGA's Q-School in November and didn't qualify for the second stage. He found a job in real estate in Las Vegas, but was let go and eventually found his way on to the Butch Harmon Tour.
Lunde made it back to the Nationwide Tour in 2008 and took advantage of his second chance. He won the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational that year and finished fifth on the money list, which earned him a spot on the PGA Tour in 2009.
"I tried to make an agreement with myself when I started playing again to ... if I could just have a better attitude right off the bat, I'd become a better player than I ever was before," he said. "And that was kind of my goal. Obviously it doesn't happen every day, but it's definitely better than it was and something I'll probably battle for the rest of my life. I'm just so competitive. I can't handle not playing well or bad breaks. It gets me down."
Henry's season-best round included seven birdies with no bogeys, an eagle on the par-5 12th hole and just 25 putts. Nineteen of his last 20 rounds on the PGA Tour have been at or below par. He has been runner-up five times on the PGA Tour and his lone victory was in 2006 at the Buick Championship.
"I knew I was going to hit the ball well," Henry said. "I just wanted to try to make some putts, and I hit a lot of good shots, made a lot of tap-ins. I'm not here to say I should've shot lower, but I missed it from six or eight feet on 18, so that might have been something that you never know."
Cejka was searching for his first PGA Tour win in his 228th career start. He started Sunday at 15 under and parred the first five holes. He ran into trouble on the par-3 sixth as his tee shot landed next to a tree right of the green and he made bogey.
Things got worse on the next hole as Cejka's drive ended up in some tall weeds right of the fairway. He punched out a few yards into the rough, missed the green with his third shot and made double bogey to drop to 12 under.
Cejka came right back and birdied the par-5 eighth hole and still had the back nine ahead of him. He played the last nine holes a combined 12-under par the first three rounds. It seemed like he would find magic again as he birdied Nos. 10 through 12 to get to 16 under.
After a par at the tough par-4 13th, disaster struck for Cejka. His tee shot on No. 14 found the creek that runs along the left side of the fairway, and he made bogey. He parred the last four holes to finish at 15 under -- right where he started the day.
"I just said, 'one more birdie,' and then I just hit it in the water," Cejka said. "A bogey under those circumstances really cost me. But if I don't make bogey there, I had great chances on 15 and 16. Maybe it would be different on 18 if I was 16 under or 17 under at the start, but that's the way it is.".
Divots: Lunde's previous best finish was a tie for fourth at last year's Frys.com Open. He was a member of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas golf team that won a NCAA Division I title in 1998. ... Lunde is the 12th first-time winner on the PGA Tour this year. ... Lunde's 73 in the first round is the highest start by a winner on the PGA Tour this season. ... Jonathan Byrd, who tied for 10th place, also tied the course record with a 63 earlier Sunday. Charles Warren and Chris Couch did it Saturday, and Peter Lonard was the first to hit the mark in the final round at last year's tournament. ... Nicholas Thompson (T33) shot the first 29 on the back nine at Atunyote Golf Club in tournament history.
Montgomerie considers picking Langer for Ryder Cup
NEWPORT, Wales (AP) — Europe captain Colin Montgomerie is considering handing a Ryder Cup wild card to Bernhard Langer, even though the German is now on the Champions Tour.
The 53-year-old Langer played the last of his 10 Ryder Cups at The Belfry in 2002.
In the last three weeks he has won both the Senior British Open and the U.S. Senior Open. Montgomerie believes his vast Cup experience could be invaluable to a Europe team that might include at least four rookies.
"I would not rule out picking Bernhard," Montgomerie said. "I'm not ruling out anybody, especially someone who has performed to that degree and is in the form of his life."
Langer said Sunday at the 3M Championship in suburban Minneapolis: "If he wants me on the team I would definitely consider it, yes."
Montgomerie said to win the Senior British at Carnoustie, then travel eight time zones and beat local favorite Fred Couples at the U.S. Senior in Seattle was no mean feat.
"He (Langer) said afterward that he used everything he had learned in the Ryder Cup to overcome a very vocal home support, and I think it wouldn't be such a dramatic move to have someone of that age and that experience in the team," he said.
"It wouldn't be such an out-of-the-blue pick. I think he's playing as well as he ever has and he's said he is. And I know through having played with Bernhard Langer that he is as good a partner as anyone could ever have."
Montgomerie has another month before he has to pick his team to play the United States in Wales on Oct. 1-3, and he may have an experience gap that could be filled by Langer.
Langer used the same logic when he added Montgomerie to the 2004 squad he captained.
"He was borderline," Langer said, "but I felt he brought a lot of experience and the right spirit into the team room, and he played well."
Montgomerie might not have the services of European No. 1 and world No. 3 Lee Westwood, who pulled out of the Bridgestone Invitational after two rounds Friday with a calf injury. The Englishman said he will need at least six weeks of rest and treatment before he can return to golf.
-- Graham Otway
Woods to play in HSBC championship in Shanghai
LONDON (AP) — Tiger Woods will play in the HSBC championship in Shanghai in November.
It will be Woods' fourth visit to the Sheshan International Golf Club. He was the runner-up in 2005 and 2006, and then finished sixth last year behind winner Phil Mickelson.
Woods confirmed in a statement through his sponsors on Monday that he would play in the World Golf Championship event from Nov. 4-7.
He says the tournament "will play a very significant role in developing the game of golf in Asia and around the globe."
Although the event was originally devised for tournament winners, Woods has yet to record a tour victory in 2010. The world's No. 1 player qualifies by being ranked inside the top 25.
Mickelson has confirmed he will be returning to defend his title.
Champions
Frost shoots 61 to win the 3M Championship
BLAINE, Minn. (AP) — Midway through his final round, the only question was if David Frost could set a 3M Championship scoring record.
He did so with his final stroke.
Frost made a 25-foot putt for eagle on the 18th hole to finish an 11-under 61 on Sunday and win the title in record-setting fashion.
"The hole got in the way, I guess, but it was really a nice way to cap it off," he said.
It is the first career Champions Tour win for Frost, whose 25-under 191 was two shots better than the previous tournament scoring record set by R.W. Eaks in 2008. His final-round score beat by one the tournament's previous lowest round set by Dana Quigley in 2008.
Frost also tied the tour scoring record for a 54-hole tournament. His 191 total tied Bruce Fleisher's mark at the 2002 Vantage Championship and matched by Loren Roberts at the 2006 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai and Bernhard Langer at the 2007 Administaff Small Business Classic. Roberts and Langer were 25 under; Fleisher was 19 under on a par-70 course.
"Twenty-five under? That's ridiculous. This course ain't that easy," said Mark Calcavecchia, who was tied with Frost for the 36-hole lead, but finished five shots behind in second after a 4 under 68 at the TPC Twin Cities.
Frost shot a 7-under 29 on the front side to pull away from the field. He birdied the first two holes and eagled the par-5 third, knocking a 3-wood from 255 yards to about 3 feet from the hole.
"I would say he was 110 percent your deserved winner," said Calcavecchia, dripping in sweat after a round played in hot and humid conditions with little wind. The heat index was at or above 100 degrees for much of the round.
After birdies at Nos. 6 and 7, Frost made an 8-footer on the ninth hole, the toughest on the course, to get to minus-21. He also birdied the first two holes on the back nine.
Calcavecchia birdied No. 3 but bogeyed the next two holes to fall five shots back.
That left Frost feeling pretty confident.
"I thought it was hard for him to have his momentum swing the other way, and mine swing the other way," Frost said.
For Calcavecchia, who battled clammy hands and had the club fall out of his hands three times, the final 12 holes were about grinding it out for a high finish. "I'm super thrilled with second," he said.
He wasn't alone in being satisfied with a spot up near top of leaderboard.
"The rest of us were playing for second today," said Nick Price, who shot a 64 and tied Tommy Armour III (65) and David Peoples (66) for third, eight shots behind.
Frost last won on the PGA Tour at the 1997 MasterCard Colonial when his son was with him. This weekend Frost used his son's putter — one he'd used before — and he switched to a driver that wasn't as stiff. He didn't make a bogey all week, hitting 50 of 54 greens in regulation.
"I suppose I tinker with my a game a bit too much," said Frost, who twice finished second in his 20-event Champions Tour career. He has six top-10s this year, but was 62nd at last week's U.S. Senior Open, including a final round 80.
Known as one of the game's better putters, Frost needed just 84 putts in the tournament. He did not three-putt a green.
"It's about the feel. You just want to roll the ball as softly as you can and hopefully the hole gets in the way," he said. "Some weeks it jells and some weeks it doesn't. When it doesn't jell you can't force it in. I just kept staying as loose as I could on the greens this week."
Off for the previous five weeks, Price, who is playing with a broken little toe on his right foot, was thrilled with his performance.
"I could have gone really low today, I hit the ball really super all day," he said. "There's obviously a little bit of rust here, but today on the back nine I played about as well as I've played any part of this year.
Jeff Sluman (67) and Kirk Hanefeld (68) tied for sixth, nine shots back, one better that Olin Browne (65) and John Cook (69).
Battling the flu, defending champion Bernhard Langer shot 71 in the final round to finish at 8 under. No champion has defended his title in the event's 16-year history.
Fred Funk, who finished at 9 under, aced the 186-yard fourth hole with a 5-iron.
Nationwide
Vegas wins Wichita Open
WICHITA, Kansas (AP) — Jhonattan Vegas rallied frmo six strokes down by shooting a 7-under 64 in the final round of the Wichita Open on Sunday.
Vegas finished at 20-under after making seven birdies. Last year he held a two-stroke lead going into the final round before shooting a 74 on Sunday to tie for fourth.
Roberto Castro, who was tied for the lead heading into the final round, shot a 71 and finished in second one stroke back. Colt Knost was one more stroke back.
