Doug Barron closed with three straight birdies — the last one coming after he hit into a pair of bunkers — to cap a final charge up the leaderboard and stun the field Sunday, winning the PGA Tour Champions’ Pure Insurance Championship in Monterrey, Calif.
Barron, who began the day four strokes off the lead and tied for sixth, carded a 6-under-par 66 in the final round and finished at 12-under 204 for the tournament. Fiji’s Vijay Singh finished second, one stroke back at 11 under after a final-round 69.
The $2.4 million event used both the Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill par-72 courses for Friday and Saturday. Only Pebble Beach was played on Sunday.
Sitting at 11 under heading to par-5 18, Barron hit his tee shot into a bunker to the right of the fairway. From there, he sent his ball down the fairway but to the left edge, where his ball bounced straight left and into another fairway bunker.
His third shot then landed pin-high on the green, bounced to the back of the green and rolled back a bit toward the hole. With the hole placed near the back of the green, Barron tapped his ball and let it run down the hill, finding the left edge of the cup before slowly falling in.
Barron pumped his fist repeatedly and gave out a yell after making what turned out to be the tournament-winning putt.
“The nerves got me off the tee, I (hit the ball right),” Barron said after the tournament about 18. “I was just chipping driver (out of the first bunker), I wasn’t worried about getting in trouble … but the second shot bothered me because I hit it in the bunker (again).
“But I told my caddie, I said I’m just going to play a really thin shot, but the air’s heavy and the ball’s not going anywhere, and if I got to the back of the green, I’m fine with that. … Our goal all week, just get a putt somehow, and it was cool.”
Barron dedicated the win to his father, who died in January and played in the Monterrey Peninsula for years, he said.
The win is fourth of the 56-year-old Barron’s career and his first this season.
New Zealand’s Steven Alker, tied for the 36-hole lead entering the day, shot an even-par 72 and finished tied for third at 10 under. South Africa’s Retief Goosen also finished at 10-uner 206 after shooting the low round of the tournament, a 7-under 65.
A quartet of golfers rounded at the top five tied at 8-under 208: Justin Leonard (70 on Sunday), Fred Couples (70), Y.E. Yang of South Korea (70) and Stewart Cink (72).
Canadian Mike Weir, tied for the lead with Alker after two rounds, shot a 3-over 75 on Sunday to finish tied for ninth at 209.
–Field Level Media
