Grizzled Mark Calcavecchia bags the Boeing Classic title on Champions Tour
1989 Open Championship winner, Mark Calcavecchia has a lot more golf left in him than any of the fellow players of his age group. The 51-year-old Calavecchia pulled in an amazing final round on Sunday, August 28, to lift the Boeing Classic on the Champions
Tour on the first Playoff hole.
The burly American, who has won 13 times on the PGA Tour and has a whooping 27 professional victories in his career, carded five birdies on the front nine and dropped just one shot at par-five, 8th before making the turn.
While the closing competitor, Russ Cochran, pulled in a final-hole 12-foot eagle to force Playoff, Calavecchia knew he needed loads of good fortune to avoid another meltdown he has experienced so often in his career. Cochran heavily leaned on Calavecchia’s
tendency to throw away the match on the final holes, something which never happened.
“At times (Calcavecchia) could come to a situation that may irritate him or bother him a little bit or throw him off a little bit,” Cochran said. “He never had that today.”
The duo has been locked into a fierce battle since the start of the season where Cochran defeated Calcavecchia in the Senior British Open by two shots at the start of the year.
“I think this will help me down the road. I have let a few tournaments, let a lot of tournaments get away my whole career. I kind of have that fault,” said Calcavecchia. “It's not that I'm not tough, but I don't always play so well the back nine when I need
to.”
Both shot final round scores of seven-under, 65 on the final day to post the lowest rounds of the three-day event. Calcavecchia two-putted the first Playoff hole while Cochran stumbled with a green side bunker of the treacherous 18thand later
shot beyond the pin to land in the rough, thus dropping a shot.
Calcavecchia collected a winner’s share of $285,000 out of the total purse of $2-million. This was his first victory on the Champions Tour in his 30 starts and four years after his last victory on the PGA Tour at 2007 PODS Championship.
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