Jay Don Blake beats Mark O'Meara in playoffs, takes the Boeing Classic title home
Jay Don Blake and Mark O'Meara tied for the third position, standing on the first tee of the Boeing Classic, on Sunday. At the end of the day, they shared the top spot on the leaderboard.
As a result, both the players entered the sudden-death playoffs, where Blake outshined his opponent with a birdie on the second extra hole.
Blake posted five birdies against a lone bogey on 18 holes in regulation. On the first extra hole, his putt for a birdie lipped out of the hole and he settled for a par.
"I've got my hand out of my pocket waiting to shake his hand is what I was kind of doing," Blake said. "I didn't expect him to miss it”.
However, O'Meara also missed the cup to the right and Blake received another chance to beat his opponent on the second extra hole.
"I wasn't calm. I was churning inside quite a bit," said Blake, who finally won the event after playing the 18th hole for the third time on Sunday.
In the meantime, O’Meara seemed disappointed with his performance in the final moments of the day. It was his fourth second-place finish since his last Champions Tour victory – the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship.
"I would say that it's been disappointing to finish second this many times out here on the Champions Tour," O'Meara said. "I take pride in my wins on the regular tour and the way I performed in the majors. Not to close the deal, it's a little bit frustrating”.
Besides that, he was happy with the way he played in the past few weeks, especially when it was only the third event after he came back from his rib injury.
O’Meara spent almost four months out of the course and also missed the Masters Tournament and the Open Championship.
Therefore, he believes that he is moving in the right direction, which will lead him to the third victory on the Champions Tour, soon. It was the fourth time in the last eight years that the winner was decided in the playoffs.
Willie Wood, the winner of last week’s d**k's Sporting Goods Open, posted a nine-under par tournament score and held the third spot.
Michael Allen and the defending champion Mark Calcavecchia shared the fourth spot at an eight-under par score.
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