Joe Daley wins the Constellation Senior Players Championship; puts 2000 lip out behind him
Joe Daley was up one stroke and in a group with a Masters champion in Fred Couples and an Open champion in Mark Calcavecchia, but it did not faze him.
He drilled his birdie putt winning by two strokes over another Open champion in Tom Lehman. A big win and his first on the Champions Tour win following in Roger Chapman’s footsteps as a relative unknown winning a major. The win meant a lot to Daley.
“It gets me in next week, which I am playing, so that’s big for me instead of going to Monday qualifying,” Daley said. “It just opens other opportunities to go out and play and prove how good I can be and compete against these guys because these guys can play. It will be a continuation of the process of more competition and playing great golf.”
Runner up Lehman however had difficulties registering four bogeys in a round of one-under 69.
“I didn’t play badly, I didn’t play great,” Lehman said. “With the conditions the way they were, being a little bit off was enough. … I three putted 13, bad mistake.”
While Lehman was not happy with his inconsistent play, he was happy that Daley came out on top.
“… I know him enough to know he’s a hard worker, he’s committed, he’s very committed and willing to pay the price,” Lehman said. “… I look at a guy like him and I say ‘well deserved’.”
Finishing in third place was Olin Browne. Browne shot a 62 on Friday for the low round of the tournament, and fired a five under par 65 which included a closing birdie on the 18th green to finish in solo third.
Browne was unable to speak to the media following his round as he had a flight that he needed to catch.
Second round leader Fred Couples, wound up in a tie for fourth place, shooting a round of one over par 71. His back issues re-emerged throughout the week and it put a damper on his chances of winning.
“There’s not much to say,” Couples said. “I did very well to finish, that’s about it. That’s just the way it is. I played. But loosening up and swinging are way different things, and I didn’t swing very much in two days. … to have a shot of winning and to shoot 70-71 is not very good.”
Also in a tie for fourth place was Mark Calcavecchia who shot a two over par 72 and frustrated himself over his play.
“It might take me a few minutes to add up all my putts,” Calcavecchia said. “I’m going to go with 35. That’s about the story of the day.”
The day though belonged to Daley who with the win went from tied in 32nd to third place in the Charles Schwab Cup Points race.
Inside the ropes:
Crossing party lines
The celebration following Daley’s victory may have been normal for fans here in Pittsburgh, but that was far from the case. When he came off of the golf course to check his score, Daley a Philadelphian through and through waved a Terrible Towel much to the approval of the Pittsburgh faithful.
“It was all good karma for me man,” Daley said. “Everybody here has been great. I root for the Pittsburgh teams when the Eagles and the Flyers aren’t doing so good, so yeah it’s all good. I’m a fellow Pennsylvanian.
‘Shark’ bitten but thankful
The fourth round was surely not what Greg Norman wanted as he had six birdies negated by a bogey and three double bogeys to shoot a one over par 71.
Both the high point and low point of the round came on the 11th hole. Coming off of a double bogey, Norman hit his second shot into a greenside bunker. Norman failed to get the ball out of the bunker on his first two tries and on his third try, he hit the shot too hard landing it from the fringe to about 30 feet. Norman then made the putt exciting the fans but the damage was already done.
“I just couldn’t get it out of the bunker, it’s as simple as that,” Norman said. “It’s just one of those things that I put it in the wrong place on the golf course and if you do that on this golf course, then you pay the price, and I did.”
Bunkers were a commonplace for Norman throughout the round, although he would not use that as an excuse.
“I have no problem with the bunkers, I wish that was my excuse, but it was poor execution,” Norman said.
Despite finishing the tournament in a tie for 53rd at five over par, Norman still was happy to come back to Pittsburgh and be around fans that cheer and support the Pittsburgh Steelers; Norman’s favorite team.
Romero a casualty of the course
The temperatures were moving upwards, and so was the final round score for Eduardo Romero.
This was due in large part to the putter of Romero. The result? A final round 79 for Romero. Only John Huston and Tony Jacklin’s rounds of 81 were higher.
“I’m playing well but putting terribly,” Romero said. “… The greens were very challenging today.”
Despite this, Romero “took responsibility” for the round and hopes to come back and play the tournament at Fox Chapel next year. For him though, it’s “onto next week”.
Bryant, Wiebe weekend warriors
Brad Bryant did not have the best of starts to the week. While his one under par 69 to start the tournament kept him in the hunt, that was more than negated when he shot a six over par 76. All Bryant did during the weekend was shoot a combined eight under par. Wiebe meanwhile like Bryant shot a third round 64 and final round 68 to shoot eight under par over the weekend. These were the best combined weekend scores. Wiebe finished in a tie for 15th and Bryant a tie for 22nd.
Rutledge goes low
Following a three under par third round, Jim Rutledge went one stroke better in his final round. The 66 was the lowest round of the tournament for Rutledge who would finish tied for 15th. The round was the third lowest of the day.
“It wasn’t too bad out there with the breeze it helps quite a bit,” Rutledge said. “Overall, I did pretty well. I was disappointed with the three putt on the last hole but I had a difficult putt to start with.”
They said it
“When he made the putt on 18, I just said wow.” – Joe Daley’s wife Carol on realizing that her husband was the 2012 Constellation Senior Players Champion