Calcavecchia wins PODS
Mark Calcavecchia might have to unpack his bags again, this time to make room for an unlikely trophy.
Calcavecchia, ready to leave Innisbrook after opening with a 75, survived a wild swing in emotions Sunday and won the PODS Championship when Heath Slocum missed a 4-foot par putt on the final hole in Palm Harbor, Fla.
Calcavecchia closed with a 1-under 70 and never lost the lead, but his stomach was churning the whole way around. He had a two-shot lead and stood over a 4-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole that he missed, then had to hang on for dear life.
Leading by one shot, his 8-iron came up short of the 18th green and he missed a 7-foot par putt. Slocum, who dropped three shots on the first three holes, needed only to make par from 4 feet to force a playoff. The putt dipped in and out of the cup on the left side, and Calcavecchia bowed his head and cupped the bill of his cap.
Kirk Triplett, formerly of Pullman, shot a 71 to finish at 288.
Champions Tour
Jay Haas won for the first time this season on the Champions Tour, taking the Toshiba Classic by two strokes and breaking the tournament record for score in relation to par.
Haas, a four-time winner last year, closed with a 65 at Newport Beach Country Club in Newport Beach, Calif., to finish at 19-under 194.
The 53-year-old Haas earned $247,500 for his seventh career win in 40 starts on the Champions Tour. Coming into this weekend, he had four top-fives in six tournaments this season, including three second-place finishes .
R.W. Eaks also shot a 6-under 65 in the final round and finished second at 17 under, his third career second-place finish on the Champions Tour since joining in 2002. Joe Ozaki and Ben Crenshaw tied for third six strokes back. Four golfers finished tied for fifth.
LPGA
Stacy Prammanasudh shot a 2-under 70 in the second round to pull within a stroke of leader Meaghan Francella in the MasterCard Classic in Huixquilucan, Mexico, the rain-plagued LPGA Tour event set for a finish today.
Only 44 of the 74 players who made the 36-hole cut started the third round Sunday.
Annika Sorenstam, the two-time defending champion making her first start of the year, was 5 under.
Local golfers Tracy Hanson (71) and Wendy Ward (74) both failed to make the cut.
Singapore Masters
China’s Liang Wen-chong won the Singapore Masters, beating Malaysia’s Iain Steel with a par on the first hole of a playoff.
Liang, a first-time winner on both the European and Asian tour, closed with a 1-over 73 to match Steel (71) at 11-under 277. Steel hit his tee shot into the water on the playoff hole. England’s Simon Dyson (71) followed at 10 under