It's not how you start but how you finish. That's among the favorite lines for a coach to use.
But
He prevailed after two rounds of 68 and held off to win by one stroke over
Price, 55, has four wins on the Champions Tour. The Toshiba Classic victory capped a run of three titles within 11 months.
"I don't know how many more years I've got left," said Price, a three-time
Price's record round and rise to the title was one of several fascinating stories during the tournament.
Fan favorite
Robert Thompson worked his way into the tournament by qualifying four days before it began and he tied with Couples.
Every year there's a new story to write.
It all began in ...
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1995
The first Toshiba Classic is played at Mesa
The Champions Tour is known as the PGA Senior Tour.
Out of the 78 golfers competing, a surprise champion is produced in
Archer, the 1969 Masters Champion, goes on to win the tournament with a six-under 199,
Archer has surgery but remains in professional golf, winning another tournament afterward. He is in the Toshiba Classic up until 2003. He dies on Sept. 25, 2005, at 65 years old.
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1996
The Toshiba Classic moves to Newport Beach Country Club.
The first year there does not provide any tight finish.
He takes a five-shot lead into the final round then picks up four birdies on the front nine to cruise to a two-stroke victory, his first in California. He becomes Toshiba's only wire-to-wire winner.
Colbert uses the win as momentum as he goes on to capture his second Champions Tour Player of the Year award in 1996.
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1997
Colbert didn't create much suspense in '96, but
Sigel definitely has to climb to set up the playoff. He is six strokes behind Murphy with eight holes remaining in the final round, but Murphy has three bogeys on the back nine and Sigel birdies his last three holes to force a playoff.
The pair plays the 18th hole four times and No. 16 three times.
Murphy is able to redeem himself. He puts to rest those three bogeys on the back nine that set up the playoff. He wins with an 80-foot birdie putt on the two-tiered green of the 17th hole.
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1998
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1999
Afterward McCord and Jacobs delight the fans with their humorous antics. McCord and Jacobs eliminate half of the four-player playoff field that include
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2000
Heavy rains and gusts of up to 20 miles per hour force officials to cancel the final round of the tournament, limiting the event to 36 holes. Allen Doyle is declared the champion after shooting a four-under 67 Saturday and finishes at six-under 136 for an eventual one-stroke victory over
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2001
On the ninth playoff hole, the second time in tournament history an extra session spans that number,
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2002
Hale Irwin wins the second of his Toshiba titles, breaking his own 54-hole tournament scoring record by four shots since the tournament moved to Newport Beach Country Club in 1996 with a 17-under (67-64-65 -- 196) performance. Irwin also sets a tournament record for margin of victory with his five-shot win over 2000 Toshiba champion Allen Doyle (66-68-67 -- 201).
Jim Colbert held the prior mark with a two-stroke victory in 1996. Before teeing off in the first round, he switches to forged blade irons, changes from graphite to steel shafts and adds fairway woods and a new sand wedge.
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2003
Australian Rodger Davis shoots a blistering 16-under 197 (65-64-68) to notch his first win on United States' soil and on the Champions Tour with a four-stroke victory. Davis, clad in knickers, just misses tying Hale Irwin's tournament record (17-under) set a year earlier. Two weeks before Toshiba, two men hold up Davis, another golfer and two caddies at gunpoint in a Mexico City restaurant.
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2004
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2005
Johnson takes a three-stroke lead over
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2006
The Toshiba Classic is up for grabs this year as 28 golfers are within five strokes of one another in the final round. The finish ends up being just as furious, with the lead changing hands throughout the day.
When the sand settles
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2007
The native of Missouri and South Carolina resident holds 10 Champions Tour titles.
Haas accentuates his record-winning performance with a dramatic birdie putt on the 10th hole. The putt is one of four straight that essentially seal his victory.
On No. 10, Haas' 16-foot putt rolls to the cup, hangs on the lip for about eight seconds and drops. During that time the ball stays on the lip, Haas and
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2008
Bernhard Langer drops to his knees after a birdie putt four inches from hole No. 18 on the seventh playoff hole to edge defending champ Haas for a memorable Toshiba.
Haas nearly sends the playoff to an eighth hole, but his three-foot putt stops just inches from the cup.
It is Langer's first tournament victory of the year and sends him on his way to earning Champions Tour Player of the Year and
Haas suffers his first playoff loss after he had won twice on the Champions Tour and three on the PGA in such situations.
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2009
A final round 68, which includes four birdies in the first six holes on the back nine, propels Romero to a one-stroke victory over
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2010
In one of the most highly anticipated debuts in Toshiba Classic history, Fred Couples certainly doesn't disappoint as he rolls to a four-stroke victory. His second-round 64 includes a tournament-record 5-under-par 30 on the front nine. After three rounds in blustery conditions, his total of 195, is only one-stroke short of the tournament record set in 2007 by Jay Haas.
— Compiled from past reports