Tournament Players Championship : Mahaffey Wins When Mize Falters

John Mahaffey’s first words, after winning the Tournament Players Championship, were for distraught Larry Mize.

“I know exactly how Larry feels right now. I’ve been in those shoes. And I can tell you it’s no fun,” said the veteran Mahaffey, who twice let the U.S. Open slip through his fingers, in 1975 and 1976.

And that’s what Mize did Sunday. He let it get away.

After leading by 3-to-5 shots for most of the final round, he lost the tournament on a string of three consecutive bogeys, beginning on the 14th hole.

He failed on a potential go-ahead, 5-foot birdie putt on the 17th.

And he handed Mahaffey the title when he bogeyed the final hole, missing a 3-foot, par-saving putt.

Mize was a portrait of despair, his head down, his shoulders slumped, his eyes blank. His wife, Bonnie, who is expecting their first child next month, was in tears.

“Choke is a word a lot of us don’t like, but, yeah, I guess I did,” said Mize, who has an unhappy history of letting last-round leads get away. This one evaporated on a final-round 4-over-par 76.

“They say that every time you get in this position, you gain something, you learn something. I don’t know right now. I’m too disappointed to think about it.

“I just know I’m tired of losing,” said Mize, 27, winner of one title in 4 1/2 seasons.

Mahaffey, 37, needed only a closing round of 71, 1-under-par on the Players Club at Sawgrass, to overtake the faltering Mize and acquire the ninth victory of his 16-year career.

He won this one with a 275 total, 13-under-par and one ahead of Mize. It was worth $162,000 from the total purse of $900,000, and put Mahaffey over the $2 million mark in career earnings.

It also provided him with a 10-year exemption.

“This sets me up until I’m 47 years old, and after that I can just sneak around until I’m on the seniors tour,” Mahaffey said.

Mize won $97,200.

Tim Simpson, never really in the title-chase, matched par 72 over the touring pros’ home course and was third alone at 280.

Mize led by margins ranging from 3-to-5 shots through the first 13 holes of the final round, and Mahaffey, unable to make a putt, didn’t put any pressure on him.

And even when Mize, leading by three, made a mistake on the 14th, Mahaffey couldn’t capitalize.

From the fairway, Mize missed the green in a difficult position between a couple of mounds. He played a tough little chip some 10 feet beyond the cup and missed the putt for bogey. But Mahaffey three-putted for bogey and Mize’s lead remained at three.

But that’s where it started, where Mize’s game began to unravel.

“That shot really hurt me,” he said.

On the 15th, he bogeyed again--and very nearly made double bogey. His approach was well to the left in a bunker. He blew the sand shot across the green into more rough, chipped back to six feet and made that putt for bogey.

Mahaffey, meanwhile, had a 6-footer for birdie, which would have given him a two-shot swing. But he missed and Mize lost only one stroke, cutting his lead to two.

Those two disappeared on the 16th, where Mahaffey hit a 4-iron second shot to the green and two-putted for birdie-4. Mize drove into the rough, had to play out, flirted with the water on his third and got it in the rough, stubbed a chip, then missed a 10-footer.

Now they were even.

Mize made a great 8-iron shot to the island green of the par-3 17th, leaving himself about five feet below the cup. While Mahaffey had to work hard to two-putt for par, Mize looked over the little putt that would regain the lead. And he missed it.

So they remained tied going to the 18th. Mize’s approach ran into the fringe and he chipped back to about three feet. Mahaffey missed his long birdie attempt, and then Mize missed his short par-putt and stalked away, muttering to himself, his head down.

Mahaffey’s par-putt found the hole and it was over.

“Very disappointing,” Mize said.