Haas Finally Wins a Major Championship

After a number of close calls and years of trying, Jay Haas’ first victory in a major championship came when he wasn’t expecting it.

Haas won the Senior PGA Championship on Sunday in Edmond, Okla., beating Brad Bryant on the third playoff hole for his third straight Champions Tour victory.

Bryant, who caught Haas with an eagle at No. 16, missed a short par putt on the pair’s third trip to the par-four 18th.

“I guess I wasn’t expecting it,” Haas said. “I was expecting to go to the next tee, and I think when Brad missed ... I didn’t know what to do or where to go, who to look at, anything like that.”

Haas ended up one stroke behind Hale Irwin for the Senior PGA title in 2004, and he has also racked up third-place finishes in the U.S. Senior Open in 2004, the PGA Championship in 1999 and the Masters in 1995.

“I really wasn’t thinking in those terms that I had been falling back so many times. I guess I don’t think too much of the past, about what I haven’t done. But, yeah, it kind of hit me there,” Haas said.

Haas had a three-under 68 and Bryant a 71 to finish at five under for the tournament. Third-round leader Gil Morgan, who shot a 74 on his home course at Oak Tree Golf Club, finished two strokes behind in third place. This was the fifth Champions Tour win for Haas, who also has nine PGA Tour victories.

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Jeff Maggert won the St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn., for his third PGA Tour title and first since 1999, closing with a five-under 65 for a three-stroke victory over Tom Pernice Jr.

Maggert, who began the round three strokes back, secured his first victory since the 1999 WGC-Accenture Match Play by rolling in a 36-foot eagle putt on the par-five 16th for a three-stroke lead.

Maggert had four birdies, a bogey and the eagle in the final round to finish at nine-under 271 on the TPC at Southwind.

Pernice, who started Sunday tied with Tim Herron for the lead, shot a 71. John Cook, who won the tournament at 26 under in 1996, closed with a 71 to tie for third with Kris Cox (72) at four under.

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Hee-Won Han parred the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff with Meena Lee to win the LPGA Corning Classic in Corning, N.Y.

It was Han’s first win of the year and fifth overall, and three have come in six playoffs. Lee, who finished second in the tournament for the second straight year, lost it when her second shot at the par-four eighth bounced badly away from the green.

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David Howell shot a three-under 69 to win the BMW Championship in Virginia Water, England, by five strokes over Simon Khan. Howell totaled a 17-under 271 at the Ernie Els-remodeled Wentworth course.

Retief Goosen and Els tied for 19th. Goosen shot 70 and Els had a 72.