2008 TOSHIBA CLASSIC:

NEWPORT BEACH — It was almost as if mother nature knew Bernhard Langer and Jay Haas were going to need the extra 45 minutes it took to determine a winner in the 2008 Toshiba Classic.

Daylight savings time came in handy for the seven-hole playoff that lasted until Langer sunk a birdie putt four inches from the hole on the 18th to win the title and the $255,000 purse Sunday. It was his second victory since joining the Champions Tour.

Haas was in position to push it to an eighth hole after landing a chip shot from the back bunker. His three-footer to tie looked like a sure thing, but it stopped just inches from the hole.

Finally, Langer, a two-time Masters champions with more than 80 international professional victories, could breathe.

Minutes before, Haas’ chip shot had nicked the cup and popped out to force the birdie putt, and it looked as though that shot would end the fourth Toshiba Classic playoff in 14 years.

“In the end, I was fortunate, because he played a great chip shot, almost holed it,” said Langer, the World Golf Hall of Famer who finished at three-under in the playoff. “It hit part of the hole and came back out and he missed about a four-foot putt, or four and a half, which he doesn’t do very often. But the greens, this time of the day, are not perfect, and you’ve got to be very careful.”

Haas, the defending champion, was in hot pursuit of his title, resurrecting himself after starting the day four strokes behind tied for fourth. If he’d won, he would have been the first player to win consecutive Toshiba Classic titles. But he missed it by a few inches.

“That would have just been icing on that cake,” said Haas, who before Sunday, was undefeated in playoffs — two on the Champions Tour and three on the PGA. “Just the fact that I had a chance to win and I didn’t, that was the most disappointing thing. Repeating that would have been great. It just would have been nice to get another win.”

Langer’s bogey on No. 14 during regulation gave Haas a one-stroke lead, and for the first time Sunday, Langer was chasing someone.

But the two men traded leads after Haas three-putted and bogeyed on the 17th.

The same hole was trouble for Langer too. He missed an opportunity to two-putt for par when he was about two feet from the hole, and they tied again with Langer’s bogey.

Haas, who was in the group before Langer’s, birdied on 18 for a one-stroke lead, and could do nothing but sit on his hands to see what Langer would do.

Langer missed short putts on 14 and 17 in regulation, but he made his 12-footer count on the last regulation hole.

“That was huge,” said Germany’s best golfer. “Especially after having a bad putting day in a sense, to go and put a good stroke on there and the ball finally did whatever it was supposed to, the way I read it, and that was huge.”

Haas was waiting by the side of the scorers’ tent to learn his fate. The gallery cheers after Langer’s clutch birdie told him the day wasn’t over. Haas reached into his bag and pulled out his glove.

“If we do get into a playoff, I feel like I’m going to have to birdie until he doesn’t,” the two-time Champions Tour Player of the Year told the Golf Channel as he was waiting for the results from Langer’s 18th during regulation.

Sunday’s playoff was the fourth in 14 years at the Toshiba Classic. The last playoff was a nine-hole contest in 2001 between Jose Maria Canizares and Gil Morgan. There was a five-hole playoff in 1999, and another nine-hole decision in 1997. Sunday’s playoff was the fifth-longest in tour history.

It looked like a winner could be decided the second time Langer and Haas met on the 16th, where Haas’ second shot put him 11 feet from the hole with a distinct advantage. Langer cleared a 28-foot putt for birdie, sending them back to the 17th, Newport Beach Country Club’s signature hole, where both men played it safe, especially after bogeying there in regulation.

“I’m pretty tired right now,” Langer said. “I’m glad there’s something called adrenaline because it’s what kept me going.”

Langer won one event on the tour last year, the Administaff Small Business Classic. He’s now two for nine for victories on the tour, but said that his success would have no effect on his schedule.

Langer decided at the beginning of the season that he would play 18 to 20 of the 29 tournaments on the tour.

“My schedule is pretty much set, and I usually don’t go more than two or three in a row,” Langer said. “I made a promise to my wife that I wouldn’t because we still have three kids at home and I need to be home. I’m a father and a husband, and I need to fulfill those roles.”

Langer was just grateful for the spare inches on Haas’ last putt.

“It was a good thing we changed clocks last night,” he said. “Or we’d be here [today.]”

This week’s total attendance of 82,500 was 2,500 better than last year. There were 27,500 people at the event Sunday.

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.