By John Strege
Scott McCarron won the season-long Charles Schwab Cup points race and its $1 million prize on Sunday while holding a glass of wine and watching on a clubhouse television.

More precisely, Jeff Maggert won it for him.

“Are you kidding me?” McCarron said when he saw Maggert hole out his second shot from the fairway on the third playoff hole to defeat Retief Goosen and win the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the PGA Tour Champions season finale.

Had Goosen won the tournament, he also would have won the Schwab Cup points race. He would have been looking at a four-footer for birdie had Maggert not delivered a hole-out eagle from 123 yards on the 17th hole at Phoenix Country Club.

“He [McCarron] owes me some red wine or something,” Maggert said. “Congrats to Scott. He played some great golf this year. Hats off to him.”

No chance was the most likely chance that Goosen had of winning the season-long Schwab Cup before the week began. The 50-year-old World Golf Hall of Famer needed to win the tournament and for McCarron, the points leader going in, to finish in a three-way tie for 12th or worse. Additionally, Jerry Kelly, second in points, had to finish tied for fifth or worse.

McCarron, who led the Schwab Cup points standings for most of the year, cooperated by finishing in a tie for 27th. And Kelly did, too, by tying for 12th. But Goosen’s putter and Maggert did not cooperate.

Goosen closed with a seven-under-par 64 on Sunday that included three birdies in his final four holes to get into a playoff. He could have won that playoff on the first extra hole, but missed a four-foot birdie putt for the victory.

With darkness encroaching and threatening to send the playoff to a Monday finish, Goosen hit his approach shot from a bunker to the 17th green to four feet.

Maggert’s approach landed a few feet short of the hole and the ball bounced into the cup, setting off a wild celebration in the clubhouse.

Right. On. Target. ?

From the middle of the fairway! ?

@Jeff_Maggert has won the @SchwabCupFinale! ? pic.twitter.com/nfg2BxmjYJ

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) November 11, 2019

The celebration would soon be joined by Maggert, 55, who won for the first time since 2015. It was his sixth PGA Tour Champions victory.

“I’ve seen it happen, but I never I thought it would happen to me in my life,” Maggert said. “Obviously, I didn’t make a lot of putts last two days, but sometimes you don’t need the putter to win.”

McCarron’s reaction in addition to his clubhouse celebration? “Jeff Maggert, my favourite player on the PGA Tour Champions.”

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Goosen had just hit his approach from a fairway bunker to four feet on the par-4 17th, the third playoff hole. If the 50-year-old World Golf Hall of Famer won the playoff, he would take both prizes. Maggert faced an approach shot in the fairway from 123 yards. All that was on the line for him was the tournament title. And if Maggert beat Goosen to win it, it meant Scott McCarron—watching intently back in the clubhouse—would win the points race and collect the $1 million reward for the winner.

Knowing he needed to hit one tight to keep up with Goosen, Maggert set dead aim on the flag. And, well, this happened:

A playoff hole-out for the win. ?

Jeff Maggert drains his approach for eagle on the third extra hole to win the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.pic.twitter.com/vvIkInzpeW

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) November 11, 2019

Two bounces and then the dunk. It clinched Maggert’s sixth career PGA Tour Champions win but his first since 2015. And it allowed McCarron, who had finished a disappointing 27th in the tournament, to claim the year-long title after leading in the standings for the majority of 2019.

Suffice to say, McCarron is likely to send Maggert a little holiday present in the very near future.

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Lets just say we’re done saying that this is the most amazing year for outrageous rules controversies and crazy penalties. From incorrectly placed golf balls on greens to bathroom breaks that result in extra strokes to balls picked up when they’re not conceded to balls touched while still moving in match play to balls touched while still moving in stroke play, anything and everything seems to have happened in 2017. But what is putting us over the top is this incident on Friday involving Scott McCarron at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, the first event in the PGA Tour Champions’ Charles Schwab Cup playoffs.

McCarron—a serious threat to end Bernhard Langer’s three-year reign as Schwab Cup champ—was taking a drop on the 18th hole during his first round at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond, Va. With his ball back in play, he started leaning down to pick up the tees he used in the drop process when his driver slipped out of his hands and, well, did this:

Tough break. Scott McCarron receives a 1-shot penalty after accidentally dropping club and moving ball. pic.twitter.com/4bAs6Onafy

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 20, 2017

As you hear from the commentary, because the club moved the ball, McCarron incurred a one-stroke penalty. And as you see from the clip, McCarron was none too thrilled with himself. Or his driver.

Ouch.

McCarron wound up taking a double-bogey 6 on the hole and finished with an even-par 72, putting him five strokes off the lead (held, of course, by Langer, along with Rocco Mediate, David Toms and Joe Durant). Tied for 44th place is not the way McCarron wanted to start the playoffs.

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By Ryan Herrington
There were no guarantees Colin Montgomerie would win again on the PGA Tour Champions, and he knew it.

Sure, the 54-year-old Scot had transitioned successfully to the senior circuit from his Hall of Fame career on the European Tour, winning four times, including three majors, in his first three years out. But torn ligaments in his left ankle had kept him off the course for 2½ months this spring, and age made returning to form a more tricky.

So it was that Montgomerie’s one-stroke victory on Sunday after a closing 67 at the Japan Airlines Championship carried plenty of meaning.

“I’m just beginning to play the way that I have the last three years,” Montgomerie said after shooting a 14-under 202 for the week.

Monty benefitted from a hot putter in the final round at Narita Golf Club’s in Chiba. He birdied four of the first five holes on the back nine, making a 20-footer on the 10th, a 15-footer on the 12th, a 60-footer on the 13th and a 14-footer on the 14th. But it was two key six-footers on the 16th (for par) and 17th (for birdie), that allowed him to need just a two-putt par from 50 feet on the 18th hole to hold off Billy Mayfair and Scott McCarron.

In the first PGA Tour Champions event in Japan, a significant milestone in the minds of most of the participants.

“It’s a big deal, a very big deal,” Montgomerie said. “And let’s hope that the success of this event goes forward and not only allows the PGA Tour Champions to come back and compete but also allows the PGA Tour to come and play here. It will be fantastic if that time ever comes.”

Massy Kuramoto, chairman of the PGA of Japan and among those responsible for making the event possible, topped the six Japanese players in the field, finishing T-7 after a Sunday 67.

Playing two groups ahead of Montgomerie, Mayfair put pressure with a closing 66, but missed a six-foot birdie try on his last hole.

Meanwhile, McCarron, the leader heading into the final round, was looking for his fourth title in his last seven starts. But he opened with a double bogey and couldn’t catch up, despite birdieing the last two holes for a 71.

It was Montgomerie’s first victory since he beat McCarron last September at the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship in British Columbia, where he’ll prepare to defend his title this coming week.

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By John Strege
Scott McCarron’s breakout PGA Tour Champions season had its roots in conversations he had with Hale Irwin, who convinced him that the age of 50 isn’t an obstacle to playing quality golf.

“I spent a lot of time with Hale my first couple years on the PGA Tour Champions,” McCarron said, “and he told me he played his best golf from 50 to 53, and that really spurred me to think, OK, I can still play some of the best golf of my life now.”

More confirmation came on Sunday, when McCarron won the Shaw Charity Classic at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The victory was his fourth of the season—and sixth of his senior career—and the $352,500 he earned for the win bumped his season earnings to $2,067,585, more than he earned in his best season on the PGA Tour ($1,896,714 in 2002).

McCarron, 52, had rounds of 63, 64 and a three-under-par 67 to close to win by one stroke over Miguel Angel Jimenez.

“I enjoy playing golf out here on the PGA Tour Champions. It’s fun,” he said. “I’m playing with guys, you know, Kevin Sutherland and I have played together since we were probably 12, 13 years old. Billy Andrade and I since we were 14, 15. Brandt Jobe and I playing in college. So all these guys I’ve played with for years and it’s just a lot of fun.”

Of course, it’s fun when you’re posting the kinds of scores McCarron has been doing of late, including a second-round 61 at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open two weeks ago.

“I feel very confident in what I’m doing,” he said. “I’ve worked very hard to get my game to where it is. I’ve been very comfortable in the lead, near the lead, with the lead, behind, coming back. For me it’s just another day to go out there and hit the first fairway. After that, then hit the green, then make a putt. Really try to keep it as simple as that.”

McCarron’s four victories ties Bernhard Langer for the PGA Tour Champions lead this year, though he still trails Langer’s tour lead in money by $527,050.

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By Ryan Herrington
On a weekend where match-play competition dominated the golf scene, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open produced its own one-on-one showdown. Scott McCarron and Kevin Sutherland separated themselves from the rest of the PGA Tour Champions field on Sunday at En-Joie Country Club in Endicott, N.Y., sharing the lead for most of the back nine until McCarron finished birdie-birdie-birdie to close with a bogey-free 64 and win his third senior title of 2017.

Friends since their high school days in Northern California, the duo started the day at 12 under par, McCarron having shot an 11-under 61 on Saturday to jump into contention after an opening 71. Each played the opening nine holes Sunday in four under par, Sutherland holing out from 170 yards on the ninth hole for an eagle.

In search of his first PGA Tour Champions title, Sutherland took the lead with a birdie on the 12th hole, but McCarron made a birdie of his own on the 13th. Both birdied the 16th hole, putting them five strokes clear of third-place finishers John Daly, Woody Austin and Joey Sindelar.

McCarron then showed the closing skills that helped him claim his first career major, the Constellation Senior Players Championship, earlier this summer. It began when he rolled in an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th after Sutherland just missed his from 25 feet.

On the par-4 18th hole, McCarron pushed his tee shot into the right rough, but got a drop from an obstruction. After hitting his approach above a canopy of trees to 10 feet, he rolled in another birdie putt that proved decisive when Sutherland made an eight-foot birdie.

“To go low like I did that last couple days,” McCarron, 53, said afterward, “I’ve never played that kind of golf for two days.”

Sutherland, meanwhile, shot a bogey-free 65 and finished at 19 under for the tournament, a score that would have won the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open every year since its inception in 2007 except one.

This year’s finish It adds to Sutherland’s enigmatic history at En-Joie. In 2014, Sutherland shot a PGA Tour Champions-record 59 during the second round at the course, only to finish T-7 in the tournament after shooting a closing 74.

For McCarron, it was fifth of his senior career after winning just three times during his PGA Tour career. He also had a notable runner-up finish to Sutherland when the two played in the championship match of the 2002 WGC-Match Play at La Costa, Sutherland winning 1 up.

This time, he pulled out the “match play” win.

“It was like we were back in high school together,” McCarron said. “It was so much fun.”

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By John Strege

The PGA Tour Champions, in the absence of the legends who initially gave it its cachet, doesn’t usually garner consideration on a crowded golf stage. Bernhard Langer has been its exception.

Those who defy age tend to warrant attention. The lines in Langer’s face might give away his impending 60th birthday, but his golf has not reflected it, at least until a different wrinkle breached his dominance on Sunday.

Langer was closing on a fourth straight victory in the Constellation Senior Players Championship, two pars away from claiming a third major championship this year alone, when inexplicably he imploded and handed victory to Scott McCarron.

Give credit to McCarron, at least, for putting himself into position to cash in in the unlikely event that Langer wobbled. McCarron shot a bogey-free round of six-under par 66 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Baltimore to finish at 18-under par 270.

It would have been one shot too many had Langer closed in a manner expected of a World Golf Hall of Famer with 32 victories on the PGA Tour seniors.

Instead, Langer, with a 5-iron, blocked his tee shot at the par-3 17th hole when the center of the green was his target, given his lead. His ball did not carry a pond protecting the left side of the green, leading to a double-bogey five that turned his lead into a one-shot deficit.

On the par-4 18th hole, Langer hit an exceptional second shot to 10 feet, but lipped out the birdie putt to tie to force a playoff, allowing McCarron to claim his first major championship, his fourth senior victory and his second of the year.

“It’s tough to put this into words,” McCarron said. “I’ve been working so hard. We’ve had a little bit of negative press over the last week, and to overcome all that, Langer and myself, to come out of here with a win and us battling down to the end is just fantastic. To win my first major out here on the Champions Tour, it just feels so good.”

McCarron was referring to a kerfuffle that developed as to whether he and Langer, both of whom use long petters that they once anchored to their chests with their left hand, were violating the integrity of a new rule that disallows doing so.

Each issued statements defending themselves, while the United States Golf Association, the ultimate arbiter of the rules, also said in a statement that it had “seen no evidence of a player breaching the Rule.”

So the final round was void of controversy, but not of surprise, the latter being that Langer failed to make a birdie after the fifth hole and played the back nine in three-over par 39. His score of 73 was the highest of any player among the top nine finishers.

For McCarron, meanwhile, it was an emotional victory beyond the fact it was his first major championship. He did it without his usual caddie by his side.

“My caddie, Rich Mayo, his father passed away on Wednesday, Bud man,” McCarron said, fighting back tears. “Bud, this one’s for you. He used to love to watch Rich and I.”

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Amid continued accusations that they are trying to thwart the ban on the anchored stroke that the USGA and R&A put in place in 2016, Bernhard Langer and Scott McCarron came out jointly on Friday with statements professing that they aren’t breaking the new rule and insisting they would not purposely do such a thing.

“I’m certain that I am not anchoring the putter and that my putting stroke is not violating the Rules of Golf,” said Langer, who is having another outstanding year on the senior circuit, having won the first two PGA Tour Champions majors of 2017. “On several occasions, I have been in contact with the USGA and rules officials on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions, and each time I have been assured that my putting stroke is within the Rules of Golf.”

“I have worked with the USGA and PGA Tour Champions rules officials to ensure that I am within the Rules of Golf,” McCarron said, “and I have extended many invitations to demonstrate and teach people how to use a long putter without anchoring.”

More interestingly, the USGA joined Langer and McCarron with a comment of its own in their statement. Indeed, the association provide the two some cover in specifying that it has “seen no evidence of a player breaching the Rule.” The USGA also attempting to clarify the notion that simply touching a piece of one’s clothing does not mean a player is in violation of the Rule.

Langer and McCarron have faced harsh scrutiny in recent weeks, culminating last weekend at the U.S. Senior Open, where an open discussion of their putting techniques during Fox’s coverage of the championship at Massachusetts’ Salem Country Club. The debate spilled over into social media, with Golf Channel commentator Brandel Chamblee among the louder voices wondering if not technically in violation of the rule, whether Langer and McCarron broke the spirit of it.

RELATED: Chamblee doubles down on anchoring issue

The implied message that they would purposely be breaking the Rule has both Langer and McCarron particularly upset as both men.

Stan Badz
McCarron studies his putt on the 11th hole during the second round of the PGA Tour’s Champions Constellation Senior Players at The Philadelphia Cricket Club

“During my 45-year career as a professional golfer, I have called penalties on myself,” Langer said. “I believe in honesty and integrity, and I could not live with myself if I broke a rule and did not incur the penalty.”

Said McCarron: “I have never competed dishonestly because I have the utmost respect for the game of golf, and I will continue to represent myself and the sport to the best of my ability.”

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