SPRING, Texas -- Larry Nelson rallied from far off the lead and made a 5-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat Hale Irwin and win the Administaff Small Business Classic Sunday.
Nelson, who started the final round seven shots back, closed with an 8-under 64 and tied Irwin (67) at 14-under 202, winning his second Champions Tour event of the year and 19th overall.
Peter Jacobsen just missed getting into the playoff. The U.S. Senior Open champion, who is recovering from hip surgery, made bogey at the 18th after driving into the water. He finished with a 67 and tied second-round leader Wayne Levi (72) for third at 203.
Finishing three shots back at 205 were Morris Hatalsky (68), Jim Dent (69) and Jim Thorpe (69).
In the playoff, Nelson and Irwin missed the green with their second shots into the par-5 18th. Irwin's shot settled on the fringe behind the green, while Nelson hit into a greenside bunker, about 50 feet from the pin.
Nelson chipped to within 5 feet, while Irwin left his putt 19 feet from the hole and then missed his birdie try. Nelson sealed the win by rolling in his birdie putt.
Nelson's rally matched the biggest comeback of the year on the Champions Tour. Ed Fiori rallied from seven shots back to win the MasterCard Championship in Hawaii in January.
Nelson was 6 under at the start of the round and after four birdies and a bogey on the front nine, he made his big move on the back. Nelson birdied three of the first four holes on the back nine and tied Jacobsen for the lead at 14 under before making bogey at the 17th. He rebounded with a birdie at No. 18, his sixth on the back nine, and watched as Irwin finished with a birdie to force the playoff.
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NOTES:
Larry Nelson earned his 19th career Champions Tour victory and won in Texas for the second time in 2004 (Kinko’s Classic/Austin) and the fourth time overall in Texas (2000 Bank One Senior Championship/Dallas, 2001 SBC Championship/San Antonio). He also collected a check for $240,000 and earned 240 Charles Schwab Cup points for his victory.
Larry Nelson shot 8-under 64 in the final round.(AP)
•Hale Irwin vaulted over Craig Stadler into the lead in the Charles Schwab Cup. With his 141 Schwab Cup points, Irwin now has 3,134 points, one point more than Craig Stadler (3,133).Tom Kite is in third place with 2,145 points. Points are the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship are tripled for anyone finishing in the top-10 at Sonoma. The player earning the most points at the end of the official season will win the Charles Schwab Cup and receive a $1 million annuity.
•The race to the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship continues and Walter Hall inched closer to earning a trip to Sonoma. Hall tied for 12th at the Administaff Small Business Classic and moved from 33rd to 31st position with $564,275. Jay Sigel continues to sit on the bubble at No. 30 with $574,352 and Vicente Fernandez still holds down the 29th spot with $608,217. Des Smyth of Ireland moved up five spots to the 35th position after tied for 8 this week. Smyth now has earned $517,441 on the season.
•Sunday’s playoff between Hale Irwin and Larry Nelson was just the third on the Champions Tour this year and the first since the first week of March when Ed Fiori defeated Graham Marsh in overtime to win the MasterCard Classic in Mexico. Hale Irwin is now 2-6 on the Champions Tour in playoffs and Larry Nelson is 2-3. Before Sunday, Irwin’s last playoff on the Champions Tour was when he defeated Tom Watson for the 2003 Kinko’s Classic. Nelson’s last playoff was when he defeated Jim Dent and Gil Morgan for the 2000 Vantage Championship title.
•Larry Nelson’s seven-stroke comeback on the last day matches the largest come-from-behind win on the Champions Tour this year. Earlier in Mexico, Ed Fiori came from seven strokes back on the last day and defeated Graham Marsh in a playoff to win the MasterCard Classic. Nelson’s 8-under 64 also matched the low finish by a winner in relation to par in 2004.
•Larry Nelson’s $240,000 first-place check vaulted his 2004 earnings to $1,353,224, sixth on the money list. Hale Irwin’s runner-up check for $140,800 increased his yearly earnings to $1,912,697. Irwin is now poised to go over the $2 million mark for the seventh time in the last eight years on the Champions Tour.
•Hale Irwin’s second-place finish was his third of the year. Irwin finished second last week at the Constellation Energy Classic and also placed second at the U.S. Senior Open in St. Louis. In his illustrious career on the Champions Tour, Irwin has 40 victories, 38 second-place finished and 20 third-place efforts in 226 career starts. He’s been among the top-three in 44 percent of his appearances on the Champions Tour.
•Lift, clean and place rules were in effect again, but with more wind in the afternoon the Sunday scoring average at Augusta Pines was 71.662 compared to 70.987 on Saturday and 71.090 on Friday. For the second consecutive day, there were only 23 rounds in the 60s Sunday compared to 31 on Friday. Only 38 players broke par Sunday compared to 44 players on Saturday and 45 on Friday.
•D.A. Weibring’s streak of 20 straight par/better scores on the Champions Tour ended Sunday after he carded a final-round 75. Earlier this year, Gil Morgan strung together a 2004-best 23 consecutive rounds of par or less.
•In his quest for a fourth consecutive victory on the Champions Tour, Craig Stadler finished tied for 28th.
•Allen Doyle hit 41 of 42 fairways for the week.
•65-year-old Jim Dent registered his best finish of the year when he tied for fifth this week. Dent’s only top-10 performance in 2003 was a second at the Constellation Energy Classic near Baltimore.
-- Phil Stambaugh, PGA TOUR media official
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