Calcavecchia hangs on to win Principal Charity Classic
Jun 8, 2015 - 12:17 AM Des Moines, IA (SportsNetwork.com) - Mark Calcavecchia fired a 3-under 69 in Sunday's final round and hung on to win the Principal Charity Classic by one shot.Calcavecchia, who finished the week at 12-under-par 204, won for the first time on the Champions Tour since the 2012 Montreal Championship. Calcavecchia, the second-round leader, now has three wins on tour.
"I did putt well this week," said Calcavecchia, who bought a new putter before this week's event. "I really did putt well and it wasn't easy. I kind of crept into some of my old habits coming down the stretch, but got it done and can't believe it."
Brian Henninger came on late and shot a 4-under 68. He tied for second at 11- under 205 with Joe Durant (69) at the Wakonda Club.
Rod Spittle (68) finished alone in fourth at minus-10, while last year's champion Tom Pernice, Jr. (66), John Cook (68), Davis Love III (68), Regions Tradition winner Jeff Maggert (69) and Paul Goydos (70) tied for fifth at 9- under 207.
Entering the day with a 1-shot lead, Calcavecchia birdied the second to get to minus-10 and then was joined in the lead by Durant after he made gains at two and three.
A Durant bogey at six dropped him back a shot and he never grabbed a share of the lead again.
After running off five straight pars from No. 3, Calcavecchia moved his advantage to two shots with a birdie on eight and he made the turn at minus-11.
A 15-foot birdie putt on 10 kept Calcavecchia rolling. Still up by two shots, Calcavecchia's next challenger was Love.
Love played his first nine holes at minus-2 and then drained four birdies in five holes from 11, getting him to within a shot at minus-11.
Calcavecchia tripped to his only bogey of the day at No. 14 and just like that Love was tied for the lead.
Love had a tough finish, however, as he made bogey on 16 and a double-bogey on 17 to fall well off the pace. A birdie at the last was not enough as he ended three shots back.
In the meantime, Calcavecchia seized control of the lead with a birdie on 15, putting him up two. The 54-year-old finished up with three straight pars to win for the first time in three years.
"This was a shock. I shot 14-over in French Lick," Calcavecchia said. "I drove it great today, which helped. I hit a lot of fairways and that's important here. I just worked on those things and hit it a lot better."
NOTES: Calcavecchia has 13 career wins on the PGA Tour, with his last one coming at the 2007 PODS Championship ... Calcavecchia earned $262,500 with this victory ... Next week on the Champions Tour is the third major championship of the season, Constellation Senior Players Championship, where Bernhard Langer defeated Jeff Sluman in a playoff last year.
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