Quigley outlasts Watson in playoff

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

KA'UPULEHU, Hawai'i — Thanks to Dana Quigley and Tom Watson, the beginning of the Champions Tour's 26th season looked like it might never end yesterday at Hualalai Golf Club.

Dana Quigley won $272,000 for his MasterCard Championship win. Baron Sekiya • West Hawaii Today via Associated Press

It was the end of what had been a beautiful friendship with Hualalai most of the week for Watson, who opened with 64s.

"I had two good rounds and one poor one," he said. "On this golf course you need three good ones."

Watson took a drop, chipped to four feet and sank the bogey putt. Quigley's drive stopped on the back fringe. His birdie putt went three feet by, but he drained the winner coming back.

"I don't know what to say," Quigley said moments later, near in tears. "I'm just happy."

It was a touching end for a former club pro who has thrived on the senior tour in general and at Hualalai in particular. Yesterday's $272,000 gives him nearly $1 million here in the past eight years, and brings him back again next year.

His beautiful friendship with the course goes on. Quigley calls it his favorite Jack Nicklaus design, in a place he is passionate about.

"It's always such an upper for me to come to Kona," said Quigley, whose ninth senior win was his first since he captured the 2003 MasterCard. "I love this golf course, it's so peaceful here and tranquil. It puts me in a great frame of mind."

Quigley, 2-2 in playoffs, was denied a successful title defense last year by Fuzzy Zoeller and a bunker on the 18th. The final hole nearly got Quigley again yesterday, but this time the Hawaiian golf gods were on his side. "I think I am officially the mayor (of Hualalai) now," he said.

Playing in his 263rd consecutive event, Quigley caught Watson by firing a 6-under-par 66 that gave him a three-day total of 18-under 198. He would have passed him, but for a pulled par putt on the 18th hole from just inside five feet.

Watson closed with a 70. His nine-footer for birdie at the 18th, which would have won it in regulation, faded to the right.

They switched roles on the first playoff hole — again the 18th. This time Watson launched his approach shot over the green, but hit a delicate flop shot from the deep rough and knocked in the six-foot par putt. Quigley missed a 12-footer for birdie that would have ended it.

They backtracked to No. 16 for the second playoff hole. Both charged long birdie putts and had to sink stressful comebackers to stay in it. Quigley's came from eight feet and Watson about half that distance.

"I was a little aggressive with that first putt," Quigley said. "What was I thinking about? On the next putt, I just tried to forget how I got there. That was the saving putt right there."

On the oceanside 17th, Watson hit the wrong club, taking a 7-iron when it should have been an 8-iron. "I misjudged the wind," Watson said.

He also allowed that the missed putt on the final regulation hole was the result of bringing his putter back to the inside, and that two missed putts from inside six feet on the first six holes might have been the difference. He added that if his shot on the fourth hole hadn't bounced off the rocks and into the fairway, he might not even have been that close.

"I was more nervous than I probably should have been," said Watson, who won eight majors on the regular tour but is 1-7 in senior playoffs. "But I've dealt with nerves before. I made a couple of bad swings and Dana had a great round. He shot 66 and it (the wind) blew today. That's a great round of golf."

Against one of the greatest players ever.

"It's always great to punctuate success with a win over a Hall of Famer," Quigley said. "My first win was huge. The win over Watson in Kansas City in front of all his friends was like my certification. Now, to beat him in Hawai'i ... the hits just keep on coming."

WINDY FINISH

By the time the leaders made the turn yesterday, the wind was kicking up to 20 mph off the ocean. Watson was still in the lead at 18-under, with Quigley and Gil Morgan two back. Hale Irwin, who birdied five of his first seven, bogeyed the ninth to fall to 14-under. He would finish in a tie with Morgan for third.

Watson's first bogey of the tournament came on his 47th hole (No. 11). Watson missed another green on the 13th hole, bumped the ball to four feet, then missed another par putt to fall into a tie with Quigley. That lasted until Quigley reached the 14th green and slam-dunked a 15-footer for birdie to seize first. It was the first time since Friday that anyone other than Watson had the lead.

A few minutes later, Watson returned to his usual place, draining a 13-footer to match Quigley. For the second straight day, there was no score worse than par on Hualalai's par-5 14th.

What he couldn't match was a 4-iron Quigley cut 188 yards through the breeze to eight inches on the next hole. He converted that for the first birdie of the day on the 15th, and called the approach "the shot" of the day.

Watson parred in. Quigley was also cruising, until his approach shot on the 18th rolled through the green and stopped 30 feet behind the hole and he couldn't get up and down.

NO WINTER BREAK

Quigley said he believes his utter devotion to the game, even during the offseason, gives him an edge here. He plays 45 holes a day when he's not in tournaments, finishing the first round in time to make it to McDonald's for the breakfast menu.

"I play ALL winter," Quigley says. "There is no rest at all. That's an advantage I have over most guys here. I can keep it going against the competition and in the wind and the heat of battle. I feel sharp and I think I have an edge. These guys are so good you need an edge. In my case, Kona does that for me."

NOTES

Turtle Bay return: Hale Irwin opens defense of his Turtle Bay Championship title — again — Friday at the resort's Arnold Palmer Course. Irwin has won the last four full-field events here, including all three at Turtle Bay. The tournament was last played in October of 2003, then took last year off as it moved to January to become the first full-field event of the season. The tournament's Pro-Ams will be Wednesday and Thursday.

Racing sunset: Golfers tee off from 9:30 a.m. Friday at Turtle Bay, 9 a.m. Saturday and 8:50 a.m. Sunday, with everyone starting on the first tee. Organizers hope play is done by 6 p.m. the first round, and about 5:15 p.m. on the weekend.

Up and coming: Kuki'o Golf and Beach Club, Hualalai's next-door neighbor, was ranked sixth among "America's Best New Private Courses" in Golf Digest's January issue. The 7,417-yard layout was designed by Tom Fazio, who also has the third- (Greenbrier in West Virginia) and fifth-ranked (Diamond Creek in North Carolina) private courses.

Super Sunday: Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Craig Stadler play in the unofficial Wendy's Champions Skins Game Feb. 6 at Wailea's Gold Course on Maui. The exhibition will be shown on TV Super Bowl Sunday.

Sharing: Since MasterCard moved to Hawai'i in 1997, the PGA tournament has donated more than $300,000 to Kona community organizations. The latest donation helped the Kona Community Hospital buy new equipment to diagnose and detect kidney stones.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.