Jay Haas Wins Greater Hickory Classic
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Jay Haas is sixty.
That fact may seem unimportant, but crossing the threshold of the sixties generally means that a player’s best years on the Champions Tour are behind them. Most of the winning is done by the relative youngsters, like Fred Couples. Crossing sixty is like crossing into no-man’s land.
Yet Haas is there and Haas still won the Greater Hickory Classic in Rock Barn, NC over the weekend. The former Wake Forest player did admit that the course felt familiar, and the landscape of Piedmont Hickory is not all that different from Piedmont Winston-Salem.
May 26, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Jay Haas makes his final putt at the 18th hole during the final round of the 74th Senior PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports
Haas had won 17 times previously on the Champions Tour, but those wins were in his fifties. His winning score at Rock Barn Golf and Spa’s Champion’s Course, his third to go with victories in 2005 and 2009, was 17 under par. Haas had to fight off a push from Joe Durant, but Durant’s 66 was ultimately not enough to make the difference.
May 23, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Hale Irwin follows through on his tee shot on the 11th hole during first round of the 74th Senior PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports
Haas joins company like Tom Watson, Hale Irwin, Jimmy Powell, and Mike Fetchick in winning on the Champions Tour at 60 or older. Irwin did it three times. Fetchick holds the record for age by winning at age 63 way back in 1985. With better conditioning available, we may see some lengthening in golf careers. It was surprising to me that the record was only 63, much like it surprises me that the oldest player to win a PGA Tour major was Jack Nicklaus at 46.