Thongchai Jaidee needed four playoff holes to do it but on a sunsplashed day at Pebble Beach Golf Links, he finally outlasted Justin Leonard to win the 2023 Pure Insurance Championship.
Jaidee had a chance to win in regulation but couldn’t drain his birdie putt on the par-5 closing hole. The duo parred then birdied the 18th in overtime before they each parred the par-3 17th. Back to the 18th tee they went for the fourth time Sunday but par was enough this time around for Jaidee after Leonard launched his tee shot left over the retaining wall. A four-man search party of the two golfers and their caddies couldn’t locate it, so Leonard reteed, then hit his second into a greenside bunker before walking off the green with a seven.
Last season, Jaidee became the first Thai golfer to win on the Champions tour. The 2015 Presidents Cupper now has his second win on the circuit. He does have 19 international wins on his resume but never did win on the PGA Tour.
As for Leonard, he came out of the TV booth to return to competition last year, playing four times on the PGA Tour Champions after turning 50. On Sunday, in his 14th event of this season and with his suitcases presumably packed for his pending return to broadcasting later this week for NBC Sports at the Ryder Cup, Leonard fell just short of his first professional win since 2008. Leonard, the 1999 Ryder Cup hero for the Americans, will be an analyst in the booth with Terry Gannon in Rome.