JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Brett Quigley was angry with himself for not making a birdie down the stretch of the Timuquana Country Club on Sunday in the final round of the Constellation Furyk & Friends.
He was really beating himself up for a double-bogey 5 at the par-3 14th hole, which gave almost everyone fits.
But he realized something going to the final four holes: four pars would put him in a pretty good spot.
It also made Quigley a winner, for the second time on PGA Tour Champions and the first time in the U.S.
Quigley carefully negotiated the closing holes at Timuquana and with a 6-foot par putt at the 18th hole, prevailed with a 1-shot victory over defending Schwab Cup points champion Steve Alker of New Zealand at 11-under 205.
Quigley shot 71 and posted the highest winning score in the three-year history of the tournament. Phil Mickelson won at 15 under in 2021 and Steve Stricker posted 14 under to win last year.
Glen Day (68) finished third at 9 under, his second-best career finish on the Champions tour. Jerry Kelly (73), who matched Quigley nearly shot-for-shot for most of the weekend, until four bogeys on the back nine Sunday, and Ernie Els (69) tied for fourth at 8-under.
Quigley earned $315,000 and moved to 11th on the Schwab Cup points list, with one regular-season tournament left and the three-event Schwab Cup playoffs to follow. Quigley set a career-high in Champions earnings with more than $1.3 million and recorded his ninth top-10 finish, tied for sixth on the Tour. His only previous PGA Tour Champions title was in Morrocco in 2020.
Quigley (71) had a four-shot lead with seven holes to play and led Kelly by three standing on the 14th tee – a margin that would have been four shots again had Quigley made a 4-foot birdie putt at the par-5 13th.
Still, at that point, he had 21 bogey-free holes in a row, had made only one during the entire tournament and seemed in complete command of his game.
“I felt good all week,” he said. “I just felt solid all week, not much drama.”
That changed with one swing of a 5-iron at the 214-yard 14th, where tee shots had been rolling all day past the back-right pin (the hole played the most difficult on the course on the third round at 3.539, with only one birdie, by Rob Labritz), and chips or putts coming back were skidding past the cup to the other side.
Quigley made a lot of high-handicappers feel good about themselves. After his tee shot landed on the green and rolled off the back, he bladed his chip from a difficult lie in the second cut of rough over the green and to the other side, then chipped too strong and wound up behind the green again.
Quigley was able to scrape his fourth shot onto the green and then made a 5-foot putt for double bogey. Since Kelly had some of the same issues – a tee shot over the green, then another chip to leave himself a 25-foot putt for par (he two-putted for bogey), Quigley still had the lead at 11-under.
While he was making a mess of the hole, Alker and Billy Andrade both birdied No. 15 to tie for second at 10-under.
Quigley said he didn’t panic
Quigley then went to work on his emotions.
“I was pissed,” he said. “It was my tournament and I didn’t birdie No. 13 to really put it away.”
But Quigley eventually figured out he was still leading.
“I wasn’t panicked … I was just more mad at myself for making it more interesting,” he said.
After making three solid pars in a row at Nos. 15, 16 and 17, Quigley interjected one more bit of interest into the proceedings. With Alker in the house at 10-under and Kelly needing to jar his second shot at No. 18 to have any hopes in a playoff, Quigley caught his drive on the toe and “smother-hooked” the ball.
“A horrible shot,” he said. “A toe hook … a dropkick hook.”
The ball came to rest short of the fairway bunker on the left but on a bare lie with just enough pine straw to cover the dirt. With 215 left to the middle of the hole, he punched a 5-iron just short of the green. He watched Steve Flesch putt from off the green to get a good look but still left his putt from 60 feet 6 feet short.
A testy putt to finish
“I saw [Flesch’s putt] go pretty hard right and mine just tracked left,” Quigley said. “I’m like, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me … a 6-footer, left-to-right. Could you leave yourself a worse putt.”
But he told himself as he stood over it, “I’ve done it before.”
The ball dropped in and he was a winner in America for the first time since the 2001 Korn Ferry Tour Arkansas Classic.
Kelly blasted a drive down the middle and left himself with 160 yards but landed his second shot 25 feet short.
Andrade played the last two holes at 3 over to fall out of a chance for a playoff and three other contenders, Day, Richard Green and Miguel Angel Jimenez, doubled No. 14 to thwart their chances.
Alker poised for a run
Alker, who birdied three of his first four holes on the back nine to jump into contention, also halted his momentum with a bogey at No. 14. But he said he’s in a good frame of mind to defend his Schwab Cup title.
“The game’s just started coming around,” he said. “Ball-striking has been the best the last few weeks it’s been for a while, so tidy that up. This week was just a few more putts here and there, an up-and-down, it was that kind of week. So nice putt there by Quigs on the last, that was a huge up-and-down, so credit to him.”