Blily Andrade beats Bernhard Langer in Champions Tour play-off
Monday 9 November 2015 15:24, UK
Billy Andrade won the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Sunday, beating Champions Tour points winner Bernhard Langer with a birdie on the first hole of a play-off.
Langer entered the Schwab Cup finale third in the points standings but easily saw off Colin Montgomerie and Jeff Maggert to retain his title, despite missing out on tournament victory at Desert Mountain Club.
The German missed a chance to win in regulation when his 18-foot eagle putt at the last lipped out as he closed a final-round 67, before Langer failed to get up-and-down for birdie from the greenside rough on the first extra hole.
Andrade forced the play-off by finishing his six-under 64 with a 10-foot gain at the last, before sinking a three-foot putt in the play-off for his third victory of the year.
"I don't know how that ball stayed out, but it did," Langer said about his putt at the 18th. "In the play-off I hit a good tee shot, I thought, but it must have kicked left a little bit and got behind that one tree that sticks out.
"I had to aim right and hit a big hook and it only drew a little bit. Then I ended up with a pretty nasty lie in the rough, so the chip went a little strong."
With players receiving a point for every $500 in the $2.5m tournament, Langer earned 508 points with his $254,000 check to beat Montgomerie by 338 points and Maggert by 377.
Champions Tour Golf
Langer also won the money title for the record fourth straight year and record seventh time in eight years, finishing with $2,340,288. The two-time Masters champion won the Byron Nelson Award for the second straight year and fourth time overall as the tour's scoring leader.
"I was thinking when I was driving to the 18th tee that, 'Bernhard won the Schwab Cup, he doesn't need to win this tournament as well. Maybe it should be my turn'," Andrade said.
Michael Allen took third spot after a final-round 70, with former Open champion Mark O'Meara and Jeff Sluman in a tie for fourth four shots off the pace.
Montgomerie posted three birdies in a four-hole stretch along the back nine on his way to a three-under 67, closing the week tie for 14th alongside Maggert.
