Thousand Oaks, CA (BDCi Sports) – American Tom Pernice Jr. won the first ever PGA Tour Champions playoff round edging Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie by one stroke at Sherwood Country Club Sunday. Pernice Jr’s 3-day score of 203 bested Montgomerie’s tally of 204.
“I hit two beautiful irons,” Pernice Jr. said. “I hit a beautiful 7-iron on 15 and it just worked out perfect. And then I couldn’t have drawn it up any better, I just cut a 6-iron back against the wind beautifully on 15 and man, it turned out beautiful.”
This playoff round, sponsored by Powershares QQQ, featured the top 72 on the money list of the PGA Tour Champions. The Tour’s best performer in 2016, Bernhard Langer of Germany, opted to not play this weekend due to an ailing left knee. He is expected to play however in the second playoff round, the Dominion Charity Classic next week in Richmond, Virginia.
Carlos Franco
South American Golf was represented in this weekend’s action. Paraguayan golfer Carlos Franco improved each day and finished in a tie for 30th place with a score of 215. That score tied him with the Tour’s 2nd place 2016 money winner Miguel Angel Jimenez. In the Charles Schwab tour points rankings, the performance this weekend puts Franco in 34th place which qualifies him easily for the next leg in Virginia.
Prior to the Powersharess QQQ competition, Franco told BDCi Sports how important it would be to finish strong at the Sherwood Country Club as it would improve his chances at getting to the final weekend in Scottsdale.
Despite a disappointing round on Sunday where he golfed a 78 on the par-72 Sherwood course, Jose Coceres of Argentina finished tied for 54th place with a score of 222. He moves from 63rd to 61st place in the overall points derby which would appear to disqualify him to advancing to the second playoff weekend in Richmond.
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