GOLF

Pernice Jr. takes Champions Tour finale in playoff

Brentley Romine
USA TODAY Sports
Nov. 2, 2014, 8:12 p.m. ET
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With Bernhard Langer already wrapping up the Charles Schwab Cup points title last week, Tom Pernice Jr. made sure the Champions Tour season ended with some excitement Sunday.

The 55-year-old Pernice topped Jay Haas in a four-hole playoff with an up-and-down birdie at the par-5 18th to win the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Pernice and Haas each finished 72 holes at 11-under 269 to send the tournament into extra holes at Desert Mountain Club's Cochise Course in Scottsdale, Ariz. The first and second playoff holes were contested on the 18th and resulted in halves with birdie and par, respectively. The two also halved the third playoff hole, the par-3 17th, with pars.

Then at the 18th for the fourth and final playoff hole, Pernice found a greenside bunker in two shots. After Haas drained a 12-footer for par, Pernice rolled in his 6-foot birdie to win the playoff. It was Pernice's third birdie on the 18th Sunday after he also birdied it in regulation, a group after Haas birdied the 18th with a 35-foot putt from the fringe.

The victory marks Pernice's fourth career Champions Tour win, and second of the season. He finishes fifth on the Charles Schwab Cup points list, behind Kenny Perry, Haas, Colin Montgomerie in Langer.

Perry was third in Scottsdale, finishing a shot back at 10 under, while Langer and Montgomerie tied for fourth at 9 under.

Langer, 57, closed with a final-round 5-under 65 to earn $158,000, which pushed his season earnings to $3,074,189. He ended the season with five victories and 13 other top 10s in 21 starts.

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