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…
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