TUCSON, Ariz. - Mark O'Meara seized control with five birdies on the front nine and closed with a 7-under-par 66 for a four-shot victory Sunday at the Cologuard Classic, his first PGA Tour Champions win in more than eight years.
At 62 years, 1 month, 17 days, he's the fourth-oldest winner in the history of the 50-and-older tour.
"I knew there was going to be a lot of pressure," O'Meara said. "To play the front nine the way I did, I'm really happy."
O'Meara had a one-shot lead going into the final round and stretched it to four going to the back nine. He was never seriously challenged the rest of the way as he picked up his first victory since the Senior Players Championship toward the end of the 2010 season. The Hall of Famer went 8 years, 4 months, 20 days between victories, the second-longest gap on the tour.
"It's nice to finally come back out on top, especially today," O'Meara said. "Starting the day at 10 under and having the lead, a lot of guys that are very good players right behind me, to get up and shoot 7-under par with one bogey is a very special day for me."
O'Meara finished at 17-under 202 on Omni Tucson National's Catalina Course. He has three PGA Tour Champions victories, also winning the 2010 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf. He won 16 times on the PGA Tour, the last two in 1998 at the Masters and the British Open.
"I've had like 15 or 16 seconds, so that's been pretty disappointing," O'Meara said. "A lot of times when I finish second, it wasn't because I shot 71, (72), or (73). Guys just, they go low, and you just can't take your foot off the pedal out here because somebody's going to shoot a good score and come up from behind you."
Darren Clarke holed a 50-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 68 to tie for second with Scott McCarron, Kirk Triplett and Willie Wood, who each had 69. Tied for sixth at 11 under were Brandt Jobe (69), 2018 tournament winner Steve Stricker (70), Kevin Sutherland (68) and David Toms (67).
Chattanooga's Gibby Gilbert III, who entered the final round in the top 10, closed with a 75 and tied for 24th at 5 under.
John Smoltz, the former Atlanta Braves pitcher who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015, was making his senior circuit debut on a sponsor's exemption. He closed with a 73 to tie for 53rd at 1 over.
"I fell prey to a couple holes that got to me, but I learned a lot and I'm overall really thrilled with some parts of my game, and the other parts, I've got to work on," Smoltz said. "My strength coming in was driver and it became my weakness, so that's a little bit of a bummer, but I learned again a lot of things. I felt comfortable the second and third day. Very close to putting up some pretty good numbers."
U.S. golfer rolling on European Tour
MUSCAT, Oman - Kurt Kitayama won his second European Tour title by a single shot after a remarkable comeback at the Oman Open.
After coming through all three stages of Q-School in November to earn a place on tour, the 26-year-old American won the Mauritius Open the following month in just his third start of the season. Sunday's success means he has now won twice in 11 starts on the European Tour.
In Oman, where sandstorms resulted in little golf being played Friday, Kitayama made a quadruple-bogey eight on the first hole of his third round, then dropped two more shots before play ended due to darkness on Saturday.
Kitayama returned Sunday morning to make six birdies and an eagle for a third-round 71, then fired 2-under 70 on a marathon final day.
He picked up shots on the first two holes of the final round, but his title chance seemed to fade when he bogeyed Nos. 7 and 11. However, back-to-back birdies on the 16th and 17th holes as his rivals faltered meant his par at the 18th was enough to take the title. He finished at 7-under 281 overall.
Spain's Jorge Campillo (69) birdied four of the last seven holes to earn a share of second place, along with overnight leader Maximilian Kieffer (72), Clement Sordet (70) and Fabrizio Zanotti (74).
Sung Hyun Park closes strong in Singapore
SINGAPORE - Sung Hyun Park avoided any anxious moments in the final round of the HSBC Women's World Championship as she closed in on her sixth LPGA Tour victory.
Four strokes behind top-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn at the start of the round, the second-ranked Park birdied five of her first seven holes and added four more birdies on the back nine for an 8-under 64 and a two-stroke victory.
The 25-year-old South Korean finished at 15-under 273 on the Tanjong Course at Sentosa Golf Club. Australia's Minjee Lee closed with a 69 to finish second.
Azahara Munoz (69) and Jin Young Ko (69) were two strokes further back in third, with Hyo Joo Kim (70) and Amy Olson (70) fifth at 10 under and Eun-Hee Ji (70) seventh at 9 under. Jutanugarn (75) shared eighth with Jodi Ewart Shadoff (73) at 8 under.