Brian Henninger gets all the benefits of his first PGA Tour victory. It just didn't happen the way he pictured it.
Henninger birdied the only hole played Sunday at the Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic, beating veteran Mike Sullivan in a playoff after the tournament was shortened to 36 holes by rain.With a birdie at the 532-yard, par-5 18th hole, Henninger won $126,000, at the same time gaining a two-year qualifying exemption on the PGA Tour. He has shuffled back and forth between the Nike and regular tours this year.
"It was important for me because I finished two strokes out from keeping my (PGA Tour) card last year," said Henninger, 31, in his second year on the PGA Tour. "When I finished second in Atlanta (at the BellSouth Classic in May), I was trying to win the tournament. Winning here is what gives me a job for two more years. That's a big monkey off my shoulders."
The winning putt came after a drive to the middle of the fairway, a layup to a peninsula fronting a small lake and a pitching wedge approach to the green.
Henniger and Sullivan, who got $75,600, were tied at 9-under-par 135 after the second round, which took two days to play.
"I'm proud to be the champion of the Deposit Guaranty, but I won't feel like a true champion on the PGA Tour until I've won a 72-hole event," said Henninger, who slept in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport Tuesday night while trying to get to the tournament.
The playoff was necessary after PGA Tour officials determined the rain-saturated Annandale Golf Club course was not fit for 18 holes of play Sunday.
"He beat me fair and square," said Sullivan, whose second PGA victory was five years ago. "I don't know if I was just rushed, nervous or a combination of the two. I was anxious."
After starting the playoff with a drive into the right rough, Sullivan recovered with a long 8-iron back onto the fairway. After an approach shot to about 25 feet, his birdie attempt stopped just short of the hole.
"It was a perfect putt to have," Sullivan said of the slightly uphill shot with a small left-to-right break. "I just misjudged the speed of it."
The 18th hole showed remnants of a Saturday storm that forced the tournament to be decided by the playoff. Several tents used for concessions and sponsors laid in ruin and a huge willow tree knocked down by the storm served as the background for the green.
Tommy Armour III completed a 7-under 65 Saturday to join four others a stroke back at 136. Guy Boros, Scott Hoch, Dave Stockton Jr. and Chris DiMarco were all at 136 after finishing their second rounds Friday.
In New Rochelle, N.Y., Beth Daniel knows all too well that there will be added pressure on her when the U.S. Women's Open gets underway Thursday.
What's more, she is looking forward to it, especially after sinking a 5-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff with Laura Davies on Sunday. The victory in the $650,000 JAL Big Apple Classic was Daniel's 30th of her career.
That triumph fulfilled one of two requirements for admission into the LPGA Hall of Fame. The other standard is two major wins. The 37-year-old Daniel only has one, the LPGA Championship in 1990.
At Aurora, Ill., John Paul Cain had every expectation of going into a sudden-death playoff with Jim Colbert at the Ameritech Senior Open.
After Cain holed out for a par-5, good for a 3-under-par 69 on the 541-yard, 18th green, Colbert missed his putt for a par, and Cain walked off with his biggest paycheck ever - $112,500 - beating Colbert and Simon Hobday by a single shot.
Cain's 14-under total of 202 gave him a 1-year exemption on the Senior tour.
Chi Chi Rodriguez, finishing with a 69, was two strokes off at 204, while Jay Sigel (66) and Harry Toscano (68) were another stroke back.
Tied for seventh were Tommy Aaron (67), Tom Wargo (68), Tom Weiskopf (68), and Mike Hill (72).