Pebble Beach: Englishman holds on to win PURE Insurance Championship

PEBBLE BEACH – Paul Broadhurst continued his second golfing career success Sunday in a unique way he’d prefer doesn’t happen again.

Leading by five shots beginning the final round, the Englishman shot par 72 and claimed the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links by three shots over Alex Čejka.

Broadhurst, 59, who finished at 14 under 202, didn’t win during his brief PGA Tour career. But he now has seven career titles on the PGA Tour Champions circuit, including two this season. Paul Goydos, who also had a 72, was the only other player among the top 23 who didn’t shoot under par in the final round.

“I’ve never been in that position before, having a five-shot lead,” said Broadhurst, who birdied the fourth and 18th holes and had bogeys on the 13th and 15th. “I just went out and tried to play solid, and I felt like I did for nine holes.

“You know, I was reasonably comfortable. I just hit a couple of poor shots to the right on 12 and 13 and then you start thinking a little bit.”

Broadhurst had a difficult “up-and-down” on the 17th to save par.

The event’s 21st edition featured an 80-pro player field matched with a junior player from the national First Tee Program representing 48 chapters in 23 states.

Broadhurst began the tournament with a 66 on Friday at Spyglass Hill Golf Course. He followed with a bogey-free 64 Saturday at Pebble Beach and began the final round with a five-shot lead over Vijay Singh after only one bogey in his first 36 holes.

“I didn’t want to shoot over par and win,” said Broadhurst, who briefly led by six shots in the final round.

Broadhurst had only one top-10 finish in 17 PGA Tour career events, a tie for ninth at the defunct B.C. Open in Endicott, N.Y. in 1991.

Čejka, 53, shot an 8 under 64 equaling Broadhurst’s tournament-low round and finished at 205.

Rocco Mediate (69), Doug Barron (70) and Singh (71) finished at 206.

Broadhurst claimed the 2016 Senior Open Championship in Angus, Scotland, and two months later won the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. He won his second senior major at the 2018 Senior PGA Championship in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Broadhurst also has six titles on the European Tour.

The tournament also included an official sub-division for golf’s enduring elder statesmen, specifically Mark O’Meara and Jay Haas.

O’Meara, 67, a 44-year pro and a five-time combined Bing Crosby National Pro-Am and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am winner, recently announced he would retire this week. The two-year major winner had 34 career pro tournaments including the career record AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Ams and the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am he shares with Phil Mickelson.

Following an opening-round 80 at Spyglass Hill, O’Meara missed the cut with 73 Saturday at Pebble Beach. He birdied the 17th hole from 40 feet and then concluded his competitive career by combining golf with a career’s worth of emotion.

“I’m thankful for every moment that I have walking, certainly around this place,” O’Meara, who played in the Crosby/AT&T and 26 times in his career 674 PGA Tour events. “It’s not like I’ll never come back to Pebble Beach again, but the fact that to be able to end a competitive 44-year career at Pebble Beach, I couldn’t have picked a more special day and a more special place.”

O’Meara, playing in a gallery mixer with family, friends and fans, was elected to the Word Golf Hall of Fame in 2015. He won the California State Amateur at Pebble Beach in 1979 and his second PGA Tour win in 1985 at the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am. He played in the PURE Championship and its previously titled editions linked with the First Tee program 17 times at Pebble Beach among his 284 tournaments of the Tour Champions circuit.

Haas, 70, the nine-time PGA Tour and 18-time Tour Champions winner, shot 76 and finished tied for 50th during the 20th anniversary of his Tour Champions debut at Pebble Beach.

Early in the 2022 season, Haas broke the 40-year-old record held by Sam Snead when at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans he became the oldest player (68 years, 4 months, 20 days) to make a PGA Tour cut. He played in 799 PGA Tour events, second all-time and four behind Mark Brooks.

Defending PURE Insurance titlist Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand missed the cut.

Broadhurst earned $345,000 of the $2.3 million purse.