A final day charge from Padraig Harrington never materialised as he was forced to settle for a share of eleventh place at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic as Tim O’Neal won for the first time on the Champions Tour.
O’Neal made two birdies on the last three holes Sunday and closed with a seven-under 65 to win by two shots over Ricardo Gonzalez on thirteen-under-par.
For 52-year-old O’Neal, this win was a long time coming. He had suffered a pair of heartaches at Q-school as he tried to earn a lucrative PGA TOUR card, the most crushing moment coming in 2000 when he needed bogey on the last hole and made a triple bogey to miss out.
He never earned a PGA TOUR victory, winning three times on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica and three more on smaller European Tours while he also played on the Alps Tour.
But all it takes is a week and this week was O’Neal’s week.
“It only takes one week, and this was my week,” O’Neal said as he tried to hold back tears. “For me to get it done when I had to, that means a lot.
“Yeah, somewhat what I thought it would be like. I see guys win and I always wanted to be those guys that’s holding the trophy at the end. For me to finally get it done today means the world right now.
“I like all these guys out here and I’ve learned so much the past two years playing out here on PGA TOUR Champions. For them to feel that way for me, it means a lot because I feel like now that I’ve won, I feel like I belong.”
For Harrington it was a level-par 72 to remain on six-under-par. The Dubliner paid the price for a slow start where he bogeyed the first and eighth holes and while a birdie on the par-5 9th got him to within five shots of the lead going into the back nine, he was too far back to mount a challenge and a birdie on 13 was all he could manage.
Darren Clarke birdied his last four holes to card a superb round of 66 and finish on two-under-par.