David Toms hadn’t won on the PGA Tour or PGA Tour Champions in more than seven years. Perhaps it was appropriate that the drought ended in a state where he earned one of his 13 PGA Tour victories.
In addition to the biggest win of his lifetime — the 2001 PGA Championship in the Atlanta area — Toms took home the trophy from the 1999 Sprint International at Castle Pines.
And as he came down the stretch of his U.S. Senior Open victory Sunday evening at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Toms thought about both those tournaments.
“I always try to draw on those positive experiences,” the 51-year-old from Louisiana said. “I thought a lot about The International this week. … In fact, what I thought about over the last putt that I had on 18 (today) was that year that I won The International. I had a two-putt to win and I had a downhill, right-to-left breaking putt just like I had (today). And I actually made it in ’99.
“I thought about both (The International and the PGA) the last two holes. So you can tell that I was always trying to draw on something positive from the past.”
And it certainly seemed to work.
Toms drained a 15-foot birdie on the par-3 16th to break out of a large tie and take the solo lead, then sank a 20-foot par putt on the par-4 17th after driving it into the lip of a fairway bunker. Then he two-putted from 15 feet on No. 18, looking up to the sky and noticeably exhaling after stroking a 2-foot par putt into the right side of the hole for the win.
“I think if it was 3 feet, it wouldn’t have gone in because I didn’t hit it in the middle,” Toms said of his final putt. “I hit it on the right side and it’s moving right. If it’s 2 1/2 feet, it probably wouldn’t have gone in. But it went in and I’m here (in the winner’s press conference), so I’m happy.”
Toms (above in a USGA photo and at left in a CGA photo) emerged from a wild day in which at least a half-dozen players seemed to be on the brink of taking control at various times.
As it was, Toms shot an even-par 70 for a 3-under-par 277 total and a one-stroke victory over three players — Jerry Kelly, who had led after each of the first three rounds; his college teammate Tim Petrovic, who had to qualify just to make the field; and Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, who played his last four holes in 2 under par. Jimenez, who putted off the green and took a double bogey on No. 8, then bogeyed 9, shot a 69.
“It’s painful because I threw away the tournament there” on 8 and 9, said Jimenez (left).
Petrovic posted a 70 and Kelly a 72.
While Jimenez and Petrovic birdied 18 to finish where they did, Kelly could have forced a playoff by making a long birdie putt from in front of the green there. But he left his ball less than a foot short.
“This one is going to motivate me in a big way,” Kelly said. “We’ve got two (more) majors in a row coming up, and I’m ready to tee it up tomorrow morning. I hit fantastic shots on the back side, but the bounces did not go my way when the ball landed on the green. That’s golf.”
Sharing fifth place were two other players who were in the lead on the back nine on Sunday — Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe and playing partner Paul Goydos — along with Englishman Paul Broadhurst.
Toms earned $720,000 for the victory, but it took an unusual week to get there. On Thursday, the first day of the championship, his caddie, Scott Gneiser, had to go to the hospital because of a heart condition.
“I’m scrambling around,” Toms said. “My wife says Carter (their son and a golfer at LSU, David Tom’s alma mater), he’s ready to go, he’s going to caddie for you. He’s never caddied before in his life.
“… But he did an unbelievable job. He really kept me in there, especially on Friday where I was 3 over par early in the round. He was so positive. It was like me talking to him when he’s going to play.”
Then Gneiser returned for the weekend, when Toms went 66-70.
“I just have to figure out now what percentage (fee) each of them gets,” Toms said. “That should be interesting.”
Toms managed the confounding Broadmoor greens better than most, particularly on Sunday. He hit just eight greens in regulation in the final round, but needed just 26 putts, the lowest number for Sunday. And the ones on 16 and 17 with the tournament on the line, those were pivotal.
“If you’re going to win championships, that’s what you have to do,” Petrovic said. “You’ve got to make the big putt at the right time — and he did.”
Said Toms of the putt on 17: “Just an unbelievable putt I made for par. Certainly that was the key to victory. … To make the two putts on 16 and 17 with the greens they were late in the day, I guess it was meant to be.”
Through the final 36 holes, Toms made just two bogeys, which was no small feat as tough as the East Course was playing.
For the final scores from the U.S. Senior Open, CLICK HERE.
