After 220 tries Len Mattiace finally won on the PGA Tour.
Mattiace closed with a 3-under-par 68 Sunday and took advantage of a late collapse by crowd favorite Scott McCarron to win the Los Angeles Nissan Open, becoming the third first-time winner on tour this year.
“Sometimes it feels like it’s a long way away,” Mattiace said. “Other times you feel like you can smell it, touch it.”
Mattiace has never finished higher than 61st on the money list in seven years and came to Riviera Country Club as the 157th player in the world ranking.
“It’s a better feeling that I thought it would be,” said Mattiace after grabbing the $660,000 first-place prize.
McCarron had a three-shot lead with seven holes to play before caving in to finish in a three-way tie for second.
“That was my tournament to win,” he said.
Rory Sabbatini failed to get up and down for birdie from left of the 17th and finished one stroke back after a 68.
Brad Faxon missed birdie putts of 8 and 12 feet down the stretch, then bent over and tugged at his hair as his 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th stopped a half-inch from falling.
He also had a 68 to finish one stroke behind.
Chris DiMarco had a 68 and tied for sixth, becoming the first player to surpass the $1 million mark on tour this year.
David Duval, who started the round in a tie for 10th, lost about 13 pounds from a stomach illness overnight and withdrew after playing only three holes.
“I have never been that sick before,” Duval said. “I’m exhausted from it.”
– Doug Tewell saved par with an 18-foot putt from the fringe after hitting into the water on the par-5 12th and then held off Hale Irwin and Bruce Fleisher to win the Senior PGA Tour Verizon Classic at Lutz, Fla., by one shot.
Irwin had birdies on Nos. 11, 12 and 14 but closed with four consecutive pars to finish at 9-under 204, one shot behind Tewell.
Fleisher, trailing by one shot after Tewell bogeyed the par-4 No. 18, hit his second shot into the water on 18 and made double-bogey 6. His 4-over 75 tied Dave Stockton at 206.
Tewell, who shot a 2-under 69, won $225,000 for his fifth victory on the senior tour, one more than he had in nearly 25 years on the PGA Tour.
He was the only player in the field to shoot three rounds in the 60s on the 6,783-yard course at the Tournament Players Club of Tampa Bay.
Tewell, picking up 225 points, moved into fourth place in the Charles Schwab Cup race.
– Rookie Nicholas Lawrence shot a 1-under 71 to win South Africa’s Tour Championship at Malelane.
