Jay Haas shot a five-under 66 final round on Sunday and won the Greater Hickory Kia Classic at Rock Barn by two strokes over Joe Durant and Kirk Triplett.
He started the day leading by that very same margin after he missed tying the tournament's 36-hole scoring record by one stroke after Saturday’s four-under 67. He had opened with an eight-under 63 on Friday and shared the opening round lead with Durant.
Durant stormed out of the gates and birdied five in a row from the second to take the lead at 15-under. But Haas, who had birdied the second and third, made another birdie from four-feet at the par-4 sixth to move to 15-under, and tied Durant for the lead.
Durant would not be able to keep his torrid pace, and went even-par the rest of the way to close with a five-under 66 and remained at 15-under for the tournament.
Haas made a three-foot birdie putt at the par-4 10th to the solo lead, but relinquished it after three-putting for bogey at the par-3 12th. But he came right back on the par-5 13th and responded with a short birdie retake the lead.
He opened up the two shot lead thanks to a wonderful 16-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th. He would par the final two holes to take the title at 17-under 196, which set a new tournament scoring record. The old mark of 197 was set in 2011 by Mark Wiebe and James Mason, then tied a year later by Michael Allen and Olin Browne.
This marked the third time Haas wins the tournament, his first two titles came in 2005 (his first win on the Champions Tour) and 2009. He earned $240,000 for the win this year.
This is his 17th title on the Champions Tour and the first since he turned 60 last December. His previous victory came at the 2012 Principal Charity Classic on which it was also the last time he took a lead into the final round and also went on to win.
Triplett, last week’s winner at the SAS Championship, made a run late with a couple of birdies at the 14th and 15th, but could only par the final three holes. His bogey-free five-under 66 matched Haas and Durant’s final round score and ended up tied with Durant for second place.
David Frost fired a three-under 68 to finish in solo fourth place at 13-under-par 200. John Cook closed with a 66 to finish one shot back in solo fifth at 12-under 201.
Canadian Stephen Ames shared the low round on Sunday with his countryman Rod Spittle at eight-under 63. His score made him leapfrog 11 spots to finish in share of sixth place at 11-under-par 202. with Wayne Levi (69), Paul Goydos (67), Skip Kendall (66) and Doug Garwood (66) to round up the Top 10 finishers.
Spittle’s 63 earned him the biggest move on Sunday, good enough to jump up 36 spots to finish in a tie for 26th at six-under. Colin Montgomerie, second on the Schwab Cup rankings, shot 69-69-70 for the tournament to finish in a tie for 34th at five-under.
The Champions Tour heads to Texas next week for the AT&T Championship, where Kenny Perry birdied the first playoff hole last year to beat Bernhard Langer.