Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe went winless in his first 368 combined starts on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions.
But No. 369 was the charm.
Jobe, who lived in Colorado from 1970 to ’99 before moving to Texas, finally scored a breakthrough on Sunday when he captured the title at the PGA Tour Champions’ Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines, Iowa.
Prior to the win, Jobe had certainly come close on several occasions, including at The 2005 International at Castle Pines, where he held the 54-hole lead but finished one point behind winner Retief Goosen. Also among his four PGA Tour runner-ups was a playoff loss at the 2005 BellSouth.
Then on PGA Tour Champions over the last two years, he’s placed third three times, including at the 2016 Senior PGA Championship.
But on Sunday, he finally claimed a big championship trophy in the U.S., winning professionally for the first time since 1998.
A week after making a putter switch, the 51-year-old shot rounds of 67-66-69 for a 14-under-par 202 total, good for a one-stroke victory over former UCLA roommate Scott McCarron and Kevin Sutherland, who made two eagles in his final six holes, including a 2 on the par-4 18th. Bernhard Langer, coming off back-to-back wins in senior majors, placed fourth at 204.
Winning “is huge,” Jobe said on Golf Channel. “I’ve been knocking on that door a long time. … To finally get a win means a lot.
Later, he added, “It’s hard. You’re out here to win, and I haven’t done as good of a job as I would have liked. This is nice. It’s a little bit of a relief.”
In a four-birdie, one-bogey final round on a windy Sunday, Jobe birdied the par-5 15th from 3 feet to pull ahead, and parred out for the win. The accompanying payday — $262,500 — vaulted him from 22nd to sixth on the 2017 money list, with $556,978.
In Colorado, Jobe was an outstanding player in the 1980s and ’90s, winning three CGA Match Plays, one CGA Stroke Play, one CGA Junior Amateur, one CGA Junior Match Play, and the 1992 Colorado Open. He went on to win a dozen international championships in the ’90s, mostly in Asia.
For scores from the Principal Charity Classic, CLICK HERE.
Denver’s Love Rides Third-Round 61 to 8th-Place Finish in Canada: Denver resident James Love used a 9-under-par 61 in Saturday’s third round in Victoria, British Columbia, to propel him to an eighth-place finish Sunday in the Bayview Place Cardtronics Open on PGA Tour Canada.
Love — who shot a 59 in a Web.com Tour Q-school event in St. George, Utah last fall — carded rounds of 68-69-61-72 for a 10-under-par 270 total. He ended up six strokes behind winner Max Rottluff.
