Laird (left), who has three PGA Tour victories to his credit, ended up a stroke behind champion Jhonattan Vegas, who birdied his last three holes en route to a 64 on Sunday.

Laird shared second place with Dustin Johnson and Tour rookie Jon Rahm. The former Ram went 73-69-68-67 for an 11-under-par 277 total.

The runner-up finish assured Laird of keeping his PGA Tour card for next season as he jumped from 120th place on the 2015-16 money list to 81st. The top 125 at the end of the season are fully exempt for the coming year.

Jobe Scores Big in Another Senior Major: Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe finished fifth Sunday in the Senior British Open in Scotland, marking his third top-five showing in a senior major this year.

Jobe closed with a 6-under-par 66 Sunday to post a 7-under 281 total. He ended up four strokes behind champion Paul Broadhurst and earned $64,802 in the process.

Previously this year in senior majors, Jobe has placed third in the Senior PGA and fourth in the Senior Players Championship, along with 17th in the Regions Tradition.

Jobe ranks 17th on the 2016 PGA Tour Champions money list with $544,420.

Elsewhere: Former University of Colorado golfer Sebastian Heisele placed fourth Sunday in the Le Vaudreuil (France) Golf Challenge on the European Challenge Tour. After going 63-69-73-67, he came up two strokes shy of winner Alexander Bjork of Sweden. It was Heisele’s seventh top-20 finish of the Challenge Tour season. He’s 15th on the Challenge money list with 43,142 euros.
 

But, appropriately, the Aurora resident will reach the major milestone at a major championship.

Wiebe, who last played in a PGA Tour event at the 2005 International at Castle Pines Golf Club, earned one more start by virtue of winning the 2013 Senior British Open in a playoff that lasted five holes against World Golf Hall of Famer Bernhard Langer. (Wiebe is pictured with the trophy in the wake of that victory.)

The winner of the Senior British earns an exemption into the following year’s British Open, which in this case will be played July 17-20 at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England. Then the following weekend, Wiebe will defend his Senior British Open title July 24-27 in Bridgend, Wales.

“I’m excited as hell to play in the British Open,” Wiebe said earlier this year in a phone interview. “That will be my 500th start on the PGA Tour. I’ve been sitting on 499 forever. I’m excited to go over and play in that. I want to make sure my health is good and want to go over and try to defend my title.”

Though Wiebe will be making his 500th PGA Tour start, it’ll be just his third at the British Open, where he missed the cut in 1997 and 2001. (Coincidentally, the 2001 British Open was won by David Duval, now a fellow Cherry Hills Country Club member with Wiebe. Duval is also entered in this year’s Open.)

One of the reasons Wiebe didn’t play in the British Open more is that the two PGA Tour events he won — the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic and the Hardee’s Golf Classic — both were usually scheduled near the middle of July, at roughly the same time as the British Open. But this year, he’s looking forward do his first British/Senior British doubleheader.

“What a fun trip,” the 56-year-old Colorado Golf Hall of Famer said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Wiebe, who moved to Colorado in the mid-1980s, was no stranger to being in contention on the PGA Tour. Besides his two victories, he recorded eight runner-up finishes, five thirds and 47 top-10s overall. He’s won more than $4.3 million.

But it’s on the Champions Tour where Wiebe has enjoyed more success, based on sheer victories. He’s won five times in nearly seven years on the senior circuit, including twice in 2013. He followed up his Senior British Open victory — his first major championship win — with a title last September in the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship, where he outdueled Corey Pavin in another playoff.

Wiebe has not only claimed more than $5.4 million in career earnings on the Champions circuit, but he has been remarkably consistent. In his first six full seasons on the Champions Tour, he’s placed in the top 30 on the final money list every time, including finishing 22nd last year.

So far this year hasn’t been up to Wiebe’s standards, in part due to ailments and injuries. The 1986 Colorado Open champion has yet to post a top-25 finish and currently stands 80th on the season-long money list.

But several big events await this month. Before the British Open and Senior British, Wiebe will compete in next week’s U.S. Senior Open in Edmond, Okla.

The 2013 Champions Tour season comes to a close this week at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in San Francisco. And what a season it has been for golfers with strong Colorado connections.

There have been 25 Champions events contested so far this year, and five have been won by players who live in Colorado now or have been a resident within the last decade.

And, besides that 1-in-5 success rate, one of the victories came in a Champions Tour major, by Aurora resident Mark Wiebe (pictured above) in the Senior British Open.

Before this year, the last time a longtime Coloradan had won a Champions major was in 2004, when Boulder High School and University of Colorado alum Hale Irwin prevailed in the Senior PGA Championship and Colorado resident Craig Stadler captured the title in The Tradition. (Mike Reid won two majors in the interim, but he lived in Colorado for just over a year, attending high school at Cherry Creek during that time.)

The real success in 2013 came from the three players who qualified for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship by finishing in the top 30 on the season-long money list: Wiebe, Stadler and former Castle Rock resident Esteban Toledo.

Wiebe and Toledo won twice each this year, while Stadler captured his first title since 2004.

Here’s a brief rundown on their accomplishments and those of other “locals” on the 2013 Champions Tour:

— Aurora resident Mark Wiebe: In the course of eight weeks from late July to late September, the Colorado Golf Hall of Famer won twice, giving him five victories in his six years on the Champions circuit.

In both cases, Wiebe’s victories came in playoffs over golfers who have won majors on the PGA Tour. After battling knee and elbow problems in recent years, he outdueled Bernhard Langer over five holes of sudden death to claim the Senior British Open title. In the wake of his biggest victory, Wiebe tweeted about receiving a congratulatory letter from Arnold Palmer and a heartfelt voicemail from Gary Player.

In September, Wiebe won another playoff — this time against Corey Pavin — to claim the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship.

The amazing thing about Wiebe’s performance in 2013 is that he’s posted just two top-10 finishes on the Champions Tour, and both have been victories. Wiebe stands 22nd on the season-long money list, marking his sixth straight year of placing in the top 30.

— Former Castle Rock resident Esteban Toledo (pictured at left): Toledo has made his first full season on the Champions circuit one to remember. Last November he earned his Tour card by finishing fourth in the final stage of qualifying school. Then on Cinco de Mayo, the native of Mexico won his first Champions Tour title by prevailing in a three-way playoff at the Insperity Championship. And last month he won another playoff to claim the title in the Montreal Championship.

Overall, Toledo has been a force on the 2013 tour, recording nine top-10 finishes and winning more than $1.2 million, good for 11th place on this year’s money list.

— Evergreen resident Craig Stadler (pictured below): The former Masters champ resurrected his career when it seemed unlikely that he would ever win again. When Stadler earned the Encompass Championship title in June — the month he turned 60 — he set a Champions Tour record for most time between victories (roughly 8 years and 9 months). Stadler won three times in 2003 and five times in 2004, but when the spigot was turned off, it was closed completely. Then he went 171 starts unless notching his next victory.

Before this year, Stadler hadn’t recorded a top-five finish on the Champions Tour since 2009. He goes into the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in 27th place on the 2013 money list.

— Elsewhere: Irwin, owner of the most Champions Tour titles in history (45), posted one top-10 finish in 2013. The 68-year-old winner of three U.S. Opens shot a 64 — four strokes under his age — at the Shaw Charity Classic on Sept. 1, marking his best Champions Tour score since 2007. … Irwin finished the year 73rd on the 2013 money list. Gary Hallberg of Castle Rock was 43rd, former CU golfer Steve Jones was 74th and Colorado Springs native R.W. Eaks was 106th.