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Ian Woosnam holed a 30-foot birdie putt to emerge from a three-way playoff and win a maiden US Champions Tour title in dramatic fashion at the Insperity Invitational.
The 1991 Masters Champions and European Number One appeared on a sponsor’s exemption and beat Americans Kenny Perry and Tom Lehman on the first extra hole at The Woodlands Country Club. The 1991 Masters champion was making his 36th start on the 50-and-over Tour.
"It’s a great feeling," said the Welshman, who will expect a hero's welcome when he returns to his homeland for the SSE Enterprise Wales Senior Open at the end of this month. "I knew my game was coming around, so I was a little bit disappointed at the beginning of the week that I was struggling with a bad back, but I managed to dig in and grind through it.
“I feel like I'm getting a bit too old to go through the pain, but it paid off and I felt a lot better today. I played some great golf and I was fortunate to hole that long putt."
Woosnam earned an immediate one-year calendar exemption on the US Champions Tour and qualified for the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai for the next two years.
“I've been wanting to play,” Woosnam said. “I was exempt before for a couple of years, but I wanted to be with my family, but now the kids are growing up more and I can spend a bit more time over here.
“It's a great tour and it's a pleasure to be here and I'm thankful for the sponsors to give me the invites and, hopefully, I've paid them off.”
Woosnam closed with a four under par 68 to match Perry and Lehman at 11 under. Perry finished with a 66, and Lehman shot 69.
In the playoff, Lehman sliced his approach on the par four 18th into the water, and Perry left a long birdie try 8 feet short before Woosnam rolled in the winner.
“I said, `I've got a flight to catch’,'" Woosnam said. "I said, `Please, someone birdie, whoever it is, birdie the first hole.' And it happened to be me, so that was great.”
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