Carlos Franco of Paraguay defeated a heartbroken Blaine McCallister on the second playoff hole yesterday to successfully defend his title at the $3.4 million New Orleans Classic golf tournament.
Franco parred the 16th hole in the sudden-death play-off to win his third career title and claim the $612,000 first prize.
McCallister bogeyed the 72nd hole to fall into a tie with Franco, then did it again on the first playoff hole before suffering through a disastrous series of shots on the 16th.
The 41-year-old McCallister, the reigning Qualifying School medallist, was seeking his first title in seven years but settled for the $367,200 second-prize cheque. McCallister's wife, Claudia, was on hand to share in the heartbreak. She is legally blind and can see her husband in action only through binoculars from 3040 feet. That was the distance McCallister needed to two-putt on the first play-off hole, but he left his first putt eight feet short and missed the par putt.
At the 16th hole, McCallister drove into a fairway bunker, then found a trap in front of the green with his next shot before his blast rolled up and down the fringe into the same bunker.
Franco narrowly missed a bunker with his tee shot but ended up safely in the fairway. His approach landed in the same bunker as McCallister's, but his blast rolled within three feet of the cup, setting up the winning par putt.
Harrison Frazar also left disappointed after relinquishing a one-shot lead with a bogey at the 17th hole that left him third after a runner-up showing here last year.
Franco, the 1999 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, carded a four-under-par 68 on Sunday to reach 18-under 270, one stroke short of last year's winning total. Frazar finished a shot behind Franco and McCallister at 271, with Stephen Ames of Trinidad and Steve Stricker tying for fourth at 272.
Bob Burns, Kirk Triplett and Steve Flesch were sixth at 273, with Scott Hoch and Joe Durant another stroke behind.
Brian Huggett proved that age is no barrier to produce a regulation par four to defeat Australian Bob Shearer on the first hole of a sudden-death play-off at the Beko Classic at the Gloria Golf Resort in Turkey.
Minutes earlier, the 63-year old Welshman, who had last won on the European Seniors Tour in the Schroder Senior Masters and the Senior British Open in 1998, had played what he described as the finest bunker shot of his life to set up a closing par four for a one-under-par 71 to tie Shearer on an eight-under par aggregate of 208.
