Shooting your age is sort of impossible for most golfers for a majority of their lives, but Jay Haas just about did it on Sunday.
The 60-year-old won the Greater Hickory Kia Classic at Rock Barn on Saturday with a final round 66.
The win came just two days after Jay’s son Bill Haas, himself a five-time PGA champion, was inducted into the Wake Forest Athletic Hall of Fame. Jay’s wife, Jan, got to the golf course Saturday late after watching Bill be recognized at halftime of Wake Forest’s football game.
Jay promptly bogeyed hole 17, and Jan thought she might be a distraction, only to see him birdie 18. Incredibly, Jan has only been present for a handful of Jay’s previous 26 PGA and Champions tour titles, but she rode in the cart with him several times on Sunday as he caught fire.
Haas finished 17-under with a 63-67-66 – 196, two strokes ahead of fellow Americans Joe Durant and Kirk Triplett.
He entered the day with that same two stroke lead over Durant, Triplett and South Africa’s David Frost. He was 3-under at the turn and hit three more birdies around a bogey on No. 12 to maintain the lead for the title.
It is Haas’ 17th win on the Champions Tour. He previously won nine titles on the PGA Tour, and finished in the Top 4 of both the Masters and the US Open in 1995 at age 41.
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