By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
David Toms flinched, a lot, Sunday. But he fought through back problems and was rock solid with the Chubb Classic PGA Champions Tour title on the line, rolling in a 35-foot par save on the 17th and winning with a tap-in birdie out of a greenside bunker on the closing hole.
The Shreveport resident and Airline High graduate captured a one-shot triumph over three others at the Tiburon Black Course in Naples, Fla., for his fifth Champions Tour title, and first since 2023, to go with his 13 wins on the PGA Tour.
Toms carried a three-shot lead into the final round after opening Friday with a 67 and following that with a 9-under 63 on Saturday. That moved him to 14-under, setting a 36-hole scoring record at Tiburon.
Sunday had an ideal start, he said, with his best warmup of the week on the range. But after a perfect drive on the second hole, Toms’ status took a dire swing. Not only did he follow an opening birdie with a double bogey, but trouble was a constant companion.
“My back goes out on the second shot — it was below my feet,” he said in a Golf Channel interview. “It impacted the rest of the day, just flinching on it. Seven-iron on down, I was OK, wedge, I was OK, but anything with a long club, it was a tough day.”
That showed on the 17th tee – the most difficult hole for the field on Sunday — as he shared the lead at 12 under and duck hooked his drive to untended territory very close to a lake, behind a tree line guarding the fairway. Toms pitched out to the fairway, then carried a 180-yard approach shot on the par-4 past the pin.
Just when a bogey seemed certain, Toms rolled his putt downhill and firmly In the back of the cup for par.
“Seventeen was just a bonus,” he said. “It was meant to be if I made par there, for sure.”
After a perfect drive on 18, his second shot drifted left into a sand trap parallel with the pin on the par-5. There, he had the lie he didn’t want – below his feet – but didn’t need a full swing.
“I just dug in, and I had plenty of green to work with, just kind of chunk and run, one of those shots,” said the 59-year-old. “You like those when everything’s kind of nervy, and it got real close.”
Maybe 3-4 inches below the hole. After his companions finished without birdies, Toms tapped in the gimme and shared a hug with his longtime caddy, Scott Gneiser.
Toms wobbled around with two double bogeys and two more bogeys, countered by five birdies, in a closing one-over 73 that earned him the $270,000 winner’s check and moved him into the second spot of the Charles Schwab Cup standings after two Champions Tour starts.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com
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