Haas Holds out to Win Humana Challenge

Post by Sports Writer Derek Clements

The holidays are over and the big boys are back - and what a show they gave us at the Humana Challenge, which was won by Bill Haas after a stunning back nine during which one challenger after another threw down the gauntlet.It was fabulous stuff.

Before the field had teed off for the final round, everybody said their own little prayer, hoping against hope that Erik Compton could hang on and give us possibly the best story ever written on the PGA Tour. There wasn't a single person in the gallery who did not want to see him win - and you got the feeling that even a few of his fellow competitors would not have been too upset if he collected the trophy.

There wouldn't have been a dry eye in the house had the man who is now on his third heart managed to hold on and win. He admits that he struggles to maintain his energy levels for 72 holes and after starting the final round in the lead, and in temperatures in the 90s, it quickly became apparent that this wasn't going to be his day.

Compton began the day tied for the lead. He is a ferocious competitor - how could he be anything else after everything else he has been through? It wasn't that he was playing badly; it was simply that everybody else was picking up where they left off on Saturday, with birdies coming thick and fast.

Compton did pick up an early birdie to move him to 18 under par, but he found himself trailing Matt Kuchar, Bill Haas, Steve Wheatcroft and Justin Thomas. Compton was in a logjam with Colt Knost, Brendan Steele, Scott Pinckney and Michael Puttnam. So there were nine players separated by a single shot, and there were plenty of others in the frame too. This was going to be a turkey shoot.

For players who hit the middle of fairways, the PGA West Palmer course at La Quinta is not the most difficult on tour (far from it), but plenty of rocks and water wait to catch wayward approaches.

Haas finally broke the deadlock when he moved to 20 under at the eighth and Pinckney moved to within a stroke of the lead when he holed long downhill birdie putt at the same hole. It was turning out to be that sort of a day. Blink and you missed it. And if you did blink, you missed Steele moving to 19 under.
All of a sudden, there was Boo in the mix. Everybody loves Boo Weekley. He may appear not to take this game terribly seriously, but don't believe a word of it. Birdies at the second, fourth, sixth, 10th, 11th and 12th had him breathing down Hass' neck on 19 under.

With the back nine now well and truly under way, this was how it looked. Haas was one ahead of Kuchar, Weekley, Steele, Wheatcroft, Pinckney and Thomas (all 19 under). Next came Knost, Webb Simpson, Sung Joon Park and Puttnam (18 under). Compton had slipped back to 17 under. Eleven players split by two shots. And it was still impossible to pick a winner.

Knost was first back to the house, holing a birdie putt on his final green for a round of 63 and a 19-under-par total that surely wouldn't be good enough. Indeed, Simpson improved on in by a shot thanks to a brilliant final round of 64.

The next challenger to emerge was Charley Hoffman. He picked up two shots on the front nine, but then went into overdrive on the back nine with birdies at the 11th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th to move to 20 under, level with Simpson with one hole to play. But still it wasn't enough to catch Haas, who had picked up yet another shot to go 21 under par.

But Hoffman wasn't finished yet and when he birdied the 18th for a round of 64, he had drawn level with Haas. And Steele also signed for a 64 to make it a three-way tie. While Steele and Hoffman had their feet up, they had their feet up, Haas still had four holes to play.
Could Haas find another birdie, or would the pressure be too much? Kuchar, Park and Wheatcroft all made it to 21 under, which left five players waiting for Haas to slip up.

There wasn't a chance. He birdied the 15th to take a one-stroke lead, and that was how it finished. What an amazing final round - and now we all move on to the circus that is Phoenix.