A wild back-nine ride worthy of a Six Flags white-knuckler ended with Scott McCarron winning the Shaw Charity Classic on Sunday without making a par over his final five holes.
McCarron’s run began with a hole-in-one on the 154-yard 14th hole, using a 9-iron, at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club in Calgary, Canada.
A moment later, Joe Durant made a bogey at 13, a three-shot swing that ended with McCarron and Durant tied.
On McCarron’s next hole, he made a bogey to fall one back, then birdied the par-3 16th, while Durant was bogeying 15 to take the lead.
Yet McCarron was not through with his dizzying ride. He bogeyed 17 to fall into a three-way tie with Durant and Kirk Triplett. Durant dropped out of the mix with bogeys at 15 and 17.
Meanwhile, Scott Parel, a journeyman who won his maiden event at the Boeing Classic last week, birdied the last two holes to conclude a back nine of six-under par 29 to move into a tie with McCarron and Triplett.
McCarron closed with a birdie on the par-5 18th hole to retake the lead and hung on for a one-stroke victory over Parel, Durant and Triplett.
McCarron played the five par threes in five-under, with an ace, three birdies and a par. In three rounds, he played the par threes in eight-under par, accounting for more than half his winning total of 15-under par 195. He closed with a 63, a score beaten on Sunday only by Parel’s 62.
The victory was his second this season and eighth in only his third year full time on the PGA Tour Champions. He has finished in the top 10 in 11 of 19 events.
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