Faxon Fires 61 and Wins Buick Championship in a Playoff

By DONNA TOMMELLEO
AP Sports Writer
CROMWELL, Conn.

Brad Faxon is right where he wants to be. He won the Buick Championship on Sunday for his eighth PGA victory, and did it just 90 minutes from his Rhode Island home. Next up is the Deutsche Bank Championship at the TPC of Boston, another short hop for him.

"I can't wait for these two weeks," Faxon said. "Back to back, being able to be this close. It's just awesome."

Faxon rolled in a 3-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole and beat South African Tjaart van der Walt for his first victory since 2001.

Faxon tied the course record in regulation with a 9-under 61, a personal best for the 44-year-old. He stayed close to home for his eighth PGA Tour victory, earning a $774,000 paycheck. Faxon is a mainstay at this New England tournament, appearing 22 times.

"People get excited about this tournament and I love playing close to home," Faxon said. "Nobody on tour would ever tell you anything differently. My father came, my aunt, my uncle, my cousins are here. Great friends are here. It's just awesome."

Faxon thought he would be home sooner than later earlier in the week. He made the 36-hole cut on the number and was back in his hotel room packing up Friday afternoon while waiting to hear if he made it.

"This was really kind of out of the blue," he said. "The first two days I played OK. Then something happened yesterday where all the putts started going in."

On Sunday, not only did his putts fall but he took advantage of a couple of favorable rulings to save par on the last two holes. When his tee shot on No. 17 rolled about 40 yards down a cart path and damaged the ball, Faxon got to pull out a new ball and place his drop.

On the playoff hole, both hit great second shots.

Faxon drove into the left fairway bunker and had 169 yards to the hole and stuck his 7-iron approach 3 feet from the cup. Van der Walt, unflappable all week at the TPC at River Highlands, drove it right down the middle to within 134 yards. His approach banged off the flagstick and rolled just over 9 feet from the cup. The players high-fived each other as they walked up the 18th fairway to an ovation.

"It was really exiting. The crowd was into it," Faxon said.

Van der Walt pushed his birdie putt right then stood back and watched as Faxon coolly rolled his in for the win.

The victory also earned Faxon a spot at the Mercedes Championship in January, the 2006 tour opener in Hawaii. Faxon has been playing on an injured right knee nearly for two years. He planned to have surgery in two weeks to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Now, it seems, that will have to wait.

"My wife says, `If we don't go to Kapalua, I'm going to kill you,'" he said. "So what do you think?"

And as for the knee?

"Nothing hurts right now," Faxon said.

Van der Walt shot a 64 and birdied the final two holes to tie Faxon at 14-under 266 and force a playoff back to the 434-yard par-4 18th.

Third-rounder leader Justin Rose (69) finished one stroke out of the playoff, while former British Open champion Ben Curtis (69), Jerry Kelly (77) and NCAA runner-up Michael Putnam (63) were all at 12 under.

Putnam had been at Merion last week for the U.S. Amateur when he was told he received a sponsor's exemption to the Buick Championship. He decided to turn pro and earned $177,733 in his PGA Tour debut.

Van der Walt is playing on tour with a medical exemption after a wrist injury limited him to 12 events in 2004, his rookie season. He needed to earn just over $448,000 over the next seven tournaments to keep his card for this year. No worries now for the 30-year-old, who pocketed $464,400 for finishing second on Sunday.

"I guess now I can play a little more," van der Walt said. "You work so hard to get out here and then you get hurt. It's not a nice feeling. The (tour) was nice enough to work with me on a major medical, and that's where I am now."

The field played under drizzly conditions all day and the rain-softened greens resulted in low numbers early. That allowed several to catch Rose, who began the day with a four stroke lead at 12-under. Rose didn't make a move until late in the day. He birdied two of the last four holes.

"I knew I had to go out and play a good round and make it mine," Rose said. "Guys are shooting 61 and 64 from behind you, so I needed to keep it moving forward."