ASSOCIATED PRESS Dana Quigley watched his putt drop in on the seventh green during the final round of the MasterCard Championship.

Quigley claims title
with playoff victory

Watson loses on the third
extra hole after hitting
into a lava field

KA'UPULEHU, Hawaii » One of the last things Tom Watson said after Saturday's second round was he hoped the wind would blow on Sunday.

Well, it blew all right and it landed Watson in the rocks on the third playoff hole of yesterday's $1.6 million MasterCard Championship at the Hualalai Golf Club. The beneficiary of Watson's death blow at the par-3 17th was Dana Quigley.

After Quigley missed a 5-footer for par at the 18th in regulation to shoot 18-under 198 for the tournament, Watson followed that miscue with a blown opportunity of his own to finish in a 54-hole tie.

Moments later, the two golfers set off on a journey that ended after Watson hit a 7-iron over the green and into the lava field at the back of the hole. Quigley, who lost in a playoff to Fuzzy Zoeller last year, hit first at the 17th. He noted that the wind had shifted somewhat from the first time he had played the hole, so he used an 8-iron and still put his ball on the back fringe. Watson wasn't as fortunate.

He had to take a drop behind the hole for the lateral hazard, chipped up to within 5 feet and made it for bogey. Quigley two-putted from the fringe for par and his first victory on the Champions Tour since he captured this same winners-only tournament two years ago.

Quigley pocketed $272,000 and credited the Kona Coast for his good fortune. Watson took home $163,000 for second, and past MasterCard winners Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan made $110,000 for finishing one stroke back at 17-under 199 for third.

Only Irwin's final-round 65 was better than Quigley's 6-under 66. Watson closed with an erratic 70. He had a couple of chances to win the playoff, but just couldn't get it done. His 7-iron at the 17th proved to be his undoing

"I'm actually not surprised (with Watson's club selection) because the wind turned around," Quigley said. "We had 169 to the hole and 180 over the green. I hit 8-iron, which I hit 150. But I just figured I was zipped up and it went to the back fringe. And I think Tom had a 7-iron and he flushed it. And when it got in the air I said, 'That thing is in the rocks'.

"From when we finished, the wind was going one-quarter across the fairway to when we had the playoff it must have turned slightly and went straight down. He flushed it, too, unfortunately. And we really didn't feel it until we got to the tee. I was not hitting the 7 because I was taking the back out of play, I thought."

Watson didn't dwell on his crucial mistake. It was his second trip through the lava fields. The first occurred at the par-5 fourth. He hit his second shot way right, but the ball took a fortuitous bounce and allowed Watson to shoot a birdie, instead of a bogey.

"I went from a six to a four in a heartbeat," Watson said. "I don't make any excuses. I just didn't play very well. I was more nervous today than I probably should have been. I've dealt with those nerves before. I can't take anything away from Dana. He shot 66 and it blew today.

"It was a good, solid round of golf. He's played a lot more rounds of golf the last six years than I have. You don't play what-ifs too many times. That's your business. You can play what-ifs. I don't play what-ifs too much. I've played this game long enough to know things even out."

Quigley was equally philosophical about his bogey 5 at the closing hole. Had Watson made his birdie at the 18th from 9 feet, Quigley loses the tournament much like he did last year to Zoeller. But he didn't. Quigley forgot about the bogey and moved on into the playoff.

"No bogey affects me," Quigley said of his chance to sew it up in regulation. "This is what I've been trying to teach my nephew Brett and my own son. I told them in Florida last month that bogeys only hurt you if you let them.

"That's life. I didn't try to do it. I actually tried to make that putt. I had a really good putt, but it just didn't turn into the hole. The first playoff hole I hit the same putt, so I'm not too bright. I still played it to break left and it didn't. I would not have beaten myself up if Watson makes birdie. That's what the Lord wanted to happen."

Divine intervention seemed to play a big role for Quigley at the par-4 15th. With Watson struggling and Quigley needing a big shot, he nailed a 4-iron from 188 yards to within a foot of the cup.

"That was the shot," Quigley said of the birdie in regulation. "With a 4-iron into that hole it was a sick shot as the kids say. Us old guys think that means it's bad, but it's good. My caddie is a good friend of mine and he said, 'How can you have the nerve to do that?' I said you only get a chance to win a few times a year out here on tour. If you don't go at it when you've got a chance what difference does it make?

"What if I made a bogey? It's not a big deal. You've got to go to win if you can win. You've got to lay down at night and look in the mirror the next day and you say why didn't I go for that? You gotta go for that."