SNOQUALMIE — With a three-stroke lead to start the day, Billy Andrade wanted to avoid any big mistakes that might let challengers jump back into contention.
The plan worked well for the first three holes during Sunday’s final round at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge. But on the fourth hole, a 426-yard par 4, Andrade went from trouble to near catastrophe.
His tee shot went out of bounds, a second tee shot ended up in an unplayable lie requiring a drop, and after he chipped out to the fairway a flubbed approach landed in the greenside rough. Lying 6, Andrade was looking at an 8 and maybe a 9 that would cost him the lead and perhaps the entire tournament.
What followed was the most dramatic shot of the day. Andrade gently lofted a 25-foot downhill chip that somehow found the cup, allowing him to salvage a triple-bogey and ultimately save his round.
“It was the greatest 7 I’ve ever made in my life,” said Andrade, who went on to win the Boeing Classic by a single shot over Bernhard Langer.
On another day of sunshine and hazy overcast, Andrade finished with a 1-over-par 73 — the highest final-round score for a Champions Tour winner since Roger Chapman also went 1 over at the 2012 Senior PGA Championship — for a 9-under 207 total and the first-place paycheck of $300,000.
Langer, the 2010 champion, made things interesting with a birdie on the 18th hole. But Andrade, playing in the same final threesome, shrugged off a wayward tee shot that dropped in a fairway bunker by using two short irons to reach the middle of the green. Ten feet from the pin, he lagged a putt to 3 inches and tapped in for his first stroke-play victory since the PGA Tour’s 2000 Invensys Classic in Las Vegas.
“I can’t say how happy I am,” said the affable Andrade. “I’m tickled to death.”
A graduate of Wake Forest University, Andrade played 23 years on the PGA Tour, winning four times. But a decade ago his results began to wane and he ended up taking a three-year hiatus, embarking on a new career as a Golf Channel commentator.
But in the summer of 2013 Andrade had a chance to play in the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Classic in Madison, Miss. He finished tied for fifth, 18 strokes under par, “and that told me that I can still play,” he said. “If you can do that on the regular tour, I think you’re going to do OK out here (on the 50-and-over Champions Tour).
“It was nice to take a break and it was nice to come out here fresh,” said Andrade, who was 10th on the Champions Tour money list coming into the Boeing Classic. “And that’s what I’ve done. I’ve embraced this tour and I’ve had so much fun with these guys.”
As delighted as he was with his chip-in on No. 4, Andrade pointed to another pivotal moment in his round. On the par-5, 529-yard eighth hole, he drove into a bunker and then mis-hit a wedge, leaving him 142 yards to the green. With his third shot he hit another wedge over a lake, “and when the ball was in the air I didn’t think it was going to be over the water,” he said. “But it barely got over the water and got up on the green, and then I made about a 15-footer for birdie.
“To me, that was the key to winning the tournament right there. If that ball goes in the water, I’m probably done.”
When the last putt had dropped, Langer came over to offer a handshake and some words of praise. “Bernhard said, ‘Way to persevere. Way to hang in there. That’s the sign of a champion.’ And that’s something I’ll never forget,” Andrade said.
Langer, who has played better of late than anyone on the Champions Tour — this was his fifth straight top-three finish and his third straight second place (one tie) — was mostly pleased with his round. “I actually played quite well,” said Langer, who earned $176,000, “but it was a frustrating day on the greens. I didn’t make anything.
“I wore Boeing colors (of light blue and white),” he added with a grin, “but it didn’t help.”
Hometown favorite Fred Couples had a chance to make a charge, and his day started well with a birdie on the first hole. But Couples saw his hopes fade with bogeys on the second, seventh holes and 11th holes, and even birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 were not enough to rescue his chances. He finished tied for third with Mark O’Meara, Guy Boros and Fran Quinn at 7-under 209.
Afterward, Couples said he “didn’t feel great.” He added, “I was mediocre today. I can get the ball around, but you … can’t be mediocre.”
Wes Short Jr. had the low round of the day, 7-under 65, with one eagle, six birdies and one bogey. He was one of nine players tied for ninth at 5-under 211.
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