Eger takes victory in Seattle
David Eger showed early on Sunday that he would not be intimidated by a more seasoned opponent.
Eger used four birdies on the front nine to pull away from Craig Stadler and cruise to a three-shot victory in the Boeing Greater Seattle Classic.
The 53-year-old Eger carded a final-round five-under-par 67 to finish at 17-under 199.
Eger qualified for the Champions Tour in 2002 but had just one win – at the 2003 Mastercard Classic – in three years on the circuit.
Eger entered Sunday’s final round tied with Stadler, a 13-time PGA Tour winner who won five Champions Tour events last year and appeared hungry for his first win this season.
However, Eger never gave Stadler a serious chance for victory. After closing out Saturday’s round of 64 with five birdies and an eagle on the last eight holes, Eger opened Sunday in similar fashion, recording birdies on four of the first eight holes.
While Eger took advantage with the early birdies, Stadler struggled. “The Walrus” birdied just one of the first 13 holes, carding a one-over 73 en route to a 205 and a sixth-place finish.
Veteran Tom Kite made a late charge with birdies on four of the last six holes for a 67 and finished second, two shots back.
Brad Bryant and John Harris, who each started the day two strokes off the pace, carded 69s and tied for third at 203.
Morris Hatalsky, who also was tied atop the leaderboard entering Sunday, shot 72 and finished fifth, five shots off the pace.
Collated third round scores in the Greater Seattle Champions Classic, TPC at Snoqualmie Ridge, United States of America (USA unless stated, par 72):
199 David Eger 68 64 67
202 Tom Kite 66 69 67
203 John Harris 67 67 69, Brad Bryant 66 68 69
204 Morris Hatalsky 66 66 72
205 Craig Stadler 67 65 73
206 Bruce Summerhays 68 69 69, Hale Irwin 67 69 70
208 Mike Reid 73 67 68, Dave Stockton 69 73 66, Don Pooley 71 64 73, Dana Quigley 69 69 70
209 Bruce Fleisher 70 70 69, R.W. Eaks 70 70 69, James Mason 67 67 75, D A Weibring 68 67 74, Jim Ahern 68 69 72, Bobby Wadkins 71 67 71, Walter Hall 68 71 70
210 Dan Pohl 68 71 71, Andy Bean 67 70 73, Bruce Lietzke 67 69 74, Keith Fergus 71 71 68, Peter Jacobsen 67 71 72, Doug Tewell 70 70 70, Norm Jarvis 75 67 68, John Ross 71 69 70, Ron Streck 72 67 71, Mark McNulty (Irl) 73 68 69
211 Jim Thorpe 66 69 76, Rick Rhoden 72 70 69, Bob Gilder 71 68 72
212 Tom Jenkins 70 72 70, Graham Marsh (Aus) 70 70 72, Tom McKnight 70 70 72
213 Tom Purtzer 70 69 74, Allen Doyle 70 73 70, Matt McCullough (Irl) 72 72 69
214 Ed Dougherty 72 69 73, John Jacobs (Eng) 70 72 72, Gil Morgan 75 69 70, Vicente Fernandez (Arg) 69 69 76, John Bland (Rsa) 69 69 76, Lonnie Nielsen 73 71 70, Ben Crenshaw 74 68 72, Doug Johnson 70 73 71, Thomas Herzan 71 72 71
215 Mike San Filippo 70 70 75, Jim Colbert 73 69 73
216 Bob Eastwood 73 68 75, Howard Twitty 69 73 74, Leonard Thompson 73 70 73, Jay Sigel 74 72 70, Tom Wargo 74 71 71, Joe Inman 77 70 69
217 Hajime Meshiai (Jpn) 72 72 73
218 Jim Albus 69 73 76, J.C Snead 74 71 73, Jim Dent 77 71 70
219 Rocky Thompson 72 72 75, Pete Oakley 74 70 75, John Mahaffey 73 73 73, Gary Player (Rsa) 70 76 73, Mark Johnson 72 74 73, Jose Maria Canizares (Spa) 73 74 72, Dave Barr (Can) 72 75 72
220 Hugh Baiocchi (Rsa) 74 68 78
221 Dick Mast 72 73 76
222 Mike Donald 70 77 75, Mike Sullivan 72 71 79
224 Lon Hinkle 77 74 73, Bob Murphy 77 76 71
225 Chuck Milne 77 73 75
227 Don Bies 77 75 75
230 Don Reese 78 74 78, Dale Douglass 79 78 73
231 Charles Coody 80 75 76
232 Dave Eichelberger 75 75 82.
