2013 TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

DRAMA MAJOR
Moawad Avoids Winless Season, Swipes Player Of The Year From Vargas

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VALENCIA – Chris Moawad is no stranger to dramatic feats at the Tour Championship. In 2006 he won Rookie of the Year by winning the Tour Championship and 3 years later he won again when it looked as if he would suffer his first winless season. Saturday, in the last Major and final tournament of the season, Moawad won his record 4th Tour Championship, and in doing so, won Player of the Year honors for the 2nd straight season.

“I just got in a groove”

Led by 2012 defending champion P-Jay Fidler, just 4 strokes separated the top 6 golfers at the turn. But it was on the back-9 that Moawad simply went to a different level, leaving everyone in his wake. A par on the 10th, the 2nd hardest hole, was the first of 6 pars over the final 9 holes. Asked about his 11-stroke improvement on the back nine, Moawad answered, “I don’t know what it was. I just got in a groove, got in a rhythm. My drives were good, my putts improved, my approach shots improved. It just came together, I can’t explain it.” Moawad’s latest win in a Major was his 7th, tying him for 1st on the all-time Major wins list, to which he responded, “I love the Majors.”

2013 TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL SCORES

PLACEGOLFERSCORESHANDICAPNET
1
2
T3
T3
5
T6
T6
8
9
10
Moawad
W. Vargas
Fidler
T. Joe
D. Vargas
Crump
Vaughan
Witt
Frost
Bird
45-34=79
48-39=87
44-45=89
45-51=96
48-43=91
49-50=99
47-52=99
52-53=105
52-51=103
53-
0
0
0
-7
0
-7
-7
-11
-7
-11
79
87
89
89
91
92
92
94
96
WD

CHRIS MOAWAD
MGM TOUR 2013 PLAYER OF THE YEAR

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Winning the Tour Championship was only half of Chris Moawad’s trophy haul on Saturday. Moawad won his 3rd Player of the Year award, a Tour record, and became the first repeat winner since Patrick Bird (2005-2006). “It’s great. It was kind of a subtle building up I guess because I hadn’t won any tournaments [before today], but I placed, I think 2nd, so many times.” While Moawad and Vargas each won a Major this season, their performances in The Masters  and Griffith Observatory Championship proved to be the crucial difference makers.

4 Times A Bridesmaid

For Doug Vargas, the Tour’s #1 player the majority of the season, the Tour Championship produced a painful dose of deja vu. Chris Moawad’s win in 2006 won him Rookie of the Year honors over Vargas who appeared to be a lock for the award. Saturday, to win Player of the Year, Vargas needed to finish 2nd in the event Moawad won The Tour Championship. A 5th place finish saw the award that has eluded him 3 times before, slip through his fingers once again. Always a class act, Vargas responded, “What I’m happy with is that Chris won the [Tour Championship] to win Player of the Year. Because if he would have won it just by placing [2nd and me worse than 7th] it would have sucked even more. But this was, outright, he took it from me.” Said Moawad, “I leapfrogged Doug again. It’s bittersweet. I feel for Doug, he’s a great player. But he’s had 3 wins so he’s not having a bad season at all.”

2013 FINAL STANDINGS

CURPREVPLAYEREVENTSPOINTSWINS
# OF TOP-3'sBEHIND LEAD
12MOAWAD894.7515
21D. Vargas889.3134-5.44
37W. Vargas765.40
15-29.35
4
6Fidler864.334-30.42
55Crump759.0813-35.67
63Bird957.6523-37.10
74Grigorian555.9222-38.83
88Vaughan749.58
3-45.17
99Frost743.6514-51.10
1011T. Joe1035.882-58.87
1110Mann529.342-65.41
1212Gordón525.151-69.60
1314Witt920.56-74.19
1413Quiroz420.04
1-74.71
1515Clemente28.081-86.67