Long Shot makes good
There's a new challenger for feel-good golf story of 2024 with Tim O'Neal's triumph on the PGA Tour Champions
Scott Taetsch
The reputation of the PGA Tour Champions as the second-chance circuit has quieted in recent years, with several PGA Tour standouts continuing their winning ways after turning 50. Which is why Tim O’Neal’s triumph on Sunday at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic has special meaning.
The 52-year-old journeyman pro from Savannah, Ga., found heartache trying to earn a PGA Tour card that never came. Most notable was his stumble at Q School in 2000, when he needed just a bogey on his final hole only to make a triple.
But there were no stumbles Sunday at the Country Club of Virginia, O’Neal making two birdies on his final three holes to close with a seven-under 65 (the low round of the week) and beat Ricardo Gonzalez by two strokes with a 13-under 203 total.
O’Neal hit a wedge to six feet on the par-5 16th and a wedge to five feet on the par-5 18th, making the birdies putts on both holes to claim victory for the first time in a pro tournament since the 2016.
“It only takes one week, and this was my week,” said a tearful O’Neal, the win secure full PGA Tour Champions playing privledges for the first time.
It was a good week to be the week, too, as the PGA Tour Champions postseason got underway in Virginia. The top 54 on the Charles Schwab Cup points list move on to the second event next week in Arkansas. O’Neal jumped from No. 55 to No. 13, essentially assuring he’ll be among the top 36 who advance to the third event, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in three weeks.
“For me to get it done when I had to, that means a lot,” O’Neal said.