News & Updates
Nick Price on Target with Win at Toshiba Classic
Tournament Presents $1,000,000 Check to Hoag
Newport Beach, Calif., March 13, 2011 - Nick Price began his week by providing the dramatics of chipping in for eagle and a course-, tournament- and Champions Tour-record 60. He ended it by watching Mark Wiebe nearly take center stage away from him.
And in between, the Toshiba Classic added to its lore as being a tournament that is rife with as much dramatics as it is charity.
Price found his march to the 2011 Toshiba Classic crown interspersed with a raft of pursuers, yet when the sun started to set over the Newport Beach Country Club, Price finished what he started, capping his final-round 3-under-par 68 that brought him a one-shot victory over the persistent Mark Wiebe.
En route to becoming the fourth wire-to-wire champion in Toshiba Classic history - a feat last performed by Jay Haas four years ago -- Price earned his fourth Champions Tour victory and third since last April.
His three-round total of 17-under-par 196 held off a raft of challengers that included Wiebe (a 67), along with Japan's Joe Ozaki (67) and Michael Allen (66), who tied for third at 14 under. One shot behind Ozaki and Allen resided 2010 winner Fred Couples (67), 2006 Toshiba Classic champion Brad Bryant (65) and Monday qualifier Robert Thompson (66).
But it didn't come as easy as everyone thought it would the moment Price's chip found the bottom of the 18th hole Friday afternoon, the finishing touches on his course-, event- and Champions Tour-record 11-under-par 60. The three-time major champion and 18-time winner on the PGA TOUR survived some wobbles Saturday en route to a 68, but watched as Wiebe and Ozaki led various charges throughout the weekend.
"It's quite stressful when you shoot 60 on the opening day and everyone you see, they tell you, 'Oh, you are going to win. You're going to win,'" Price said. "You're only a third of the way through the tournament.
"I've never shot that low a round in an opening round. It's normally like a second or third or maybe the last round. Everyone just expects you, oh, this guy is going to shoot 25‑under this week. That was probably the hardest thing because once you shoot a number like that, you got everything to lose and hardly anything to gain."
What Price gained with his first victory since the Principal Charity Classic last June was $255,000 and 255 Charles Schwab Cup points. He also continued his textbook ball-striking, leading the field in fairways hit (37 of 42). He hit 16 out of 18 greens Sunday.
Last year, Price led the Champions Tour in fairways, total driving (distance plus accuracy) and greens-in-regulation, so his Toshiba Classic performance was another page out of what has become a ball-striking clinic for the South African native.
However, all this did was allow Wiebe to draft off Price's momentum and heighten the drama.
Wiebe birdied Nos. 3 and 5 to cut Price's lead to one and had a chance to pull even on the seventh hole, but missed a 15-foot birdie putt. Price extended the lead to two with an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-4 seventh after Wiebe's miss. Wiebe cut the margin to one again with a 5-foot birdie putt on No. 15, but he couldn't convert makeable birdies on 16 and 18.
The latter putt, a 14-footer, would have brought Wiebe into a playoff with Price and sent the pair into the fifth playoff in event history. Given the fact the shortest of the four went five holes, the packed galleries that lined the fairways and skyboxes would have most likely been in for an extended run of golf.
"When it left my putter, it felt good. I went, 'Oh my God, I made it.' I had no doubt it was going in and somehow it just didn't go in," Wiebe said.
Price appeared to run away and hide when he birdied three of the first 10 holes to reach 17 under. He followed that with a bogey on the par-4 12th - his only bogey of the day - then chased that with a birdie on the par-3 13th. Five straight pars allowed Price to close Wiebe out and earn his first career victory on the West Coast.
"My wife says to me, 'You look happy on the golf course. I haven't seen you look happy on the golf course for a long time.' When your wife says that, you know something is going on," Price said.
Off the course, what went on was another banner year of charitable contributions for the Toshiba Classic. The event, long recognized and acknowledged as the standard for charitable donations on the Champions Tour - raised $1,000,000 for Hoag. This year's proceeds benefit the Mary and Dick Allen Diabetes Center at Hoag.
About Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian
Hoag is a not-for-profit regional healthcare
delivery network in Orange County, Calif., consisting of two
acute-care hospitals, seven health centers and a network for more
than 1,300 physicians, 5,000 employees and 2,000 volunteers. Hoag
Hospital Newport Beach, which has served Orange County since 1952,
and Hoag Hospital Irvine, which opened in 2010, are designated
Magnet hospitals by the American Nurses Credentialing Center
(ANCC). Hoag offers a comprehensive mix of health care services,
including Centers of Excellence in cancer, heart and vascular,
neurosciences, orthopedics and women's health. National Research
Corporation has endorsed Hoag as Orange County's most preferred
hospital for the past 14 consecutive years. And for an
unprecedented 15 years, residents of Orange County have chosen Hoag
as the county's best hospital in a local newspaper survey. Visit www.hoag.org
# ##
