Zimbabwe’s Denis Watson won the 68th Senior PGA Championship on Sunday at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, the championship’s first visit to the course and to South Carolina.
Watson, 51, shot a final-round 68 to finish at 9 under par, 279, two shots ahead of Argentina’s Eduardo Romero, the PGA of America reported. Romero had led after each of the first three rounds but made a double bogey on the par-3 14th hole, where Watson made birdie.
It was Watson’s first win on the Champions Tour, and his last PGA Tour victory came in 1984, PGATOUR.com reported. He earned $360,000.
“Words cannot describe the feeling and the things that I’ve sort of been feeling the last few weeks,” Watson said, according to the PGA of America.
The week also opened a new 24,000-square-foot clubhouse beside the Ocean Course’s 18th green. Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York designed it, and the resort planned to open it to guests and members in mid-June, the PGA of America said in March. About 1,200 volunteers signed up to work the championship.
The College of Charleston’s Office of Tourism Analysis estimated that the event would have an economic impact of more than $23.3 million on South Carolina, counting direct spending by visiting spectators and the PGA’s own expenses, according to a 2006 PGA of America release. John Crotts, chairman of the college’s hospitality and tourism department, said the estimate was conservative and assumed visitors would spend $248 a day.
“This landmark event is also an exceptional business development opportunity and chance to showcase the state to existing and prospective clients,” Helen Hill, executive director of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said in the release.
Buddy Darby, president of Kiawah Development Partners, called it “the most significant golf event in the state since the 1991 Ryder Cup” in the same release.
NBC was scheduled to carry the weekend rounds live, according to the release. The Ocean Course is scheduled to host the PGA Championship in August 2012.
