Rocco Mediate fired a seven-under 64 on Sunday and cruised to a seven-shot victory over Tom Byrum at the inaugural Shaw Charity Classic played at the Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
After opening with a then course record-setting eight-under 63 on Friday, he added a seven-under 64 yesterday and was 15-under 127 through his first two rounds. This was the lowest total through two rounds of any Champions Tour event this year.
Mediate added another 64 on Sunday and finished the tournament at a record-tying 22-under 191 for a 54-hole Champions Tour event, joining Bruce Fleisher (2002 RJR Championship), Loren Roberts (2006 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai) and Bernhard Langer (2007 Administaff Small Business Classic) with that total.
Mediate carried a two-shot lead over Bobby Clampett into the third and final round of the tournament and wasn't challenged by anyone en route to a nice $300,000 paycheck in what is his second win on the tour. The 50-year-old Champions Tour rookie won his Tour debut at the Allianz Championship on early February.
On Sunday Mediate carded six birdies, an eagle on the Par-5 15th and his lone bogey coming right after at the Par-3 16th. Over three rounds he posted 17 birdies, four eagles - all on Par-5s, and only three bogeys.
Finishing as the runner-up a distant seven strokes back was Byrum, who earned a spot into the 81-man field through a qualifying tournament on Tuesday, and also carded a seven-under 64 on Sunday to rise from 14th spot after two rounds and into second.
Duffy Waldorf and Kirk Triplett finished in a T-3rd at 14 under, while Clampett, Scott Hoch, Jeff Freeman, Michael Allen and Tom Pernice Jr. finished T-5th at 13 under.
Bill Glasson set a new course-record today shooting a nine-under 62 to move up the leaderboard and finished in a T-10th with Fred Couples, Jay Don Blake, Bart Bryant and David Frost.
Glasson was tied for 39th position at three-under through the first two rounds before moving up. He had nine birdies on his bogey-free round Sunday to break the course record of 63, which was set by Mediate on Friday and equaled by Mike Goodes on Saturday.
Champions Tour president Mike Stevens praised tournament organizers for putting on a great event and for the droves of fans who lined the tee boxes, fairways and greens to take in the action.
"There was kind of this hopeful optimism in the air from all of us that we knew Calgary was a very enthusiastic golf market and we knew it was a great sports town, but we just didn't know if the golf enthusiasm would translate into a successful golf tournament, even with the best players in the world playing here," Stevens said.