Huston holds on to claim title

John Huston walked to the tee on No. 15, having lost the lead he had held for most of the Southern Farm Bureau Classic.

"Standing on the 15th tee I was thinking, 'I've had a lot of disappointments. It would be nice to have one go the other way,'" he said.

It did.

Huston erased a two-stroke deficit over his final four holes and shot a 68 Sunday to win by one stroke over Brenden Pappas, who closed with a 10-under 62.

Pappas started the final round seven strokes behind Huston, the 54-hole leader.

"When I woke up this morning I told my wife, if I shoot a 10 under the chances are I'll probably finish second," Pappas said. "It wasn't a prediction, just a statement. It turned out to be right on the button."

Huston, showing the poise of a 15-year PGA Tour veteran, birdied Nos. 15, 16 and 17 to take back the lead and finished at 20-under 268.

Holding a one-shot lead, Huston played the par-5 18th at Annandale Golf Club perfectly safe: laying up, then two-putting from about 12 feet for par. After tapping in, the stoic 42-year-old pumped his left fist, exchanged high-fives with his caddie and playing partner and raised his arms over his head.

With his seventh career victory, and first in three years, Huston became the 11th player 40 or older to win on the Tour this season. He won $540,000.

"Better players than I go through long spells," he said. "To actually win is hard to do."

Shigeki Maruyama shot a 66 and was third at 270.

Rookie Chris Anderson, Hidemichi Tanaka and Paul Stankowski, who were tied for second two back to start the round, all had 70s and finished tied for fourth at 272.

Pappas had missed the cut in five of his last six starts, so just making it to the weekend was an accomplishment. He entered the final round needing a career round and some help from the front-runners to move into contention.

He got both.

While the leaders were making little ground on the front nine, Pappas was zooming by.

He was 5 under on the front nine to go to 14 under.

"I rolled in a 25-, 30-footer for eagle on No. 5 and I knew the way I felt, the way I was going, the game was on," said Pappas, who was just warming up.

He birdied five of his first six on the back nine, making putts from all over the greens.

Shortly after Huston bogeyed No. 9 to drop to 18 under, Pappas made a 20-footer for birdie on 14 to tie.

"That sort of really slowed me down for a bit because I felt like I was going pretty good," Huston said of his bogey on 9.

Pappas passed Huston with a fourth straight birdie, a 28-foot putt on 15.

He rolled it pure again from 13 feet on No. 17, using a little body English to guide the ball in with an outstretched club. He tipped his wide-brimmed hat to the crowd and took a three-stroke lead to the tee box on 18.

That's where his good fortune and fine play finally ended.

Pappas pushed his tee shot to the right and caught a bad break when his ball banged around the bunker and came to rest a foot from the lip. A tree blocked his best escape route.

He punched out of the sand too hard, sending his ball across the green and toward the water.

"The only bad shot I hit all day," said Pappas, whose second was his best finish ever.

Luckily, the ball held up in a pile of dirt just short of the pond. He got a drop and managed to get on the green in four.

Then he missed a 12-footer for par and finished his round leading by two strokes.

"If he birdies that hole it would have made it tough for anybody to catch him," Huston said.

But Huston, who led after every round, regrouped. He stuck shots to 3 feet on 15 and 17 and made a 10-footer in between.

"That's pretty much what I've been doing all week. I was just hitting a lot of good shots in close, giving myself a lot of good chances," he said.

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