Mediate gets Champions Tour win in debut

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Rocco Mediate birdied the 18th hole and finished with a 1-under par 71 to win the Allianz Championship on Sunday.

He finished the tournament at 17-under 199 and became the 16th player to have a winning debut on the Champions Tour.

Mediate’s 4-foot birdie putt came after Tom Pernice Jr. missed a 5-footer at No. 18 that could have forced a playoff.

Mediate started the day with a three-shot lead, lost it by the 14th hole, but regained it when Pernice bogeyed the par-4 17th from a greenside bunker. Mediate protected that lead with a birdie on the par-5 closing hole.

Pernice, who had a final-round 70, finished tied with Bernhard Langer (68) for second place. It was Langer’s fourth top-three finish in this event in the past five years. Langer won here in 2010.

Mediate won six PGA Tour titles and also lost a memorable playoff to Tiger Woods in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Mediate shot a course-record 61 in the second round on Saturday.

Mark O’Meara (69) and defending champion Corey Pavin (69) were both six shots off the lead.