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Hats off, Charles Howell III.
After a win drought stretching more than a decade back to 2007, the 39-year-old lifted a PGA Tour trophy for the third time in his career last night after defeating Patrick Rodgers in a play-off at the RSM Classic.
“It’s been 11 years since I’ve won a golf tournament and quite honestly, I didn’t know if I would ever win one again for the obvious reasons that I had come up short so many times and the fact of how the game is changing,” he said afterwards.
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“The fact I’m sitting here with this trophy, it’s still a bit of a dream.”
The win lifted Howell III to top of the FedEx Cup standings, as he picked up a winner’s cheque for $1,152,000.
Notably, though, it also lifted him to inside the top 20 of the PGA Tour’s career money list, overtaking world No.1 Luke Donald to get into 20th spot.
In his career, Howell III has racked up an incredible $37,048,795.
Not bad for a player who has only teed it up in 17 of the last 40 major championships, with only one top ten in a major in his entire career (T10 at the 2003 US PGA Championship).
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What it does show, though, is the American’s remarkable consistency on the PGA Tour. He’s finished no worse than 97th in the FedEx Cup since it inauguration in 2007 and, throughout his career – he has held full status since 2001 – he has racked up 16 runner-up finishes and nine third-place finishes.
With victory, Howell III will also be making his first trip to Augusta National for the Masters since 2012.
“The tournament is so special,” added Howell III, who was born in Augusta. “Obviously, it means a lot being from there, but it means a lot to every player, right?
“So to get back there, it’s funny, that was one of the first things that popped in my head, was getting back to the Masters.”
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