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La Quinta, Calif. • Brian Gay found the extra distance he was looking for without sacrificing control.
That was clear late Sunday afternoon in the Humana Challenge when Gay cracked a 300-yard drive down the center of the fairway to set up a birdie on the first playoff hole.
A few minutes later, he split the fairway with a 297-yarder and made another birdie to hold off Charles Howell III for his fourth PGA Tour title.
"I'm still in a little bit of shock," Gay said. "It kind of happened so fast there at the end the way things went down. Last year was a struggle. It was a long year, a lot of work. I just wanted to come out this year kind of refocused, recharged, and believing in myself."
Gay won on the par-4 10th, putting his 9-iron second shot 51/2 feet below the hole. Howell drove into the right rough, hit into the back bunker, blasted out to 15 feet and two-putted for bogey.
The 41-year-old Gay worked hard last year with Grant Waite and Joe Mayo to increase his driving distance.
"My whole game's been about accuracy and short game," Gay said. "I've always been a short hitter on the tour and I felt like as I was getting older I'm only going to get shorter and shorter. ... It was tough last year trying to play making those changes."
Gay closed with a 9-under 63 on PGA West's Arnold Palmer Private Course to match Howell and Swedish rookie David Lingmerth at 25-under 263. Howell shot a 64, and Lingmerth had a 62. Lingmerth dropped out with a bogey on the first extra hole — the par-5 18th — after hitting his approach into the left-side water.
Scott Stallings, five strokes ahead entering the round, bogeyed the final hole for a 70 to miss the playoff by a stroke.
Champions Tour
John Cook caught David Frost on the final hole of regulation, then beat him with birdie on the second playoff hole to win the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Kaupulehu-Kona, Hawaii. Cook closed with a 5-under-67 at Hualalai Golf Club to catch Frost at 17-under 199.