Faxon celebrates in unique style with first win

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Photo by Paul Lester

Brad Faxon celebrates his victory at the Insperity Championship.

THE WOODLANDS -- Brad Faxon was in the director's chair babbling on about iron play or something when he heard the balcony door open and sensed someone creeping up behind him.

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Then, wham. Whipped cream pie in the face. Embedded in his eyelashes, nose, hair and laugh lines. Falling off his face and visor and straight onto a brand new pair of pants.

And -- of course -- it was smack in the middle of the serious part of an interview with the Golf Channel's Dave Marr. All Fax could do was laugh -- and laugh a little harder when he heard Jeff Sluman's cackle.

Of the 77 players who could have -- would have -- pulled that one off ... well, Slu would have been at the top of Fax's list.

"I haven't had a pie in the face in a long time and that was I could tell there was a lot of filling in that pie because it was embedded in there,'' Faxon said grinning. "It kind of felt like one of the things the dentist does when they put a crown on your face, just pushed all over, awful.''

But in this case, not really awful. Just awful good.

Slu was just welcoming one of his BFFs to the Champions Tour winner's circle as the winner of the 2011 Insperity Championship.

That the win came with a twist was fitting considering Fax didn't hit a shot Sunday afternoon. In fact, he only took a few loosen-up swings in the fitness trailer before training rains in the Houston area turned the Woodlands TPC into an unplayable lie of puddles and mud. Officially, it will go down as a one-stroke win over Eduardo Romero in 36 holes --- and in the first rain-shortened Champions Tour event of the year. And Fax will go down as the first first-time rain-delayed Champions Tour winner since Leonard Thompson in 1998. Say that three times fast.

What was supposed to be a 30 percent chance of spotty showers Sunday turned into a deluge. Or three. It was pouring again when Brian Claar, vice president of tournament operations, announced the decision.

"I think the animals are pairing off out there,'' Claar said.

Yes, it was that bad. Bad enough that there was a weather delay when Faxon got in his car to drive to the course. The radar was bad enough when he got here that everyone was starting to congratulate him on his first win.

"I didn't want to hear that,'' he said. "I thought, I've got to get out of here. I left the clubhouse and went straight to the fitness van where I was hoping there would be no players because that's the last thing you want to do is start listening to all of this stuff.

"You know, can't say that I wasn't hoping for a rain delay, too. I would love to have my first win because it means an awful lot, but at the same time, hey, I want to go play. I'm playing pretty good. I want to see what I can do.

"I honestly feel like I can win tournaments out here, and I wasn't really worried if I didn't win this week that I wouldn't have a chance ever to win again. You know, it was one of those where I really felt like I passed all of my goals this week prior to today. And then this was a bonus day for me.''

Faxon threw out a brilliant 65 Saturday which included a 4-iron to the 14th hole to pull him into a tie for the lead and a 7-iron to six feet at the 17th -- and three --shot swing when Romero double-bogeyed -- that put him in the lead. And there was the more-camera-ready 6-iron cut to the 18th and the 4-footer for par that, basically, won it.

"I don't know how many guys hit shots out here that are exactly as planned that come off exactly like you want, but I couldn't have asked for better contact, better shape to the shot, better feel of the swing, and where the balls landed,''' Faxon said.

"Those two shots were as good as I've hit in a really long time. And the one on 18 behind the tree, that was more dramatic looking but I didn't think that was as clutch a shot at the time. Especially my goal was to hit better iron shots.''

Faxon put the time in on his game back home at Old Sandwich and even threw out a course-record 64 on his own ball a dozen days ago to win the Pro-Scratch Best-Ball there. It put him on a roll that led to his first Champions win and first win period since the 2005 Buick Championship.

That he did it in just his sixth event on the Champions Tour? He didn't have any preconceived notions of how many starts were too many or just enough.

"I just knew if I played my own game, I could come close to winning,'' he said. "This is a funny game. It's amazing how quickly you can turn it around and how quickly you can lose it. There's a lot of ebbs and flows in this game. You don't forget how to play.

"It's like Tiger (Woods). When he gets where he's back in a little bit of a groove, I think he's got a real good chance to play great, and I've said it to everybody that's asked me, I said, yes, he can dominate again, yes, he can win again. Will he win four majors? I don't know. I know he wants to. But as soon as he makes playing great golf more important than making perfect golf swings or making a perfect putt, he'll be fine.''

Just like Faxon was Sunday.

He was standing on the clubhouse balcony Devon Quigley -- Dana's son -- became the first to congratulate him. His phone buzzed with the official PGA notice a few seconds later.

When he started playing on the PGA TOUR, all he heard about was winning to get to the Masters. On the Champions Tour, all he's heard is win and get to the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

The first thing he did when he realized he's won was text wife Dory -- Hualalai. "And I spelled it right."

An hour after Slu's pie, Fax -- still cleaning whipped cream off his face -- finally found a minute to call Dory, who was tailgating at the NY Jets-New England Patriots game. Their 9-year-old daughter Charlotte -- this was the first win she remembers -- got on the phone.

"You're more excited than I am,'' he said. "Mr. Sluman threw a pie in my face . ... Yes, we'll be in Hawaii to celebrate your birthday (in January) ... Can you bring a friend? We'll see."

Faxon grinned and shook his head. "Put Mommy back on the phone."

What a day. A radio interview later, he was trying to figure out if he had a snowball's chance to make the Charles Schwab Cup Championship two weeks from now.

The answer? Maybe. But only if he wins the AT&T Championship in San Antonio next week and gets a little help.

He looked at a friend with one of those stranger-things-have-happened looks.

With that, it was off to have a bite of late lunch and pack his bags.

But not before he wiped one last bit of whipped cream from the inside corner of his eye.

"Pretty good,'' he grinned.

Pretty good, indeed.

Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM and can be reached at melaniehauser@gmail.com. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR. Follow her on Twitter @melaniehauser.