By Jay Plotkin
jplotkin@acnnewspapers.com

Triton Financial Classic officials got exactly what they hoped for when they decided to rearrange the order of holes at The Hills Country Club and make the signature par 3 the finishing hole.
“Early in the week, I thought it would come down to the final hole and who hit the best shot there,” said the eventual winner.
Organizers had hoped that the outcome would swing on a dramatic final hole. That someone would come to the final tee needing to make a shot, a long iron shot over water, into the wind, to a green that falls away from the tee. They hoped someone would stick that tee shot close and then roll in a knee-knocker of a putt, thus causing the gallery to roar, celebrating the birdie and a victory.
And when Mark O’Meara strode to the 18th tee tied with Dana Quigley, the stage was set. O’Meara stood over his iron shot, made a steady swing and sent the ball greenward. The gallery behind the tee liked it immediately – “best shot of the day,” someone shouted. Behind the green, spectators liked it too.
They liked it even more when O’Meara strode onto the green, measured his 8-foot birdie putt and promptly drained it, earning one of the loudest cheers of the day from the spectators gathered around the green. The scene was everything organizers wanted to see on the 18th green.
Almost.
The putt broke O’Meara’s tie with Quigley and moved him to 9-under-par for the tournament, firmly in second place behind the nearly flawless Bernhard Langer, who capped his wire-to-wire win with a tournament-record tying total of 15-under-par.
When Langer came to the final tee, the only drama left was whether he’d make birdie to break Scott Hoch’s tournament record score. But Langer wasn’t thinking about that.
“When I got to the last tee, all I was thinking was that I was glad I had a six stroke lead,” he said. “I just aimed for the left of the green, trying to make sure I didn’t do anything crazy like make a snowman on the last hole.”
Langer finished his weekend with the same precision that he began with. A 6-iron to the middle of the last green and a calm two-putt to win, giving his son and caddie Steffan an early birthday present. The younger Langer celebrated his 19th birthday Monday.
Langer’s 15-under total included an opening round of 7-under 65, a 3-under 69 and the lowest round of Sunday’s finale, a 5-under 67. As he had been all week, Langer was pleased with his play.
“I thought I played flawess golf for the first nine holes today,” he said following Sunday’s round