Davis Love III captures Wyndham Championship at age 51

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Davis Love III’s long victory drought is over. Tiger Woods will have to wait a while to get another chance.

Love won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday to become the third-oldest winner in PGA Tour history, while Woods’ season came to an abrupt end.

The 51-year-old Love closed with 6-under-par 64 for a one-stroke victory over Jason Gore.

“Any victory now is going to be really sweet when you’re over 50,” Love said.

Love finished at 17-under 263. Gore, the third-round leader, shot 69. Former USC Aiken golfer Scott Brown (68), Charl Schwartzel (66) and Paul Casey (67) were two strokes behind Love.

Brown, who made an ace on the third hole, was looking for his first PGA Tour victory since winning the Puerto Rico Open in 2013.

Brown joined Love at 17 under with a birdie on 11.

After a pair of bogeys, he pulled within one stroke of Love with a birdie on 15, and Gore made things even more interesting with an eagle on that hole.

Neither got any closer.

Brown hit his approach on the 18th to about 60 feet, left his putt about 10 feet short and three-putted for bogey.

Gore needed to make a 50-foot birdie putt on 18 to force a playoff, but he left it about a foot short to wrap up the victory for Love.

“I told my coach starting today, ‘17 is a playoff and 18 is a winner,’ ” Brown said.

Love – who started at No. 186 – played himself into The Barclays by earning 500 FedEx Cup points and $972,000 in prize money. He will also make his first appearance in the Masters Tournament since 2011.

At 51 years, 4 months, 10 days, Love trails only Sam Snead and Art Wall on the tour’s age list. Snead won the last of his eight Greensboro titles at Sedgefield in 1965 at 52 years, 10 months, 8 days, and Wall took the 1975 Greater Milwaukee Open at 51 years, 7 months, 10 days.

Love has 21 career victories, three in Greensboro. His previous two wins came across town at Forest Oaks in 1992 and 2006, and he had just one win since then – at the 2008 Children’s Miracle Network Classic in Florida.

“To have your name thrown out there with Sam Snead at any point is incredible,” Love said. “For some reason, this tournament has been good to guys in my age group.”

The dominant storyline all week at Sedgefield Country Club was the mere presence of Woods, who needed a victory to earn a spot in the FedEx Cup playoffs opener next week.

He was poised to challenge Sunday, starting just two strokes off the lead. But he only had one birdie during his first 10 holes, dropping way off the pace with a triple bogey on the par-4 11th.

Woods shot 70, finished four strokes back and ended at No. 178 in the standings, well outside the cut-off of 125.

“I gave myself a chance, and I had all the opportunity in the world today to do it,” Woods said. “I didn’t get it done.”

Now comes a break before his next tournament, the Frys.com Open in October in northern California. It’s the first event of the tour’s 2015-16 season.

“This is my offseason right now,” he said.

Chasing his first victory since 2013, Woods opened with six consecutive pars, including one on the easiest hole on the course – the par-5 fifth, which he birdied in each of the first three rounds.

Woods sent his tee shot on the par-3 seventh into the huge gallery that had been waiting for him to reel off some birdies and make his move, then two-putted for his first bogey.

And when he made the turn, he was three strokes behind co-leaders Gore and Brown – his playing partner.

“I just wasn’t able to get any kind of roll early,” Woods said. “I had my chances to get it going. I just never did.”

Woods’ chip-and-run on the 11th ran all the way off the green. He couldn’t keep his ensuing chip on the green and wound up three-putting for triple bogey. Not even three consecutive birdies on Nos. 13-15 could help him recover.

Woods was far from the only player who needed to play well at Sedgefield to advance to next week. Defending champion Camilo Villegas finished at 10 under– good enough to move him from No. 129 to No. 123 and put him in The Barclays.

But Scott Langley, who arrived at No. 126 on the points list, dropped a spot after bogeys on four of his final six holes.