CHARLESTON, SC (Sept. 24, 2010) --Buzz Peel gave a lot of credit to his neighbor in Delray Beach, Fla., for Friday's victory in the Senior Azalea golf tournament at the Country Club of Charleston.
"Beth Daniel and her father, Bob, recommended that I come up and play in the Azalea," Peel said of the LPGA Hall of Famer who grew up playing the Country Club of Charleston and now resides in Delray Beach. "Without them, I wouldn't know about this course that I love. I consider (the Daniels) good friends."
This was Peel's first appearance in the Senior Azalea, after playing in the Azalea Invitational each spring since 2001. He fired a final-round 69 and finished the 54-hole event at 4-under-par 209. Second-round leader Pete Allen of Southport, N.C., and Chip Lutz of Reading, Pa., finished second, one shot behind Peel.
Skip Snow of Dayton, Ohio, came from two shots back with a final-round 71 and won the Super Seniors (65 and older) with a 1-under 212. Gary Strickfaden of Pinehurst, N.C., finished second at 74--213.
Peel made five birdies, at 2, 4, 5, 8 and 12. He double-bogeyed the par-3 seventh, where he hit his tee shot over the green and into a bunker and he bogeyed the par-3 11th as well.
Peel, 55, said the key to his victory was three straight up-and-down pars at 15, 16 and 17.