U.S. Ryder Cup captain Pavin nearly plays way onto own team

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Had Corey Pavin won the Travelers Championship, he would have become one of the oldest winners on the PGA TOUR.

Corey Pavin was just playing in the Travelers Championship to keep a closer eye on some of the Americans who have a shot at playing for him at this fall's Ryder Cup.

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Who knew we'd all be keeping a close watch on Pavin in Sunday's sudden-death playoff where he could have become -- at 50 years, 7 months, 11 days -- the fifth-oldest winner in PGA TOUR history?

Yes, that's one of the many wonderful aspects of golf: It doesn't matter how old you are, how short you hit it or why you teed it up this week. You play smart, hit some clutch shots, make some key putts and you, too, have a chance to contend again guys who are younger than your first son.

Pavin didn't get it done, failing to become the first Ryder Cup captain to win on the PGA TOUR the year of his captaincy since Arnold Palmer did it in 1963. Pavin was eliminated with a par on the first playoff hole, yielding the stage to Bubba Watson, who beat Scott Verplank on the next hole to claim his first PGA TOUR title.

But Pavin wasn't too bummed as he left TPC River Highlands.

"I played pretty solidly today," Pavin said. "The playoff was a little disappointing to me. I kind of popped up a 3-wood there and left myself in a pretty precarious spot, but all in all it was a really good week. Now it's just time to go back and play with adults my own age next week."

It has been an unexpected terrific stretch for Pavin, who was coming off a seventh-place finish in his last PGA TOUR event, the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, which also happened to be the site of the last of his 15 PGA TOUR titles in 2006. Amazingly, these are his first back-to-back top-10 finishes on TOUR since 1996.

Had Pavin won, he would have surpassed Peter Jacobson as the oldest winner in Travelers history (49 years, 4 months, 23 days). Pavin instead made a different kind of history, becoming the first player to twice lose a three-way playoff in this event (Billy Ray Brown beat him and Rick Fehr here in 1991). That was the same week Pavin started working with his long-time caddie, Eric Shores.

"It's kind of funny how history repeats itself," Pavin said of the three-man playoffs. "Unfortunately, history repeated itself in that regard. But fortunately history repeated itself, as well."

Pavin knows how fortunate he is to keep making nice bucks playing golf. He had to use a one-time exemption for being in the top 50 on the TOUR's all-time money list to keep his status this year. Because he had become one of the game's shortest hitters, failing to take advantage of most of the equipment advances in the last decade, Pavin had posted just 11 top-10 finishes this decade until Colonial.

But having earned almost $728,000 in his last two starts, Pavin already has made more money this year ($839,193) than he did in 10 of his last 14 full seasons on the PGA TOUR. With the co-runner-finish vaulting him from 145th to 74th in the latest FedExCup standings, he virtually is assured of playing on the PGA TOUR in 2011 -- even though he already has three top-10s in seven starts on the Champions Tour this season.

Had Pavin somehow won the playoff -- as far-fetched as it seems, considering he was being out-driven by almost 100 yards by his two opponents -- he would have kept his card through the 2012 season and also made an argument for picking himself for the Ryder Cup team as one of his four wild-card selections.

"Well, it's all hypothetical now, isn't it?" Pavin said, smiling. "But no, I don't think I'd play. Being captain is pretty tough just to do that and not (be) playing. I think Arnold was the last one to do that, and it was a different era, different time. But I wouldn't have played. I'll let the young guys do that."

Pavin showed he can still show some of the gritty determination that helped him win the 1995 U.S. Open championship at Shinnecock and also be named the College Player of the Year in 1992 when he starred at UCLA. Get him on a course around 7,000 yards, with only two par-5s, and Pavin becomes relevant again.

When asked if he feels he can play with anybody in the world on the shorter layouts, Pavin didn't blink. "(It) depends on if the holes are uphill or downhill," he said. "I feel like I have an opportunity to compete. This golf course just it doesn't favor any one style of play. Bubba's one of the longest hitters we have on TOUR and he won, and you can look at short hitters that have done well (here) in the past. So it's just a golf course that fits my game. I feel comfortable on it."

Now he's going to head back to a tour where he feels more comfortable, playing in most of the upcoming majors on the Champions Tour this summer. He says he won't return to the younger pros until the PGA Championship is held at Whistling Straits.

"I don't know if it'll be my last one, but I guess this probably gave me some FedExCup points, I suppose," he said. "I don't know where I stand there, but you'll have to stay tuned to see if I play in the FedExCup. I'm sure you'll be on the edge of your seats."

We were for a while watching him play on Sunday.

Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.