Final Leaderboard: 1 -- Brad Faxon (-10/134); 2 -- Tommy Armour III (-9/135); 3 --Eduardo Romero (-8/136); T4 -- Olin Browne (-7/137), Jay Haas (-7/137), Tom Lehman (-7/137).
Mother Nature might have been the winner on Sunday, but Brad Faxon was the beneficiary of torrential rains in the Houston area and he'll take it. Faxon claimed his first Champions Tour event without ever having to hit a shot in the final round when a heavy afternoon downpour made the Tournament Course at The Woodlands Country Club unplayable. After a delay of 1:42 (10:03-11:45 a.m CT) due to lightning, play was eventually stopped for the day at 12:46 p.m. and the event was reduced to 36 holes. Faxon's birdie late in the Saturday round at No. 17, coupled with a wayward drive on the same hole by Eduardo Romero, the leader at the time, resulted in a three-stroke swing. Faxon also eased ahead of Tommy Armour III with the six-foot birdie putt after a 7-iron shot.
Faxon won his first career title on the Champions Tour in his sixth career start on the circuit and joined Bernhard Langer (2007) as the second player to make the Insperity Championship his first title on the circuit.
Faxon became the sixth overall first-time winner on the Champions Tour this year and the fourth consecutive (Mark Calcavecchia/Boeing Classic, Jay Don Blake/Songdo IBD Championship, Kenny Perry/SAS Championship), a first on the circuit Tour since 2001 (Bobby Wadkins/Lightpath Long Island Classic, Bruce Lietzke/3M Championship, Steve Veriato/Novell Utah Showdown, Walter Hall/AT&T Canada Senior Open).
Faxon became the second player to win a rain-shortened Insperity Championship (Jay Haas/2006) and the first player since Leonard Thompson at the 1998 Coldwell Banker Burnet Classic to claim his initial victory on this Tour in a rain-shortened event.
At 50 years, 2 months, 8 days, Faxon became the second-youngest winner on the Champions Tour this year and ended a victory drought of 111 (106 PGA TOUR/5 Champions Tour) tournaments since the last of his eight career PGA TOUR titles at the 2005 Buick Championship (5 years, 1 month, 10 days).
Faxon's previous-best finish in nine appearances at The Woodlands CC during the Shell Houston Open was a T15 in 1988 and 1990.
Faxon earned $255,000 and 255 Charles Schwab Cup points. He moved to No. 47 on the 2011 money list with $328,381.
Faxon earned a trip for the next two years to the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
Faxon became the 19th different winner on the Champions Tour this year, the most on the Champions Tour since there were 21 in 2007.
Faxon joined Jay Haas (2006) as only the second player to win a rain-shortened Insperity Championship. It marked the first time since the 2010 Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am (won by Hale Irwin) that a 54-hole Champions Tour event was reduced to 36 holes.
Even though he didn't win, Tommy Armour III's runner-up performance without hitting a shot on Sunday earned him a check for $149,500 and vaulted him up 10 spots on the 2011 money list into 27th place ($557,992). Tom Pernice, Jr. currently sits on the bubble at No. 30 with $527,775.
Tom Lehman earned 84 Charles Schwab Cup points for his T4 finish this week and widened his lead in the season-long race over Mark Calcavecchia who earned 61 points this week for his T7. Lehman now leads Calcavecchia by 421 points in the season-long race and with two events left, only eight players overall have a mathematical chance to catch Lehman. At the end of the official season, the player earning the most Schwab Cup points will earn a $1 million payout.