Scott Hoch, shown here in 2017, teamed with Tom Pernice to win the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf on Sunday. (Photo by Ryan Young/PGA TOUR)

By John Strege
This was a win, if not for the ages, for the ageing, a pair of old hands, Scott Hoch and Tom Pernice, opening their round on Sunday with a hole-in-one and ending it with a victory in the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf.

Pernice aced the 172-yard first hole on the par-3 Top of the Rock course at the Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Mo. Together, Pernice and Hoch shot an eight-under-par 46 and completed 54 holes in 23 under par, five better than the teams of Paul Broadhurst/Kirk Triplett and Vijay Singh/Carlos Franco.

Hoch, 63-years, five-months-old, became the oldest winner in the history of the PGA Tour Champions, five months older than Mike Fetchick was when he won the Hilton Head Seniors International in 1985.

“It’s been a while,” Hoch said. “I’ve gone through some surgeries and ups and down. This year hasn’t been too good. But when you’ve got a partner like this to fall back on it just makes me freer to hit that first shot.”

A winner of 11 PGA Tour events, Hoch won for the fourth time on the senior tour, though this was his first win since the ACE Group Championship more than 11 years ago.

For Pernice, who is four months shy of his 60th birthday, it was the sixth victory of his senior career and first since 2016.

“You’ve got one of the greatest iron players to ever play this game,” Pernice said of Hoch. “He was just a great partner this week. I just tried to hang on and help when I could.”