Vaughn Taylor Wins Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS in Playoff Over Alex Cejka

• Vaughn Taylor beat Alex Cejka on the second playoff hole to win the Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS.
• Taylor and Cejka finished tied on 17-under 199, a tournament record over 54 holes.
• It is Taylor’s first PGA Tour Champions title, in his 18th start since turning 50 in March.

The 50-year-old rookie closed with a 4-under 68 to tie Alex Cejka on 17-under 199, setting up a playoff for the Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS. He then beat the German with a birdie at the par-5 18th, the second extra hole, after both men parred it first time round. It is his first win on PGA Tour Champions.

“I’m in disbelief to be honest,” said Taylor. “I keep just thinking about the whole week, the whole day, the whole year, just everything.

“It’s been a tough few years. Had some, you know, issues. Had a hip surgery. Just haven’t felt very… didn’t know if I was going to play. Kind of went into this year kind of with an unknown, so…

“This is huge for me. I really had a lot of thoughts of just not trying anymore and teaching, to be honest. Been thinking about how could I get certified as a teacher. This kind of changes that,” he said. “So we’ll see. Maybe hold that off for a little longer.”

Five in a row on the back nine

Taylor started the day sharing third place, three behind 36-hole leader Mathew Goggin. He won it on the inward half, which he played in 4-under 32. The heart of it was a run of five straight birdies from the 10th to the 14th, the longest birdie streak of his senior career. He managed five in a row five times on the PGA Tour, most recently in the third round of the 2020 American Express.

His rounds of 65, 66 and 68 produced a 199 that, with Cejka’s, is the lowest 54-hole score in the event’s history. The previous best was Phil Mickelson’s 201 in 2021, although that and every other earlier edition came at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, the tournament’s home from 2021 to 2025.

Taylor won three times in 459 PGA Tour starts between 2004 and 2023, the last of them at the 2016 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. That was 3,892 days ago, or ten years, seven months and 27 days, the length of his winless run on PGA Tour-sanctioned tours.

He also won the 2003 Knoxville Open on the Korn Ferry Tour, which makes him the 26th player to win on the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions and Korn Ferry Tour. Ben Crane was the last to complete the set, earlier this season.

Taylor is the fifth first-time winner of 2026, following Zach Johnson, Boo Weekley, Scott Hend and Crane, who won the American Family Insurance Championship team event with Darren Clarke. He arrived with four top-10 finishes, the best a tie for seventh at the Portugal Invitational, and the win lifts him to 21st in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.

A champion at last 🏆 Vaughn Taylor prevails for his first PGA Tour Champions victory @FurykandFriends. https://t.co/C5sxKCvY2j

— PGA Tour Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 11, 2026

Cejka comes up short again

Cejka could hardly have done more. The 55-year-old closed with a 7-under 65 to set the clubhouse target and force extra holes, only to be denied a fifth PGA Tour Champions title. It is the ninth runner-up finish of his senior career, in his 140th start.

It was also his first playoff defeat on the tour. He beat Steve Stricker at the 2021 Regions Tradition and Pádraig Harrington at the 2023 ISPS HANDA Senior Open, and his record now stands at two wins and one loss. His last win came at the 2025 SAS Championship.

It was the tour’s first playoff since the Rogers Charity Classic, where Steven Alker beat Y.E. Yang.

The chasers

Australian Michael Wright took third place alone despite a double bogey at the 18th, signing for a 69. He is still looking for his first PGA Tour Champions win, after 66 starts.

Goggin, the open qualifier who had set a tournament-record 62 on Saturday, slipped back with a 1-over 73. He finished tied for fourth, his first top-10 on the tour in his 14th start.

He shared that spot with Ryan Armour, whose opening 63 had led after the first round. A closing 69 gave the rookie his second-best result on PGA Tour Champions, behind a tie for third at the Sanford International.

Tag Ridings posted the low round of the day, an 8-under 64 that lifted him 18 places into a tie for ninth.

Stewart Cink signed off with a 68 for a tie for 20th, his worst finish of the season. The nine-time PGA Tour Champions winner stays on top of the Schwab Cup standings all the same.

Bernhard Langer, 69, finished 12th after a bogey-free 66. It was the 50th time the World Golf Hall of Fame member has shot his age or better on PGA Tour Champions.

Sprint to St. Louis

This was the fourth of six events in the Sprint to St. Louis presented by Compliance Solutions. The three biggest Charles Schwab Cup points earners across the final five regular-season events become finalists. They go on to the Stifel Charity Classic, where the best finisher among them collects a $200,000 winner-take-all prize.

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