Del Webb Father/Son Challenge: Final-round notes

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Larry Nelson, left, with son Josh, became the first father to win titles with two different sons in consecutive years.

WE'LL SEE YOU NEXT YEAR: Along with the Willie Park belts and the $200,000 check that goes to the winning team, another benefit to winning the Del Webb Father/Son Challenge is an invitation to return the following year to what is becoming the most popular Challenge Season event. That means barring injury or other unforeseen happenings, Team Nelson will be back as defending champions in 2009, albeit with a different look. Josh Nelson, who teamed with his dad to win the 2007 title, will return.

SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE: One year after winning with son Josh, Larry Nelson teamed with son Drew to successfully defend the DelWebb Father/Son Challenge title. Not only did Larry win his third overall Father/Son title, he also became the first dad to win titles with different sons in consecutive years. Larry and Drew Nelson also won this event in 2004. Raymond Floyd won three straight years (1995-97) with Raymond Jr. and then won back-to-back Father/Son events (2000-01) with son Robert. Bernhard Langer won back-to-back titles (2005-06) with son Stefan.

HIGHER SCORING: Team Nelson's winning score of 61-62--123 (-21) was the highest winning score since Hale Irwin and Steve Irwin claimed the 2003 event at ChampionsGate with a 36-hole score of 62-61--123 (-21).

GREAT DEBUT: Nick Faldo and his son Matthew made a respectable showing in their debut in the Del Webb Father/Son Challenge. The six-time major champion is best known these days as a golf commentator on CBS and GOLF CHANNEL telecasts and, prior to this week, his only competitive golf in 2008 was a missed cut at the UBS Hong Kong Open two weeks ago. Matthew is a student at the University of West of England in Bristol and only plays casual golf. The duo combined to shoot 16-under 128 in the 36-hole score scramble format and finished T7.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR AGAIN: After winning the Children's Miracle Network Classic on November 9 at Walt Disney World, Davis Love came into this week with quite a bit of confidence. As a result, Davis Love and his son Dru, recorded their best career finish in this event. Playing in their third Del Webb Father/Son Challenge, the Loves finished second with a 19-under-par 125 score. In 2006, Team Love was fourth and in their debut in 2005, they finished T9 at ChampionsGate.

CLOSING FAST: For the third straight year, Team Irwin (Hale and son Steve) found Sunday's final round more to their liking than Saturday's opening round. For the second consecutive year, they parlayed a back-nine 28 into a final-round 62 that followed up their opening-round 65. Last year, the Irwins opened with 67 and shot 61 on Sunday. In 2006, Team Irwin carded Sunday's lone 59, which came after an opening-round 65.