Cejka wins Regions Tradition playoff
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — With a big comeback and an even bigger putt, Alex Cejka ensured he won’t have to wait or play his way into events for a while.
Cejka won the Regions Tradition on Sunday in only his third PGA Tour Champions start, beating defending champion Steve Stricker with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff to earn a full exemption for the next two seasons.
A childhood refugee from communist Czechlosovokia (now the Czech Republic), the
50-year-old Cejka made a 10foot birdie putt on No. 18 and
Stricker missed an 8-footer with a chance to extend the playoff at Greystone Golf & Country Club.
“It’s incredible. I still can’t believe it. I have no words,” said Cejka, who made the field as first alternate when Jay Haas withdrew on Monday. “I fought so hard.
“We work so hard. I think it’s everybody’s dream to win trophies and I did it on this tour.”
Cejka had turned a threestroke deficit into a two-shot lead over the final nine holes for a 5-under 67. His winning putt was from a similar spot to the one Stricker made for birdie in regulation to force the playoff.
Stricker, who won the last time the event was held in 2019, closed with a 68 to match Cejka at 18-under 270. He didn’t speak to the media before leaving the course.
“You know what, for 99% I thought he was going to make it (in the playoff) and I knew I had to make it to have a chance to go into an extra hole,” Cejka said. “It was a pretty straight putt.
“He had this putt to go into the playoff, just a little bit longer. And I watched him. It was that straight, so I played it that straight and it never moved.”
Cejka finished tied for second behind Stricker at the Chubb Classic as a Monday qualifer. He fled his home coun
to get a completely overhaul in the coming years.
“It’s just part of history,” said Brothers, who won the 1991 Preakness with Hansel. “It’s just a special place.”
The project, which includes work at Laurel, comes at a cost of $375 million in bonds and is still in the planning stages. An architectural firm that signed on in February is assessing the situation, and McGuigan pointed out there are still many more agreements that need to be signed before a wrecking ball is on site.
“It is a facility that’s been in disrepair and unfortunately some things out of people’s control, but it needs to be replaced and we’re really looking forward to the day when we can put on the Preakness in the kind of environment that it deserves,” said Craig Fravel, CEO of 1/ST Racing, which owns Pimlico. “It’s a really nice thing to have something to look forward and a process that is well underway.”
It’s coming. Even the
COVID-19 pandemic didn’t alter the plans for Pimlico, which include shifting the oval track
30 degrees to make better use of the land and making it a multiuse facility for the weeks when horses aren’t running there.
Ordinarily, that’s just three weeks or so each year. But after the main surface at Laurel didn’t respond well enough to winter maintenance repairs, racing in Maryland shifted to Pimlico two weeks early and will continue there until further notice.
“We’ve had some difficulties with the racetrack at Laurel,”
Fravel said. “You wake up sometimes with a dozen surprises, but people have been remarkably patient. I think having (upcoming construction) to look forward to is an important part of this overall mix here.”
The important part for the city was keeping the Preakness in Baltimore, rather than a relocation to Laurel or perhaps out of state if Pimlico became so dilapidated it couldn’t continue hosting the race. Those fears are gone now, replaced by a waiting game until construction of the new Pimlico begins.
“The Preakness is the second jewel of the Triple Crown,” Fravel said. “It deserves a home that matches the stature of that event and the place the Triple Crown holds in the traditions of thoroughbred racing.”