Boeing Classic: First-time champ and record crowds

There was plenty of excitement at the 2013 Boeing Classic, held at the TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, just east of Seattle.

Not only did John Riegger win the tournament, his first victory on the Champions Tour, the event set an attendance mark, including a large crowd for Sunday’s final round of the tournament.

The 50-year-old Riegger finished at 15-under-par for the tournament, winning by two shots over John Cook.

Seattle native Fred Couples provided the crowds some excitement of his own with a final-round 66 and finished third four shots behind Riegger.

The 2013 Boeing Classic set an all-time attendance record, with 86,000 spectators who came out for the tournament. A total of 30,000 fans witnessed an exciting final round in which John Riegger held off Cook and Couples to earn his first Champions Tour title.

Riegger won his first Champions Tour event in his fifth official start and becomes the fifth rookie and fifth first-time winner on the circuit this year, equaling the Champions Tour record for most rookies to triumph in a season (five in 1989, 1999, 2007). He becomes the first player to make the Boeing Classic his first career victory on the Champions Tour.

For Couples, the third-place finish was his best performance in the Boeing Classic. It marked the fifth time he’s finished among the top-three in an event this year in 10 starts on the Champions Tour.

Other Pacific Northwest players included Kirk Triplett of Pullman who tied for 12th, Eugene’s Brian Heninger who was 14th, Portland native Peter Jacobsen who tied for 28th, Bob Gilder of Corvallis who tied for 45th and Seattle’s Rick Fehr who was 79th.