Pro bear-hugs opponent after dramatic hole-out helps make him $1 million richer

When Jeff Maggert holed out a 123-yard wedge shot to win the Charles Schwab Championship Sunday, no one was more thrilled to witness Maggert’s heroics than Scott McCarron, who was taking in the action from a skybox, glass of red wine in hand.

The jarred approach for eagle, on the third hole of Maggert’s sudden-death playoff with Retief Goosen, meant — well, yeah, that Maggert had won the tournament. But of greater consequence to McCarron was that a Maggert victory also secured something else for McCarron: the season-long Charles Schwab Cup points race.

And with that title comes a cool $1 million bonus.

During the trophy presentation at Phoenix (Ariz.) Country Club, where McCarron was officially declared the Charles Schwab Cup winner, his gratitude for Maggert stole the show.

“I didn’t do it! He did it!” McCarron barked as he pointed at Maggert, who was on the other side of the green. “I did nothing.” (Um…McCarron did win three times this year, but point taken.)

McCarron was just getting started. As he walked closer to Maggert, he opened his arms and said, “I love you! I love you! I’m going to give you a big wet kiss right now.”

Moments later he grabbed Maggert in a bear hug and lifted him into the air.

You can watch it all unfold here:

It was a joyous scene, but McCarron, who didn’t bring his A-game to the season finale, finishing T-27, revealed that the pressure of the points race had been weighing on him.

“I’ve been in the lead here for 20-something weeks,” he said. “I think everyone’s gunning for me, everybody’s telling me you can do it, you can do it. I think it gets to you a little bit. This is my first time in this position. I talked to Tom Lehman and Bernhard Langer, how difficult this really is when you want something this bad. I think maybe just wanted it a little bit too much and didn’t play that well this week.”

Of course, thanks to Maggert, he didn’t need to play his best.