Jason Caron, Mill River Club pro, earns spot on Champions golf circuit

Mill River pro Jason Caron shot a 68 in the final round of the Champions Tour Simmons Bank Championship on Sunday, earning him a spot in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship and an exemption to play the tour in 2025.

Caron finished in a tie for third, three shots behind winner Padraig Harrington at the Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock, Arkansas. Caron made his only two bogeys for the week, both in in the final round, but made six birdies, including crucial ones at 15 and 16 that jumped him up to 35th in the Schwab Cup standings, where the top 36 reach the championship final in two weeks in Phoenix and guarantee themselves tour status next year.

Despite his newfound Champions Tour success, Caron, 52, says he will not play the tour full time and intends to stay at Mill River, where his wife, Liz, is also a teaching pro.

“Nothing is going to change when it comes to my job,” Caron said. “I’m going to stay at Mill River. I don’t want to do this full time. The only thing it would make me do is have a better knowledge of what events I could play in next year. I’d be able to play any tournament I wanted to. I would probably get in 10 to 15 tournaments.”

Caron has played in nine Champions Tour events this year after earning his way into the the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in May, when he finished in a tie for fourth and was the low club professional. That earned him a new kitchen from the tournament sponsor. He also finished in a tie for third at the Rogers Charity Classic and has won more than a half-million dollars this season.