For the sake of brevity…

Fans of the NPR radio show Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me (and grammar nerds), please explain this: When Carl Castle is asked how many points a contestant needs to win, he says, “She needs five points to tie, six points to win outright.”

My question:

Why outright?

Why not just “five points to tie, six points to win”?

It’s a small thing, but it irritates me so very much.