Monty Cruises to Second Straight Senior PGA Championship Title


Defending champion Colin Montgomerie closed with a 3-under 69 to win the Senior PGA Championship at the difficult Pete Dye Course in French Lick, Ind.

Rounds of 72, 69 and 70 gave the 51-year-old Scotsman a three-stroke edge over fellow World Golf Hall of Fame member, Germany's Bernhard Langer, entering Sunday's final round.

After opening with a bogey, Montgomerie carded six birdies and two more bogeys the rest of the way to end up at 8-under 280, four strokes ahead of Mexico's Esteban Toledo, who also shot 69. On the week Montgomerie played the par-5s in 8-under par.

After bearing the tag "the best player never to have won a major" on the PGA Tour, Monty has shed that label since turning 50 and joining the Champions Tour. Since he went on the U.S. circuit last year, Montgomerie won three major titles - two Senior PGAs and the 2014 U.S. Senior Open.

Montgomerie became the first player since Jack Nicklaus to make his first three victories on the Champions Tour majors.

As for his key to dealing with the tough layout designed by architect and native Indianan, Pete Dye, Montgomerie said during the awards ceremony, "Patience. A lot of the field started thinking it was such a difficult course, which it is."

Monty finished as the runner-up five times in majors before turning 50, causing the once irascible Scot to quip, "I'm just making up for lost time. It's a fantastic feeling. The Americans are wonderful. I'm just having a good time."

Finishing alone in third at 285 was Woody Austin, who carded a 69, while Brian Henninger and Scott Verplank - who each shot 70s - shared fourth at 286. The top-five finishers were the only players in the field to end up under par.

Langer closed with a 74 to drop into sixth at 288, and sharing seventh at 289 were Jeff Sluman (69) and Tom Pernice, Jr. (72).

Marco Dawson had Sunday's low round of 68 to rise into a tie for ninth at 2-over 290 with Zimbabwe's Mark McNulty (69), Scotland's Sandy Lyle (74) and Steve Jones (74).

Kirk Triplett (71), 2012 Senior PGA champion Roger Chapman (71), Joe Durant (72) and Kevin Sutherland (72) shared 13th at 291.

Jerry Haas, the golf coach at Wake Forest and brother of veteran tour player Jay Haas, closed with a 74 to end up as the championship's low club pro at 5-over 293. Jay Haas posted rounds of 77 and 75 over the weekend to tie for 50th at 299.

For all the scores, visit http://www.pga.com/seniorpga/scoring/leaderboard.