Colin Montgomerie of Scotland claimed his first major title of any kind by posting a 6-under-par 65 to win the 75th Senior PGA Championship by four shots over Tom Watson at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich.
The 51-year-old Montgomerie, who has won 42 times in his career but finished second five times in majors on the PGA and European tours, coasted to victory by carding seven birdies and a single bogey at the fourth hole.
“I learned today to concentrate on me, and possibly I haven’t in the past,” said Monty, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame who earned his first victory on the Champions Tour and first official title on American soil. “We’re always learning and today I concentrated on my own play and could only worry about myself.
“I feel fantastic, really, superb. There’s a motto: ‘If you fail and fail, you come back and try again.’ I’ve had a couple of failures here in America and close calls, especially in major championships, and it’s great to finally win, never mind a Champions Tour event, but a Senior PGA Championship event.”
Watson, who has won eight major titles on the PGA Tour and five more on the senior circuit, closed with a bogey-free 65 and pulled to within one shot of the lead with birdies on four of the first five holes on the back nine. Then he missed a four-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole and Monty pulled away.
Two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer of Germany, who also has won two majors on the Champions Tour, closed with a 70 and finished six shots back in a tie for third with Jay Haas, the 2006 and 2008 Senior PGA champion, who carded a 67.
Joe Durant, the first-round leader with a 65, closed with a 64 that was the low round of the tournament and tied for fifth with 1996 PGA champion Mark Brooks, who had a 65, David Frost of South Africa, who wound up at 68 and Bart Bryant, who came in at 70.
