Bernhard Langer watches his tee shot on the first hole during the third round of the U.S. Senior Open golf tournament, Saturday, July 1, 2023, in Stevens Point, Wis. (Tork Mason/The Post-Crescent via AP)
STEVENS POINT, Wis. (AP) – Bernhard Langer won the U.S. Senior Open on Sunday at SentryWorld to break the PGA Tour Champions’ career victory record.
Pushing his record as the oldest winner on the 50-and-over tour to 65 years, 10 months, 5 days, the German star broke a tie with Hale Irwin for the victory mark with No. 46.
Seven strokes ahead on the back nine, Langer bogeyed the final three holes for 1-under 70 and a two-stroke victory over home-state favorite Steve Stricker on the tree-lined course with thick rough.
Langer finished at 7-under 277, with only eight players breaking par for the week. He shattered the tournament age record set by Allen Doyle in 2006 at SentryWorld at 57 years, 11 months, 14 days.
Also the 2010 U.S. Senior Open winner at Sahalee outside Seattle, Langer extended his record for senior major victories to 12. He won the Chubb Classic in Florida in February to tie Irwin.
Stricker – from Madison, 100 miles to the south – birdied three of the last five holes for a 69. He won the first two senior majors of the year and took his hometown Madison event three weeks ago for his fourth Champions victory of the season.
Fellow Madison player Jerry Kelly was third at 4 under after a 71.
Two shots ahead of Kelly entering the round, Langer birdied the first two holes for the second straight day.
Langer added a birdie on No. 5, then rounded from a bogey on No. 6 with birdie on No. 7. He opened the back nine with a birdie on the 10th, parred the next five and closed with the three straight bogeys.
Brett Quigley (66) and Rob Labritz (69) tied for fourth at 2 under. Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen (71), Steven Alker (65) and Dicky Pride (69) were 1 under.
Mike Weir (75) was the leading Canadian at 10-over total. Fellow countrymen Alan McLean (73) and Stephen Ames (74) finished 12 over and 16 over, respectively.
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