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US Senior Open: Colin Montgomerie wins after playoff

Image: Colin Montgomerie: US Senior Open champion

Colin Montgomerie claimed another major success on the Champions Tour as he won the US Senior Open after a playoff in Edmond, Oklahoma.

The Scot took advantage of some struggles for overnight leader Gene Sauers to force a three-hole playoff, and then emerged triumphant after Sauers bogeyed the second of them.

The title comes seven weeks after Montgomerie won the Senior PGA Championship - his first official victory in the United States in his career as the World Championship Match Play had been an unofficial event when he won it in 1998.

To take this title he needed to overturn a four-shot deficit to Sauers, but got plenty of help as the 51-year-old Georgia native bogeyed the third and fifth holes, and then dropped another shot on the 16th after he birdied on the seventh.

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His round of 73 was his worst of the tournament after two 69s and a 68 through the first three days, and it proved costly.

Birdies

Montgomerie, 51, also had two bogeys, on the third and the 12th holes, but made up for them with birdies on the second, fifth, seventh and 13th holes for a two-under 69.

That put the two men in a playoff, and after both bogeyed the par-four 16th, Montgomerie went ahead on the par-three 17th as Sauers dropped yet another shot.

Montgomerie, who had lost the lead to Sauers after a 74 in the third round, then held his nerve by holing a 13-foot putt for par on the 18th to clinch the victory.

The two had been the clear class of the field, completing the four rounds at five under, four shots clear of the nearest challengers, David Frost and Woody Austin.

"It's great to finally win a USGA event," said Montgomerie. "I've lost in a playoff (1994) and been one shot behind a couple of times (1997 and 2006) and you have to wait to 50 to finally win one.

"My playoff record is pretty weak, to be honest. I think I've been in 10 and won one of them up till today.

"You talk about the Ryder Cup and one-on-one I'm usually quite good. A playoff in a golf tournament is like a penalty shoot-out in the World Cup. You don't know what's going to happen."

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