Kenny Perry takes his tee shot on the first hole as he begins the final round of the 74th Senior PGA Championship. File photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI |
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Kenny Perry captured his fourth major title on the Champions Tour on Sunday by shooting a bogey-free 2-under-par 68 to win the U.S. Senior Open by two strokes at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass.
"I felt ready to go today," said the 56-year-old Perry, who also won the U.S. Senior Open in 2013. "I had a good warm-up session. It's our goal to always win our championship. I've never had such a mental challenge all week. It fell my way this week. I just can't thank the USGA enough. This trophy goes back a long way."
Perry finished with a four-round total of 16-under 264, which was two shots ahead of runner-up Kirk Triplett, who finished with a 1-over 71.
Perry is the first U.S. Senior Open winner to post four rounds in the 60s since Roger Chapman did it in 2012. His 264 set a U.S. Senior Open record for the lowest score. The previous low was 267 by Hale Irwin (2000) and Perry (2013).
Perry, who won his ninth Senior Tour title, earned $720,000, his largest check on this tour.
Perry trailed Triplett by one shot when the day began, but he birdied the first and sixth holes while Triplett had bogeys on No. 3 and No. 5 as well as a birdie on No. 4 to enable Perry to take the lead.
Perry led by as many as four strokes at one point, although Triplett cut the deficit to two shots with two holes to play. Both players parred the final two holes.
"I didn't play very well," Triplett said. "It was a real struggle for me. He's a solid player and always hits the ball really well. He was doing the things you do to win golf tournaments and I didn't."
Triplett, at 14 under, was well ahead of third-place finisher Brandt Jobe, who wound up at 9 under after a final-round 70.
Triplett shot a 62 in the opening round and Jobe shot 62 on Saturday as rains had softened the greens. That was not the case Sunday.
Tom Lehman and Fred Couples tied for fourth at 8 under. Glen Day, who tied Jeff Maggert for the low round of the day with a 67, was sixth at 6 under
Bernhard Langer, who leads the season point standings, finished tied for 18th at 2 under after shooting a 4-over 74 on Sunday.
