2015 Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship Final-Round Notes

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "2015 Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship Final-Round Notes"

Helen McDowell
5 years ago
Views:

2015 Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship Final-Round Notes (the 12th of 25 official events on the 2015 Champions Tour) Belmont Country Club June 11-14, 2015 Belmont, Mass.

Final Leaderboard Bernhard Langer 65-65-67-68 265 (-19) Kirk Triplett 70-68-69-64 271 (-13) Joe Durant 70-68-69-67 274 (-10) Colin Montgomerie 68-71-67-69 274 (-10) Russ Cochran 69-68-71-69 274 (-10)

1 2015 Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship Final-Round Notes (the 12th of 25 official events on the 2015 Champions Tour) Belmont Country Club June 11-14, 2015 Belmont, Mass. Purse: $2,700,000 Par/Yards : /6,812 Charles Schwab Cup points: 810 Weather: A mix of sun and clouds with highs near 80. Winds from the ENE at 6-12 mph. Final Leaderboard Bernhard Langer (-19) Kirk Triplett (-13) Joe Durant (-10) Colin Montgomerie (-10) Russ Cochran (-10) Recap With an eight-stroke lead after 54 holes, Bernhard Langer just needed to avoid any missteps on Sunday. The World Golf Hall of Famer did just that, firing a final-round 3-under-par 68 to finish with a 54-hole total of 19-under-par 265 and a six-stroke victory over Kirk Triplett in defense of his 2014 crown. Langer saw his streak of bogey-free holes come to an end at 48 with a bogey at No. 3, but it did little damage as he made eagle on the following hole and was never in danger after that, cruising to his fifth major championship title. Kirk Triplett, posted the day s low round, a 7-under-par 64, to secure second at 13-under-par, while Joe Durant, Colin Montgomerie and Russ Cochran shared third place at 10-under-par. With His Victory Bernhard Langer Bernhard Langer successfully defends his Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship title, becoming the first player since Arnold Palmer ( ) to win consecutive Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS titles. He also joins Colin Montgomerie (Senior PGA Championship) as the second player in the last three events to successfully defend a championship on the Champions Tour. Bernhard Langer s second straight win in the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS today marks the second time he s defended a title on the Champions Tour. He won back-to-back titles in Houston at the Insperity Invitational in 2007 and Bernhard Langer also joins Arnold Palmer (1985) and Jack Nicklaus (1990) as the third wire-to-wire winner in the history of the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS. Bernhard Langer claims his first victory of the 2015 season, becoming the 13 th different winner over the 12 official events that have been played this year on the Champions Tour. It s the longest the Champions Tour has gone without a multiple winner in a season since 2003 when Bruce Lietzke didn t win his second title of the season, the U.S. Senior Open, until June 29. Bernhard Langer wins his 24 th career title on the Champions Tour and his fifth senior major championship. Langer s 24 th title today moves him into a T4 with Miller Barber on the Champions Tour s all-time wins list.

2 Langer s win today comes in his 157 th career start on the Champions Tour. Here s the list of players with at least 24 career titles on the Champions Tour and details about their 24 th victory: Hale Irwin titles; 24 th title came in 95th career start/1999 Coldwell Banker Burnet Classic Lee Trevino titles; 24 th title came in 106th career start/1994 Northville Long Island Classic Gil Morgan titles; 24 th title came in 241st career start/2006 Allianz Championship (Des Moines) Miller Barber titles; 24 th title came in 169th career start/1989 Vintage Chrysler Invitational Bernhard Langer extends to nine, his streak of consecutive years winning at least on Champions Tour event. Langer ties for the second-longest streak of consecutive years with at least one title in Champions Tour history. Hale Irwin consecutive years ( ) Miller Barber -- 9 consecutive years ( ) Gil Morgan -- 9 consecutive years ( ) Bernhard Langer 9 consecutive years ( ) Bernhard Langer extends to nine, his streak of consecutive top-10 finishes in senior major championships, Gary Player is the all-time leader with 13 straight top-10 finishes in senior majors ( ). Miller Barber is second on the all-time list with 11 straight ( ). During his run, Langer has won three times (2014 Senior Open Championship, 2014 Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS) and also lost in a playoff at the 2013 Senior Open and was T3 at the 2014 Senior PGA Championship. Bernhard Langer ends a victory drought of nine months, 27 days (2014 Dick s Sporting Goods Open). This year marked the first time since 2012 that Langer had not won an event on the Champions Tour before the start of June. At 57 years, 9 months 18 days, Bernhard Langer became the second-oldest winner of the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS. Only Raymond Floyd at 57 years, 10 months, 12 days (2000) would be older. Bernhard Langer earns 810 Charles Schwab Cup points and jumps into second place in that race with 1,444 total points on the season. Bernhard Langer earns a spot in next year s THE PLAYERS Championship. With five major titles to his credit, Bernhard Langer matches Arnold Palmer and Miller Barber in that category. Jack Nicklaus is the all-time leader with eight. Hale Irwin is second with seven followed by Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus with six each. Bernhard Langer is now the seventh winner of the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship to post four rounds in the 60s. He joins Jack Nicklaus (1990), J.C. Snead (1995), Gil Morgan (1998), Loren Roberts (2007), Mark O Meara (2010) and Joe Daley (2012) Bernhard Langer in the majors -- Year Championship Pos. Rd. 1 Rd. 2 Rd. 3 Rd. 4 Total 2015 Constellation Senior Players (-19) 2015 Senior PGA (E) 2015 Regions Tradition T (-9) 2014 Senior British Open (-18) 2014 U.S. Senior Open T (+2) 2014 Constellation Senior Players (-15) 2014 Senior PGA T (-7) 2014 Regions Tradition T (-3) 2013 Senior British Open P (-9) 2013 U.S. Senior Open T (-1) 2013 Constellation Senior Players (-9) 2013 Regions Tradition T (-10)

3 2013 Senior PGA T (-4) 2012 Senior British Open T (-2) 2012 U.S. Senior Open T (-8) 2012 Regions Tradition T (-12) 2012 Senior PGA T (-9) 2011 Constellation Senior Players T (-7) 2011 U.S. Senior Open T (-7) 2011 Senior British Open T (-4) 2010 Constellation Senior Players T (+1) 2010 Regions Tradition T (-8) 2010 U.S. Senior Open (-8) 2010 Senior British Open (-5) 2010 Senior PGA T (+3) 2009 Constellation Senior Players T (-6) 2009 Regions Tradition T (-7) 2009 U.S. Senior Open T (-2) 2009 Senior British (-11) 2009 Senior PGA T (+4) 2008 Constellation Senior Players T (-5) 2008 Regions Tradition T (-11) 2008 U.S. Senior Open T (+2) 2008 Senior British Open (-4) 2008 Senior PGA (+8) 2007 Constellation Senior Players T (-2) Best 72-hole scores at the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS: 261 (27-under), Jack Nicklaus, 1990 ( ), Dearborn CC 261 (19-under), Kenny Perry, 2013 ( ), Fox Chapel GC 265 (19-under), Bernhard Langer, 2015 ( ), Belmont CC 266 (14-under), Joe Daley, 2012 ( ), Fox Chapel GC Langer s six-stroke victory was the largest margin of victory since 2007 when Loren Roberts finished six in front of Tom Watson at Baltimore CC/Five Farms. Langer led all players in greens in regulation, hitting 64 of 72 (88.9%). Miscellaneous Notes With his victory, six of the last seven majors on the Champions Tour have been won by either Langer or Colin Montgomerie. Montgomerie won his second straight Senior PGA Championship last month and also claimed last year s U.S. Senior Open. Langer claimed both the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS and Senior Open Championship in 2014 and now added his victory here to his career resume. The only exception during this stretch of majors was Jeff Maggert s victory in the Champions Tour s first major of the 2015 season, the Regions Tradition. Kirk Triplett may have gotten some good vibes this week after using New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft s locker at Belmont Country Club. He played at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with New England quarterback Tom Brady one year and is a Patriots fan.. Colin Montgomerie maintained his hold on the Charles Schwab Cup points lead with 1,616 points, but Bernhard Langer now trails Montgomerie by just 172 points after his victory on Sunday. Joe Durant is third with 937 points followed by Jeff Maggert (898) and Esteban Toledo (749). In the last five year, the Charles Schwab Cup after three majors has gone on to win the title.

4 Colin Montgomerie became the first player to surpass the $1 million mark in season earnings thanks to his T3 finish. Montgomerie has now earned $1,043,700 and has a lead of $139,439 on Bernhard Langer. Russ Cochran finished T3, the second year in succession he had finished in third place. He finished solo third a year ago in Pittsburgh. After three major championships in 2015, Bernhard Langer is the only player to have finished in the top 10 in all three. Jeff Hart enjoyed another strong performance in a major championship in Hart was T3 at the Regions Tradition and he finished T7 here on Sunday. Two years ago Hart was T6 in this event. Just days after earning medalist honors in U.S. Open qualifying in New York, Lee Janzen will head off to Chambers Bay with some momentum from his sixth-place finish here at Belmont Country Club. It was his first top-10 finish in a major championship on the Champions Tour in three starts. There were 23 rounds below 70 today compared to 26 yesterday and 34 rounds below par today. Here are the scoring averages by round this week: Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative Round Round Round Round Bogey-free rounds: R1/Guy Boros (67), Colin Montgomerie (68) R2/Bernhard Langer (65), Steve Pate (63), Brad Faxon (64) R3/Scott Verplank (66), Esteban Toledo (67), Mark Brooks (68), Tom Lehman (70), Corey Pavin (69) R4/Joe Durant (67), Marco Dawson (68), Lee Janzen (68), Tom Byrum (68) The par-3 fifth hole proved to be the most difficult for the week with an average (+.271) and it yielded just 20 birdies. The easiest was No. 4 with an average score of (-.426). Bernhard Langer and Kirk Triplett led all players with 21 birdies. Bobby Wadkins withdrew prior to the start of Sunday s round with a back injury. The 2016 Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship will be staged at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. For the latest information and updates on the Champions Tour visit Scores available at or on the Associated Press wire Follow the Champions Tour on Twitter at and Facebook (

2016 Tournament Winners

2016 Tournament Winners Date Tournament Winner Score 1/21-23 Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Duffy Waldorf 198 (-18) 2/5-7 Allianz Championship Esteban Toledo 205 (-11)# 2/12-14 Chubb Classic