Langer coasts to Senior Players victory

Jun 14, 2015 - 11:07 PM Belmont, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - Bernhard Langer coasted to the finish with a 3-under 68 in Sunday's final round and he went on to successfully defend his title by six shots at the Senior Players Championship.

Langer finished the week at 19-under-par 265 to go wire-to-wire. The victory was the German's 24th on the Champions Tour and his sixth major title on the senior circuit.

"I got off to a good start. The lead didn't shrink too much, if at all, and that was my goal to just come down the last few holes with a comfortable lead," Langer said. "Very blessed again to have won this tournament now back- to-back and another major."

Kirk Triplett was the closest finisher to Langer. Triplett shot a 7-under 64 at Belmont Country Club to soar into a distant second place at 13-under 271.

Senior PGA Championship winner Colin Montgomerie carded a 3-under 68 and tied for third with Joe Durant (67) and Russ Cochran (69) at minus-10.

Entering the day with an 8-shot lead, which tied the Champions Tour 54-hole record, Langer saw his advantage trimmed to five at one point by Triplett, but that is as close as anyone got.

After starting off with a pair of pars, Langer tripped to his first bogey in 48 holes with a 3-putt at No. 3.

Langer responded in a big way on the par-5 fourth as he stuck his second shot to about five feet. He knocked that in for eagle to get into red numbers for the day.

"I just made a really bad 3-putt from not very far and misread the second putt, so a little shaky there, but then I bounced back right away with three really good shots," Langer said about following his bogey up with an eagle. "Great tee shot, wonderful second shot and then made that putt, so that increased my lead again instead of diminishing it and it gave me that little cushion that I wanted to have coming down the stretch."

Langer continued to add on with a tap-in birdie on six and another gain from six feet on eight.

Around the turn, Langer coasted to victory as he played the final nine at even-par with a bogey on 13 and a 2-putt birdie at the par-5 17th.

Triplett was able to pull within five shots at one point with a birdie on 17, but it was not nearly enough as he ran out of holes and Langer would not budge any more.

NOTES: This was Langer's first win since the Dick's Sporting Goods Open last season, a year in which he won five times ... Langer joins Arnold Palmer (1984-85) as the only players to win this championship back-to-back years ... Langer also joins Palmer (1985) and Jack Nicklaus (1990) as the only wire-to- wire winners ... Langer earned $405,000 with this victory ... Despite the large margin of victory, Langer still missed out on the tournament record of 261 by four shots ... The Champions Tour is off next week and will return on June 25 for the fourth major of the season, the U.S. Senior Open Championship.