SCOT WINS BY FOUR SHOTS WITH FINAL ROUND OF 65

• • MONTY A MAJOR MAN AT LAST! Coasts to victory at US Senior PGA
  • Colin Montgomerie pulled away from the pack for his first-ever official triumph on U.S. soil. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
  
  FROM THE US CHAMPIONS TOUR WEBSITE
  BENTON HARBOR, Michigan (AP) -- Colin Montgomerie learned something about playing major championship golf at the age of 51 in the United States Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores.
  "I learned today to concentrate on me, and possibly I haven't in the past," the Scot said Sunday after shooting a 6-under 65 for a four-stroke victory from runner-up 64-year-old Tom Watson. 
  "We're always learning and today I concentrated on my own play and could only worry about myself."
  The victory was Monty's first as a senior in the States, and his first in an official event in the United States. 
  He also claimed a senior major in his fifth attempt, something he didn't accomplish in 71 majors in his regular tour days although he got as close as a play-off at Oakmont in 1994 after tieing with Ernie Els and Loren Roberts. Els won the play-off. And in 1994, Monty lost a US PGA title play-off to Steve Elkington at Riviera, California.
  
  Montgomerie, whose greatest moments in golf have been in Ryder Cup competition and the seven years in a row (1993-1997) when he was No 1 on the European Tour (he also rose to No 1 again in 2006, finished at 13-under 261 with rounds of 69, 69, 68 and 65 over the par-71 couse which measured 6,852yd
  He won on the European Senior Tour last year. Prior to that he had not won sincethe 2007 European Open, his 31st European Tour title.
  Watson also closed with a 65, and Jay Haas and Bernhard Langer tied for third at 7 under. Haas had a 67, and Langer shot 70.
  Montgomerie offered some comic relief on the final hole when he pulled his final approach some 20 yards only to get a bounce off the grandstand. The ball rolled to the middle of the green to set up a tap-in par.
  "I feel fantastic, really, superb," he said. "There's a motto: `If you fail and fail, you come back and try again.' 
  "I've had a couple of failures here in America and close calls, especially in major championships, and it's great to finally win, never mind a Champions Tour event, but a Senior PGA Championship event."
  Watson, who later this year will captain the U.S. Ryder Cup team, put a charge in the tournament when he made birdies on the second and fifth holes and started the back nine with consecutive birdies to pull within one shot of the lead. He missed a 4-foot birdie putt at the short par-5 15th hole that would have put him within one shot again.
  "Yeah that was the roadblock right there," Watson said. "I needed to make four there to keep the pressure on."
  Montgomerie made a charge of his own. Having birdied the opening hole and bogeyed the short fourth, he needed some more sub-par figures.
  And the big Scot got them! He birdied Nos. 8, 9 and 10 and, with precise iron shots and clutch putting, also made birdies at 12, 14 and 15 to pull away. 
  Out in 34 and home in four-under 31, Monty said the birdies in the middle of the round were the key.
  "I was caught," he said. "It was between seven or eight players that could actually win there. Those birdies were the key."
  Montgomerie will head home to Perthshire, Scoland  for a few weeks with a first-place cheque for $378,000 and his name will go on the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy. 
  The win also netted him a lifetime exemption to the Senior PGA Championship, and 2014 exemptions for the PGA Championship, Senior British Open and U.S. Senior Open.
  Watson, who made a bid to be the oldest player to win a senior event of any kind, had five consecutive pars to end his round while missing several birdie chances. He hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation.
  "It was one of the best rounds from tee to green that I played in years," Watson said. "It was really, really good, but the putter felt like a snake in my hands. I missed a lot of short putts today. It could have been a much better scoring round of golf."
  Bernhard Langer, playing with Montgomerie for a fourth consecutive round, hit his tee shot at No. 11 in the hazard right of the green and ended up making double bogey on the 140-yard par 3. It put him four shots behind Montgomerie at the time.
  Montgomerie is the third Scot to win senior golf's oldest championship, and the first since Jock Hutchison won his second Senior PGA in 1940.
  Glasgow-born son of a former Royal Troon Golf Club secretary, Colin will have his 51st birthday on June 23. As an amateur he played in the Walker Cup matches of 1985 and 1987. He turned pro soon after winning the Scottish amateur championship at Nairn in 1987.

                         Monty on his way to victory
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 284 (4x71) Yardage 6,852 Players from USA unless stated
271 Colin Montgomerie (Scotland) 69 69 68 65
275 Tom Watson 70 68 72 65
277 Jay Haas 69 71 70 67, Bernhard Langer (Germany) 70 68 69 70
278 Joe Durant 65 75 74 64, Marj Brooks 68 71 74 65, David Frost (S Africa) 72 69 69 68, Bart Bryant 71 67 70 70

SELECTED TOTALS
282 Peter Senior (Australia) 70 73 71 68 (T15)
284 Carl Mason (England) 73 71 70 70 (T24)
287 Nick Job (England) 69 76 68 74 (T33)
289 Andrew Oldcorn (Scotland) 74 72 73 70 (T48)
290 Roger Chapman (England) 71 72 74 73(T55).

MISSED THE CUT (146 and better qualified)
147 Barry Lane (England) 72 75
149 Paul Wesselingh (England) 78 71
150 Ian Woosnam (Wales) 76 74
151 Gordon Brand jun (Scotland) 70 81
153 Paul Eales (England) 76 77, Bob Cameron (England) 78 75
154 Sandy Lyle (Scotland) 78 76, Gary Emerson (England) 74 80
155 Simon Brown (England) 76 79


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