A decade after winning his first Senior PGA Championship, Tom Watson won the title for a second time with a playoff victory over fellow American David Eger in Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday.
Watson, aged 61, knocked in a three-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole at Valhalla Golf Club to become the third oldest winner on the Champions Tour with his sixth major title on the over-50s circuit.
“It never ceases to be enjoyable, winning a golf tournament,” Watson, who piled up eight major titles on the regular PGA Tour, told reporters.
“I’m living on borrowed time right now at 61. These young kids are coming out here and hitting the ball so much farther than I do. Their nerves are pretty much still intact.”
Watson, who at 59 came desperately close to winning the 2009 British Open at Turnberry before losing to compatriot Stewart Cink in a playoff, had finished the 72 regulation holes level with Eger at 10-under-par 278.
They both missed short putts for outright victory on the 72nd green, Watson failing to sink a four-footer and Eger’s attempt from five feet slipping past the left edge of the cup.
Watson, the oldest winner of a major since the Champions Tour began in 1980, closed with a two-under 70 and Eger with a 67. The PGA said the oldest winner of a Seniors major was Jock Hutchinson, who was 62 when he won the Senior PGA in 1947.
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