Chapman wins U.S. Senior Open by 2 strokes

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Associated Press Roger Chapman won the U.S. Senior Open in Lake Orion, Mich., by two strokes. He shot a 4-under 66 on Sunday to finish the tournament at 10 under, joining impressive company. Chapman, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Hale Irwin are the only players to win the U.S. Senior Open and Senior PGA Championship in the same year. The Englishman’s career highlight before this year was a European Tour win in Brazil 12 years ago. Bernhard Langer, Fred Funk, Tom Lehman and Corey Pavin tied for second at 8-under 272 at the Champions Tour’s fourth of five majors. Langer took a four-shot lead into the final round and closed with a 2-over-par round. The German said Saturday if he closed with a 2- or 3-under round, it would be difficult for anyone to catch him. When he had a double bogey at No. 2, he gave Chapman a chance to pass him. The wind picked up considerably Sunday — with gusts up to 20 mph — to make it even tougher to keep tee shots on the unforgiving and tight fairways and to accurately approach hard, undulating greens. Chapman answered the challenge for much of the day with two birdies on the front nine and four through 14 holes. He chunked a shot of the bunker at 16, leading to a bogey that he made moot on the next hole. The 53-year-old Chapman stepped to the potentially pivotal 195-yard, par-3 17th and calmly hit a tee shot that was close enough for a tap-in birdie to restore a two-shot lead. Chapman chose to use his driver at the 462-yard, par-4 18th and he got a break when his tee shot was stopped by fans standing along the left ropes. That gave him a decent lie in the rough that he took advantage of with an approach that set him up for a two-putt par to seal the victory that proved what he did in May on the other side of Michigan wasn’t a fluke. He had a stunning wire-to-wire win at the Senior PGA Championship in Harbor Springs at Harbor Shores, beating John Cook by two strokes after closing with two bogeys.

Published: July 15, 2012 - 11:25 PM

Roger Chapman drives on the first hole during the final round at the U.S. Senior Open golf tournament at Indianwood Golf and Country Club in Lake Orion, Mich., Sunday. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

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PGA Tour

Zach Johnson won the John Deere Classic on the second playoff hole in Silvis, Ill., hitting his second shot to a foot for a birdie to beat Troy Matteson.

After Johnson and Matteson double-bogeyed the 18th on their first playoff hole, Johnson hit a 193-yard second shot from a bunker to 12 inches from the cup, again on the 18th. Matteson needed to sink a 43-footer to match Johnson’s birdie, but didn’t get the putt to the hole.

It was Johnson’s second win of the season and ninth of his career.

Johnson birdied three of the last six holes in regulation, taking the lead until Matteson sank a 60-foot eagle putt on the par-5 17th. Johnson shot a bogey-free 6-under 65 to finish at 20-under 264. Matteson shot a 69.

Johnson began his climb into contention with a 12-foot birdie putt on the seventh. He went ahead when Matteson, who had led since Thursday, sent his second shot over the 15th green and took four strokes from there for a double-bogey 6.

Three-time defending champion Steve Stricker played himself out of contention by driving into high grass on the 14th hole. He settled for bogey after a penalty drop, then bogeyed the next hole and finished four strokes back at 16-under, tying for fifth with Luke Guthrie, whose finishing 64 came in his second tournament as a professional.

Scott Piercy finished third two strokes back after a 65. It included only two birdies on the back nine, but his consistent play allowed him to pass Stricker and John Senden, who went birdie-eagle on the 14th and 15th to get within a stroke of the lead before bogeying the next two holes to fall back.

Stricker was attempting to become the fifth player to win the same tournament four straight times. The others are Tom Morris Jr., Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen and Tiger Woods, who has done it twice.

European Tour

Jeev Milkha Singh of India birdied the first playoff hole against Francesco Molinari to win the Scottish Open in Inverness, Scotland, and earn a spot in next week’s British Open.

Singh knocked in a 10-footer on No. 18 for his fourth victory on the European Tour.

Both players finished regulation play at 17-under 271, with Singh shooting a final round 5-under 67, and third-round leader Molinari shooting 72.

Local favorite Marc Warren was three shots ahead at one point in the final round, but dropped four strokes over the final four holes and tied for third with Alexander Noren of Sweden at 16-under.

“I was just enjoying a nice cup of tea and some chocolate cake,” Singh said of his hour-long wait for the late starters to finish. ‘‘But as the chocolate cake went down, it got exciting out on the course.”