Colin Montgomerie wins SAS Championship on Champions Tour

Colin Montgomerie closed with an eight-under-par 64 to win the SAS Championship in North Carolina. Picture: Getty Images

The 54-year-old signed off with a stunning eight-under-par 64 at Prestonwood Country Club in North Carolina to win the SAS Championship on the PGA Tour’s over-50s circuit.

Montgomerie, who also claimed the Japan Airlines Championship last month, had started the final round tied for the lead with Welshman Philip Price and American Jerry Kelly.

But, after picking up three birdies on the front nine, he then pulled away with birdies coming home to finish with a 16-under-par 200 total.

The eight-time European Tour No 1 finished three shots clear of Fiji’s Vijay Singh (66) and American Doug Garwood (66) in joint-second place.

The win - his sixth on the Champions Tour - earned Montgomerie $315,000 and lifted him two spots to seventh in Charles Schwab Cup standings.

“This gives me a huge amount of confidence going into the Play-Offs, and I look forward to the next few weeks with added incentive now,” said Montgomerie.

Commenting on the fact he had just one bogey in his final 51 holes, he added: “The standard of golf here is extraordinarily high.

“Every time you make a birdie, you feel you have to make an eagle because someone else has made a birdie.”

The Scot was sidelined for two months earlier in the year after tearing ligaments in his left ankle and never really got in the hunt in any of this season’s Senior majors.

But, on the back of 23 of his last 24 rounds having been under par, he is certainly a man on form heading into the final part of the campaign.

Involving the top 72 players, it starts with the this week’s Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond, Virginia.

The PowerShares QQQ Championship in California is the second Play-Off event before the season concludes in Arizona with the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

“I have to keep going,” said Montgomerie, who finished second behind Bernhard Langer, leading it again this year, on the money-list last year.