Colin Montgomerie makes it ‘Magnificent Seven’ wins on Champions Tour

Colin Montgomerie closed with a brilliant 63, which equalled his best round of the season, before beating long-time rival Bernhard Langer in a play-off to win the Invesco QQQ Championship in California.

Montgomerie holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the last in his nine-under-par last-day surge up the leaderboard after starting out five shots behind the 36-hole leader, South African Retief Goosen.

That gave the big Scot a 14-under-par 202 total, which was matched a few groups later by Senior Open champion Langer as he signed off with a 67, the duo finishing a shot ahead of both Goosen (69) and American Billy Andrade (64).

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In the play-off, Langer took four shots to get out of a greenside bunker due to the back lip hindering his swing and took six to reach the green at the 18th.

That meant a two-putt par-4 was good enough to give Montgomerie victory in the second of three events in the Champions Tour’s Charles Schwab Cup play-offs.

“How often does that happen with Bernhard?” said Montgomerie afterwards. “I felt for him in that bunker there.”

It was the 56-year-old’s seventh title triumph on the Champions Tour but first since landing the SAS Championship just over two years ago.

He the three-time Senior major winner sparked his last-day charge by making four birdies in the first four holes to be out in 32.

He then followed a chip-in birdie to start the back nine with an eagle-3 at the 11th before capping a sensational effort by picking up two shots in the final three holes.

“Eleven was key,” admitted Montgomerie. “Ten, when I chipped in was a very good chip, but kept me going.

“Eleven, hang on, I’m suddenly leading. From third, fourth, suddenly boom, I’m leading now. So, there’s a whole different feeling and then the one at the last was a massive bonus.”

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The victory lifted Montgomerie to fourth in the Charles Schwab Cup behind Scott McCarron, Jerry Kelly and Langer heading into this week’s season-ending event in Phoenix.

On the PGA Tour, Russell Knox finished just outside the top 10 in a low-scoring Bermuda Championship won by American Brendon Todd.

Knox birdied the last for a final-round 69 to finish joint-11th on 14-under at Port Royal Golf Club in Southampton, where Todd won by four shots with a 24-under 260 aggregate.

It was Todd’s second PGA Tour victory but came more than five years after his breakthrough success in the AT&T Byron Nelson.

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