Perry roars back to win US Senior Open

Kenny Perry completed his comeback from ten shots down after the second round to win the US Senior Open last night.

Perry shot a final-round 63 at the Omaha Country Club and won his second straight senior major by five strokes over Fred Funk. His 64-63 finish set a tournament record for the last 36 holes. The 52-year-old Kentuckian started yesterday two shots behind leader Michael Allen, but was in front to stay after he birdied the second and third holes and Allen bogeyed the third.

Perry’s 63 matched Allen’s Friday score for best round of the tournament. He finished with a 13-under 267.

Rocco Mediate used three straight birdies on the back nine to get within two shots of Perry. But Perry birdied Nos 14 and 15, Mediate bogeyed 16, and Perry’s lead was five shots. Colin Montgomerie finished tied 30th after a closing 69.

Elsewhere, Zach Johnson put himself on course to retain his title at the John Deere Classic after moving to the top of the leaderboard on the final day in Illinois.

Johnson, whose success here last year was the most recent of his nine PGA Tour wins, was setting the pace at 19 under par after reaching the turn on three under. The 37-year-old American started birdie-birdie but then dropped a shot on the par-four third. He recovered quickly though, and further birdies on the fifth and eighth saw him leading the way.

One shot back was Martin Flores, who put himself in contention with a brilliant blemish-free 63 which gave him the clubhouse lead on 18 under. He eagled the second then picked up six birdies - including four in the final six holes.

In third spot on 17 under was Canadian David Hearn, who was level par after nine holes, while a trio of players were on 16 under par – Steve Stricker, Jerry Kelly and overnight leader Daniel Summerhays. Stricker was five under after 15, Kelly one under after 10 but Summerhays was finding life tough as he slumped to three over after nine.

Summerhays shot a 62 yesterday to open up a two-shot lead over nearest challenger Hearn, but after recording a birdie on two today, he dropped shots on four successive holes from the fifth to reach the turn in 38.