BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA | Tom Lehman won
his second straight Regions Tradition, finishing
the Champions Tour major with a 4-under 68
on Sunday to take a two-stroke victory.
“It was a good day, a good week,” said
Lehman, who is having a good year and a good
career in over-50 events.
Lehman battled persistent rains and survived charges from Bernhard Langer and Chien
Soon Lu for his sixth Champions Tour victory.
Langer and Lu each finished with a 66 to
share second behind Lehman’s 14-under 274.
Lehman, a former British Open champion,
shot in the 60s all four days and battled the
elements in the final
round.
“I don’t mind any
condition other than
rain,” Lehman said. “I
don’t like playing in rain.
It makes me really uncomfortable. I just feel like I
lose the rhythm of my swing.
“Today was a real test of perse-
verance, just trying to move the ball
forward. Don’t try to bite off too much,
don’t get too aggressive. Just play shots I
know I can hit.”
Lehman is now the first player to
repeat in a senior major championship
since Allen Doyle won the U.S. Senior
Open in 2005 and 2006.
After beating Peter Senior in a playoff
last year in this event, Lehman didn’t
have to sweat this one out nearly as
much on a brisk day that began with
an early two-tee start and ended with
storms closing in. Players were allowed to lift,
clean and place the ball because of the conditions.
Lehman made a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 7
after Langer briefly tied him at 9 under, pushing his lead to two strokes with a short birdie
putt on the par- 3 13th hole. Then, he salvaged
par with a difficult chip and 12-foot putt on the
next hole under a downpour.
“You don’t want to give shots back when
you’ve kind of put it in your pocket,” Lehman
said. “It really started pouring and that was a
really difficult putt. To two-putt that was a huge
momentum keeper. That might have been the
biggest putt of the day.”
He bogeyed No. 17, but that added little
drama since he avoided trouble on the
18th.
Lu, from Taiwan, had four birdies on
the final nine holes. Lu was second
at last year’s Montreal Champi-
onship and the 2010 Tradition
in Oregon and has been third
four times. He had fallen
back with a triple-bogey on
the final hole Saturday.
Langer, a two-time
Masters winner, bogeyed
Nos. 8 and 9 after starting 3 under through four
holes. He wound up with
his seventh top-five finish
of the year and took over the
Charles Schwab Cup lead.
RESULTS
Time To Find Out.
Six majors captured by Irish players in just a few years is more than just coincidence. Find out exactly what it is by playing
the courses where these champions shaped their games. World-beating links, exceptional parkland courses.
It’s all here. And when the round ends, the fun is only beginning. This is Ireland, after all.
Time To Play.
