David Toms wins US Senior Open
Monday 2 July 2018 07:20, UK
David Toms won the US Senior Open by a shot after a dramatic finish at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
Toms rolled in two crucial long putts in the closing stages and an even-par final round of 70 kept him at three under, one shot better than Jerry Kelly, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Tim Petrovic.
The first vital Toms putt came on the par-three 16th, where he sank a 15-foot birdie chance to take the lead.
And he held on to his advantage by converting a 20-footer downhill on the 17th, after laying up from a fairway bunker.
Toms then clinched victory by holing a nerve-shredding three-footer at the last.
Jimenez (69) and Petrovic (70) each made birdies on the 18th to get to two-under, where they tied for with Kelly (72), who had led after the first three rounds.
Toms said: "I knew that with 17 coming up, if I was going to make a birdie, it had to happen on 16.
"It was uphill, pretty straight, and I put it right in the middle."
The 51-year-old hadn't won a tournament on the regular or senior tour in more than seven years.
But it was not his first major success - the American won the PGA Championship in 2001, where he held off Phil Mickelson to win by a shot.
