Miguel Angel Jimenez captures Senior Open crown

Miguel Angel Jimenez secured his second senior major success by wrapping up a one-shot victory in The Senior Open at St Andrews.

The 54-year-old Spaniard held his nerve in the final round to card a three-under 69 on the Old Course to finish on 12-under 276, one ahead of defending champion Bernhard Langer.

American duo Scott McCarron and Kirk Triplett shared third place with Stephen Ames of Canada on 10 under.

Jimenez, who claimed his first senior major victory when he won the Regions Tradition in May, began the day with a two-shot cushion and made a decent start with birdies at the first and fifth, but he had company at the top of the leaderboard after six holes with both German Langer and Triplett notching four early birdies.

A birdie at the ninth lifted Jimenez to 12 under, the same score as Triplett when he birdied the 10th.

The back nine was once again playing tougher than the front nine and a birdie at the 12th suddenly enabled Jimenez to open up a three-shot cushion as Triplett made back-to-back bogeys at the 12th and 13th and Langer dropped a shot at the 13th.

Jimenez then looked set to extend his lead to four at the 14th but he missed a short putt for a birdie and then missed another short one to bogey the 15th, where Langer made birdie to reduce the deficit to just one shot.

Langer could only par the final three holes, though, and Jimenez matched his rival, although only after holing a tricky 10-footer at the 17th before he sealed the victory with a par at the 18th after booming a 310-yard drive down the fairway.

"This is a place where everybody wants to win," said Jimenez. "It's a place where Seve [Ballesteros] won his second Open and it has always been my ambition to win here. It feels like I am part of history.

"There are no words to describe the feeling of holding the trophy on the 18th green. To have that trophy in my hand in front of the crowd and my friends, and my family is amazing."

Langer closed with a 68, the same score as McCarron, who had three birdies on a flawless back nine, while Triplett and Ames, who was always just off the pace after two early bogeys, both signed for 69s.

Langer said: "Miguel played an awesome four days of golf, and he's a very well-deserved winner. I was pretty happy overall. It wasn't easy in some of the conditions that we had."

American trio Marco Dawson (68), Tom Lehman (69) and Tom Pernice Jnr (70) tied for sixth place with Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand (69) on nine under.

Colin Montgomerie finished as the leading Briton in a tie for 14th place on three under after firing a 74, with Stephen Dodd (75) one shot further back alongside Ireland's Paul McGinley (75).

Tom Watson, playing what could be his final competitive round at St Andrews at the age of 68, had a closing 77 that left him in a tie for 21st place at one under.

"As ever, the fans were really very good to me," Watson said. "I gave it right back to them. I appreciate what they do for me.

"This is a unique setting in golf, probably the most unique. You come into the town on the last hole and finish amongst all the buildings with the people hanging over the rail up there. There's no other place like it."