Bernhard Langer wins SAS Championship by 6 shots

CARY, N.C. — Bernhard Langer ran away with the SAS Championship on Sunday to take the points lead into the PGA TOUR Champions' Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs

Langer shot a bogey-free 7-under 65 for a six-stroke victory in the regular-season finale.

"I just played very solid all day long," Langer said. "Putted well, hit the ball where I was looking and did everything exceptionally well."

The 61-year-old German star has 38 victories on the 50-and-over tour, also winning this year near Houston. He has a record four victories after turning 60.

"I don't have anything to prove, but I still have golf," Langer said. "I still want to improve my own game. I still want to play to the best Bernhard Langer can play. I don't think I need to prove anything, but I love competing, I love winning or being in the hunt. As long as I can do that, I think you're going to see me out here."

Langer finished with a tournament-record 22-under 194 total at Prestonwood Country Club, the tree-lined layout softened by heavy rain Thursday from Hurricane Michael. He opened with a 62 on Friday to match Gene Sauers and Tom Lehman for the lead, and had a 67 on Saturday to remain atop the leaderboard with Sauers.

"The 10 under was amazing," Langer said. "I couldn't believe there were two other guys who shot 10 under."

The four-time Charles Schwab Cup winner also won at Prestonwood in 2012.

"It's always fun to go back to where you've won before because you feel like you know how to play the course and you're somewhat comfortable and that's certainly the case here," Langer said. "I've been probably 50, 70 times now around this golf course and I know how to play every hole."

Scott Parel was second, closing with a double bogey for a 65.

"Bernhard is just in his own world this week," Parel said.

Jerry Kelly had a 68 to finish third at 15 under, and Lehman followed at 13 under after a 71.

Sauers shot a 75 to tie for fifth with Miguel Angel Jimenez (68) at 12 under.

The top 72 players in the Schwab Cup standings qualified for the playoffs, the three-event series that begins next week with the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond, Virginia. Dan Forsman tied for 56th to jump from 74th to 72nd, edging John Huston for the final spot by $932. Huston tied for 46th.

• Langer becomes the SAS Championship’s third repeat winner (2012, 2018), joining Russ Cochran (2010, 2013) and Bruce Lietzke (2001, 2002). This is the ninth tournament Langer has won multiple times.
• The win is Langer’s 38th of his career, which is second-most in Tour history (45, Hale Irwin). He has won 16.52 percent of his starts (38 wins in 230 starts), or one win every 6.05 starts.
• Langer’s 22-under 194 total is a tournament record, besting Mark Wiebe’s total of 18-under 198 in 2007. It is the lowest winning 54-hole score this season, besting Kenny Perry’s 21-under 195 score at the 3M Championship.
• The six-shot margin of victory matches a tournament record (2004, Craig Stadler).
• This is Langer’s seventh victory by at least six shots. His largest margin of victory was when he won by 13 at the 2014 Senior Open Championship. The last time a player won by this margin was when Langer won by six at the 2016 Regions Tradition.
• This is the 19th time he has posted a sub-200 total for a 54-hole tournament. His best 54-hole total was 25-under 191 at the 2007 Insperity Invitational.
• The win is Langer’s second of the season, which extends his streak to seven straight seasons (2012-2018) with multiple victories. It is the second-longest streak in Tour history (11 – Hale Irwin, 1995-2005).
• At the age of 61 years, 1 month, 17 days, Langer becomes the 10th-oldest winner on PGA TOUR Champions. The oldest winner is Mike Fetchick, who won the 1985 Hilton Head Seniors Invitational on his 63rd birthday.
• Langer’s four wins at the age of 60 or older are the most in Tour history.
  • 2018 SAS Championship (61 years, 1 month, 17 days)
  • 2017 Invesco QQQ Championship (60 years, 2 months, 2 days)
  • 2017 Dominion Energy Charity Classic (60 years, 1 month, 25 days)
  • 2017 PURE Insurance Championship (60 years, 28 days)
• Hale Irwin (3), Jay Haas (2), Jimmy Powell (2) and Tom Watson (2) are the only other players with multiple wins over 60. In all, this marks the 27th time a tournament has been won by a player age 60 or older.
• Friday was the fifth time he shot 62 on PGA TOUR Champions, and he has won all five tournaments in which he shot 62.
• Including today, Langer has won 23-of-38 times he has started the final round with the lead/co-lead.
• Over the course of the three rounds, Langer’s best score was birdie on 15 of 18 holes. The three exceptions were the par-4 4th, par-5 7th and par-3 8th.
• The third-annual Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs begin next week, and Langer will be the No. 1 player at the start of the Playoffs for the third straight year. He has finished first (2010, 2014-2016) or second (2012, 2013, 2017) in the Charles Schwab Cup six of the last seven years.
• Since 2008 (his first full season on Tour), Langer has topped the standings 125 out of 280 weeks (44.64%).

• Dan Forsman started the week No. 74 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings. This week, he finished T56 and earned $3,780, which moved him to No. 72 ($133,614) and into the Playoffs. Forsman finished $932 ahead of 73rd-ranked John Huston, who finished T46 this week.
• Forsman is one of nine players that has qualified for the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs for the first time. The other eight are: Ken Tanigawa, Tom Gillis, Kent Jones, Tommy Tolles, Clark Dennis, Mike Small, Davis Love III and Jose Maria Olazabal.
• Charles Schwab Cup Playoff schedule:
  • October 18-21 | Dominion Energy Charity Classic (Country Club of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia)
  • October 25-28 | Invesco QQQ Championship (Sherwood Country Club, Thousand Oaks, California)
  • November 7-11 | Charles Schwab Cup Championship (Phoenix Country Club, Phoenix, Arizona)

• Gene Sauers was tied with Langer at the start of the final round, and he took a one-shot lead after making birdie on No. 2. He played Nos. 7-12 in 5-over, and he went on to finish T5 at 12-under after a final-round 75.
• Scott Parel tallied 10 birdies en route to a final-round 65 and his fourth runner-up finish of the season. Winner of the Boeing Classic, Parel is one of five first-time winners this season and he’ll begin the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs No. 7 in the standings.
• Jerry Kelly closed with a 4-under 68 and finished third at 15-under, his sixth top-three finish of the season. Kelly is one of the seven players that has led the Charles Schwab Cup this season, and he’ll begin the Playoffs No. 3 in the standings.
• Tom Lehman shot 71 on Sunday and finished fourth at 13-under. It was his fourth top-10 in his last five starts, and he is No. 15 in the Charles Schwab Cup.
• Miguel Angel Jimenez carded a final-round 68 and finished T5 at 12-under. It was his third straight top-five finish and he’ll begin the Playoffs No. 2 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.
• Doug Garwood posted his third straight bogey-free round (71), and he finished T9 at 9-under. It is the 37th bogey-free tournament (54- or 72-hole individual events) in PGA TOUR Champions history, and the second this season. David Toms was bogey-free and finished T2 at the Chubb Classic in February. Dating back to last year’s SAS Championship, Garwood has played his last 62 holes bogey-free. Garwood won in 2016 and finished T2 last year, and he is a combined 38-under in his last nine rounds at Prestonwood Country Club (67.78 average).