NAPLES, Fla. — Already the oldest winner in PGA Tour Champions history, Bernhard Langer completed a wire-to-wire victory Sunday for his record fourth Chubb Classic title.
Langer won at 64 years, 5 months, 23 days to push his victory total to 43 on the 50-and-over tour, two behind Hale Irwin for the record, and win for the 16th straight season.
“I’m getting closer now.” Langer said about Irwin’s record. “Years ago I thought, ‘Well, that’s almost impossible to reach that.′ Looking back now, I’ve lost a bunch of playoffs the last three or four years. If I had won a couple of those, I would be right there.”
The German star became the oldest tour winner in October at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Virginia.
“I’m a very competitive person and so I love to compete,” Langer said. “I work hard at it, as you all know. I spent a lot of time practicing and trying to figure out the game.”
Langer closed with his second straight 4-under 68, birdieing the par-5 18th on Tiburon Golf Club’s Black Course for the third day in a row, to finish at 16-under 200. He beat Tim Petrovic by three strokes after taking a two-stroke lead into the final round.
Langer opened Thursday by shooting his age with a 64. In the final round, the two-time Masters champion had six birdies — going 4-for-4 on the par 5s — and two bogeys.
“I liked this golf course when I saw it last year,” Langer said. “I felt I could win here. It’s not one for the bombers, where you just hit it as far as you can and hit it again. You got to be very precise.”
Langer also won the event — in its 35th season, the longest-running PGA Tour Champions tournament in the same city — in 2011 at The Quarry and 2013 and 2016 at TwinEagles. The six-time Charles Schwab Cup seasons points champions also won wire-to-wire in 2013 and 2016. Irwin won the event three times.
Petrovic finished with a 69.
“Germans win the gold again,” Petrovic joked. “Jeez, unbelievable. Shocker.”
Winless on the senior tour, he birdied Nos. 13 and 14 and closed with four pars.
“I battled back,” Petrovic said. “I battled back yesterday. Started off over par and just kept hammering away and giving myself chances and just fell a couple short.”
Retief Goosen was third at 12 under after a 70.
Brian Gay closed with a 69 to finish fourth at 10 under in his senior debut. Gay turned 50 on Dec. 14. He won the Bermuda Championship on the PGA Tour in the fall of 2020.
“I’m going to do the rest of the Florida swing on the regular tour and stay close to home,” Gay said. “Just got back from out west so I don’t really want to go back and forth. And then pop back out here in a couple months probably.”
Y.E. Yang, also making his tour debut, tied for 12th at 6 under after a 73.
Steve Stricker, the winner last year, was unable to play as he tries to regain strength from a virus that hospitalized him late last year.