Alex Čejka battled by way of treacherous circumstances at Royal Porthcawl to beat Pádraig Harrington on the second further gap of a play off and win The Senior Open.
The Welsh hyperlinks was subjected to excessive winds and rain as no participant was capable of break par for the second day in a row, with third spherical chief Čejka posting a closing 76 to complete on 5 over for the championship and be a part of Harrington, who posted a closing 75, in a play-off.
Padraig Harrington Defeated in Senior Open Play-Off
Each gamers birdied the primary journey again down the par-five 18th, as Harrington’s eagle putt slipped marginally by, earlier than 52-year-old Čejka prevailed on the following further gap. The Irishman went by way of the inexperienced together with his second shot earlier than leaving his chip in need of the inexperienced, that means Cejka was capable of two-putt for birdie from 25 toes and turn into the second German winner of the Senior Claret Jug after Bernhard Langer.
Čejka’s victory was his fourth since turning 50, with three of these wins coming at Senior Majors, following his wins at The Custom and the Senior PGA Championship in 2021.
What Čejka Stated After his Victory
After choosing up the Senior Claret Jug – and the €407,630 first prize – Čejka stated: “I can’t consider I’m standing right here with the trophy. Seeing all these nice names on the trophy, and for me to be holding it now, is surreal. It’s been an extended and really robust week, particularly the final two days with the circumstances that all of us confronted. At occasions it was virtually unimaginable to hit the pictures that you just wished and it was laborious to maintain your stability in 40mph crosswinds. particularly on the greens.
“Though I used to be born in Germany, and performed a variety of my golf on the European Tour for a few years, I’ve been within the States for 20 years now and have gotten used to taking part in within the sunshine and ideal climate and I form of forgot what it’s prefer to play in these situation and the way troublesome hyperlinks golf could be. I didn’t play properly coming in, however I managed to make a couple of good par saves. I didn’t need a playoff, particularly towards Pádraig, however I’m simply so glad it’s over and I’m glad I’ve the trophy.”
Shedding the play-off consigned Harrington to a second successive Senior Open runner-up end, with third spot going to Vijay Singh, who completed on seven-over. Michael Jonzon completed fourth, whereas Phil Archer and Phil Value shared fifth on 9 over. 4-time Senior Open winner Bernhard Langer – who received at Royal Porthcawl in each 2014 and 2017 – shared seventh with Richard Inexperienced, Euan McIntosh and Jerry Kelly.
Closing Senior Open Leaderboard
289 A CEJKA (GER) 68 71 74 76, P HARRINGTON (IRL) 75 68 71 75,
291 V SINGH (FIJ) 69 72 73 77,
292 M JONZON (SWE) 74 72 71 75,
293 P PRICE (WAL) 72 72 73 76, P ARCHER (ENG) 73 70 71 79,
294 B LANGER (GER) 73 69 75 77, E MCINTOSH (SCO) 74 71 72 77, R GREEN (AUS) 72 73 71 78, J KELLY (USA) 73 71 71 79,
