America’s Kenny Perry claimed his second US Senior Open after beating Kirk Triplett by two shots at Salem Country Club.
The 56-year-old closed with a two-under-par 68 for a record score of 264 (-16). Perry also won the event in 2013, and it was his fourth major victory on the senior tour.
Perry started the final round a stroke behind Triplett, but five ahead of the next-closest contender, Brandt Jobe. Triplett, who tied the tournament record with a 62 in the opening round, had five bogeys on Sunday and shot 71. Jobe had a 70 to finish seven strokes back, while fellow Americans Tom Lehman and Fred Couples each shot 69 to tie for fourth.
Perry’s 264 total was three strokes better than the US Senior Open record set by Hale Irwin in 2000 and matched by Perry in 2013. Perry was the only player to shoot under par in each of the four rounds at the 6,815-yard, par 70 course, which also hosted the tournament in 2001. But overnight rain before the first three rounds softened the greens, and Triplett and Jobe each took advantage with rounds of 62 – matching the lowest score in a PGA Tour Champions major.
The highest-placed Englishman was Paul Broadhurst, who finished tied 12th with five other players on three under, while Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez was a shot back in 18th tied with Jesper Parnevik, and Bernhard Langer, whose attempt at a third consecutive senior major win came unstuck with weekend rounds of 72 and 74, after opening up with 67 and 65.
Ian Woosnam finished tied 37th and Colin Montgomerie tied 42nd.