8 takeaways from the 2017 Senior PGA Championship

1: BERNHARD LANGER WINS HALL-OF-FAME MATCHUP, CLAIMS ELUSIVE KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Bernhard Langer of Germany holed a decisive 18-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to edge Vijay Singh by one shot to win the 78th KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship on Sunday afternoon at Trump National Golf Club, Washington, D.C. in Potomac Falls, Virginia. Langer, who began the day one shot behind Singh, fired a closing round 4-under-par 68 to finish with a 72-hole total of 270. With the victory, Langer became the first player to complete senior golf’s Grand Slam, winning each of the PGA Tour Champions’ five major championships. Langer also secured his record ninth major championship to move past Jack Nicklaus (8) on senior golf’s all-time list. Singh finished at 271 as his bid for his first PGA Tour Champions victory came up short. Miguel Angel Jimenez and Billy Andrade finished in a tie for third, four shots back, at 275.

2: LEGENDS FINISH 1-2
For the eighth time in 78 editions of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, a pair of World Golf Hall-of-Famers finished the Championship in first and solo second, as Bernhard Langer edged Vijay Singh by a single shot. This also happened in 2014 (Colin Montgomerie/winner, Tom Watson/second), 1996 (Hale Irwin, Isao Aoki), 1990 (Gary Player, Chi Chi Rodriguez), 1988 (Gary Player, Chi Chi Rodriguez), 1973 (Sam Snead, Julius Boros), 1971 (Julius Boros, Tommy Bolt) and 1961 (Paul Runyan, Jimmy Demaret).

3: THAT’S DOMINATION
Bernhard Langer has now won seven of 15 PGA Tour Champions major championships dating to his June 2014 victory in the Constellation Senior Players Championship.

4: BACK-TO-BACK
Bernhard Langer has captured consecutive PGA Tour Champions majors – the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship today and the Regions Tradition last week – for the second time in his career. In 2010, he won the final two majors on the schedule, the U.S. Senior Open and the Senior Open Championship.

5: 59 IS A SPECIAL NUMBER IN GOLF AND IT WAS FOR LANGER TODAY TOO
By winning at the age of 59 years, 9 months, and one day, Bernhard Langer became the eldest player to capture the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship since Tom Watson (61 years, 8 months, 25 days) in 2011.

6: HISTORIC RUNNER-UP
A 17-under-par by Vijay Singh wasn’t enough to capture the Alfred S. Bourne trophy; however, it stands as a record-setting performance. Singh broke the mark set by Colin Montgomerie as the best 72-hole score to par by a non-winner. Montgomerie, a two-time KitchenAid Senior PGA Champion (2014, ’15), carded a 72-hole 16-under-par in 2016 as his quest for a three-peat came up shy (Rocco Mediate, -19).

7: NEWCOMERS FIND SUCCESS
Five of this week’s Top-10 finishers were competing in their first KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship: Vijay Singh (second place), Miguel Angel Jimenez (T3), Bob Estes (T5), David Toms (7) and Jerry Kelly (T8). All five players broke par in each of their four rounds.

8: GERMANY’S FIRST
Bernhard Langer became the first player from Germany to win the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. His victory also marks the first win of this Championship by a continental European-born golfer.