Bernhard Langer completed a wire-to-wire victory at the ACE Group Classic after holding off a late challenge from Jay Don Blake.
Second and third on his last two Champions Tour starts, Senior Tour Member Langer finally grabbed victory with a level par final round 72.
That left the German 12 under for the week – most of his good work was done with a scintillating opening 62 – and one ahead of Blake, who finished strongly with a 68.
Langer had not dropped a shot over the first two rounds and extended his overnight advantage with birdies at the first and third.
When he did finally make an error it was a costly double bogey at the fourth, but mixing three further bogeys with three birdies proved to be good enough.
It was the second time Langer had won the title in three years, having also finished runner up last season. The title was his 17th victory on the Champions Tour and means the 55 year old has won at least one tournament in each of the last seven seasons.
"I'm certainly relieved now, having won," Langer said. "It was definitely a grind. I was hoping to come down to the last hole with, whatever, a three-shot lead or something, make it easy."
South African David Frost finished tied for fifth after a closing 68, one ahead of Welshman Mark Mouland, with England’s Roger Chapman also in the top 20 on a good day for the Senior Tour contingent.
