American Kenny Perry became a four-time Senior Major Champion as he beat compatriot Kirk Triplett by two strokes to win his second U.S. Senior Open title at Salem Country Club.
Perry, winner of the U.S. Senior Open in 2013, started his final round one stroke behind partner Triplett who held the top spot on the leaderboard since his eight under par first round. Perry birdied the first hole to draw level with Triplett, who endured a tough final day, making five bogeys and four birdies for a final round of 71, one over par.
Triplett rallied on the back nine, with birdies on two of the last five holes, but Perry held to his two stroke lead as he made par on the other 16 holes for his fourth under-par round of the week. His rounds of 65-64-67-68 gave him a winning score of 16 under par.
Speaking after his victory, Perry believed his 3M Championship victory on the PGA TOUR Champions circuit may have been his last: "I didn't think I'd ever be holding the trophy again, you never know. That's how golf is. When you win, you don't think you're ever going to lose. And then when you're losing all the time, you think you're never going to win.
"That's just how brutal our sport is. Thank goodness it showed back up again."
Vijay Singh finished in a tie for seventh place on five under par, adding to his second place finish at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in May.
2016 Senior Open Presented by Rolex winner Paul Broadhurst finished in a tie for 12th on three under par. One stroke behind him were the quartet of David Frost, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Bernhard Langer and Jesper Parnevik in a share of 18th.
