AUSTRALIANS Greg Norman and Wayne Grady bombed out but American journeyman pro Michael Allen ended a 20 year wait to win the US Senior PGA Championship in Beechwood, Ohio on the weekend.
Allen has never won in two decades on the PGA Tour but managed two late birdies to shoot a three under 67 and take the title in his seniors debut. The Senior PGA Championship is the first major of the year for players over 50 years old.
Allen became only the fourth player to win a major championship in his Champions Tour debut, joining Roberto De Vicenzo (1980 U.S. Senior Open), Arnold Palmer (1980 Senior PGA Championship) and Jack Nicklaus (1990 Tradition).
Greg Norman finished T49 after consistent but uninspiring rounds of 73-72-73-72 on the par 70 Canterbury Golf Club course.
Norman had been charging up the leaderboard during the second round and was two under through 15 holes when he showed he could skull a sand wedge chip out of bounds as well as the rest of us.
He never seemed to recover from the resulting triple bogey and finished the day hovering on the cut line.
Wayne Grady finished the tournament T59 after a 13 over for the four days while fellow Australians Mike Harwood and Dave Merriman failed to make the cut after their surprise late call up for the event.
Allen seems to be only half joking with his new ambition to be the first player ever to win on the Seniors Tour before winning on the regular PGA Tour.
