Chapman goes wire-to-wire at Senior PGA

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — To put it mildly, it’s hard to fathom Roger Chapman’s victory in the Senior PGA Championship on Sunday.

In 16 full seasons (and parts of a few others) on the European PGA Tour, Chapman had just 1 victory — in a tourney called the Brazil Rio De Janeiro 500 Years Open in 2000.

When Chapman left the European Tour in 2006 it wasn’t to move to a senior circuit. No, Chapman’s best option then was to work for 18 months as a rules official. It provided a nice interlude before the 50-and-over competition was a possibility.

Chapman had yet to win a tournament in his four seasons of senior tournaments, and this year he’d played in only one event before last weeek — a 16th place finish two weeks ago in the Mallorca Open. In all his years as a touring pro, Chapman says he had at least 15 runner-up finishes world-wide.

And then came Sunday at Harbor Shores — a two-year old layout designed by Jack Nicklaus that features all sorts of elevation changes and some severe undulations on the greens.

Chapman didn’t just win. He took the first major of the Champions Tour season wire-to-wire, the first player to do that since Hale Irwin in 2004. With 10 holes left Chapman owned a 9-shot lead. It dwindled to 2 over playing partner John Cook before Chapman posted his 72 for a 13-under-par 271 total.

“It’s hard to play with a huge, huge lead like that,” said Cook, “but for 70 holes he was really impressive.”

Said Chapman: “It’s difficult when you haven’t had much experience with that,” added Chapman. “You have that negative man sitting on your shoulder, telling you all the bad things that could happen.”

Some did. Chapman finished with 2 bogeys before becoming only the third English golfer and seventh international player in 73 years to win the Senior PGA.

When the last putt dropped a choked up Chapman was doused with champagne by David Frost and Bobby Clampett, two rivals who had invited him to dinner on Saturday night.

“We were all crying. They’re two very good friends,” said Chapman, who declined the dinner invite because he wanted to keep a routine that included dinner at a restaurant in nearby Stevensville.

Chapman enjoyed a $378,000 payday and received an invitation to August’s PGA Championship among other perks.

“This is the greatest thing I’ve ever done,” said Chapman. “It’s the best feeling in the world.”