PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Ken Tanigawa overcame a three-shot deficit on the back nine to pass defending champion Paul Broadhurst and win the Senior PGA Championship on Sunday.
In only his second year on the senior tour and some 15 years after giving up playing professionally, Tanigawa shot an even-par 70 to finish at 3-under 277 at Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course. The 51-year-old held off PGA Tour Champions money leader Scott McCarron by a stroke.
Tanigawa scrambled to par the par-4 closing hole after his tee shot landed in a fairway bunker. He chipped out into the fairway, hit his third shot to 12 feet and made the putt.
Playing alongside good friend and former UCLA teammate Tanigawa, McCarron also shot 70. McCarron’s bid to force a tie ended when he missed a 25-foot birdie putt about a foot to the left.
Broadhurst, who won the major at Harbor Shores in southwest Michigan last year, began the day with a two-shot lead, but had a 75 to finish third at 1 under. His chance to force a tie ended when he missed a lengthy birdie putt and then settled for a bogey.
Tanigawa also won the tour’s PURE insurance Championship last year at Pebble Beach. His previous best finish this year was a tie for seventh at the Insperity Championship three weeks ago.