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Colorado Springs, Colo. : Eduardo Romero stumbled to a three- over 73 Sunday, but it was more than enough to give him the title at the U.S. Senior Open. Romero posted six-under-par 274 for the championship. This was his second major title on the Champions Tour and his third win overall.
"Man, I'm so happy, so happy. I played great all week, all week long," exclaimed an ecstatic Romero, who picked up $470,000 for the win.
Second-round leader Fred Funk struggled to a four-over 74 Sunday to finish four shots back at minus-two.
Mark McNulty closed with a two-under 68 at The Broadmoor and was the only other player in red figures at one-under-par 279.
Greg Norman posted an even-par 70 in the final round to end alone in fourth at even-par 280, while John Cook was one back at plus-one after a seven-over 77 in the final round.
It was obvious from the outset that Romero and Funk were going to have their hands full in the final round. Both players bogeyed the first hole to fall to eight-under and six-under respectively.
Romero rebounded with a birdie on the par-five third, then played steady golf with six straight pars.
Funk was unable to mount a serious charge as he parred five in a row from the second. He drained a long birdie putt at the seventh to move within two of Romero's lead.
Romero pushed his lead back to three with a lengthy birdie putt of his own on the 10th. However, things went downhill for both players from there.
Funk tripped to a bogey at the 11th, the third straight day he bogeyed that hole. Then Funk faltered to a triple-bogey at the par-four 13th.
"I didn't see Fred's scoring. I'm trying to make pars," Romero said. "And then he made a triple-bogey, and I started relaxing a little. My concentration was different after that."
Romero was not immune from the trouble as he bogeyed four straight holes from the 11th to slide to minus-six. After Funk also bogeyed No. 14, Romero led by four with four holes to go.
The Argentinean two-putted for par at 15 and followed that with pars on 16 and 17 as well. Romero again two-putted for par at the last to seal his second Champions Tour major title.
"I made a couple mistakes in the back nine," Romero admitted. "And when I start to make bogey, I can't stop. I start to make bogey, bogey, bogey.
"I remember when Greg Norman played The Masters, he start to make a bogey, he never stopped. I remember about it, but after that, I made a good putt on the 15th."
Funk did recover a stroke with a birdie on the 17th, but he tripped to a bogey at the last to finish four off the pace in his pursuit to major title No. 1 on any tour.
"It was a great week. Everything was a positive, except for my back nine yesterday and today," Funk stated. "That's just the way it goes. I hit a horrible shot on 13 and then tried something to get it up there far enough, and turned that into a triple, and the tournament's over."
Bernhard Langer fired a four-under 66 to climb into a share of sixth place at two-over-par 282. He was joined there by Joey Sindelar (69) and David Edwards (67). Scott Hoch, Jay Haas and Jeff Klein shared ninth at plus-three.
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