PEABODY – (Radio – Photos – Video) Kirk Triplett, who fired a record setting opening round on Thursday of 62, ended the tournament in second place today. (Tournament notes below)
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Kirk Triplett – Scottsdale, Arizona (62, 67, 66, 71 – 266) -14 (2nd Place Finish)
Kirk Triplett waves to the fans after making his birdie putt on the fourth green during the final round of the 2017 U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass. on Sunday, July 2, 2017. (Copyright USGA/Jeff Haynes)
Kirk Triplett plays his tee shot on the first hole during the final round of the 2017 U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass. on Sunday, July 2, 2017. (Copyright USGA/Chris Keane)
Kenny Perry’s total of 264 sets a 72-hole scoring record in the U.S. Senior Open. The previous record was 267, set by Hale Irwin at Saucon Valley Country Club in 2000, and matched by Perry in 2013 at Omaha (Neb) Country Club.
Perry is the sixth multiple winner of the U.S. Senior Open Championship. He also won the 2013 championship at Omaha and joins Miller Barber (1982, 1984, 1985), Gary Player (1987, 1988), Jack Nicklaus (1991, 1993), Hale Irwin (1998, 2000) and Allen Doyle (2005, 2006).
Perry’s 16-under-par total is the third-lowest score in relation to par in championship history. Only Fred Funk (20 under, 2009) and Hale Irwin (17 under, 2000) were more under par in 72 holes in a U.S. Senior Open.
Perry made two birdies and 16 pars in the final round. Previously, the last U.S. Senior Open champion to play a bogey-free final round was Bernhard Langer in 2010 at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash..
Runner-up Kirk Triplett played the 341-yard, par-4 fourth at 4 under (eagle-birdie-par-birdie) for the week. No other competitor played it better than 2 under.
Brandt Jobe birdied five consecutive par 3s between the third and final rounds. He led the field in par-3 scoring at 7 under for the week.
In the 2001 U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country Club, no players had sub-par totals in the championship. This year, 28 players broke par. The most sub-par totals for a championship is 36 at Inverness in 2011.
The 106 sub-par rounds in the championship is the third-highest total in U.S. Senior Open history. There were 128 at Inverness in 2011 and 116 at Crooked Stick in 2009.
The 485-yard, par-4 second hole played as the most-difficult hole in the championship. It yielded two times the amount of double bogeys and others (20) than birdies (10) throughout the week and had a stroke average of 4.48.
An amateur made the cut in the U.S. Senior Open for the 14th consecutive year. Robby Funk, the lone amateur to make the cut, finished at 8-over 288 and, as low amateur, is exempt into next year’s championship.
Tom Watson completed 72 holes for the 16th time in the U.S. Senior Open, matching Arnold Palmer, Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan for most all time.
For just the second time in four years, Bernhard Langer finished outside the top 10 in a senior major. His tie for 18th breaks a streak in which Langer finished in the top 10 in 16 of 17 senior majors – a stretch which included seven victories.
Tom Lehman’s tie for fourth is his ninth top-25 finish in as many U.S. Senior Open starts.
