Oh boy, what a triumph

Paul Broadhurst went from “playing for second place” to winning the Senior Open title at his first attempt by conquering Carnoustie’s famous “Final Four” holes at the death in the drizzle on the Angus links yesterday.

The 50-year-old Englishman, four shots behind 54hole leader and playing partner Miguel Angel Jimenez at the start of the day, came up on the blindside of the Spaniard and American Scott McCarron to take the Senior Claret Jug with a final-round 68 to complete an 11-under aggregate of 277 – thanks to a few choice words from his caddie, 19-year-old Sam.

Broadhurst had a twostroke

“Tops Ryder Cup and certainly every one of my six tour wins”

winning margin over McCarron, with thirdround leader Jimenez sharing third place with Swede Magnus P Atlevi a further shot back.

Broadhurst also won on his debut in the over-50s ranks at the Scottish Senior Open at Archerfield last year.

Yesterday he was the only player among the leaders to play the last four holes of the Carnoustie championship course at par or better. His birdie at the 15th and three brave up-and-downs at 16, 17 and 18 proved crucial as his rivals faltered on the final stretch.

“Just incredible,” he said. “Things like this aren’t supposed to happen to me, I’m usually always the bridesmaid. It’s the greatest achievement of my career, probably better than the Ryder Cup appearance (at Kiawah Island in 1991) because that was down to an accumulation of results. I’d have to say this tops the Ryder Cup and certainly every one of my six wins on tour.”

Broadhurst didn’t expect to have a chance to catch Jimenez from four shots in arrears at the start of the day but credited a pep talk from his son Sam.

“The only thing I could do was ignore what Miguel was doing, try to score under par and hope he might come back to me a bit,” he added. “I was pretty much playing for second place and I would have been happy with that.

“On Friday I was just struggling just to make the cut and coming home in 30 was what gave me a lift, plus a few wise words from Sam got me sorted out because I’m not the most patient of guys out on the course. I didn’t expect to come through and win.”

Jimenez’s four-shot lead looked impregnable after his 65 on Saturday, and there seemed no obvious danger despite the early charges of Swede Magnus Atlevi and McCarron.

Jimenez carded a finalround 75 for 280 and called the loss “one of the most disappointing of my career”.

“I just didn’t look like the same guy who played yesterday,” he said. “I was hitting it badly at the beginning like I was not loose enough. Things didn’t go right for me today.”