Welcome back to the winner's circle, Vijay Singh. On Sunday, the 63-year-old won the SAS Championship after a final-round 69 for his first PGA Tour Champions win in three years. In fact, Singh shot 69 all three days to win by two shots over Ernie Els.
It's Singh's sixth career senior win and did wonders for his standing in the Charles Schwab Cup points race. He started the week in the 57th spot but he vaulted to 33rd. The top 36 after the first two playoff events reach the Schwab Cup final, and, are guaranteed their tour cards for 2027. He's the seventh-oldest winner on the senior circuit.
Singh started the final round tied with at Tim O'Neal and Freddie Jacobson at 6 under, but Singh grabbed the lead Sunday at the turn. As O'Neal and Jacobson tumbled ‒ Jacobson made bogey on the ninth and double bogey at the 11th to drop back to 5 under while O'Neal doubled the ninth and bogeyed the 10th ‒ Singh birdied Nos. 9 and 10 to get to 8 under. That suddenly gave him a three-shot lead at 8 under.
O'Neal hung in there, though, and cut the lead back to one after he made three birdies in a row on Nos. 12, 13 and 14.
Singh made birdie at the 12th to get to 9 under and then strung together pars on Nos. 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. It was on the par-5 17th when disaster struck O'Neal, who double-bogeyed the hole to drop him to 6 under and fall three shots back of Singh with one to go.
Singh made one last par at the last to clinch it. Els also shot 69 on Sunday. Alex Cejka and Tag Ridings tied for third at 6 under. O'Neal settled for a tie for fifth alongside Mario Tiziani, Ben Crane, Michael Wright and George McNeill.
The top three in the Charles Schwab Cup points race ‒ Stewart Cink (1), Zach Johnson (2) and Steven Alker (3) all took the week off. The first playoff event is next week for the top 72 golfers in the standings.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Vijay Singh wins PGA Tour Champions regular-season finale at SAS Championship