Fifteen years on from his famous defeat of Tiger Woods and 18 from his last victory, Spain’s Santiago Luna held on to deny Sam Torrance a fairy tale home victory at the SSE Scottish Seniors Open at Fairmont St Andrews.
Luna, 50, battled his way through strong winds for a final-round 71 which was just good enough to edge Scotland’s Torrance, seeking his first tournament win in four years and on the course he designed.
Torrance’s three-putt bogey on the 16th and Luna’s birdie when he played the hole half an hour later was the crucial difference between the pair, 65-year-old Irishman Denis O’Sullivan also coming up a stroke short in his attempt to be the Senior Tour’s second oldest winner.
After a nervy chip from behind the 18th green came up well short, Luna’s near-perfect lag putt secured the par that got him home with a five-under aggregate of 211.
Torrance shot a final-round 70 with O’Sullivan a par 72 on a day when only one player Barry Lane shot under 70.
“It’s difficult to describe my feelings to win again after so long,” said the Spaniard.
Luna’s previous win was the Madeira Island Open on the main tour in 1995 and the career highlight the Dunhill Cup semi-final victory over Woods in 1998 on the Old Course, but that event remains memorable to him not for the win but because of whom he played with.
“If I play Tiger 91 times, he beats me 90 of them, but that week was most memorable because it was great to play with my friends Jose (Maria Olazabal) and Miguel (Angel Jimenez),” he said.
Luna did appear to be faltering after a bogey four at the 15th but it was his birdie at the 16th, hitting a sand-wedge inside eight feet, that proved decisive with the rest of the field fading in the winds.
The exception was Torrance, playing some of his best golf in the last five years in what is his last event before he turns 60.
In the end there was frustration that he fell just a shot short but satisfaction at the way he had played.
“I played just magnificently today thanks to Dad,” he said, in tribute to father Bob’s swing tip which got him back in sync last week.
“I think I probably had about 33-34 putts but we all know how tough the long putter is in the strong winds, so you expect that. From tee to green I haven’t played as well in a long time.”
Torrance holed a 40-footer on the 14th to get within a shot of the lead only to falter at 16 with a three-putt from the back of the green after he hit his second shot from semi-rough and only just held the putting surface.
He then made an outstanding up and down from near the wall on 17 and thought he’d reached the long 18th in two with what looked like a perfect strike with a five-iron, but the ball came up short.
He almost holed the chip for the eagle that would force a play-off but made an eight-footer for birdie to set the mark Luna just managed to better a few minutes later.
O’Sullivan played a perfect pitch from 40 yards at the last to join Torrance in four-under second place, leaving English duo Peter Mitchell and Phil Golding sharing fourth with the leader going into the last round, Australia’s Peter Fowler, who shot a final-round 74.