Alex Cejka is putting everyone on Grand Slam watch.
Cejka won the second PGA Tour Champions major of 2021 at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Three weeks ago, in just his third Champions circuit start, he outlasted Steve Stricker in a playoff at the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Alabama.
That win was Cejka’s first win in 2,254 days. His next win came just 21 days later, as he shot a final-round 67 Sunday to beat Tim Petrovic by four shots shots.
“This trophy is really big,” he quipped in a post-round interview with Golf Channel’s Jimmy Roberts.
Cejka started the final round at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, one shot behind Stricker but Cejka would build a lead as big as five on the back nine. That was due in part to Stricker backsliding. He opened bogey-double bogey, missed a lot of putts and ended up shooting a 7-over 77.
Cejka’s only hiccup came on the 13th hole, when he yanked his second shot in the water. He was up four on Petrovic at the time and took a bogey but he later birdied the 17th and cruised to the finish line.
Cejka is the first Champions rookie to win two majors since Jack Nicklaus did it in 1990. He’s the first Champions player ever to win his first two majors on the circuit.
“I’m the same guy, I’m trying to play the same golf. I just seem to get luckier breaks, make more putts, drive it better since I turned 50,” he said to Roberts. “It’s a blast. The last couple of weeks have been incredible. I can’t even describe it in words how that feels.”
Retief Goosen and K.J. Choi tied for third at 3 under. Mike Weir, who had a four-shot lead after the second round, finished in a tie for fifth with John Riegger and Bob Sowards.
Bernhard Langer finished 10 over, his worst finish in 60 Champions majors.
Alex Cejka hits his tee shot on the fifth hole during the second round of the Senior PGA Championship golf tournament Friday, May 28, 2021, at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. Photo by Ian Maule/Tulsa World
Five Champions majors in 2021
Two down, these three still to come:
Bridgestone Senior Players Championship
June 24-27, Firestone CC, Akron, Ohio
U.S. Senior Open Championship
July 8-11, Omaha Country Club, Omaha, Nebraska
The Senior Open Championship
July 22-25, Sunningdale GC (Old Course), Berkshire, England
This is a first.
The Senior PGA Champion is younger than the PGA Champion. pic.twitter.com/kfKbEZ0Lml
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 30, 2021
