By Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press –
LAKE ORION, Mich. — Roger Chapman said he plans to buy a house in Michigan very soon.
Why bother? He already owns the state.
The Englishman captured his second senior golf major in seven weeks in Michigan on Sunday. He shot four-under-par 66 in the final round and won the U.S. Senior Open by two shots at Indianwood Golf and Country Club in Lake Orion.
(PHOTO: Roger Chapman kisses the championship trophy for the cameras after winning the U.S. Senior Open in Lake Orion, Michigan on Sunday, July 15, 2012.)
If that wasn’t enough, Chapman endeared himself forever to the Great Lakes State. He said on national television that it was nothing more than the air from “pure Michigan” that spurred his success.
Otherwise, Chapman had no explanation for his Michigan dominance. But this week, at least, he liked the looks of Wilfrid Reid’s 1925 links-style course design, even if he had no idea who Reid was.
“No, but I like his work,” Chapman said of the fellow Englishman. “I got to the course Tuesday and just liked the look of the field. If you look out on the first fairway and see the humps and hillocks, it just reminds you of Scotland.”
Chapman certainly looked right at home through his steady and sometimes spectacular play. His 10-under total of 270 gave him a two-shot victory over Fred Funk, Tom Lehman and Corey Pavin and third-round leader Bernhard Langer.
Lehman and Pavin made the most serious late charges. But Chapman iced the win when he flushed a five-iron to within six inches for a birdie on the par-three 17th hole. He called it a career shot.
“I thought, after that, the worst you could do was be in the playoff,” said Chapman, who earned $500,000. “It was pretty special, that shot.”
So was Chapman’s week — and his golfing renaissance at age 53.
Chapman’s totals were uncannily similar each day. His four rounds: 68-68-68-66. His fairways hit: 7-7-7-8. His greens in regulation: 15-14-14-14. His putts: 30-30-30-28.
It’s that kind of consistency that golfers strive for but rarely achieve.
“In the past, I was quite good at three rounds but not finishing off,” he said. “So to play three good rounds, the first three rounds, and then to come out on the last day and shoot 66 shows that the consistency and the ball striking and the short game is beginning to take fruition.”
In similar fashion, Chapman’s career also seems to be taking a turn toward consistent excellence.
“It’s been a huge and fast rise,” he said. “Basically, I was sort of a journeyman pro on the European Tour: 25 years, one victory. Loads of seconds, but I was always the journeyman.”
Pavin, Langer and Lehman won majors on the regular tour and were stars in the 1990s. But that pedigree mattered little Sunday.
Langer fought the tricky wind and a balky putter Sunday. He stumbled early with a double-bogey six on the second hole that helped erase his four-shot lead quickly on his way to a 72.
Chapman’s sole bogey on the 16th hole, and Lehman’s birdie on the 15th, cut his lead to one shot. And Pavin, in the same group with Chapman, mounted a furious charge with three straight birdies starting on the 14th hole for a 68. Funk shot 67 and Lehman shot 68.
It wasn’t enough.
“Sometimes people bloom a little bit later,” Pavin said. “Tom Lehman is a pretty good example of that. He bloomed late in his career. I guess Roger’s blooming a little bit even later than that.”
