DES MOINES, Iowa – Mark Calcavecchia won the Principal Charity Classic on Sunday for his third career Champions Tour title, closing with a 3-under 69 for a one-stroke victory over Joe Durant and Brian Henninger.

Calcavecchia, who missed the cut in the Senior PGA Championship two weeks ago, never trailed during the final round at the Wakonda Club. The 13-time PGA Tour winner finished at 12-under 204.

Durant shot a 69, missing a long birdie putt on the 18th hole. Henninger had a 68.

Canada’s Rod Spittle was fourth at 10 under after a 68.

Davis Love III had a 68 to top the group at 9 under. He was making his fourth Champions Tour start since turning 50 in April 2014.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Mark Calcavecchia was carrying groceries into his brother-in-law’s house on Thanksgiving morning when he stumbled.

Calcavecchia’s right hand went through two panes of glass, slashing a tendon and leaving a finger dangling. Six months later, the 1989 British Open champion is finally playing like his old self.

Calcavecchia made a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole Saturday for a 4-under 68 and a one-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Champions Tour’s Principal Charity Classic.

“I like it here,” said Calcavecchia, who grew up in nearby Laurel, Nebraska. “A lot of good things going on here for me.”

Calcavecchia had a 9-under 135 total at Wakonda Club.

Joe Durant was second after a 68. Paul Goydos, Brian Henninger and Michael Allen were tied for third at 7 under, all shooting 70.

The 54-year-old Calcavecchia had surgery in early December. He couldn’t swing a club for three months, and the lingering pain has limited the time he can spend on the range.

Calcavecchia entered the week with just one top-10 finish in seven events. He has two career victories on the 50-and-over tour after winning 13 times on the PGA Tour.

“There’s still a whole bunch of guys that can win. So, basically (Sunday), I’m just trying to do what I’m doing,” said Calcavecchia, who has notched top 10s in each of his four previous trips to Iowa.

Durant bogeyed his first hole Saturday. He rallied, briefly holding the lead before Calcavecchia’s strong finish.

He’ll join Calcavecchia in Sunday’s final group in search of his second win of the year.

“I just didn’t get flustered,” Durant said. “I think you just have to stay very patient on this golf course. … The leaderboard is really bunched up. Someone is going to come out and shoot a good round. It’s going to take a good round from any of us to have a chance to win. But you just play the first round to put yourself in position.”

Billy Andrade, tied for the first-round lead after a 66, double-bogeyed his first hole Saturday and stumbled to a 76. He was tied for 32nd at 2 under

Jose Coceres, who joined Andrade atop the first-round leaderboard, shot a 73 to drop into a tie for 11th at 5 under.

One of tour’s oldest players made one of the best shots in the 15-year history of the Iowa event.

Larry Nelson, 67, used an 8-iron to ace the 172-yard 17th hole. It was the second hole-in-one for Nelson on the Champions Tour. He celebrated by tossing his ball to the crowd.

Nelson was tied for 42nd at 1 under after a 70.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Bill Andrade and Argentina’s Jose Coceres share the first-round lead at 6-under 66 on Friday in the Champions Tour’s Principal Charity Classic.

Andrade had seven birdies and a three-putt bogey on No. 14 at Wakonda Club. The four-time PGA Tour winner teamed with Joe Duran to win the Legends of Golf in April for his first Champions Tour title.

“I love this place,” Andrade said. “I just think it’s like a where I grew up in Rhode Island, so it’s tree-lined, it’s like a mini-Westchester I kind of call it. I just think a fabulous place and it played very nicely today I thought.”

Andrade rebounded from the bogey on the par-3 14th with a birdie on the par-5 15th and birdied the par-4 18th for a share of the lead.

“You’ve got to, obviously, drive it in the right places and you have to get a little lucky on some tee shots if the ball stays in the fairway, so you have to have a little imagination off the tee,” Andrade said. “Then it’s hitting greens and getting it in position where you’re not above the hole all day and you have chances to make birdies. There’s a lot of birdies out there and the course is in great shape. It’s a fun track to play. If you don’t pay attention you can get beat up a little bit.”

Coceres, from Argentina, had six birdies – four on the final seven holes – in his bogey-free round. The two-time PGA Tour champion is winless on the 50-and-over tour.

“I played very well,” Coceres said. “Very happy for my golf from putter, everything, very good. … The course is in very good condition.”

Defending champion Tom Pernice Jr. was a stroke back along with Mark Calcavecchia, Paul Goydos, Michael Allen, Brian Henninger, Grant Waite and Jeff Coston.

“It was nice to get off to a good start,” said Pernice, a playoff winner last year over Doug Garwood. “Great weather conditions, the golf course is in great shape, so to get in 5 under is a good start. Got away with a few sloppy shots at times and just didn’t drive the ball as well as I could have, but had some good recoveries, hit some good putts.”

Bernhard Langer and Canada’s Rod Spittle topped the group at 68 and held a share of 10th thru 18 holes.

Davis Love III opened with a 70. He’s making his fourth Champions Tour start since turning 50 in April 2014.

Another Canuck, Jim Rutledge, opened with a 75.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – There were no last-second buzzer-beaters in Larry Bird’s hometown on a bright, breezy Sunday.

Colin Montgomerie turned in a command performance, shooting a 3-under 69 on the treacherous Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort to win the Senior PGA Championship by four shots.

Montgomerie earned $495,000 for his third senior major championship victory in 10 appearances, including three of the past six. The 51-year-old Scot’s 8-under total of 280 made him one of only five players under par, the fewest since three closed the championship in red numbers at Canterbury in Cleveland in 2009.

Mexico’s Esteban Toledo shot a 69 to finish second.

Montgomerie was happy but drained.

“It was a difficult position to be in at the start of the day, being three ahead,” said Montgomerie, who called Dye’s design one of the iconic courses in America. “Nowhere to go but down with every hole out there a potential double bogey. I could never relax. I could never relax at all.

“Very, very tiring mentally. Every shot had to be executed or you could be in trouble. That’s a test and a half.”

Montgomerie is the first player to successfully defend the Senior PGA title since Hale Irwin won three in succession in 1996-98. Montgomerie is the first to record his first three Champions Tour victories in majors since Jack Nicklaus, who won his first six on the biggest stages.

Montgomerie won the 2013 Senior PGA at Harbor Shores in Michigan, and two months later took the U.S. Senior Open in a playoff over Gene Sauers at Oak Tree in Oklahoma.

It has been an extraordinary life-after-50 turnaround for a player who won 31 European Tour titles, topped that tour’s money list a record eight times, represented Europe in the Ryder Cup eight times but went 0 for 71 in major championships.

Six times he was a runner-up in those majors, three times in the U.S. Open and once each in the British Open and PGA Championship.

“He’s been in contention in majors pretty much his whole career so he’s very familiar with that,” said Brian Henninger, who matched Scott Verplank’s 71 to give both a share fourth place at 2 under. “He obviously hasn’t always executed and performed like he wanted to, but even at his age, he’s probably learned through some of his experiences.”

Toledo started the day at 1 under and but made birdies at 1, 5 and 7 and twice got within a stroke of Montgomerie on the front nine. Both times, the leader answered with a birdie.

After lipping out a short par putt at No. 1, Montgomerie ran off birdies at 5, 7, 9, 10 and 12. He was 9 under for the tournament, five strokes clear of Toledo and in charge.

“That’s what it takes. He knows how to win,” said Toledo, who played without a bogey Sunday. “He loves the pressure. There’s nothing I could have done. It was a great week for me. The course was outstanding, the crowds were great. It was a great tournament.”

Montgomerie made bogeys at 15 and 18 but his lead was too large, his grasp too sure.

“When I holed the putt at 12, I felt safe,” Montgomerie said. “I knew how tough that finish is.”

Montgomerie and his Sunday playing partner and World Golf Hall of Fame colleague, Bernhard Langer, have won four of the last five major championships on the Champions Tour. Jeff Maggert’s win last week in Alabama in the Regions Tradition is the lone exception.

So it seemed the final round might turn into a match play competition between Montgomerie, at 5 under, and Langer, 2 under, in the final twosome, but no drama developed.

Langer caught an awkward lie on the margin of a bunker and the rough alongside the second green and made double bogey. Then he missed the green and bogeyed the par-3 fourth. When Montgomerie birdied Nos. 5 and 7, Langer was seven shots behind.

It was somewhat reminiscent of the 2014 Senior PGA, where they also played in final twosome and Montgomerie shot 65, Langer 70.

Montgomerie’s victory extended an unprecedented Senior PGA streak. International players have won the event four consecutive years: England’s Roger Chapman in 2012, Japan’s Khoki Idoki in 2013 and Montgomerie’s pair.

Canada’s Rod Spittle climbed 30 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 34th after a final round 69. The St. Catharines, Ont., native finished at 8 over.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Colin Montgomerie was long considered one of the best players in golf who had never won a major championship.

As a senior, he has said no more.

Montgomerie shot a 2-under 70 on Saturday on The Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort to take a three-shot lead into the final round of the Senior PGA Championship.

At 5-under 211, the 51-year-old Scot was in position to win his third senior major championship in a year. He won the Senior PGA last year at Harbor Shores in Michigan, and took the U.S. Senior Open in July in Oklahoma.

“It was frustrating to come to these championships and walk off with the runner-ups’ medal,” Montgomerie said. “I’ve done that five times. You try your damnedest and you come up a shot light.

“I’m more relaxed now. I’m more relaxed than I was. My temperament is more consistent and I think that’s helping. I’m enjoying it, I really am. I’m a great believer that if you enjoy something, you’re usually quite good at it.”

Bernhard Langer, a four-time winner in senior majors, was second after a 68. He eagled the 415-yard, par-4 eighth hole and closed with consecutive birdies after a bogey at the par-5 16th.

Montgomerie and Langer will play in the final twosome Sunday, just like they did last year at Harbor Shores, when Montgomerie shot a 65 and won by four.

Scott Verplank, Esteban Toledo and Brian Henninger were tied for third at 1 under. Verplank shot 70, Toledo 73, and Henninger 74.

Henninger made a triple bogey on the 16th to drop out of a share of the lead. His second shot on the 539-yard hole darted right, into deep, deep rough and he had to declare his ball lost.

Second-round leader Tom Lehman had a 79 to drop into a tie for 13th at 2 over.

“I just didn’t make them,” said Lehman, who had three three-putts and 34 putts in all.

Langer was fortified by his birdie-birdie finish, but he wondered what might have been after hitting a wedge from 80 yards over the green at 16 and making bogey and missing a couple short putts.

“I had two of the worst lip-outs ever in my life,” Langer said. “On No. 3, I hit a putt that went in on the left, went all the way around and came back out this way. So it went 460 degrees.”

Thirty of the 76 players who made the cut shot par or better on a sunny Saturday with a tricky wind. Eleven players go into the final round within six shots of Montgomerie.

“I am where I am. I would rather be leading by eight, but I’m not,” said one of them, Verplank, who has struggled with injuries over his two Champions Tour seasons.

Verplank and the rest can by comforted by the severity of the Course. Things can happen fast on it. They happened fast Saturday.

Langer holed a 7-iron from 162 yards for his eagle at No. 8.

A few minutes later and a few groups behind, Lehman three-putted No. 6 for a bogey. One group ahead, Toledo half-shanked his tee shot into the pond alongside the par-3 seventh green and made double bogey. Then Lehman missed the green at No. 7 and made another bogey.

Suddenly, Langer, Lehman, Toledo and Montgomerie were tied for the lead at 2 under. Anything can happen on a course as severe as Dye’s treeless, windswept hilltop monster.

“There’s a potential double around every corner here,” said Montgomerie, who had a lone bogey Saturday. “Long day ahead tomorrow. There’s a seven-mile walk, and the emotions will go up and down like a roller coaster.”

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Tom Lehman started the second round of the Senior PGA Championship on the 10th tee Friday afternoon. He might as well have started it on a launch pad.

Lehman birdied three of his first four holes on French Lick Resort’s rigorous Pete Dye Course and kept right on going. He shot a 5-under 67 – matching the best round of the week – to take the lead at the halfway point of the Champions Tour’s second major championship of the year.

At 4 under, Lehman led his playing partner of the first two rounds, defending champion Colin Montgomerie, and Brian Henninger by a stroke. Montgomerie shot 69, and Henninger matched Lehman’s 67.

The severity of the course has caused some players to grumble about Dye, its designer. Not Lehman.

“Pete Dye courses, in general, I enjoy,” said Lehman, who hit 16 greens in regulation Friday. “I really enjoy his style of architecture. I like the way he thinks. I like the way he makes the player think.”

There have been only seven rounds in the 60s, all of which came with milder weather conditions prevailing Friday, when tournament officials trimmed more than 100 yards off the first-round setup, from 7,040 yards to 6,914.

Montgomerie relished the buzz of playing with the leader, and he wants more.

“We stood in there battling around,” Montgomerie said. “I’m going to play with him (again) tomorrow, probably in the last group, and I look forward to that.”

Lehman won the British Open in 1996 and the Senior PGA Championship in 2010 in Colorado. Montgomerie dominated the European Tour during the 1990s, topping the money list eight consecutive seasons. In addition to the Senior PGA, he won the U.S. Senior Open last year.

Esteban Toledo was 2 under after a 68. First-round leader Massy Kuramoto had a 72 to drop to fifth at 1 under. Peter Fowler, Woody Austin and Jean Francois Remesy were even par. Fowler birdied the final hole for a 67, Austin shot 71, and Remesy 72.

Henninger and Toledo were PGA Tour journeymen. Being situated so near the top of the leaderboard and doing it on so daunting course in a senior major was not lost on Toledo. It’s new ground.

“This is a different week,” said Toledo, a two-time winner in two-plus seasons on the Champions Tour. “This is a different tournament. This is different conditions. It’s probably one of the toughest I’ve seen.”

The early starters again went off with temperatures in the upper-40s but the sun shone brightly and the day warmed into the mid-70s, although wind made club selection difficult and misses frequent.

Toledo made five birdies and a lone bogey. The Mexican player has thrived on superior ball-striking, hitting 21 of 28 fairways and 26 of 36 greens in regulation.

Bernhard Langer, a 23-time winner on the Champions Tour, was 1 over after a 72.

The Dye Course’s severe slopes and radical bounces can get to a player. Mark Calcavecchia parred the 566-yard, par-5 ninth hole Friday, but it was anything but routine.

He broke two clubs.

Calcavecchia drove into the left rough and, after hitting a second shot he deemed unacceptable, broke his club over his knee. He missed the green with his third shot and snapped the shaft on that club by slamming it into the ground. Calcavecchia missed the cut, finishing at 14 over after a 77.

Rod Spittle was the lone Canadian to make the cut. The St. Catharine’s, Ont., native is 8 over and tied for 66th heading into the weekend.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Massy Kuramoto’s approach to the difficult Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort was simple.

“If I’m going to hit straight and hit the fairway, I can play 2 over, 3 over. I tried to play 1 over front nine, 1 over back nine,” he said, grinning, with both index fingers upraised.

Kuramoto did even better than that Thursday in the first round of the Senior PGA Championship.

He shot a 1-under 71 to take the lead.

Defending champion Colin Montgomerie, Billy Andrade, Barry Lane, Jean Francois Remesy and Bart Bryant were a shot back. Bernhard Langer, Tom Lehman and Scott Verplank were in the large group at 73 on a difficult day for golf.

The temperature was in the upper 40s for the early starters and it crept only to 60 as the sun finally broke through in late afternoon. Sweaters and rain jackets were the uniform of the day and scoring on the rugged Dye Course’s twisting fairways and small greens did not come easily.

With 17 major champions and seven World Golf Hall of Fame members in the field of 156 players, only 30 shot 74 or better.

“We’re old,” said Andrade, an early starter. “We’re old guys. When it gets cold, maybe we don’t hit it as far and as well. It’s a survival test.”

Peter Jacobsen knew the feeling.

“It felt like a British Open,” he said after scattering eight bogeys in an 80. “It’s cold. It starts to rain. There’s nowhere to miss the ball on this course.”

Andrade and Montgomerie sat atop the leaderboard nearly all day and they were more than content. It was a day for precision and patience. Montgomerie compared it to the rigors of a U.S. Open.

“I’m very rarely happy with a round of golf – ever,” Montgomerie said. “I’ve shot level par today and I’m very happy leaving here.”

The 59-year-old Kuramoto won 30 times on the Japan Tour, the second-most in that tour’s history. He tied for fourth in the 1982 British Open.

But he’s now chairman of the PGA of Japan. He has no time for practice. He plays only on the side, something he does well enough to have won the Japan Senior Open and one other event while competing in 11 Japan Senior Tour events in 2014.

He hit eight of 11 fairways and 11 greens in regulation Thursday, but scrambled to save par six of seven opportunities. He countered two bogeys with three birdies.

Kuramoto said he hasn’t played three consecutive days of golf since November.

“I don’t have the confidence at all,” Kuramoto said through an interpreter, wife Margie. “So I don’t think that I’m going to be able to keep the lead.”

Weather conditions are expected to ease. The predicted high is in the low 70s for Friday’s second round, climbing toward the low 80s by Sunday.

The challenge will remain.

The Dye Course is situated on a tall hilltop with Hoosier National Forest falling away in all directions. Its fairways plunge and soar over sharp slopes and afford all manner of risky shots and awkward lies. Its small greens are difficult targets and a poorly placed shot can roll off and well away.

The Senior PGA Championship is coming off venues that over the past three years permitted the lowest scoring in tournament history. The field averaged 73.040 for four rounds at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 2012. The number was 72.78 at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis in 2013, and 73.018 back at Harbor Shores last year.

The field averaged 77.73 for the first round Thursday. There were 56 scores of 80 or higher.

Six players reached 2 under. None could hold on.

“Normally, I would be angry because I finished level par,” said one of them, Remesy, a Frenchman in his second season as a senior. “But I’m pleased to be here and pleased to be in contention.”

Three Canadians are in the field this week. Rod Spittle opened with a 5 over 77, Rick Gibson had a 78 and was 6 over, while Jim Rutledge carded a 79 to sit 7 over.

CALGARY—Three of golf’s top stars, and most colourful characters, are the first three players to book their tickets to Calgary this summer to compete in the third annual Shaw Charity Classic August 5-9, 2015.

Mark O’Meara, who will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in July, will make this third appearance at the Shaw Charity Classic. Calgary golf fans will also welcome Welshman Ian Woosnam and American Peter Jacobsen to the fairways at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club for the first time this year.

“The Shaw Charity Classic remains committed to improving our field and event experience each year. Mark is one of the hottest players on Tour this year, and having Ian and Peter in Calgary for the first time helps us achieve that goal,” said Sean Van Kesteren, tournament director, Shaw Charity Classic. “These three names are synonymous with the greatest golf names in the world, and I can’t think of a better way to officially kick off the golf season here in Calgary then by adding these international stars to our field.”

One of the most popular figures in international golf, O’Meara is off to a strong start in 2015. The two-time major winner has three top-five finishes on the Champions Tour this year and was the top player over 50 at the Masters where he placed T22. A winner of 16 victories on the PGA TOUR, O’Meara has won twice on The Champions Tour including one major in 2010 – the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship

“There is still a tremendous buzz on Tour about the success of the Shaw Charity Classic. Calgary is a wonderful place, an incredible city. I love the Rockies and I’m excited to return this year,” said O’Meara. “The crowds are so enthusiastic that come out and support this event in Canada. I know all the players are excited to have the opportunity to come there and play, and I hope the fans will come out and support us again.”

O’Meara will be joined by two first-timers to Calgary.

Former European Ryder Cup Captain, Ian Woosnam, will make his first trip to the Stampede City. Woosie, who won his first Champions Tour title earlier this month at the Insperity Invitational, brings an impressive resume with him to Calgary. The Wee Welshman, who was recognized as one of Europe’s ‘Big 5’ with Ballesteros, Faldo, Langer and Lyle who dominated world golf in the 1980’s and 1990’s, has racked up 48 victories worldwide including the 1991 Masters. A two-time winner on the PGA TOUR, Woosnam was a member of nine European Ryder Cup Teams, Vice-Captain of the 2002 winning squad, and also Captained the Europeans to victory in 2006.

“I have had a goal to play more in America and get into the top-30 so it was nice to get the win in Houston,” said Woosnam. “I knew my game was coming around. I have played some great golf and I was fortunate to hole that long putt on the first playoff hole, and now be exempt for the next year. I’m excited to build on this success and have a shot at getting my first win in Canada.”

Another Calgary first-timer will be Peter Jacobsen. One of the most humerous characters on the Champions Tour, Jacobsen was a member of two American Ryder Cup teams who captured seven victories on the PGA TOUR. His last PGA TOUR win came in 2003 at the Greater Hartford Open when he was 49. Since turning 50, Jacobsen won the U.S. Senior Open during his rookie season. He backed that up with a win at the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship the following year. One of the most colourful characters on Tour, Jacobsen regularly entertains fans with his impressions of other players. A self-taught guitarist, he is also known to keep galleries laughing with his comical stories.

The Shaw Charity Classic is giving one lucky fan – and three friends – the chance to feel like a professional golfer for just one day. Canadian golfers who record a hole-in-one during the 2015 contest period must register through the tournament web site at www.shawcharityclassic.com for a chance to win the grand prize. The hole-in-one must be attested by the golf facility’s general manager, chief operating officer, club president, head professional or director of golf. Participants between the ages of 13 and 18 must also have parental consent. The Shaw Charity Classic will aim to profile each hole-in-one on its social media platforms.

Some of the greatest names in the game will play for a purse of $2.35 million, an increase of $100,000, when they return to Calgary’s Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club for a third straight year. Tickets and corporate packages for the Shaw Charity Classic are available online at www.shawcharityclassic.com. Youth 17 and under are admitted free with a ticketed adult.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Jeff Maggert didn’t let the missed putts haunt him when he faced the most pressurized one of the day.

Maggert won the Regions Tradition on Sunday for his first Champions Tour major title, beating Kevin Sutherland with a 3-foot par putt on the first hole of a playoff. He missed from a similar distance on No. 17 and failed to hole other modest putts over the final nine holes in a day-long, back-and-forth Shoal Creek scramble.

“No one likes to miss 3-footers,” Maggert said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a 20-handicapper or a golf pro. When you miss a few of them, you start to second-guess yourself. On 18, I said, `Hey, you missed it, no big deal, on 17. Let’s just go to your routine and your game plan and try to put a good stroke on it.’

“I was nervous, shaking a little bit.”

It didn’t show in his stroke on the straight-on putt.

Sutherland two-putted for bogey to set up Maggert for the winning shot on the 18th hole.

Maggert closed with an even-par 72 to match Sutherland at 14-under 274. Sutherland had a 71.

Maggert’s only previous Champions Tour win came in Mississippi last year in his first start on the 50-and-over tour. He won three times on the PGA Tour, the last in the 2006 St. Jude Classic.

Sutherland had his second runner-up finish of the year and remains stuck at one career win in 544 tournaments spread across the PGA, Champions and Web.com tours.

Maggert won $345,000 and moved into the points lead after the first of five majors.

Sutherland’s tee shot on the playoff hole dropped into the left bunker a few feet from the lip and about 130 yards from the green. His next shot landed near fans lining the fairway and he was left needing a long putt to make par.

Sutherland said a nearly day-long struggle with his driver “reared its ugly head at the last moment and got underneath the lip of the bunker and didn’t have much of a play really. Couldn’t get it to the green.”

He said jitters weren’t a problem, though.

“I was as relaxed as you could possibly be,” Sutherland said. “I was much more relaxed on the 19th hole than I was on the first hole.”

Jeff Hart and Gene Sauers both shot 69 to tie for third at 11 under, three shots back. Michael Allen (68), Bernhard Langer (70), two-time winner Tom Lehman (69) and defending champion Kenny Perry (70) were 9 under.

Both players parred the 18th hole the first time to force the playoff. Maggert needed to make a three-footer to stay alive, similar to the one he missed on the previous hole.

“Second time’s the charm,” Maggert said, adding that the shot on 17 “was a putt that I was expecting to walk up and tap it in.”

It was a change-up after Maggert had birdied the final two holes each of the previous two days.

Maggert’s the first 36-hole leader to hold on for the win at the tournament since Tom Watson in 2003.

Maggert and Sutherland traded birdies on No. 15 to remain deadlocked after jockeying for position the past two days and then set up similar tap-ins on 16.

Sutherland had reclaimed the edge with an eagle on the par-5 third hole, while Maggert bogeyed for a three-stroke turnaround. He regrouped with a birdie on No. 6 while Sutherland had three bogeys on the first nine holes for a 1-over 32.

Maggert had three-putted from five feet on No. 12, saying he had trouble gauging the speed of the greens after overnight rains.

Hart, meanwhile, managed his first top-three finish on the Champions Tour, having finished no better than 29th in his three previous events this season.

He extended his string without a bogey to 54 holes and finished with a birdie. Hart’s two bogeys was the fewest in a Tradition.

“At that point, I didn’t care where I finished,” Hart said. “But I didn’t want to blow the non-bogey string on the final hole.”

Sauers ended with back-to-back birdies. He has finished in the top three over the last two majors he’s played, losing a playoff to Colin Montgomerie in last year’s U.S. Senior Open.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The 18-round battle between Jeff Maggert and Kevin Sutherland ended with dueling putts in a sudden downpour.

Round 18 went to Maggert.

He birdied the final two holes for a 4-under 68 and sole possession of the lead Saturday after the third round of the Champions Tour’s Regions Tradition. Finishing in heavy rain, Maggert reached 14 under after entering the day tied for the top spot with Sutherland at Shoal Creek. Sutherland was left a stroke back when his birdie attempt on No. 18 was short by a couple of inches to set up a tap-in for a 69 under the driving rain.

Both had huddled under umbrellas with their caddies on the suddenly wet green.

“That green, I think, slowed up a little bit,” Maggert said. “Kevin had a really good putt and it just rolled up a little bit short of the hole. If the water hadn’t been on the green, he probably would have made that one. Mine just ran out of gas right on the front in and dropped in.”

Sutherland was alone at the top until a bogey on No. 16 brought him even with Maggert, who had a bogey-free round. Both birdied No. 17.

It’s the lowest 54-hole total in the tournament since Brad Bryant entered the final round at 15-under.

Fred Funk was third at 18 under after a 67. He won the tournament in 2008 and 2010 and nearly closed the gap further on No. 18, grimacing after a near-miss for birdie. Only Jack Nicklaus has won the Tradition more than twice, winning four times.

Maggert is seeking his second win on the Champions Tour. No second-round leader has won the Tradition since Tom Watson in 2003.

He hit a 90-yard wedge shot to a foot on 17. For the second straight day, he set up a birdie from the fairway bunker on 18, this time making about a 12-footer.

“I made some nice par-saving putts,” Maggert said. “I didn’t make a lot of birdies until the end. I was just trying to hang around, be patient. Kevin had a 1-2 shot lead on me most of the day and I just didn’t want him to run away from me too far. “

Seeking his first win on the 50-and-over tour, Sutherland was even-par through seven holes before starting rolling with back-to-back long birdie putts – about 20 feet on No. 8 and 45 feet on the next hole. He had a run of three birdies in four holes starting on No. 8 and wasn’t sweating the ever-so-close last putt.

“I’m not going to lose any sleep over it,” Sutherland said. “It would have been nice to hit it a little bit harder.”

His best Champions Tour finish was a second-place tie at Mississippi in March.

Jeff Hart and Gene Sauers both had 68s to finish five strokes back. Bernhard Langer (70), Tom Pernice Jr. (68) and defending champion Kenny Perry (70) are 7 under.

Funk had three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the first nine holes and birdied three of five holes during another hot streak.

He had been slumping with finishes of 38th, 30th and 59th in his last three Champions Tour tournaments after missing two-plus months starting in February with tendinitis in his left elbow. Funk said he spent about $20,000 on what he described as a magnetic pulse machine that helped speed his return.

“It’s already paid for itself just by getting out here,” he said.

“It is exciting and fun to be back in contention,” Funk said. “I hated watching these guys on TV because I wanted to be out here, and I watched every one of them.”

John Huston, who was sidelined for nearly 18 months with a nerve disorder in his neck, shot a bogey-free 65. He was tied for 10th at 5 under.