BENTON HARBOR, Mich. – Tom Watson shot a 3-under 68 on Friday for a share of the lead in the Senior PGA Championship with fellow Hall of Famer Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie and three other players.

The 64-year-old Watson, playing alongside Langer and Montgomerie, had five birdies and a double bogey – on the par-4 12th – to reach 4-under 138 after two rounds at Harbor Shores.

Langer also had a 68, and Montgomerie shot 69 to join Watson, Bart Bryant, Steen Tinning and Kiyoshi Murota atop the leaderboard. Bryant shot 67, Tinning 66, and Murota 65.

Murota, from Japan, had the best round of the day, chipping in for eagles on the par-5 fifth and ninth.

Bryant bogeyed the 18th hole to drop into the tie for the lead.

Tinning, from Denmark, birdied No. 17 in his bogey-free round.

Steve Pate (67) was a stroke back along with Stephen Ames (68), Russ Cochran (69), Mark Brooks (71) and Dan Forsman (73). The group at 2 under included first-round leader Joe Durant (75), Jay Haas (71), Scott Simpson (69) and Duffy Waldorf (70).

Watson, Langer and Montgomerie created buzz early in the day with their names atop the leaderboard.

Watson had a 3-under 33 on the front nine, but double-bogeyed the 12th with a stubbed chip and three putts. Trying to win for the first time since the 2011 Senior PGA, he’s coming off a sixth-place tie last week in the Regions Tradition in Alabama.

Langer, a two-time winner this season and the leading money winner on the Champions Tour five of the last six years, birdied the first two holes.

Montgomerie, playing in his first Senior PGA and seeking his first Champions Tour victory, took advantage of a friendly forward tee position and made an eagle on the par-5 15th. He hit his 8-iron approach from 173 yards to 10 feet.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. – Joe Durant birdied his final hole Thursday for a 6-under 65 and a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Senior PGA Championship.

Making his third Champions Tour start after turning 50 in April 7, the four-time PGA Tour winner had seven birdies and a bogey at Harbor Shores.

Dan Forsman, fighting an arthritic left hip, opened with a 66, and Brad Faxon had a 67. Mark Brooks and P.H. Horgan III shot 68, and two-time Senior PGA winner Jay Haas and Colin Montgomerie were in the group at 69.

Kenny Perry, the Regions Tradition winner last week in Alabama, topped the group at 70 along with Bernhard Langer, Tom Lehman, John Cook and Tom Watson.

Durant, coming off a ninth-place tie Sunday at Shoal Creek in the first major of the year, missed only one fairway and birdied all the par 5s. He and also birdied the par-4 seventh hole that plays up a sand dune and usually into the wind off Lake Michigan.

Forsman, a three-time winner on the Champions Tour after winning five times on the PGA Tour, had four birdies and a bogey – on the seventh – in his final nine holes.

Faxon made two 35-foot birdie putts early in his round. He has only one top-40 finish in eight tournaments this year and missed the cuts in his two previous Senior PGA appearances.

Perry is trying to win his fourth consecutive Champions Tour major. He won the Senior Players Championship and U.S. Senior Open in consecutive tour starts last year, then skipped the Senior British Open.

Lee Rinker, who played the PGA Tour fulltime from 1984 to 1999, was the top club pro with a 69. He’s the director of golf at Emerald Dunes Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida

Roger Chapman, the 2012 winner at Harbor Shores, opened with a 71.

Japan’s Kohki Idoki, the winner last year at Bellerive in St. Louis, had a 76.

Stephen Ames, a rookie on the Champions tour, shot 71 on the first day to tie him for 31st.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. – Colin Montgomerie had a one-liner ready to go when asked his winless first year on the Champions Tour.

“I haven’t won yet and I would love to win, obviously, a senior event somewhere, whether it be in this decade or not,” Montgomerie said Wednesday at Harbor Shores on the eve of the Senior PGA Championship.

Montgomerie, who will be 51 on June 23, is in the marquee group Thursday with Ryder Cup Captain Tom Watson and Bernhard Langer, a two-time winner this year and the money champion five of the last six years.

Watson said Montgomerie’s ability to hit high fade shots fits the design of Harbor Shores, the Jack Nicklaus-designed resort layout that opened in 2010. England’s Roger Chapman won the 2012 Senior PGA at Harbor Shores and the course also will be the tournament site in 2016 and 2018.

“Monty’s starting to play well out here,” Watson said. “Jack likes to build his greens where cut shots are the iron shots of choice, so that will be an advantage for (Montgomerie).”

Montgomerie admitted iron play has always been his strength, and called the course unique.

“I look forward to trying to attack certain pins and not the others you have to be very careful with,” said Montgomerie, who has six top-10 finishes and a tie for 16th so far this year on the Champions Tour. “You have to be very careful here and use the head an awful lot of the time. I see what the designer was trying to do. There are pockets in the greens where you have to hit (the ball). What you must not do is miss those pockets.”

The Scot said he has enjoyed playing on the Champions Tour more than he was anticipating.

“The competition is very high, extremely high,” he said. “I wish it was lower, but it’s not. And it’s good that it is that good. That means that when you do well it’s actually meaningful.”

Last year, Japan’s Kohki Idoki rallied to win at Bellerive in St. Louis. Jay Haas and Kenny Perry tied for second, two strokes back. Last week, Perry won his third straight Champions Tour major, beating Mark Calcavecchia by a stroke in the Regions Tradition at Shoal Creek in Alabama. Perry won the Senior Players Championship and U.S. Senior Open in consecutive tour starts last year.

Perry’s last round at Harbor Shores was a Senior PGA record 9-under 62 in the final round of the 2012 Senior PGA. He couldn’t catch winner Roger Chapman, but he remembers his round and feels he knows the secret to the sometimes dramatic undulating greens.

“I had great control of the ball with my irons,” he said. “I drove it beautifully that day, and I was able to keep the ball in the right plateau to give myself realistic birdie putts on these greens.”

Perry, who splits time between the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour, covets a spot in the PGA Championship later this summer in his home state at Valhalla in Louisville. The winner Sunday earns an exemption.

“I’ve given 30 years of my life to the PGA Tour and it would be a great way to kind of end my chapter on the PGA Tour out there,” he said.

Fred Couples is skipping the tournament because of back troubles.

Canada’s Stephen Ames will make his Champions Tour debut this week. He’ll be joined by fellow Canadians Rod Spittle and Jim Rutledge.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Kenny Perry won his third Champions Tour major in the past year with a one-stroke victory over Mark Calcavecchia on Sunday in the Regions Tradition.

Perry closed with an even-par 72 at Shoal Creek to finish at 7-under 281, while other contenders had up-and-down days and John Cook lost the lead with a double hit.

Perry bogeyed No. 15 but retook the lead with a birdie on the next hole and lined up an easy par putt on the closing hole.

Calcavecchia finished with a 70. Two-time winner Tom Lehman closed with a 67 to tie Jay Haas at 5 under. Haas closed with a 71. Cook’s closing 72 put him three strokes back.

Perry got his sixth victory and became the second player to win in three consecutive Champions Tour major starts, joining Gary Player, who did it in 1987-88.

Perry won the Senior Players Championship and U.S. Senior Open in consecutive tour starts last year, then skipped the Senior British Open.

It was the highest score for a Tradition winner.

Fred Couples was disqualified Sunday after missing his tee time. He was 9 over after a 73 Saturday, his best round. Couples also withdrew from the Senior PGA next week at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

Cook’s double bogey on No. 14 cost him the lead.

Cook’s ball was buried deep in the right bunker just under the lip, and appeared to ricochet backward before winding up a couple of feet out of the sand.

Tour officials reviewed the bunker shot using phone video shot by an event staffer and determined that Cook hit it again on his back swing.

“Golf Channel didn’t have a great view of it but there was someone with the event who was shooting social media video of it that had a face-on angle, and it was clear that he double hit it,” said Brian Claar, the Champions Tour’s vice president for competition.

Cook declined a chance to review it himself and said he hadn’t been sure what happened.

“That was bizarre,” he said. “I told Todd, my caddie, `You better move that bag because if this ball hits the lip it could go anywhere.’ And that’s what I thought it did. I didn’t hear anything. All I felt was my club hitting the lip of the bunker and then the sand catching the club.

“Evidently in all that, it hit my club head. I’m good with that. If it shows on TV, I can honestly say I didn’t feel anything but I don’t want to take something that wasn’t there.”

Cook returned a couple of weeks ago after a 10-week layoff because of a fractured rib in his back.

“If someone would have said that I’d have a one-shot lead with five to play this week, I’d have said, `You’re nuts,'” he said.

Calcavecchia had another near-miss at Shoal Creek. He had bogeys on Nos. 9 and 13 after missing short putts, and said he missed five during the week of 3 feet or less.

“I’ve never won a tournament doing that and I don’t think anybody has,” Calcavecchia said

He led after 36 and 54 holes at Shoal Creek in 2011 before a final-round 75 cost him a lead that had ballooned as high as six strokes.

Calcavecchia was plagued by nagging rib problems that pained him after swings.

“I was hurting all day,” he said, adding that he wasn’t sure if he’d play in the Senior PGA.

On the Canadian front, Rod Spittle claimed a share of 31st at 4-over 292. Jim Rutledge was 10-over and tied for 53rd.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Kenny Perry’s driver is sailing long and true again, just like the one he used to win two major championships last year.

Perry shot a 3-under 69 on Saturday at Shoal Creek to take a one-stroke lead over John Inman after the third round of the Regions Tradition.

He is seeking his third Champions Tour major title after winning the Senior Players Championship and U.S. Senior Open in consecutive tour starts last year.

Perry switched drivers after his first-round 72. The one he used to win both majors last year was destroyed on a flight from New York to Seattle for the Boeing Classic last August when the airline “killed it.”

“I’ve struggled ever since,” Perry said. “I did win the AT&T at the end of last year to hang on and win the Charles Schwab Cup, but I didn’t really play great and I haven’t played very well this year either.

“I’ve been fighting driver woes so hopefully this is a turn in the right direction and this driver’s going to solve my problems.”

Perry had a 7-under 209 total. He had four birdies and bogeyed No. 16, savoring the warm, sunny weather after two rounds in cooler temperatures and playing “very consistent, very solid golf.”

Inman, a two-time PGA Tour winner who coached at the University of North Carolina, shot a 66 after two even-par rounds. He had seven birdies before his first slip-up, a bogey on No. 16.

“I just hit a lot of solid shots,” Inman said. “I didn’t drive the ball as well as I would have liked, but when I drove it in the rough, I just hit some miraculous shots.”

His big putt was some 20 feet on No. 7.

Steve Elkington, second-round leader Mark Calcavecchia, Jay Haas, John Cook, Jeff Maggert, Olin Browne and Tom Pernice Jr. were 4 under.

Perry’s best finish on the tour this season was a fifth-place tie at the Toshiba Classic. The 54-hole leader has won only one of the last seven majors.

He made nearly matching 12-15-foot uphill putts on Nos. 12 and 13 to take a two-shot lead.

His only bogey on 16 came when his bunker shot went long and he missed the putt, but he bounced back with an 8-footer for par on the next hole.

A light rain had been replaced by sunshine by the time the leaders teed off, but for the third straight day they were allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls.

“Still the scores are high,” Perry said. “Whenever you let a pro get his hands on it, the scores really tend to drop pretty low but this golf course is really beating us up with the swirling winds. We had South winds today. We played northwest winds the first two rounds.”

Calcavecchia began the round with a one-stroke lead over Haas, but both struggled.

Calcavecchia had a double bogey on No. 11 on his way to a 74. He lost a six-stroke Saturday lead in the 2011 Regions Tradition, largely thanks to a pair of double bogeys on 12.

“Two wrong clubs and a chunk wedge in the water on 11, that’s two bogeys and a double,” Calcavecchia said. “I actually hung in there pretty good for that.”

He said nagging rib problems plagued him for the third straight day, this time starting on the second hole.

Haas shot a 73 to snap the tour’s longest streak of par or better at 23 rounds. He had three straight bogeys starting on the second hole and didn’t have a birdie until No. 10.

The conditionally exempt Inman’s best finish in his first three tournaments of the year was a tie for 15th at the Allianz Championship in February.

He played in 14 events in 2013, mostly through the career victory category thanks to his PGA Tour wins, and didn’t finish better than ninth.

He’s the younger brother of former PGA Tour and Champions Tour winner Joe Inman. Only three sets of brothers have won on the Champions Tour – Bobby and Lanny Wadkins, Bart and Brad Bryant and Dave and Mike Hill.

The siblings both had successful Saturdays. Joe Inman coached Georgia State into its first NCAA championship since 2007 and his little brother followed with a big round.

“It feels good to get in because I’ve only played three events this year and I just need to play,” Inman said.

Defending champion David Frost was 2 under after a 71r. Tom Watson, the Tradition winner in 2011 and 2012, was even after a 72.

Canada’s Rod Spittle is tied for 31st at 3-over 219. Jim Rutledge was tied for 59th at 9-over 225.

Fred Couples shot a 73 and was 8 over.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Mark Calcavecchia made an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole Friday to take a one-stroke lead over Jay Haas after the second round of the Regions Tradition at Shoal Creek.

Calcavecchia shot his second straight 3-under 69 to reach 6 under, while Haas had a 70 after they came in as part of a four-way tie at the Champions Tour major.

Haas missed a 4-footer on No. 18 to give Calcavecchia a shot at sole possession of the lead at the midway point. Calcavecchia said finishing with a birdie improves his mood, lead or no lead.

“It really doesn’t matter, other than the fact that I’m happier that I made the putt on the last hole, made the 8-footer for birdie as opposed to missing it,” said Calcavecchia, who is seeking his first Champions Tour win since the 2012 Montreal Championship. “Sixty-nine sounds better than 70, it always has.

“It always feels good to birdie the last hole. Leading as opposed to being tied for the lead, that makes no difference whatsoever to me.”

He aggravated a rib problem late in Thursday’s round and had upper back spasms. Calcavecchia said it began flaring up again after swinging starting on No. 14 Friday.

Kenny Perry and Olin Browne were 4 under. Perry had a 68, and Browne shot 71. Browne was part of the first-round logjam along with Chien Soon Lu, who shot a 77.

Haas birdied the first four holes, and Calcavecchia had three birdies on the first six holes.

“I didn’t put myself into a lot of bad positions,” Haas said. “Being 4 under after four was kind of a dream start and it kind of slowly got away from me. But I like my position. I feel pretty good about my situation going into the weekend.”

He bogeyed No. 5 after landing in the bunker and then three-putted No. 15 for another bogey. Haas followed that with a 35-footer for birdie on No. 16.

Calcavecchia also had a bogey on the 15th hole after having a bad lie about 10 yards right of the green. He chipped it some 15 feet past the hole.

Calcavecchia said he started his round knowing Haas had gotten off to a good start and that Tom Pernice Jr. – who finished with a 70 and was four strokes back – had also opened with four straight birdies. Beyond that, he said he’s not a scoreboard watcher.

“There’s no point in really looking at this stage,” Calcavecchia said. “You’re just trying to play the course and make as many birdies as possible and pars. Still a long way to go. If it was a three-rounder like most of our regular tournaments, it would be a little different story maybe. But we’re only halfway done.”

Haas takes a different approach.

“I look at scoreboards all the time,” he said. “I like seeing my name up there and seeing what’s going on and all that. It’s such a long race and there’s so much golf left to be played that I’m not too concerned about one shot here and there. You hate to throw any shots away obviously, but I’m still feeling pretty good about where I am.”

Perry had three birdies on the final nine holes and was already looking forward to Round 3.

“Saturday’s the rocking chair day as I call it, and I’ve got to make my move on that day,” said Perry, who also had two bogeys. “I need to shoot another one of these or a little better to get back into it for Sunday.”

Canada’s Rod Spittle is tied for 36th after a second round 75. He’s 3-over par thru two rounds and nine off the pace.

The other Canadian in the field, Jim Rutledge, is tied for 56th at 6-over par.

Defending champion David Frost was five strokes back and two-time winner Tom Lehman was six away from the lead. Both had 71s.

Fred Couples was 7 over after a 77.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Champions Tour players put on long-sleeved pullovers and tried to figure out which way the wind was swirling from hole to hole. They left Shoal Creek with little separation at the top.

Jay Haas, Mark Calcavecchia, Olin Browne and Chien Soon Lu shared the first-round lead at 3-under 69 on Thursday in the Regions Tradition, the first of the 50-and-over tour’s five majors. Nine others were within two strokes of the lead.

With windy, unseasonably cool conditions, it was the highest score for first-round leaders at the Tradition since three players tied at 3-under in 1990 at Desert Mountain Club in Arizona. The course absorbed more than an inch of rain heading into Thursday and the players were allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls.

The Tradition hasn’t been so tightly bunched in the top spot after the first round since a seven-way tie in 2008 and the average score was about two strokes higher than last year’s first round.

“The winds were very tricky,” the 60-year-old Haas said. “I kind of had a handle on it, I thought, on the front nine. And then by the time we got to about 13, 14, 15, I had no idea which way the wind was blowing.

“With all the trees and the valley and everything, you get a lot of swirling winds and you just have to be extra careful and think it out and then hit the shot that you’re planning to hit, which I did most of the time.”

Calcavecchia birdied three of the final nine holes and came within a whisker of a fourth and the solo lead on No. 18.

“When it was about 10 feet short, I didn’t think it could miss,” he said. “It was just dead center the whole way and the last couple of feet, it was still in the middle of the hole and it just dribbled just a shade to the right and singed the right lip.

“That would have been nice to walk that one in to end the day. Those are the ones that make the rest of the day go by a little bit better, dinner taste a little better.”

Haas capped a run of three straight birdies with a 50-foot putt on the 12th hole to move to 5 under. He finished with six birdies and had bogeys on three holes, including two of the next four after the long putt.

The sun actually shone much of the day but the wind and wet course did make for some challenges.

“There was no roll in the fairways,” Calcavecchia said. “We had to play lift and place. The ball was just caked with mud every time you picked it up in the fairway. The wind was very tricky.”

Lu did manage to birdie the final hole and two of the last three to grab a share of the lead

The native of Taiwan has two second-places in the Tradition, 2010 in Oregon and 2012 at Shoal Creek.

Calcavecchia’s history at the scenic course has been up and down, though he says it’s his favorite stop on the Champions Tour.

He lost a six-shot lead in 2011, including a pair of weekend double bogeys on No. 12. This time he avoided a bogey on his most troublesome hole but tweaked a rib on a shot from the fairway bunker.

“The 12th hole is not my favorite out here, I’ll tell you that right now,” Calcavecchia said.

Browne’s only win on the 50-and-over circuit came in the 2011 U.S. Senior Open Championship. He missed five months of last season with a stress fracture in his back, playing only 14 events.

Browne, who tied for second at the ACE Group Classic in February, had a bogey-free round with his final birdie on No. 17.

“It was blustery and it was difficult to gauge, but my caddie and I did a decent job,” Browne said.

Steve Elkington, Willie Wood and Corey Pavin were one stroke off the lead at 70 and six players were two shots back.

Canada’s Rod Spittle carded an even-par 72 Thursday. He was tied for 14th with nine players including Tom Watson, Colin Montgomerie and David Frost, among others.

Jim Rutledge shot 76 Thursday.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Bernhard Langer won the Champions Tour’s Insperity Invitational for the third time, closing with a 1-under 71 on Sunday for a one-stroke victory over Fred Couples.

Langer finished at 11-under 205 at The Woodlands to become the 10th 20-time winner on the 50-and-over tour.

The 56-year-old German player also won the 2007 event at Augusta Pines and successfully defended his title in 2008 at The Woodlands. He opened this season with a victory in Hawaii.

“I’m hoping to add to that number,” Langer said. “I hope I’m not done yet. I’m very blessed to have won 20 times in 6 1/2 years. It’s been a great run and a wonderful achievement. I just feel like I’m playing some of my best golf in my career.”

Couples, the former University of Houston player who won the 2010 event, finished with a 67. He won in March in Newport Beach, California.

“On a golf course as hard as this, you can’t really play relaxed golf,” Couples said. “You have to pay attention to what you’re doing. I didn’t hit enough good shots to shoot a lot lower to catch Bernhard, although I got close to him.”

Colin Montgomerie was third at 9 under after a 70. His best finish on the tour is second in March in Newport Beach. The Scot had no complaints about his finish.

“If you’re second, third to Couples and Langer, you’re doing OK,” Montgomerie said.

Esteban Toledo, the winner last year, was 7 under after a 71. Jay Haas and Tom Pernice Jr. tied for fifth at 6 under. Haas shot his third straight 70, and Pernice had a 71.

Rod Spittle (71-70-71) finished at 4-under par 212, good enough for a tie for 9th. The St. Catharines, Ont. native tied with Fred Funk, Jeff Maggert, Tom Byrum and Bart Bryant.

Victoria, B.C.’s Jim Rutledge was the other Canadian in the field. He tied for 35th at 4-over 220.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -Bernhard Langer shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday to open a three-stroke lead in the Champions Tour’s Insperity Invitational.

Langer had a 10-under 134 total at The Woodlands Country Club.

The 56-year-old German player won the 2007 event at Augusta Pines and successfully defended his title in 2008 at The Woodlands. He won the season-opening event in Hawaii for his 19th Champions Tour title.

“Every win is a thrill and it’s exciting,” Langer said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever won any other tournament three times. That would be a first and it would be a lot of fun.”

Colin Montgomerie was second after a 66, the best round of the day. He eagled the par-5 13th.

In his second year on the tour, Montgomerie’s best finish is a second in March in Newport Beach, California.

Montgomerie is hoping to get the upper hand over “good friend” Langer when they’re grouped together Sunday.

“I’ve been trying all bloody year to do it and I’ve not done it yet,” he said. “Not many people have, to be honest. But he’s playing some superb golf and it’s nice to have an opportunity anyway tomorrow to give it another go and see if I can win out here.”

Montgomerie played in college at Houston Baptist.

Defending champion Esteban Toledo, Gary Hallberg and Bart Bryant were four strokes back. Hallberg had a 67, Toledo shot 71, and Bryant – tied for the first-round lead with Langer – had a 72.

Fred Couples, the 2010 winner, was tied for sixth at 5 under after a 70. The former University of Houston player won the Newport Beach event.

Rod Spittle climbed eight spots up the leaderboard Saturday after a 2-under 70. The St. Catharines, Ont. native is sitting at 3-under 141 and tied for 12th with four others including Bob Tway and Jeff Maggart.

Jim Rutledge of Victoria, B.C. (77) was 5-over on the day. He dropped 20 spots into a tie for 52nd at 5-over 149.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Bernhard Langer birdied the final six holes for a share of the lead with Bart Bryant on Friday in the Champions Tour’s Insperity Invitational.

Langer matched Bryant at 6-under 66 at The Woodlands Country Club. Langer won the 2007 event at Augusta Pines and successfully defended his title in 2008 at The Woodlands. The 56-year-old German player won the season-opening event in Hawaii for his 19th Champions Tour title and has 20 straight under-par rounds.

Bryant won the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open last year for his lone victory on the 50-and-over tour.

Defending champion Esteban Toledo was a stroke back. Last year, he became the first Mexican winner in Champions Tour history, beating Mike Goodes with a par on the third hole of a playoff.

Woodlands resident Jeff Maggert, Fred Funk and Joe Daley shot 68. Maggert won in Mississippi in March in his first start on the 50-and-over tour. Fred Funk won the 2012 event and the 1992 Houston Open on the course.

Fred Couples, the 2010 winner and a former University of Houston player, had a 69. He won in March in Newport Beach, Calif.

Two Canadians are in the field this week in Texas. Rod Spittle opened with a 1-under 71 and is tied for 20th. Jim Rutledge was a shot back of his Canadian counterpart after an even par 70. He’s tied for 30th.