U.S. Senior Open: Final-round notes

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Eduardo Romero won for the second time on the Champions Tour in his last three starts on Sunday (Dick's Sporting Goods Open) and claimed his third career title on the circuit. Here's a player performance chart of his last three appearances:

Romero claimed his second major championship as a member of the Champions Tour (2006 JELD-WEN Tradition).

He also joined Scott Hoch, Bernhard Langer, Tom Watson, Denis Watson and Jay Haas as the sixth player with two victories in the 2008 season.

Romero becomes the fifth international winner of the U.S. Senior Open and the first foreign-born champion since Graham Marsh (Australia) in 1997 at Olympia Fields Country Club near Chicago. He's also the second Argentine to win the U.S. Senior Open, joining Roberto De Vicenzo who claimed the inaugural Senior Open title in 1980. He's also the third Argentine USGA champion joining Angel Cabrera (2007 U.S. Open) and De Vicenzo (1980 U.S. Senior Open).

Romero is the 103rd international USGA champion.

Romero becomes the first to hold a 54-hole lead in the U.S. Senior Open and win since Bruce Lietzke (2003).

Eduardo Romero's 3-over-par 73 Sunday matches the second highest final round score by a winner. Only Simon Hobday's 4-over 75 at Pinehurst No. 2 in 1994 ranks higher on Sunday by an eventual champion. Billy Casper (1983), Dale Douglass (1986), Gary Player (1988), Dave Stockton (1996) and Bruce Lietzke (2003) all shot 73s on Sunday and still won the U.S. Senior Open.

Last year at Whistling Straits, Romero was among the early-round leaders but eventually finished T22 in his first appreance in the U.S. Senior Open.

The field scoring average at this year's Senior PGA Championship at Oak Hill was 75.994 (+5.994). At the Senior PGA Championship, Jay Haas won with a 72-hole total of 287 (+7). Last week at the Senior British Open, Bruce Vaughan won in a playoff with John Cook after both players had finished 72 holes at 278 (-6).Today at The Broadmoor, only three players finished under par for the U.S. Senior Open Championship, one fewer under par than last year at Whistling Straits. Eduardo Romero won with the same score in relation to par as Brad Bryant, the 2007 U.S. Senior Open champion.

Eduardo Romero earned a check for $470,000 from the $2.6 million purse, his largest amount ever, and also earned a whopping 940 Charles Schwab Cup points. Romero vaulted from 11th position up into third with 1,559 points on the season. Current Schwab Cup leader Bernhard Langer picked up 162 points for his T6 finish this week and increased his point total for the year to 1,905. Jay Haas finished T9 this week and earned 126 points. He remains in second place behind Langer with 1,797 total points. John Cook earned 200 points after finishing fifth this week and now is in fourth place with 1.272 total points. Scott Hoch also earned 126 points after finishing T9 and jumped ahead of Loren Roberts into fifth place with 1,152 points. Roberts, last year's Schwab Cup winner, is now sixth in the standings with 1,049 points. Points are awarded throughout the year based on top-10 finishes and dollar amounts won in events on a per-thousand basis ($100,000 equals 100 Charles Schwab Cup points). In addition to double points in all five major championships this year, the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship offers double points to those players who register a top-10 finish at Sonoma Golf Club.

Gary Hallberg's final-round 70 allowed him to finish T14 in the U.S. Senior Open, the best performance among those players in the field with Colorado ties. Hallberg, a Castle Pines resident finished 72 holes at 5-over 285. R.W. Eaks, a native of Colorado Springs, was one stroke higher.

The par-4, 501-yard, 10th hole played the hardest (4.524), yielding just 18 birdies. The hole is now ranked as the third most difficult on the Champions Tour this year.

Amazingly, Mark McNulty went all 72 holes without having a three putt. His third-place finish in this year's U.S. Senior Open was his best ever in five appearances in this championship. McNulty's previous best was a T7 in 2005.

Greg Norman kept alive his streak of never finishing outside the top six in a Champions Tour event. Thus far in 2008, Norman has finished T6 at the Senior PGA Championship at Oak Hill, T5 at the Senior British Open at Royal Troon and fourth at the U.S. Senior Open. In 2005, Norman debuted on the Champions Tour with a third-place finish at the Senior British Open at Royal Aberdeen and also was fourth at the U.S. Senior Open at NCR Country Club in Dayton, Ohio. Besides Norman, Bernhard Langer is the only other player to finish among the top six in all three majors that have been played on the Champions Tour this year. Langer was second at the Senior PGA Championship, fourth at the Senior British Open and T6 this week at the U.S. Senior Open.