Bernhard Langer won the Insperity Invitational for the third time in his career and collected his second title of 2014.
Langer started the season with a win at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii and has finished inside the top 10 in every one of his starts on the Champions Tour this year.
He also finished T-8 in the Masters earlier in April. His motto is “this guy can still play.”
Langer had opened up a wide lead on Fred Couples in the early part of the final round, but Couples made a move on the back nine and Langer limped home with a one-under par 71, good enough for the one-shot victory.
Couples began the final round at five-under par, five shots behind Langer. He made eagle at the par-5 first, but then gave it back with a double-bogey at the second. He made two more birdies and one bogey on the front for a one-under par 35. Then things got interesting in Houston.
Couples began the back side with a birdie at No. 10 followed by four consecutive birdies on Nos. 12-15 that got him to 11-under par. Pars at Nos. 16 and 17 and a bogey at No. 18 left him at 10-under par for the tournament and he had to wait on Langer to finish.
Langer scored well on the front nine with four birdies and one bogey for a three-under par 33. He had widened his lead and had a comfortable advantage heading to the back nine.
He began playing for pars, but added bogeys at Nos. 16 and 18 for a two-over par 38 and the slim one-shot victory.
This was the 20th Champions Tour win for the two-time Masters Champion and it was the third time he has won the Insperity Invitational.
With the win Langer has a commanding 300-point lead in the Charles Schwab Cup points race over Couples, Jay Haas, Colin Montgomerie and Michael Allen.
Montgomerie finished solo third at nine-under par. Insperity Invitational defending champion, Esteban Toledo turned in a strong effort finishing alone in fourth at seven-under par.
The Champions Tour will take one week off before heading to Alabama, for their second major championship of the year at the Regions Tradition, May 15-18.