Langer holds off Couples for Insperity title

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Bernhard Langer played his worst round of golf this season on the Champions Tour. But his final-round 71 Sunday was still good enough to hold on for a one-stroke victory in the 2014 Insperity Invitational at The Woodlands Country Club.

Langer (66-68-71 – 205) played the final 11 holes without a birdie and bogeyed two of his final three holes, but still held off Fred Couples (69-70-67 – 206) to become the first three-time winner of the Insperity Invitational.

Couples began his charge on the back nine with birdies on Nos. 10, 12, 13, 14, and 15. He pulled to within a stroke on the 16th hole but bogeyed No. 17 and Langer took a two-stroke cushion into the final hole.

Colin Montgomerie (71-66-70 – 207) finished third, his sixth top-10 finish of the season. It was the first tournament in The Woodlands, for the HBU grad, since a 56th-place finish at the 2002 Shell Houston Open at the Tournament Player’s Course.

With today’s check for $300,000, Langer becomes the first Champions Tour player to eclipse the $1 million mark ($1,034,569) in Insperity Invitational earnings. Langer also becomes the first Champions Tour player to reach the $1 million mark in single-season earnings with $1,170,108.

He is now the 10th player in Champions Tour history with 20-or-more wins in his career.