Vijay Singh Wins SAS Championship to Become Seventh-Oldest Winner in PGA Tour Champions History

• Vijay Singh won the SAS Championship two shots ahead of runner-up Ernie Els.
• Singh is the seventh-oldest winner in PGA Tour Champions history.
• Zach Johnson, Steven Alker and Tag Ridings are the three finalists for the Sprint to St. Louis prize.

Vijay Singh shot 69 in each of his three rounds in Cary, North Carolina, to win the SAS Championship by two strokes on Sunday. He is now the seventh-oldest winner in PGA Tour Champions history.

The 63-year-old Fijian finished at 9-under 207. He had started the day in a three-way share of the lead with Tim O’Neal and Freddie Jacobson. Both co-leaders struggled on the closing stretch, and Ernie Els was the only player who got within two shots of him.

Six entries on the list of oldest winners sit above Singh, and all six belong to Bernhard Langer. The oldest is Langer’s victory at the 2024 Charles Schwab Cup Championship, aged 67 years, two months and 14 days.

A sixth senior title

This is the World Golf Hall of Fame member’s sixth PGA Tour Champions win, in his 193rd start, and his first since the 2023 Ally Challenge. His earlier senior titles came at the 2017 Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf, a team event with Carlos Franco, and in 2018 at the Hoag Classic, the Kaulig Companies Championship and the Charles Schwab Cup standings.

It is also his first SAS Championship title in nine visits. His previous best here was a tie for second in 2017.

Nothing in his season pointed to a win. In 16 starts in 2026 his best finish had been a tie for 11th at the Kaulig Companies Championship, and he arrived in Cary 57th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings. The victory lifts him to 33rd.

“I haven’t won in a while. It’s always nice to win no matter where you’re playing, which tournament it is,” he said. “I think I kind of rededicated myself a little bit. I have been very lazy practicing. I’ve been working out, but I haven’t been practicing very much. So I think I have to start doing that, which I started doing that again and I think that’s why I won today, I guess. Just the extra work that got me through.”

“This one feels good right now. Hopefully it’s going to boost me up for the next few events to come and for next year.”

He has now converted one of the two 36-hole leads he has held in 54-hole events on the over-50 circuit. The other came at the 2022 Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, where he finished tied third.

Scoring stayed high all week. Singh’s 207 is the highest winning total in a 54-hole PGA Tour Champions event this season. The previous high was Zach Johnson’s 205 at the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational. It also equals the highest winning score in the tournament’s history, set by Alex Cejka last year.

Champion once again 🏆 https://t.co/F9yO410DSv

— PGA Tour Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 18, 2026

How the co-leaders fell away

O’Neal was in contention until the final two holes. He finished double bogey, bogey to sign for a 73 and dropped into a tie for fifth. Jacobson’s hopes of a first win on a PGA Tour-sanctioned tour since the 2011 Travelers Championship ended with a back-nine 40. He shot 74 and finished tied 10th.

Els was runner-up at 7-under after a bogey-free 69 on the day after his 57th birthday. The 2020 champion has now finished in the top two three times this season, following a tie for second at the Hoag Classic and second place at The Insperity. He moves up to sixth in the Schwab Cup standings.

Cejka, the defending champion, tied for third with Tag Ridings. Cejka has now finished in the top three in consecutive weeks, after losing a playoff to Vaughn Taylor at last week’s Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS.

Mario Tiziani, who tied for fifth, and Pádraig Harrington, who tied for 18th, both shot 68 for the low round of the day. Colin Montgomerie, the 2017 champion, withdrew during the final round. Retief Goosen, who led after an opening 65 on Friday, had fallen out of contention with a 79 on Saturday.

Ridings books his ticket to St. Louis

The SAS Championship was the fifth and final points-based event in the Sprint to St. Louis presented by Compliance Solutions. Ridings’ tie for third earned him the last of the three finalist spots, alongside Zach Johnson and Steven Alker.

The three of them go to next week’s Stifel Charity Classic, the first event of the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs. Whichever of them finishes highest takes the $200,000 winner-take-all prize. The top 72 on the points list advance to St. Louis, and Singh now goes there 33rd in the standings.

Related: Eugenio Chacarra Wins in Delhi to Top Race to Dubai Rankings

A 25-hole Sunday, a fractured toe and a late charge from Daniel Hillier could not stop the Spaniard's third title of 2026, which ends Patrick Reed's long reign at the top of the standings.

For the latest news in the golfing world, follow us on X.

SAS Championship Leaderboard