Alex Cejka won the rain-battered Senior Open Championship Sunday in a two-hole playoff, giving him his third major championship trophy since joining the PGA Champions Tour in 2021.
All three of his victories on PGA TOUR Champions have come at major championships.
This one may just be the most special for the German citizen who escaped a refugee camp in Czechoslovakia when he was nine years old.
“Wow, what a week. What a day,” said Cejka. “It is incredible. I still can’t believe that I’m here. Beating Padraig in a playoff, such a great player. I’m super happy.”
Royal Porthcawl presented the ultimate in extreme conditions with gusts topping 40 mph and a mind-boggling Sunday scoring average of 78.5.
As a Tour Edge staff player, Cejka plays Exotics metals and wedges, and used them to perfection all weekend despite the wicked Wales weather.
He plays an Exotics C722 3-wood and hybrid, as well as Exotics EXS Pro Blade wedges. His stellar wedge play was especially key to his victory this week.
“Watching Alex battle through to become the Senior Open champion was awe-inspiring,” said Tour Edge President David Glod. “He left everything out on the golf course, and we are extremely proud of Alex for his determination and grit that led to this momentous victory.”
Cejka moved up to No. 8 in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup standings at the all-important major championship.
His victory gives Tour Edge staff players their second straight major championship title on the PGA TOUR Champions following Bernhard Langer’s historic win at the U.S. Senior Open.
“For Tour Edge staff players to have won two of the five majors this year on PGA TOUR Champions is a great testament to why we made this tour our home,” said Glod. “We have some of the best players in the history of the game choosing to play our clubs and to promote our brand as they win major events. It really has been incredible for us to be a part of.”
Not a single player broke par over the weekend and the five-over-par score that led to a Playoff was the same as the cut after 36 holes. Twenty-six players shot 80 or worse in Sunday’s final round.
The 52-year-old Cejka went on to beat the two-time Open champion on the second playoff hole with a gutsy birdie on 18.
“I still can’t believe it,” said Cejka. “It’s been a really tough week. It’s been a really tough two days. I can’t believe I’m standing with the trophy here. Seeing all those great names on the trophy, coming in here with all the pictures and everything, all the guys who won it before me, now holding it myself, it’s surreal.”
The win is the 24th for Tour Edge clubs in play since the company started working full-time with Champions tour players in 2018.
Tour Edge has seen more than 4,000 clubs played by over 165 different PGA Tour professionals on the three PGA Tours over the last five seasons.
With the victory this week, the brand has been on a meteoric rise with 24 victories and 38 runner-up finishes on PGA TOUR Champions since they started servicing the tour full-time.
That gives Exotics clubs 62 combined 1st place and runner-up finishes in the last 130 Champions events played (47% of all Champions events in that time span).
