Kirk Triplett wins ACE Group Classic for 3rd Champions Tour title

NAPLES, Fla. – Kirk Triplett won the ACE Group Classic on Sunday for his third Champions Tour title, holing a 6-foot par putt on the final hole for a one-stroke victory.

The 51-year-old Triplett shot a 6-under 66 to finish at 16-under 200 on TwinEagles’ Talon Course. He won the 50-and-over tour’s Pebble Beach event the last two years after winning three times on the PGA Tour.

Defending champion Bernhard Langer, Duffy Waldorf and Olin Browne tied for second. Playing in the final threesome, Triplett, Langer and Waldorf were tied for the lead with a hole to play.

On the par-4 18th, Waldorf drove into a bunker and wound up with a bogey for a 66. Langer’s second shot sailed left, and his 12-footer for par curled around the cup for bogey and a 67.

Triplett’s second shot from a divot landed about 25 feet from the pin. His birdie putt went past the hole and he made the 6-footer for the victory.

Langer also won the 2011 tournament and finished second behind Kenny Perry in 2012. The German star won the season-opening event in Hawaii last month for his 19th Champions Tour title.

Waldorf, coming off a playoff loss to Michael Allen last week in Boca Raton in the Allianz Championship, almost holed out on the par-3 16th.