PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland -- Club pro Peter Oakley shot a 2-under-par 70 on Sunday to fend off Tom Kite and Eduardo Romero and win the Senior British Open, his first Champions Tour title. Oakley, the pro at The Rookery in Rehoboth Beach, Del., who had to qualify for the tournament, chipped out of a greenside bunker and rolled in an 10-foot par putt on the 18th at Royal Portrush to win the major championship by one stroke. His only other tournament victory came at the PGA Senior Club Professional Championship in 1999. He dropped his putter to the ground and took a few seconds to acknowledge the applause of the fans after winning the title captured by the likes of Gary Player, Bob Charles and Tom Watson. "It still hasn't sunk in," said Oakley, who shot a 4-under 284 over the four days. "Somebody told me that I'm exempt to play on the U.S. Senior Tour now for a year or something. I just can't believe that. My life is changing right before my very eyes. I don't know what to think." Oakley, who only decided to join the tour last November as company for his older brother David, won $295,000 -- almost 12 times his previous best. "That's some cash," he said. "Now I can get out of debt." His career earnings entering the tournament totaled $54,309, with his biggest check being $14,801 after finishing tied for 35th at last year's U.S. Senior Open. In eight previous Champions Tour tournaments, Oakley's best finishes came at the 1999 U.S. Senior Open and the 2002 Senior PGA Championship. He finished tied for 32nd at both. Kite shot a 69 and Romero a 67 to tie for second at 3 under. Mark James, who won the Champions Tour's previous major two weeks ago, the Senior Players Championship, finished another stroke back in fourth place after a 70. Oakley took the lead with an 8-foot birdie putt at the 11th and had a three-stroke advantage after a curling 25-foot putt at 14 earned him his sixth birdie. He dropped a shot at the par-4 16th after driving into the right rough and being forced to chip out sideways. With Kite, Romero and James all making birdie at 17, that sliced his lead to one shot as he went to 18. "I saw that I was 5 under on 16. I had a two shot lead with two to go. Who could have wished for more?" Oakley said. "Then on 17 I saw that there was Kite and Romero were 3 under and I'm gulping like it's gone out of style." His second shot from semi-rough landed in a greenside bunker and there was a strong chance of a three-way playoff if he had bogeyed. But with no view of the flag, Oakley rolled the bunker shot 10 feet past the hole, setting up the championship putt. "On 18 I hit a great bunker shot and I made the putt and that's how I putted all week. It was divine, the way I putted," he said. Oakley previous claim to fame was winning the PGA Senior Club Professional Championship in 1999 at West Palm Beach, Fla., which earned him $14,000. Compare that with Kite whose 34 career victories, including the 1992 U.S. Open, total more than $16.7 million. Kite, who made a 30-foot putt for eagle at the second, missed a long birdie putt at 14 which turned into a bogey 4. "I got real aggressive on a first putt on 14 which I thought I could make and it zipped on by," he said. "I missed the one coming back." Kite has not won a tournament for 21 months, finishing second six times. Romero, playing his first senior tournament having turned 50 a week ago, says he will go back to the regular European Tour for a while but hopes to return to the senior circuit. "The chance to play with players like Tom Kite and Mark James, old friends, I really enjoyed it," said Romero, who shared the lead after the opening round. "It's a different atmosphere to the regular tour." Defending champion Tom Watson, who pulled out of last week's British Open because of a shoulder injury, shot a 74 to finish at 9 over for a share of 22nd place. European PGA Tour -- In Drogheda, Ireland, Brett Rumford of Australia fired a 5-under 67 yesterday for a four-shot victory at the Irish Open at Baltray. Irishman Padraig Harrington and Raphael Jacquelin of France also shot 67s and shared second place, four shots behind. Overnight leader Peter Lonard was another shot behind after closing with a 73. Rumford finished with a 14-under 274 for his second win on the European Tour, earning him $382,000. "I can tell you I'm really burning inside," he said. "There's no feeling like this." The Perth native, who will be 27 on Tuesday, birdied the second, third and fourth holes to pass Lonard on the leaderboard. "Your stomach just grinds the whole day," he added. "There's not a stage out there where you can relax and feel you have the tournament in the bag. "I just tried to play my own game and keep the rest of the field out of my mind. That got me through the week." Rumford's only other success on the European Tour was in last year's St. Omer Open in France. It came against a poor field and was played the same week as the U.S. Open. Rumford's victory earns him a European tour exemption until the end of 2006 and gets him into the field for the NEC-World Championship event at Firestone in Akron, Ohio, next month. After his three early birdies put him in front, he bogeyed the short fifth but birdied the sixth, the 10th and the 12th to take control. He made two birdies and two bogeys over the last six holes, which included a 35-yard chip-in for birdie on the par-3 15th. Rumford, the first Australian to win on the European Tour this year, has four top-10 finishes in 2004. Harrington, who started slowly during the first three rounds, birdied the first three holes and the sixth. But a bogey at the short seventh halted his momentum. "I could see the error of my ways from the first few days," Harrington said. "I can look back at the first three rounds and say I threw away a lot of golf shots." Nationwide Tour -- In Cambridge, Ontario, Charles Warren shot a 67 on Sunday to complete a seven-stroke victory at the Nationwide Tour's Canadian PGA Championship. The margin of victory was the largest at the tournament since Lanny Wadkins won by 12 strokes in 1978. Warren charged to the lead with a course-record 65 on Friday and kept pulling away in the final two rounds. The former Clemson All-America had six birdies during a nine-hole stretch yesterday and finished four trips around the 7,322-yard public course at 19-under-par 269. Dave Christensen (69) and Doug Barron (69) tied for second at 276. David McKenzie (72) finished alone in fourth, eight strokes back of Warren. "Winning a golf tournament at any level is unbelievable, but winning out here and winning a huge national championship like this is awesome," Warren said. "If I was going pick a feeling and a tournament to win, this would definitely be near the top." The first-place check of $81,000 also moves Warren to No. 15 on Nationwide money list. The top 20 at the end of the year will earn their PGA Tour cards for 2005.

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