SAMMAMISH, Wash. (AP) — Bernhard Langer shot a final round 3-under 67 and took advantage of Fred Couples’ critical mistake to complete a daunting trans-Atlantic double and win the U.S. Senior Open championship Sunday.

Coming off a victory at the Senior British Open last week at Carnoustie, Langer finished at 8 under for the tournament, fighting off jet lag and a partisan hometown crowd hoping Couples could pull out victory just 20 miles east of where he grew up.

Just like a dozen years ago when the PGA Championship was played at Sahalee Country Club, it wasn’t to be for Couples.

Tied with Langer starting the day, Couples birdied the opening hole before his undoing on No. 2, a par 5 and the easiest hole on the course. Couples plopped his third shot in the greenside pond and by the time he walked off with a triple bogey, he was in chase mode.

Langer didn’t let him catch up.

Couples, who was runner-up at the Senior PGA Championship earlier this year, finished three shots back with an even-par 70. Olin Browne (65) and John Cook (67) were tied for third at 2 under.

Langer became the first German to win any U.S. Golf Association championship and the first Champions Tour player to win back-to-back majors since Tom Watson took the Senior British and JELD-WEN Tradition.

But Watson didn’t travel eight time zones and win his titles on consecutive weekends like Langer, and with more than 30,000 fans rooting for his playing partner.

It was Langer’s fourth Champions Tour title this year. And he did it in almost Ryder Cup conditions, tied with Couples starting the day and with the crowd urging on Couples with every step he took.

But match play is never as penalizing as the second hole was to Couples.

The second hole had yielded the most birdies all week and played Sunday with a back right pin placement and the pond in front. Couples laid up on his second shot, giving himself about 65 yards to the pin with his third. His wedge sounded thin and went into the water nearly 20 yards short of the pin.

After dropping, Couples hit his fifth over the green, pitched his sixth back on and missed the double bogey putt. Suddenly a one-shot lead for Couples was a three shot deficit, when Langer tapped in his birdie putt on the second.

And every time it appeared Couples had an opportunity to make up a shot, Langer countered. He snaked a long birdie putt at No. 3 after Couples hit his second shot close and added another birdie at the sixth, a 480-yard converted par 5.

Meanwhile, Couples failed to get any putts to drop. He had birdie putts at every hole between Nos. 4 and 13 and failed to get any to drop, even though very few were within 15 feet. Couples finally made birdie at the 14th — from the fringe — to close within three. He added another, curling in a 25-footer at No. 16 to give hope of a late rally, but his tee shot at the par 3 17th went long and Langer made par after flirting with the pond on the right of the green with his tee shot.

Langer went without a bogey in 44 of his final 45 holes.

Only once did Langer appear to wobble and he got a fortunate bounce similar to Vijay Singh when he won the PGA here 12 years ago. Langer’s tee shot on the 11th was pulled well to the left and into some of the thousands of trees framing Sahalee. Instead of dropping into the deep rough, or kicking to the left and out of bounds, Langer’s shot deflected into the middle of the fairway.

In 1998, Singh found the trees on the 11th hole with his second shot, a 3-wood, but kicked on to the green where he two-putted from 30 feet for birdie en route to the championship.

Appleby goes low, wins by one

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Stuart Appleby felt opportunity, not nerves, as he started running out of real estate in the chase for golf’s magic number 59.

The Australian birdied the final three holes with putts of 15 feet or less Sunday to become the fifth PGA Tour player to reach the low-round record and win the Greenbrier Classic by a shot.

He also broke a four-year winless drought, when third-round leader Jeff Overton narrowly missed a long birdie try on the par-3 18th that would have forced a playoff.

“I was quite comfortable,” Appleby said. “It’s not a nerve-racking thing to be involved in. I had a lot of opportunities and I made them. It was great to do that to win the tournament.”

Appleby’s 11-under round on the Old White course put him at 22 under. Overton, playing three groups behind Appleby, shot 67 to finish at 21 under.

“I did the math. I was chasing Jeff, who was heading toward the finish line,” Appleby said. “At the same time I was playing well and I thought if I could keep making birdies … I knew I was going to run out of holes. There was plenty of (birdie chances) coming in.”

Appleby’s round came less than a month after Paul Goydos shot a 59 at the John Deere Classic.

The others to shoot 59 were Al Geiberger at the 1977 Memphis Classic, Chip Beck at the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational and David Duval at the 1999 Bob Hope Classic.

Appleby had nine birdies and an eagle in his round to earn the $1.08 million winner’s check.

He saw playing partner D.A. Points flirt with a 59 on Saturday before settling for a 61.

On Sunday, it was Appleby’s turn.

“It was nice to be on the receiving end,” Appleby said.

Appleby won for the first time since the 2006 Houston Open. His previous career low was 62 in the 2003 Las Vegas Invitational.

Appleby’s achievement was the first 59 on a par-70 course. Goydos’ came on a par 71 and the others on par 72s. Appleby understands there might be some debate as to whether his achievement is right up there with the others.

“I agree,” he said. “I can see both sides of the fence. It is a number. I shot that number. But who says par is supposed to be 72? There’s a lot of great courses that aren’t 72.”

Appleby didn’t have the advantage of lift, clean and place that Goydos and Geiberger enjoyed, even though overnight rains left mud on some balls.

Appleby trailed Overton by seven strokes to start his round, shot 6-under 28 on the front nine and eagled the par-5 12th before settling for three straight pars.

He got his momentum going again just in time with birdies of 15, 10 and 11 feet on the final three holes.

Standing over his putt on 18, “I knew what it was all about,” Appleby said. “I knew I had to make it — I knew I had to make it for the tournament, I knew I had to make it to have a 59. I’m sitting there going ‘How many opportunities are you going to get to do this?

“The cards had been laying out perfectly for me all day. Why wasn’t I going to do one more? I just got a good look at it and just — bang — it felt good.”

Appleby’s feat toppled the course record of 60 set by Sam Snead in 1950 and matched Saturday by J.B. Holmes.

The 39-year-old Appleby has played 11 straight weeks and will do it again starting Thursday at the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.

Overton had 34 putts in the final round, three-putting three times.

“I got beat by a 59,” said Overton, who had his third runner-up finish of the year and remains winless in five years on the Tour. “What can you say? I played great, hit a lot of great shots. You can’t win golf tournaments when you putt it that bad.”

Brendon de Jonge (65) finished third at 17 under. Tied at 15 under were Points (70), Woody Austin (63), Paul Stankowski (64), Roger Tambellini (65) and Jimmy Walker (67).

Tseng claims British crown

SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Yani Tseng of Taiwan made a 6-foot putt on the 18th hole Sunday to win the Women’s British Open by one stroke over Katherine Hull of Australia.

It was the 21-year-old Tseng’s third major title and second of the year to go along with the Kraft Nabisco. She has four LPGA victories overall, having won 2008 LPGA Championship and 2009 Corning Classic.

Hull came into the round trailing by four strokes but trailed by just one heading into the 18th. But she missed a 20-foot birdie attempt and had to settle for a 70, and Tseng made her par putt to shoot 73 and total 11-under 277 at Royal Birkdale.

Tseng earned $408,000.

She drove into a bunker on the last hole and was just off the green in three. Hull chipped poorly before her birdie attempt went past the hole, and Tseng coolly stepped up to make the winning putt.

“I was nervous and tired with all the pressure and attention out there today,” Tseng said. “Katherine played really well and put me under a lot of pressure. It was the toughest win I’ve had to date. I usually come from behind to win. I’ve never won from the front before.”

Tseng said Annika Sorenstam sent her a message overnight.

“She said, ‘I’m very happy to see you on top, that’s where you belong,’ and wished me good luck for today,” she said.

On the first three holes, Hull had trimmed three strokes off Tseng’s lead — with birdies at the second and third — while Tseng dropped a stroke at the third. Hull hit a 5-wood to 12 feet at the second and made it, then an 8-iron to 40 feet at the fourth and holed that as well.

Hull’s putt for birdie at the 17th lipped out.

“I’ll probably be working on my short game after that finish,” Hull said with a smile. “I couldn’t believe when that putt on 17 stayed out, but, never mind, I did the best I could. I felt pretty good coming into the week, so there are lots of positives I can take from my performance.”

Koreans Na Yeon Choi and In kyung Kim shared third at 7-under 281. American Cristie Kerr was tied for fifth at 6 under with two other Koreans, Heekyung Seo and Amy Yangon.

Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall won the Smyth Salver, awarded to the leading amateur for her 3-over 291.