Southern Hills Country Club sure looks great on television, as the local golf course was the host of the KitchenAide Senior PGA Championship last week. Guess who forgot to put it on his calendar, and instead was out of town on a family vacation.

Yep, this sports columnist.

Admitting this might be a bit embarrassing, however, in my defense, until just a couple months ago, there wasn’t much publicity regarding the tournament. Also, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for the past 12 months it wasn’t clear whether the tournament would take place or not.

Besides, I didn’t receive an email to apply for press credentials until just a few weeks before the event; after we had already made travel plans with other family members, that couldn’t be changed.

The sad thing is, I was at the PGA press conference announcing this tournament four years ago, and won a KitchenAide blender during a trivia contest, at that press conference.

I guess I should have written the date of the tournament on the side of the blender, so I wouldn’t forget.

I’m also disappointed that this was the first time in the 30-plus years I’ve lived in Tulsa that I had to miss covering a major golf tournament at Southern Hills. The tournaments I’ve covered in the past include; 1994 PGA Championship, 1995 and 1996 Tour Championship, 2001 US Open, and the 2007 PGA Championship.

Believe me, I have already highlighted May 19-22, 2022, on my calendar, as that’s when the PGA Championship will be returning to Southern Hills. I have also informed my family that we will not be taking any vacations in May, as the following week, ORU will be hosting the Summit League Baseball tournament.

All that being said, I did watch the Senior PGA Championship on television at my brother-in-law’s house in North Carolina, and it was almost like being there in person; he has a 72-inch television.

Unfortunately for Steve Stricker, who was leading after Saturday’s third round, he had a horrible round on Sunday and couldn’t sink his short putts. His 6-under par score disappeared quickly following a round that saw six bogeys and one double-bogey.

Coming on strong on the final day was Alex Cejka, who claimed the win with an 8-under tournament score, four strokes ahead of Tim Petrovic.

Retief Goosen, who won the U.S. Open at Southern Hills in 2001, finished tied for third with K.J. Choi at minus-3.

This was Cejka’s second PGA Tour Champions major win of 2021. Three weeks ago, in just his third Champions Tour event, he outlasted Stricker in a playoff at the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Ala.

Cejka is the first Champions Tour rookie to win two majors since Jack Nicklaus did it in 1990. He’s the first Champions player ever to win his first two majors on the circuit.

“I’m the same guy, I’m trying to play the same golf. I just seem to get luckier breaks, make more putts, drive it better since I turned 50,” he said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “It’s a blast. The last couple of weeks have been incredible. I can’t even describe it in words how that feels.”

It will be interesting to see if Phil Mickelson, who won the PGA Championship two weeks ago, tries to defend his title in Tulsa next year. Mickelson became the oldest player to win the PGA Championship at age 50, and is also eligible now to play on the Champions (Senior) Tour, but he was not in Tulsa this past week for the Senior PGA Championship.