ROMERO TRIUMPHS AT US SENIOR OPEN

For the third successive week Greg Norman finished in the top five in a major - but had to watch a rival lift the trophy.

In this case it was the 29th US Senior Open at the Broadmoore Golf Club in Palm Springs and the winner was Argentina's Eduardo Romero.

The 54-year-old Romero closed with a nervous 3-over 73 on a tough day at the office for a 6-under total of 274, but that was more than good enough to give him the title by all of four shots and make him just the second Argentine in 28 years to win this coveted title, the first having been the legendary Roberto De Vicenzo at Winged Foot in 1980.

First-round leader Fred Funk finished in second place on 278 after a 75, Ireland's Mark McNulty was a shot behind after shooting a catch-up 68 with Norman a shot further back following a solid closing 70.

"This is very important, very important because we're working hard for golf in Argentina," Romero said after describing his triumph as the biggest win of his career.

"Yes, I'm going back to Argentina with this cup! It's mine!"

Despite four straight bogeys on the back nine, Romero was never seriously challenged by Fred Funk or any of the other pursuers and he now anticipates a hero's welcome when he returns on Monday to Villa Allende in the central province of Cordoba where he lives.

It is the same city where a victory parade was organised for Angel Cabrera after he had won the 2007 US Open.

Cabrera has never forgotten that a Romero sponsorship helped him get started as a professional.

Things weren't all smooth sailing on Sunday for Romero, who received a congratulatory telephone call from De Vicenzo, the big daddy of Argentine golf.

After those four back-to-back bogeys, Romero said he began to think back to another infamous major crash.

"Perhaps because he was in the field, I remember Greg Norman when he lost the (1996) Masters after he started to make bogeys and never stopped," Romero said.

"I said to my caddie, 'I have to make a putt, just one putt.'"

Fortunately he got it - at the 15th - and after that it was all plain sailing, especially in view of the fact that he was now four strokes clear of Funk who had stumbled badly at the 13th with a triple bogey.

Funk's trouble started with an awry three wood that landed in some thigh-high grass.

He should have chipped it out onto the fairway and cut his losses. Instead he went for distance with a seven iron.

"I thought I would maybe have a better shot at maybe getting up and down and getting, at worst, a 5 out of it," Funk said.

"I thought wrong."

The ball covered no more than 25 yards - and stayed in the rough.

"And from there it was a debacle the rest of the way, even on the green where I three putted," said Funk

Norman, the 53-year-old Australian who sensationally held the lead with just nine holes to play at the Open at Royal Birkdale two weeks ago, confirmed he would not be playing in this week's PGA Championship.

" You won't see me until December," Norman said, referring to the Merrill Lynch Shootout at the course he designed at the Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Florida.

Romero, one of the biggest hitters on the Champions Tour, is the first non-US winner at the US Senior Open since Australia's Graham Marsh in 1997 and the first to hold the 54-hole lead and win the trophy since Bruce Lietzke in 2003.

ALL THE FINAL ROUND SCORES
(USA unless stated, par 70):

274 Eduardo Romero (Arg) 67 69 65 73

278 Fred Funk 65 69 69 75

279 Mark McNulty (Irl) 68 70 73 68

280 Greg Norman (Aus) 70 72 68 70

281 John Cook 66 72 66 77

282 David Edwards 72 70 73 67, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 72 70 74 66, Joey Sindelar 73 72 68 69

283 Jeff Klein 73 73 64 73, Scott Hoch 76 70 68 69, Jay Haas 72 70 70 71

284 Tom Kite 67 71 71 75, Loren Roberts 74 72 71 67

285 Andy Bean 69 71 73 72, Gary Hallberg 69 76 70 70, Brad Bryant 70 71 73 71, Keith Fergus 73 71 66 75

286 R.W. Eaks 72 73 69 72, Tom Purtzer 70 74 72 70, Jeff Sluman 72 76 71 67, Morris Hatalsky 67 73 72 74, Don Pooley 70 74 71 71

287 Gil Morgan 71 77 69 70, Tom Watson 69 74 69 75, Scott Simpson 74 73 64 76, Ian Woosnam (Wal) 74 68 71 74

288 Juan Quiros (Spa) 67 73 70 78, David Eger 73 74 72 69

289 Jim Thorpe 74 72 74 69, John Harris 72 75 71 71, Mark James (Eng) 72 71 72 74

290 Michael Reid 76 72 66 76, Joe Ozaki (Jpn) 74 74 75 67

291 D A Weibring 71 69 72 79, John Morse 69 71 74 77, Doug Lacrosse 70 75 72 74

292 Danny Green 72 72 76 72, Bobby Wadkins 69 78 73 72, Lonnie Nielsen 74 72 75 71

293 Rod Nuckolls 74 72 71 76, Tom Carey 71 71 77 74, Katsuyoshi Tomori (Jpn) 72 76 71 74, Hale Irwin 74 71 72 76, Jeff Coston 73 74 72 74, Rick Cloninger 68 74 72 79, Billy null Rosinia 71 73 73 76

294 Costantino Rocca (Ita) 74 72 74 74, Gary Ostrega 71 77 72 74

295 Jim Woodward 73 75 73 74, Rick Karbowski 70 74 77 74, Fuzzy Zoeller 72 75 77 71

296 Denis Watson (Zim) 76 72 73 75, Bert Atkinson 72 75 73 76

297 Craig Steinberg 74 73 76 74, Tom Jenkins 75 73 72 77, Jeff Thomsen 74 73 76 74

298 Bob Gilder 71 76 74 77

299 Steve Bowen 75 71 78 75

301 Tom Doughtie 72 73 76 80

303 Stanford Lee 75 72 81 75

304 Bob Stephens 71 76 80 77