PARKER – Fittingly, Tom Lehman won the 71st Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club with a routine par.

On the first hole of a three-player, sudden-death playoff, Lehman hit a drive right down the middle of the fairway on the 445-yard par-4 18th, played a pitching wedge to the center of the green and two-putted for the victory and the $360,000 first-place check.

It was a solid finish for the tournament’s steadiest player – he was the only golfer to card four under-par rounds – and his final par was more than good enough to beat the two other players in the playoff. Fred Couples and David Frost saw their respective rallies fall apart in spectacular fashion on the playoff hole, as both hacked their way to double bogeys.

Couples, who made a birdie and two eagles during a back-nine charge, hit his tee shot left and into a bush and had to take an unplayable lie and a one-stroke penalty. Frost, who played his third and fourth rounds in 12-under to make up a 12-shot deficit heading into the weekend, hit his tee shot left into a bunker and his approach even further left into a bush.

By the time both finished making a mess of the 18th, Lehman could have three-putted his way to victory. But he’d done that only twice in the first 72 holes and wasn’t going to do it again.

“I’m a very consistent player,” said Lehman, who ranked tied for second in greens in regulation during the tournament (55-of-72 prior to the playoff) and hit 43-of-57 fairways including the playoff. “Basically, I’ve always been pretty steady.”

Mark O’Meara, who had a share of the lead on the front nine, finished in fourth place at 5-under. Nick Price was fifth at 4-under.

After shooting a 4-under 68 on Thursday – in arguably the tournament’s toughest conditions – Lehman followed with three straight 1-under 71s. He started the final round tied for the lead with Jay Don Blake at 6-under, but after making a birdie on the first hole, he bogeyed three of the next four and trailed Blake by two.

“But the wind started to blow, and so I just talked to my caddie, and I said, ‘Let’s just play 12 really good holes, let’s not beat ourselves, let’s give ourselves a chance to win,’” Lehman said. “That’s what we did. … I really didn’t do anything exceptional, but didn’t make any mistakes.”

Couples did both. He was 2-over for his round on Sunday through 12 holes and trailing the leaders by three. But he then displayed why he had the largest galleries all week, making a birdie on the par-4 13th and then back-to-back eagles on the par-5 15th and par-5 16th. Couples feasted on the par-5s all week, going 12-under on those four holes.

Couples had a chance to grab the lead outright on 18 after a good drive and a pinpoint approach to just inside five feet. But his birdie putt barely missed.

Frost followed Saturday’s bogey-free, course-record 65 with a 67 on Sunday that included birdies on the 15th, 16th and 17th holes and an up-and-down par on 18. But the wind blew away his chances in the playoff.

“The wind’s quite strong right-to-left,” Frost said. “I didn’t have enough guts to aim it way out right and bring it back like Tom did.”

Nor did Frost – or anyone in the field – have the steady hand that guided Lehman through the wind and to the title.

“I normally hit it solid, which you need to do in the wind,” Lehman said. “So a championship like this, really it kind of works right into my wheelhouse.”

Tom Lehman won the Senior PGA Championship in a playoff on Sunday. Photo by AP PHOTO