Peter Koutroumpis (@pksport)
CARY, NC – Vijay Singh played to his strengths and won the 2026 SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club on Sunday.
Co-leading at six-under par with Timothy O’Neal and Freddie Jacobson after 36 holes on Saturday, the World Golf Hall of Famer was the lone man standing on the 18th green raising the championship crystal upwards.
A three-under par 69 was all that was needed for the 63-year old to post his first PGA Tour Champions win of the season, and first since 2023.
“I haven’t won in a while,” Singh said.
“It’s always nice to win no matter where you’re playing, which tournament it is. It’s nice to win when you haven’t won in a while…This one feels good right now. Hopefully it’s going to boost me up for the next few events to come and for next year.”
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Leaderboard: 2026 SAS Championship (Final)
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Getting it done, finally
Prior to this year, the closest Singh had gotten to raising the crystal at Prestonwood was a T2 finish in 2017.
On a sunnier day than the previous one, a little warmer, but still windy – gusting up to 25 miles per hour – the challenge was to minimize mistakes.
Singh posted only one bogey on the day on the par-4 fifth hole while birdieing holes 7, 9, 10, and 12.
For the tournament he ranked second in bogeys (4), fourth in scrambling (13/17), and sixth in driving accuracy (35/45).
Despite challenges with the weather, Singh managed to stay under par for the day to earn his first win at Prestonwood.
“It was cold yesterday and it was really cold this morning,” Singh noted emphatically.
“It would have been different if it was only cold for me, you know what I mean? It was cold for everybody. I told Wayne (caddie), I said, you know, if it’s cold and windy, it’s going to be tough playing today so we just have to play well; don’t try to win the tournament in the first nine holes. I said it’s going to be a long day and let’s stick in there, and I played well on the back nine as well.”
Notables
2020 SAS champion and World Golf Hall of Fame member Ernie Els carded a bogey-free 69 to finish runner-up at 7-under…Defending 2025 SAS champion Alex Cejka and Tag Ridings each finished T3 at 6-under par…O’Neal (T5) finished double bogey-bogey on the last two holes to close with 73 after trailing Singh by one stroke through 16 holes…Mario Tiziani (T5) and World Golf Hall of Fame member Padraig Harrington (T18) matched the low round of the day at 4-under (68)…Jacobson (T10) faced his challenges midway through his round and carded a back-nine 40 en route to a final-round finish of 74.
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