Loren Roberts, one of the best putters in over 50's golf, has won the Champions Tour's Toshiba Classic by two strokes from Bernhard Langer, Mark Calcavecchia and Tom Kite.

Roberts holed a straightforward, five-foot birdie putt on the final hole to ensure the victory after bogeys on three of the previous four holes had looked as if they might cost him the title.

"We did make it interesting, didn't we," he said with a smile after breaking his 21-month winless drought at Newport Beach in California.

"We got off to the start you dream of doing, but then hit a snag on the back."

Roberts, who started the day two strokes behind Calcavecchia, made birdies on three of his first four holes to surge into the lead which he held onto until the 16th despite a bogey on the seventh hole

But then quite ironically, his greatest strength, his putting failed him.

At the 16th he missed a 3-foot par putt, perhaps after being rattled when his second shot hit a spectator box.

He still looked out of sorts on the 17th hole, where he made a second successive bogey, this time after not being able to get up and down after his tee shot came to rest in the right greenside rough. Here he missed a 6-foot par saver.

"I kind of let in everybody in the game," Roberts said. "I got out of rhythm. I didn't hit bad putts. The only bad putt I hit was on 12."

Langer, the first-round leader who was in the group in front of Roberts and looking to play catch-up, himself made a double-bogey on the 17th hole when his putt from the fringe on the par 3, rolled into the right greenside bunker.

"I didn't think I hit that bad a putt," Langer said. "Actually when I hit the putt I thought it was pretty good. It was accelerating instead of slowing down. But after it got 3 yards past the hole there was no stopping it. That pin was pretty brutal."

This victory was Roberts' 13th on the Champions Tour and earned him $262,500. His last victory was in 2010, 34 tournaments ago

"I was getting a little worried about not winning anymore," Roberts said after breaking his 21-month drought, "So this was huge for me."

205 Loren Roberts 66 70 69

207 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 65 72 70, Mark Calcavecchia 67 67 73, Tom Kite 66 72 69

208 Joey Sindelar 67 71 70, Mark McNulty (Irl) 67 70 71, David Eger 66 71 71

209 Steve Pate 66 73 70, Bobby Clampett 65 74 70, John Huston 69 71 69, Fred Couples 67 69 73

Golf 365