Simson wins second USGA Senior Amateur title

• By Will Gray
• Oct 4, 2012 3:22 PM ET

Paul Simson won three out of four holes on the back nine Thursday to help defeat Curtis Skinner, 4 & 3, for his second USGA Senior Amateur title in the last three years.

The 61-year-old Simson, from Raleigh, N.C., becomes the 14th player to win at least two Senior Amateur championships. An insurance agent who has now participated in 55 USGA championships, he also won the event in 2010 at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Fla.

"It's an indescribable feeling to win the first one, and to win the second one, I would call it more of a thrill than an honor," said Simson, who has also won the British Senior Amateur title three times.

Open to players 55 and older, the Senior Amateur includes 36 holes of qualifying and six rounds of match play before a winner is crowned. This year's event was held at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, N.J., where Simson shot a combined 10-under during quarterfinal and semifinal play on Wednesday. He also went 36 straight holes without a bogey from the third round of match play to the fifth hole of Thursday's final match.

"We did a lot of special things this week," said Simson, who has roots in New Jersey and whose 30-year-old son, Phillip, caddied for him. "I got to see some old friends that I hadn't seen in 30 years. Pretty cool stuff."