Jay Haas, who has played more championship golf at Oak Hill Country Club than most anyone, knew how valuable a par would be on the 18th hole on a Sunday afternoon in the 69th Senior PGA Championship.

After all, this was the same devilish hole that Haas failed to par on a Sunday, 13 years earlier, in the 1995 Ryder Cup. Had he been able to execute that day, America would have stemmed a European rally and held on to the Ryder Cup.

But Haas and his American teammates couldn't overcome the punishing rough and the steep uphill climb at Oak Hill's closing par-4 summit.

Fast forward to an Oak Hill Country Club that played every bit as difficult as any course in recent championship memory, and you may understand how Haas was feeling with a one-stroke lead over Germany's Bernhard Langer -- who happened to be a member of the victorious '95 European Team.

Things were different this time, with Haas ripping a drive to the left-center of the fairway, and then hitting a 6-iron to within 15 feet of a hole that was tucked on the left-hand portion of the hill. He waited as Langer missed a 55-footer for birdie, then stroked his first putt gingerly down the slope. The ball just grazed the hole and Haas calmly stepped back in to make a winning two-foot par putt.

He paused, signed and looked skyward.

"I exorcised some demons on that last hole," said Haas before hoisting the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy for a second time in the past three years.

Haas turned in a five-bogey, one-birdie 74 to close at 7-over-par 287, making this the highest scoring Senior PGA Championship since the format moved to 72 holes in 1958. Haas' winning total is the highest in relation to par, erasing Sam Snead's 2-over-par total in 1970.

It also was the second-highest winning score in Champions Tour history, two short of Arnold Palmer's 9-over at the 1981 U.S. Senior Open at Oakland Hills.

"I probably made one of my most solid pars I've ever made with two of my best shots under pressure, and that's what I'm leaving here with," said Haas, referring to the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy. "I feel pretty happy about that."

Langer, the third-round leader, was a stroke back after a 76 that began with a double-bogey after his pulled opening tee shot struck a spectator.

"I just got off to a very rough start," said Langer. "I hit some bad shots and got some bad breaks and just didn't feel too good. Probably had too much lunch or something. I couldn't focus. Then eventually, I got it back to where I am capable of playing and I tried give it a run on the back nine and came close, but no cigar."

Scott Hoch, Joey Sindelar and 1987 U.S. Open-winner Scott Simpson finished tied for third, two strokes back.

Haas was part of a final threesome -- with Langer and Jeff Sluman, a native of suburban Rochester -- that toured the East Course in 18-over-par on Sunday.

Haas' 11th victory as a Champions Tour member, followed a 2006 victory that was won at Oak Tree Golf Club, in Edmond, Okla., also one of the more formidable layouts in the country. He became the 13th player to win at least two Senior PGA titles.

"The first time I won it, I was pretty amazed at my emotion and what it meant to me," said Haas. "I thought that one was awfully sweet, but I think this one is definitely better. Just knowing how much fun it was and what it meant to me the last time, to do it again on this great golf course is, to have my name on that trophy again, alongside some of the great champions of the game, is something that I can take with me for a long time."

Oak Hill, a 7,001-yard layout framed by narrow fairways and unforgiving rough, surrendered only 12 sub-par rounds during the week.

The Sunday drama began with Haas and Sluman trailing Langer by one stroke. Haas had put himself in position to challenge for the lead when he rolled home an approach from 162 yards into the hole for an eagle-2 on No. 17 on Saturday.

He struggled some with his putter on Sunday, missing a 3-footer for par on No. 11, and a 12-footer for par on 17. But, he grabbed the outright lead when he holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-3 5th, and the remainder of the field -- including a revitalized Greg Norman, who was making his Senior PGA Championship debut -- could not catch him.

Langer, who had been steady all week but unraveled over the first nine holes, which he played in 6-over 41, praised Haas, and recalled a victory celebration long ago.

"When we were finished and I congratulated him and said, 'well done and well deserved,' and he said, 'well, you know there was one guy after the Ryder Cup in '95 that came over and said some nice words to me and you know that guy.' And he meant me," said Langer. "So he thinks highly of me and I think highly of him. Because he's a great gentleman and it's always a pleasure playing with him."

Sluman briefly held the lead after hitting a par-saving 10-foot putt on No. 4. But he then made four bogeys over his next six holes en route to a 78 and tied for ninth finish at 291.

Norman, who began the day five shots back, closed within two of the lead after posting three straight birdies on Nos. 12-14, putting him at even for the day and 7-over for the tournament. Playing in only his fourth event in two years, Norman could not get any closer, finishing with a 73 and 10-over to share sixth with Don Pooley and Ron Streck.