PARKER, Colo. - Winning never gets old, not even for a professional senior golfer. Sitting in the interview room behind an Alfred S. Bourne Trophy that stands as tall as a first-grader, Tom Lehman sounded like a wide-eyed child Sunday after claiming the 71st Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club. Lehman acted more excited about receiving the hardware than the $360,000 winner's check. 'The last two tournaments I've won, the Legends of Golf and the Argentina Masters, I didn't get a trophy,' Lehman said with a grin. 'The check is nice. But give me the trophy. Even my kid, he plays pee-wee football, he gets a trophy. Give me a trophy.' Defeating Fred Couples and David Frost on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff, Lehman had an extra and special reason to celebrate. After almost 14 years, with more near-misses and heartbreaks than most golfers -- or anyone -- could endure, one of the sport's most likable figures finally earned his second major championship. While the Senior PGA Championship will never rank with his 1996 British Open title, as Lehman likes to say, 'a major is a major.' This was the first individual title on the Champions Tour for Lehman, 51, who also continues to play on the PGA Tour. He teamed with Bernhard Langer to win the 2009 Legends of Golf on the senior tour. It doesn't seem all that long ago when Lehman saw so many opportunities slip away. In 1997, he became the first player since Bobby Jones to lead after three rounds in three straight U.S. Opens. The following year, Lehman recorded his fourth straight top-five finish in that championship. He also came close in the Masters, with a runner-up finish in 1994. 'The thing about sports is, you just simply can't sit there and say, like, 'Well, boy, I'm unlucky,' ' Lehman said when asked about the disappointments. 'I've always thought in terms of, if I was just a little bit better ...' This time Lehman closed it out and, on the playoff hole, he was more than a little bit better. The challenging, 445-yard par-4 18th was used for the first playoff hole, and while Couples and Frost pulled their drives left of the fairway and hell's half-acre, Lehman belted his tee shot right down the middle. He didn't even need to take a deep breath. 'The whole day I just felt very, very focused and calm,' Lehman said. Couples' drive found the middle of a bush, and he had to take a penalty drop for an unplayable lie. Frost went from rough to rougher. Both made double-bogey 6. Meanwhile, Lehman smoothed a 132-yard pitching wedge to the green and could have still won if he had three-putted from 15 feet. He came within an inch of a birdie. The trio had completed the regulation 72 holes in 7-under-par 281. 'Tom obviously finished it off,' Frost said. Perhaps it was fitting that Lehman would win here in a playoff. In the final International at Castle Pines, in 2006, Lehman lost on the first hole of a playoff to Dean Wilson. Even so, Lehman said he has fond memories of playing in Colorado. He should. The Minnesota native and Scottsdale, Ariz., resident brought home a total of almost $1 million from 11 visits to Castle Pines. Also, Lehman helped in the design of the Raven at Three Peaks golf course in Silverthorne, Colo., so he is no stranger to this state. While some players might have griped about the construction of the clubhouse not being completed, Lehman said he had good vibes about this championship. 'I loved this course from the minute I laid my eyes on it,' he said. 'I've always enjoyed playing (in Colorado). I'm one of those guys who are really upset that The International is no longer here. It seemed like this mountain air has never confused me.' Nor the wind. Lehman said he thought he had an advantage Sunday when the morning breezes turned brisk in the afternoon. Lehman told his caddie, 'Let's just play 12 really good holes ... and give ourselves a chance to win,' he recalled. 'I didn't do anything exceptional. But I didn't make any mistakes and let those who were up ahead fall back.' Beginning the day as the co-leader along with Jay Don Blake at 6-under, Lehman slipped a couple of strokes back of the pack after bogeys on Nos. 2, 3 and 5. From there, Lehman stayed steady and didn't flinch when Couples made back-to-back eagles with two putts inside 6 feet on the consecutive par-5s, Nos. 15 and 16. Lehman made birdies on those two holes. 'Those are really crucial,' he said of the back-nine par-5s. 'I was just trying to keep pace.' And in the end, that proved good enough. He'll need to find some room in his trophy case. 