Seven weeks ahead of defending his 2014 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, Patrick Tallent added another significant title to his portfolio.

Tallent, 61, of Vienna, Va., shot a final-round 75 to edge fellow Virginian Matthew Sughrue by one stroke to win the Seniors Amateur Championship conducted by The R&A at Royal County Down in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, on Aug. 7.

Tallent finished the 54-hole competition with a 5-over total of 218. Last fall, Tallent defeated Bryan Norton in the championship match of the U.S. Senior Amateur at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach, Calif. He will attempt to defend that title at Hidden Creek Golf Club, in Egg Harbor Township, N.J., starting on Sept. 26.

Chip Lutz, of Reading, Pa., the winner in 2011 and 2012, finished third at 225, following a final-round 72.

“It’s unbelievable to have won both the U.S. and British titles,” said Tallent, a former basketball standout at George Washington University. “I’ve been so close in the past and I thought my chance to win here was done. Matt and I are good friends and I feel bad for him because he let it slip at the end. We’ve known each other for years.”

“It’s such a great thrill to take this championship. Now I’ll be defending the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Hidden Creek in New Jersey and I’ll definitely be back to try for this title again at Formby.”

The Northern Ireland trip was Tallent’s sixth attempt in the Seniors Amateur and he has never finished outside the top 10. Fifth in his debut, he then finished fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth. Finally, he clinched the top spot by securing pars on the final two holes while Sughrue, of Arlington, Va., was making a pair of bogeys. 

Defending champion Brady Exber, of Las Vegas, tied for 37th.

Tallent, whose second-round 68 was the only sub-par score of the three days, is the sixth consecutive American winner of the prestigious title.