There has never been a major finish like it.

Or, rather, a non-finish. With light fading fast at Royal Birkdale, Bernhard Langer and Mark Wiebe, who had shot rounds of 70 and 66 respectively, headed for the 18th tee to begin a sudden-death play-off to decide the winner of the 2013 Senior Open Championship.

Ten minutes later, after matching pars, they were back there again for the second extra hole. Both men struggled to see the ball on the tee, let alone in the air, but they somehow managed to get it down the fairway. Again, each holed out for a four.

At which point they decided to call it a day – a bit of a misnomer at 9.45pm – and pack it in. They will return to the course at 8am this morning to continue their play-off, albeit with virtually no-one there to see it.

In 2002 Langer agreed to share the Volvo Masters with Colin Montgomerie when fading light prevented completion of their play-off. But he rejected that solution last night. "This is a major," he said firmly. "And we are not going to share majors."

Wiebe was clearly drained by the experience. "It was wild, wild," he gasped at the end. "I don't know what to say. Hopefully, we'll figure it out tomorrow."

It was an extraordinary end to a compelling competition. Langer's name seemed to have been on the trophy all day, but an astonishing lapse at the 72nd hole allowed Wiebe, a 55-year-old Oregonian, back into things.

Langer held a two-shot lead when he came to the last but he squandered it when he sent his ball into a greenside bunker and then hit it against the face of the trap when he tried to get out. His subsequent escape left him with an eigh-foot putt, but he missed with that one as well.

It was all the more remarkable as Langer had spent most of the day playing the kind of laser-guided golf that had given him a three-shot lead at the end of the third round. He did enjoy one outrageous stroke of luck when a loose tee shot at the par-3 12th took a helpful bounce and then stopped a few inches from the flag, but mostly he relied on the brilliant precision for which he is famed.

Wiebe had put himself into position rather more dramatically, recovering from a fourth-hole bogey with a display of sublime shot-making. Wiebe is one of those former journeymen who has thrived on the seniors circuit, winning three times, but he had never previously threatened to win an event of this stature.

Sandy Lyle, paired with Wiebe in the penultimate group, had talked beforehand about needing a 65 to give Langer something to think about. Lyle was two-under-par when he got to the turn, but a bogey at the 11th took the steam out of his round and his all-round play became messy.

His worst moment came at the par-5 17th, where he lost a ball off the tee and blotted his card with a double-bogey, although an even-par round of 70, good enough for seventh place, was no disgrace at the finish.

Electrical storms interrupted the tournament, causing almost three hours of delay, but there was thunder of a different sort when Montgomerie emerged from the scorer's hut after signing for his round of 73. In fairness, while the expression on his face did not exactly suggest that an extended exchange of pleasantries with the waiting media was about to take place, Montgomerie had the decency to answer a couple of questions.

"My putting was awful," he said bleakly. "My play was awful. I've got a lot to think about when I go away from here. Seventeen shots behind Bernhard Langer is no use at all. I've got a lot to think about and I'll get it right next time. The standard out here is good, and I'm delighted that it is. That means that when you do well it is meaningful. But I've got a lot to do and a lot to work on and I'm going away to do it right now."

As if Langer's performance was not proof enough of the quality Montgomerie referred to, there was further supporting evidence in the fourth-from-final pairing of Corey Pavin, the 1995 US Open winner and former Ryder Cup captain, and Peter Senior, who won last year's Australian Open at the age of 53. Remarkably, neither player dropped a single shot on their circuit of Royal Birkdale, Pavin equalling the lowest round of the week with a 65 and Senior signing for a 66.

Steve Elkington, who had caused a storm of the metaphorical sort with a Twitter tirade against the town of Southport and some dubious and potentially racist comments, was rather less effusive as he took his leave of the place. Asked for a comment after his round of 69, Elkington offered a terse "you kidding me?" before heading for the car park.