Trump called him to apolgize after story, Langer says

BOCA RATON — Golfer Bernhard Langer said Thursday that after he was in the news for a story told by President Donald Trump about possible illegal voting, the two men spoke on the phone and Trump apologized to him.

“He was very clear,” Langer said during a news conference for the PGA Tour Champions Allianz Championship at the Old Course at Broken Sound. “If there was any whatever, anything that hurt me, he apologized. And apologized, too, for some of the quotes that were incorrect, and we’re on good terms.”

The New York Times published a Jan. 25 story reporting that Trump said Langer was in line to vote on Election Day and was turned away while others in line “who did not look as if they should be allowed to vote” were allowed to cast provisional ballots.

As Langer explained Thursday, he told a story about a friend’s experience at the polls to another friend “and the friend told a story to another friend and another friend and another friend. Somewhere down the line six people later, somebody knew somebody at the White House, and that’s how it went.”

Langer, 59, is a German citizen, meaning he cannot vote in the United States, and has lived in Boca Raton for more than 30 years. For the past nine years he has been the dominant golfer on the PGA Tour Champions for players 50 and older. When he played on the PGA Tour, Langer was best known for being a two-time winner of the Masters.

What bothered Langer about the Times story the most was that it quoted his daughter Christina saying of her father, “He is not a friend of President Trump’s.”

“I know what my daughter said, and it’s not what was quoted,” Langer said. “My daughter said, ‘He’s not a friend’ …

“Now, what does that say? Not a close friend means he could be a friend or they had some kind of relationship. Not a friend means he doesn’t like him at all. I don’t need to go any further with that. I was very disappointed with the article, the way it was written and what happened.”

The Times article was written after Trump called for a federal investigation into possible voter fraud during the November election. According to the article, Trump met with House and Senate leaders and cited the anecdote from Langer as illustrative of voter fraud.

As for Langer, he was impressed Trump took the time to call.

“It was fun talking with him briefly, and I thought that’s a great gesture from him, because he’s got a lot of other things to be concerned about, not just this golfer Bernhard Langer,” Langer said.

“He’s got far more important things to do. But for him to take the time, talk to me for a brief while and clear things up is pretty amazing.”

Langer