LEARN FROM HERO BERN Langer shows football flops what German efficiency really is
IF the German football team played like Bernhard Langer did yesterday they would have walked away with the World Cup in Russia this summer.
The classy veteran, 60, rolled back the years on what is his 31ST appearance at The Open.
Langer, who qualified by winning the Men’s Senior Open at Royal Porthcawl last year, pushed his body to the limit once more to card a three-under-par 68 and move to three under for the tournament.
It was an awesome display of mental toughness and golfing class from the man who twice won The Masters and a real tonic for the German sporting public who are still smarting from their country’s group-stage exit from the football World Cup.
Langer said: “I hope I am putting a smile on German faces. I watched the World Cup and it was horrible. I’m a great football fan and it wasn’t nice to watch.
“If I do well here then maybe some will smile again but millions more watch football than golf.
“I’ve been telling my countryman for 30 years it’s a great sport.”
Veterans like Sandy Lyle, Tom
Lehman and Mark Calcavecchia all arrived to play on Thursday but were going home by Friday night.
Not Langer, though. He said:
“I’m happy to still be standing when many of my peers have left the stage.
“I am also proud I beat several of today’s young stars by making the weekend.
“The crowd were great today.
They showed me a lot of respect for still being here and what I have done previously.
“I was 18 when I turned pro and it’s nice I’m still standing, although it’s not easy.
“I wake up every morning with some ache or other. It takes me a long time to get going.
“My wife tells me to have fun but it’s easy for her to say. I am in pain some days.”
The Open has always eluded
Langer but he has managed six top-three finishes.
He added: “It is something I have missed. It would be nice to add that to my locker.
“This could be my last one, unless I win the Senior Open again, so I will not go out without a fight but I can say I gave it a go.”