Langer matches Floyd’s mark with PNC Championship win
ORLANDO, Fla. — Tiger Woods was an 18-year-old high school senior when he made his first cut in a professional tournament at a European Tour event in Thailand. That was also the first time he played golf with Bernhard Langer.
Thirty years later, the ageless Langer is still going strong.
Langer capped his memorable, record-setting year when he teamed with his son Jason to produce a 13-under-par 59 in 30 mph wind Sunday afternoon for a two-shot victory over David Duval and his son Brady.
With his fifth title — three with Jason, two with older son Stefan — Langer tied the PNC Championship record held by Raymond Floyd.
Woods and his 14-year-old son Charlie shot a 61 in the scramble format to tie for fifth, a day that included one shot so audacious that Dad could only laugh. He missed the green on the ninth hole at the RitzCarlton Golf Club well to the left, and the son of the 15-time major champion chipped in for a birdie.
It wasn’t just the kid’s shot, though; it was the stare, the sideways walk, the raised finger point, the fist pump and the roar of the crowd. Woods watched all this and couldn’t smile any wider, especially when he looked over at Steve Stricker.
“To see his reaction … it happened right in front of me,” Woods said. “He got excited, and I looked over at Stricks and he was shaking his head. It was great.”
The PNC Championship, which pairs major champions with family members, is geared around moments like that. Brady Duval, who plays college golf at Coastal Carolina, hit a 6-iron shot to two feet on the final hole for an eagle to lock up second place, and his father, the 2001 British Open winner and a former No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, couldn’t have been more proud.
But the day — really, the year — belonged to Langer, a 66-year-old German and twotime Masters champion who never seems to stop. The signature moment for Langer this year was winning twice on the PGA Tour Champions to bring his victory total on the 50-andolder circuit to 46, breaking the senior record of Hale Irwin once thought to be out of reach.
The 46th win was no less than the U.S. Senior Open.
Langer and his son, who works in investment banking in New York, started three shots behind Matt Kuchar and son and played so well they had the lead after four holes and never slowed. They didn’t have to settle for par until the par-3 eighth hole and had 10 birdies through 11 holes.
Jason’s work doesn’t allow him to play as much, but he came to Florida early for a little practice, and whatever time he spent on the greens paid off. He hardly missed during the two-day event as the Langers finished at 25-under 119.
“Watching him putt, it was unbelievable,” Langer said. “The ball started on line every time. If it missed, that’s because I misread the green. Otherwise, he probably would have made them all.”
The difference between Langer and Floyd and their PNC titles is longevity. Everything seems to be that way with Langer. He won his first PNC Championship in 2005, and 18 years later he again was wearing the Willie Park Trophy, a red leather champion’s belt.
Floyd won five of the first seven PNC Championships.
Woods knows all about the German senior star’s longevity. He recalls the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand, playing in his mother’s homeland, and being grouped with Langer, the reigning Masters champion at the time.
“First time I’ve ever seen anyone work in meters. That was different for me,” Woods said. “To see what he’s done since then, and what he does each and every year and what he’s battled with on the greens, the different styles he keeps fighting through, it just goes to show the personality, the determination that he has and the type of person he is to be able to stick through everything.”
Langer remembers a rail-thin teenager with extraordinary speed, power and “a hunger for the game. And you just knew he was going to do more than most, and he certainly has.”
Woods finished his golfing 2023 with two tournaments — 72 holes in the Hero World Challenge he hosted in the Bahamas, 36 holes in the PNC Championship, walking all but one round in Orlando — with no pain in his ankle, just other parts of his injury-wracked body.
But there was hope for 2024, and he remains set on trying to play once a month.
“I’ll be able to walk and play,” he said. “We’ve been working out hard, been able to recover. We’ve been training every day, which is great. It’s been nice to knock off a lot of rust and some of the doubt that I’ve had.”
Now he’s really rolling
HERITAGE DEL OMBRE, Mauritius — South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen won the Mauritius Open for his second tournament title in two weeks, closing with a 3-under 69 to finish the 72-hole event at 17-under 271 and hold off England’s Laurie Canter (68) by two strokes.
The 41-year-old Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 British Open and during his career has been a runner-up at each of the other three major championship tournaments, had gone five years without a victory until winning the Alfred Dunhill Championship last week. Both tournaments were co-sanctioned by the Europebased DP World Tour and the Africa-based Sunshine Tour.
Oosthuizen was among the initial wave of players who joined LIV Golf when that circuit teed off in June 2022. His latest win came at Heritage La Réserve Golf Club, which he helped design.
Three players shared third place at 14 under: Sweden’s Sebastian Soderberg after going low with a 63 and England’s Daniel Brown (65) and South Africa’s Jacques De Villiers (71).
Sawgrass is soaked
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The final round of PGA Tour Q-School, the circuit’s qualifying tournament, was postponed until Monday after torrential rain caused flooding at both golf courses being used for the event.
Sawgrass Country Club and the Dye’s Valey Course at TPC Sawgrass were doused with more than four inches of rain overnight, with more inclement weather in the forecast for Sunday, leading to the delay.
The top five finishers (including ties) will earn PGA Tour cards for 2024 in what is the first pure version of Q-school since 2012.
Through 54 holes, Australia’s Harrison Endycott was atop the leaderboard at 12-under 198, with Blaine Hale Jr. two strokes back and Trace Crowe and Spencer Levin tied for third at 8 under.