Three-time Insperity champ Bernhard Langer ties course record with a 9-under-par 63.
3-time champ’s 63 ties record, nets 3-shot lead
THE WOODLANDS — Bernhard Langer’s first swing Friday did not go well. His opening drive ricocheted off a tree and boomeranged backed toward him, ultimately traveling no more than 150 yards from the tee box. But this early bit of misfortune hardly unnerved the two-time Masters champion, who’s also a three-time winner of the Insperity Invitational.
Langer is always in his comfort zone in this neighborhood, and he has been playing sharply of late, getting into playoffs in each of the last two Champions Tour events. He also tied for 38th at Augusta National, a laudable accomplishment for a gentleman of 60.
Responding to the shank with a shrug, Langer then proceeded to birdie the hole, the first of nine he accumulated on what also would be a bogey-free day. His sparkling 9-under 63 tied The Woodlands Country Club’s Tournament Course record and separated him from the field by three shots.
Maggert in the hunt
Local resident Jeff Maggert, who is still seeking a first-ever title on a course he arguably knows better than anyone, and Scott Dunlap are a distant second after their 66s. Six players came in with 67s.
“It was just a great day out there,” Langer said.
And it could easily have turned into a crazily historic one. He narrowly missed eagles on both back-nine par 5s and he had viable birdie putts on all of his final 10 holes, sinking five of them.
“I was very happy with how I struck the ball the last two or three hours,” Langer said. “I don’t think I hit one loose shot. I’ve actually been playing nicely the last few weeks. I felt like my game was in fairly good shape, although I had a week off so you never know how it goes.”
Like Langer, Maggert and Dunlap put together bogey-free rounds on a humid, almost wind-free day that, Maggert said, “made the greens very receptive. I expected today’s leader to shoot 7, 8 or 9 under.”
Langer won this event in 2007 — the first of his 11 Insperity appearances — with a tournament-record opening-round 62, but that was accomplished on the Augusta Pines course to the south. He repeated as champion in 2008, the first year it was played on this site, and he won it again in 2014, when he put together an openinground 66. He has tied for fourth twice, too.
All these visits have made Langer a lot of friends in southern Montgomery County. He now bunks with one, whose home, he said, is “200 yards” from the clubhouse, on the ninth hole. Even Maggert has to drive four miles to the Carlton Woods area to sleep in his own bed.
Dunlap’s round began with an eagle on the first hole and he turned the corner as the early leader with a 31. Langer answered with a 31 of his own on the back nine, birdieing five of the first seven holes before he cooled off, settling for safe pars on the last two.
Dunlap has had two top-10 finishes in the Insperity and shot a 65 in the second round in 2015, when he tied for ninth. Maggert had three successive top-10 finishes from 2014 through 2016, when he tied for second. Despite his familiarity with the course, which he played annually for years when it was the site of the Shell Houston Open, he hasn’t found a way to close the deal on these 7,002 yards of verdant real estate.
“I’ve had a lot of good rounds here over the years,” Maggert said. “But I’ve had some bad ones, too. It’s very comfortable … when I’m hitting the ball well. I’ve been a little off my game lately, and I was looking forward to this week to kind of get things back on track.”
Montgomerie starts hot
Colin Montgomerie, who briefly attended Houston Baptist University back in the day, roared out with four consecutive birdies to start his round and added another on No. 8 to card a 31 on the front side before wobbling on No. 14 with a double bogey. However, he recovered to birdie the next hole and was one of nine players five shots back at 68.
Langer’s 63 is the third in Insperity’s history, which dates to 2004. Fred Couples, another former Masters champion and a onetime Houston Cougar, fashioned a back-nine record 29 on the final day en route to the 2010 title. Michael Allen opened with a 63 the following spring but skied to a second-round 79 and promptly withdrew.