STEVENS POINT, Wisconsin: Bernhard Langer won the US Senior Open on Sunday at SentryWorld to break the PGA Tour Champions’ career victory record.
Pushing his record as the oldest winner on the 50-and-over tour to 65 years, 10 months, 5 days, the German star broke a tie with Hale Irwin for the victory mark with No. 46.
Seven strokes ahead on the back nine, Langer bogeyed the final three holes for 1-under 70 and a two-stroke victory over home-state favorite Steve Stricker on the tree-lined course with thick rough.
Langer finished at 7-under 277, with only eight players breaking par for the week. He shattered the tournament age record set by Allen Doyle in 2006 at Prairie Dunes at 57 years, 11 months, 14 days.
Also the 2010 US Senior Open winner at Sahalee outside Seattle, Langer extended his record for senior major victories to 12. He won the Chubb Classic in Florida in February to tie Irwin.
Stricker — from Madison, 100 miles to the south — birdied three of the last five holes for a 69. He won the first two senior majors of the year and took his hometown Madison event three weeks ago for his fourth Champions victory of the season.
Fellow Madison player Jerry Kelly was third at 4 under after a 71.
PGA TOUR
Rickie Fowler made a 12-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole in the Rocket Mortgage Classic, outlasting Collin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin two weeks after squandering a chance to win his first major at the US Open.
The 34-year-old Fowler won his sixth PGA Tour title and first since the 2019 Phoenix Open.
After getting knocked down on the leaderboard at Detroit Golf Club, Fowler responded on his 72nd hole of the tournament with an approach from 145 feet that left him with a 3-foot birdie put to pull into a three-way tie with Morikawa and Hadwin.
Morikawa shot an 8-under 64 to match Hadwin (67) and Fowler (68) at 24 under.
Because of anticipated rain, the leaders teed off Sunday about five hours earlier than originaly scheduled, with threesomes starting on both the front and back nine.
LIV GOLF LEAGUE
Talor Gooch won his third LIV Golf League title of the year, making a curling 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at Valderrama for a 4-under 67 and a one-shot victory over Bryson DeChambeau.
Gooch won $4 million. Along with victories in Australia and Singapore, the former Oklahoma State player now has earned $13,376,583 in eight LIV events this year.
Gooch finished at 12 under to become the first player with three victories in the Saudi-funded rival league. DeChambeau closed with a 69.
EUROPEAN TOUR
Daniel Hillier won the British Masters for his first European tour title and a spot in the British Open, making two late eagles in a two-shot victory.
Hillier shot a 6-under 66 at The Belfry to finish at 10 under. The New Zealander ran in a 40-foot eagle putt on par-5 15th, made birdie from a fairway bunker on the 16th and holed a 6-footer for eagle ion the par-5 17th.
England’s Oliver Wilson (71) and American Gunner Wiebe (66) tied for second.
KORN FERRY TOUR
Paul Barjon shot a 6-under 65 for a one-stroke victory in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Memorial Health Championship.
Barjon birdied five of the first seven holes, added birdies on the two back-nine par 5s and made only one bogey. The 30-year-old Frenchman finished at 26-under 258 at Panther Creek for his second career Korn Ferry Tour victory.
Jackson Suber was second after a 62. Tom Whitney was another stroke back after a 63-61 weekend.
OTHER TOURS
Jbe Kruger of South Africa closed with a 5-under 67 and won the Shigeo Nagashima Invitational Sega Sammy Cup by two shots over Anthony Quayle (64) and Naoyoku Kataoka (67) on the Japan Golf Tour. It was Kruger’s seventh win worldwide and second in Japan ... Darren Fichardt of South Africa closed with a 5-under 67 for a two-shot victory over Oliver Farr in Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge in France on the Challenge Tour. ... Former Notre Dame player Davis Lamb won the ATB Classic for his first PGA Tour Canada victory. He closed with 2-under 70 for a three-stroke victory at Northern Bear in Sherwood Park, Alberta. ... American Chandler Blanchet won the PGA Tour Latinoamerica Championship with a par on the third hole of a playoff at Quintana Roo, Mexico. ... Carmen Alonso of Spain shot a 4-under 68 to claim a one-shot victory over Johanna Gustavsson in the Ladies Open in Finland on the Ladies European Tour. ... Kokona Sakura closed with a 4-under 68 and beat Shiho Kuwaki in a playoff to capture the Shiseido Ladies Open on the Japan LPGA.
Bernhard Langer, at age 65, wins the US Senior Open to break the Champions’ victory record
https://arab.news/pk92c
Bernhard Langer, at age 65, wins the US Senior Open to break the Champions’ victory record
- Langer finished at 7-under 277, with only eight players breaking par for the week
Caitlin Clark steps off the court and onto the fairway to play in an LPGA pro-am
- The WNBA rookie of the year star was invited to take part in Wednesday’s pro-am at Pelican Golf Club ahead of The Annika
- This will be her second pro-am, which often attracts athletes and entertainers
BELLEAIR, Florida: Caitlin Clark has one goal when she plays in an LPGA pro-am.
“I’ve tried to practice as much as I can,” Clark said Tuesday. “I’m just the average golfer. I’m going to hit some good, I’m going to hit some bad. ... Just going to try not to hit anyone standing outside of the ropes. But it’ll be fun.”
The WNBA rookie of the year star was invited to take part in Wednesday’s pro-am at Pelican Golf Club ahead of The Annika. The presenting sponsor is Gainbridge, which has an endorsement deal with Clark.
She took part in an LPGA Women’s Leadership Summit with Sorenstam, the tournament host, and former model and business leader Kathy Ireland.
Clark will be playing the front nine with Nelly Korda, the No. 1 player in the women’s ranking who has clinched the LPGA’s player of the year award. She plays the back nine with Sorenstam, who retired in 2008 and now dabbles in senior golf.
Clark had said after the Indiana Fever were eliminated from the WNBA playoffs that she planned to play golf until it became too cold in Indiana, adding with a smile, “Become a professional golfer.”
Yes, she was kidding.
“I’ve tried to take as much time as I can to practice, but there is only so much hope. You just cross your fingers, pray,” she said Tuesday. “No, I’ve practiced a little bit and I just had the quote about becoming a professional golfer. Everybody thought I was serious. I was not serious. I love it. I love being outside and making it competitive with my friends.
“It’s challenging and getting to come here and be around the best and have a good time is what I’m looking forward to.”
This will be her second pro-am, which often attracts athletes and entertainers. Clark played in the pro-am at the John Deere Classic in July 2023 when she was still at Iowa.
Analysis: Bernhard Langer and his 18 straight years of winning is among golf’s untouchable records
- Langer finished his year with a feat as impressive as any, if not more
- Langer’s Charles Schwab Cup Championship victory makes it 18 consecutive years with at least one win on the 50-and-older circuit, where time is the greatest adversary
Winning doesn’t get old. Neither, apparently, does Bernhard Langer.
In a year when Scottie Scheffler delivered a level of dominance not seen since Tiger Woods and Xander Schauffele won two majors, when Nelly Korda tied an LPGA record by winning five straight times and Lydia Ko got into the LPGA Hall of Fame by winning Olympic gold, Langer finished his year with a feat as impressive as any, if not more.
Winless for the first time since the 67-year-old Langer became eligible for the PGA Tour Champions in 2007, he was down to the final tournament on a Phoenix Country Club course where he had never finished within five shots of the winner.
“One more putt,” caddie Terry Holt told him on the 18th green, and Langer holed a 30-foot birdie putt for a 66 — his third straight day shooting his age or lower — for a one-shot victory in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
That makes it 18 consecutive years with at least one win on the 50-and-older circuit, where time is the greatest adversary. No other league has a shorter shelf life for success. For every year that skills deteriorate, a new batch of younger players (relatively speaking) arrive.
Consider this: The year Langer joined the PGA Tour Champions in 2007, Padraig Harrington won the first of his three major championships. Langer finished 10 shots ahead of the Irishman on Sunday.
The record for consecutive years winning on the PGA Tour is 17, held by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. They were in their 40s when the streak ended, not pushing 70.
“The commitment, the dedication and desire to compete at a high level blows my mind,” said Mark O’Meara, a runner-up to Langer in the German’s first Champions win in 2007. “A lot of things happen in sport. I understand what Tiger did, what Nicklaus did, Palmer, all the greats that come before us. But what this man has done for 18 years is amazing. Forget the money. Just to have the desire and will.
“I don’t see it happening again. I truly don’t.”
O’Meara, who now lives in Las Vegas, wouldn’t get very good odds of this record being broken.
It belongs among the untouchable record in golf, just shy of Byron Nelson winning 11 tournaments in a row on the PGA Tour in 1945, probably greater than Woods making 142 consecutive cuts over seven years.
Langer set the record for oldest winner on the PGA Tour Champions in 2021 when he was 64. He has broken his record five times since then, most recently on Sunday. He defied more than age this year.
Remember, Langer began the year by tearing his left Achilles tendon while playing pickleball and missed three months. That he missed only three months was remarkable in itself. And then there’s the motivation of coming back from such an injury at this stage in life.
He already had broken the one PGA Tour Champions record thought to be out of reach, 45 career wins by the fiercely competitive Hale Irwin. Langer won his record-breaking 46th last year at no less than the US Senior Open against Steve Stricker (who is 10 years younger).
Langer knew what was at stake in Phoenix. He knew it was his last chance. Langer wasn’t about to let it go that easily. He forged a 54-hole tie, birdied five of his six opening holes on Sunday to build a big lead and then watched it disappear until he came to the last hole tied with Steven Alker.
Langer was in the trees, punched out and hit wedge to 30 feet. The putt was stuff of legend, perfect pace and a perfect line that slid gently to the right at the last minute into the cup. Langer dropped his putter and slung his visor to the ground, emotion rarely seen in either of his two Masters wins.
“It did just perfectly what it needed to do and disappeared,” he said. “Then all hell broke loose kind of emotionally. So it was pretty wild, yeah.”
How does he do it? It’s a question Langer has been asked for the better part of the last decade, because most great players graduating to the PGA Tour Champions make their hay in the first eight years at the most, not 18.
It’s actually the second time Langer has strung together 18 consecutive years of winning. His first was in 1980 on the European tour in the British Masters when he was a 22-year-old with wavy blond hair from a country with next to no history in golf. He won the German Masters for the third time at age 50 in 1997, and then the streak ended in 1998.
It’s even more impressive to do it at his age. Langer spent 30 years working, grinding, winning. He turned 50 and worked just as hard with a body that doesn’t cooperate like it once did.
“You can still work, but are you living it like you used to?” Curtis Strange said. “Physically, we can play pretty well. We can all beat balls. But can you be into it 25 times a year? I marvel at Bernhard. It’s incredible stuff.”
Even more amazing? There’s always next year.
“People say why am I still playing? Well, this is why,” Langer said after collecting his 47th trophy on the PGA Tour Champions, to go along with two Masters green jackets, another PGA Tour win, 40 wins on the European tour, victories on every continent where golf is played.
“I enjoy the adrenaline. I enjoy being in the hunt. And I still feel like I can win and be there on the leaderboard,” he said. “I’ve just proven that again, becoming the oldest winner again and again out here. It’s been great to compete against these guys.
“It never gets old.”
Paul Waring claims Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship trophy
- Englishman posted a bogey-free closing 66 as he got to 24 under-par, 2 shots ahead of 4-time Rolex Series winner Tyrrell Hatton
ABU DHABI: Paul Waring held off a stellar chasing pack on Sunday to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and claim his first Rolex Series title.
The Englishman displayed nerves of steel in his bogey-free closing 66 as he got to 24 under-par and two shots ahead of four-time Rolex Series winner Tyrrell Hatton.
Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy, England’s Matt Wallace and Dane Thorbjorn Olesen ended a shot further back.
“It just hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Waring. “Obviously I still think I’ve got to go and do something else or got to go play another hole or something because I kind of never let myself think that I was over the line at any point. I always knew there was a job to be done and work to be done as I was playing.”
Waring had taken control of the first event of the new DP World Tour Play-Offs with a course-record 61 at Yas Links on Friday but saw his five-shot halfway lead reduced to one as he posted 73 a day later.
The 39-year-old, whose only previous DP World Tour title came at the Nordea Masters more than six years ago, made a fast start with two opening birdies and added two more at the seventh and 10th.
He responded to being caught by Hatton with a moment of magic as he converted from 12 meters at the 17th, before hitting a perfect drive at the last, running a three-wood through the back of the green and getting up and down to seal victory.
“That was massive (on the 17th),” said Waring. “Me and my caddie, we had a look at the lines, to be fair, we really fancied it, really, really fancied it, and as soon as it left the blade, I knew it was in.
“I know that sounds a bit cocky or whatever, but it was so pure. I knew it was dead middle as soon as I hit it, and I was just absolutely buzzing to see that go.”
“It’s my second win,” he added. “I’ve been knocking on the door a few times. I had a few seconds. I’ve been in and around a few times. To get over the line again is fantastic, and to control it the way I have as well, especially today. I thought I might have let it slip yesterday.”
McIlroy, the four-time Major winner, had the chance to take an unassailable lead in the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex, as he birdied four of his first six holes.
He bogeyed the fifth and added five more gains to sign for a 64, but the Race continues into the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
This comes after closest challenger Thriston Lawrence recorded two eagles and four birdies in his round of 64 to get to 20 under, and a tie for sixth alongside two-time Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship winner Tommy Fleetwood, and French pair Ugo Coussaud and Antoine Rozner.
“I do feel in a good position,” said McIlroy. “I saw Thriston making a charge today, and I was keeping one eye on the leaderboard and looking at what he was doing. I saw he posted 20.
“Obviously I wanted to birdie the last, anyway, but I know that birdie, even if it isn’t to win the tournament this week, it obviously gives me that little bit extra of a cushion going into next week.
“Every shot counts at this moment in time, and I was glad to make the four at the last and at least give myself half a chance at this tournament this week. But also give myself a little bit more of a cushion going into Dubai next week as well.”
McIlroy and Bale join forces for special golf challenge in Abu Dhabi
- The sporting icons took part in a series of stunts to promote the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
Sporting superstars Rory McIlroy and Gareth Bale joined forces recently to showcase their golfing abilities in a unique, eye-catching campaign ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The four-day Rolex Series event, part of the inaugural DP World Tour Play-Offs, is currently taking place at Yas Links, with the likes of McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Shane Lowry competing.
McIlroy, reigning Race to Dubai champion, was joined by Bale, the former Real Madrid forward and keen golfer, with the pair taking part in a series of visually impressive challenges on Yas Island which involved a fast-paced flying drone.
Firstly, McIlroy and Bale were tasked with hitting shots, both individually and together, with the drone flying as close to the ball flights as possible, changing the flight path around the ball trajectories each time.
They were then challenged to hit a flying drone in the style of a clay shooting target, with the pair working as a team over multiple rounds to complete the task.
Waring holds one-shot Abu Dhabi lead as McIlroy struggles
- A day after setting a course record 61, the 39-year-old Waring was the only player among the top-29 on the leaderboard to post an over-par score for a total 18-under par 198
- Fast-rising Dane Niklas Norgaard Moller hit a third round 69 to cut Waring’s five-shot overnight lead
ABU DHABI: England’s Paul Waring shot a one-over par 73 and held a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Abu Dhabi Championship on Saturday as Ireland’s Rory McIlroy continued to struggle.
A day after setting a course record 61, the 39-year-old Waring was the only player among the top-29 on the leaderboard to post an over-par score for a total 18-under par 198.
Fast-rising Dane Niklas Norgaard Moller hit a third round 69 to cut Waring’s five-shot overnight lead.
World number three Rory McIlroy dropped a big number in his closing holes for the second day in a row, this time a double bogey on the par-5 18th after an errant tee shot found water on the left side, to sit five shots off the lead.
On Friday, the Northern Irishman had made a triple bogey on the par-3 17th.
“If you’d given me a one-shot lead going into the final round at the beginning of the week, I would have snatched your hand,” said Waring, who is looking for his first win since the 2018 Nordea Masters.
“A little disappointed, because I felt like I could have really moved forward today and put myself out of sight.
“You’ve got to have an average day, don’t you?“
Three shots back, Ireland’s Shane Lowry (66), the 2019 tournament winner, was tied for third with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (71), Dane Thorbjoern Olesen (71) and Swede Sebastian Soederberg (68) at 15-under par.
With the wind picking up toward the afternoon and the greens becoming firmer and faster, the conditions were challenging after two benign days.
Waring had taken advantage of the conditions with rounds of 64 and 61 and started the day at 19-under.
An early birdie extended his advantage, but a three-putt bogey on the par-3 fourth hole frayed his nerves, after which he struggled to get his speed and line right with the putter.
British Masters champion Norgaard made his first bogey of the tournament on the ninth hole, but three birdies on the back nine kept him in the hunt for a second title this year.
“Very satisfied with today,” said the 32-year-old, who is almost guaranteed a PGA Tour card next season as one of top-10 players from the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai rankings.
A disappointed McIlroy closed with a three-under-par 69 and dropped to tied 13th position on 13-under-par 203.
He still felt confident of getting his hands on the trophy in Abu Dhabi for the first time in his career.
“Playing the last two holes two-over two days in a row is not ideal. Cost myself a few shots there,” said McIlroy, who is seeking to secure his sixth DP World Tour Order of Merit crown next week in Dubai and match the legendary Spaniard Seve Ballesteros.
“The leaders weren’t getting away, which was nice and I was making a little bit of a charge. And yeah, just one mistake, that drive on 18, and with it playing so much into the wind.
“It was an untimely mistake, just like yesterday on the 17th, and I dug myself a little bit of a hole to get out of, but depending on what the leaders do, I can still go into tomorrow feeling like I have half a chance.
“I just need to put it all together and play the way I’ve been playing and keep the big mistakes and big numbers off my card and if I can do that and post a score, you never know.”
