Bernhard Langer touched down in his homeland and immediately declared his intention to win this week’s Pon Senior Open.
The German legend is once again the star attraction in his native land this week, and he is determined to add a fourth European Senior Tour title to his glorious golfing CV that includes almost 90 professional wins around the world.
The 55 year old flew to Germany from Florida and went straight to the magnificent Winston Golf facility in the village of Vorbeck in northern Germany to get to grips with the Winston Open Course that he will face over the coming weekend.
“I arrived this morning and came straight to the golf course to get some practice because I don’t know this course and I have to say that I really want to win this week,” said the ever-meticulous Langer.
“The good thing for me is I have my full-time caddie, Terry Holt, with me this week and Terry has been here for two days mapping the course and getting to know everything and that should be a big help for me.
“I am here to win the tournament – that is my only aim although I know that it will be very tough because we have a very strong field this week with so many champions from this season playing.”
This week’s tournament will adopt a pro-am format for the first two rounds, with two-man teams of one professional and one amateur playing together in the first two rounds with Sunday’s final round reserved just for the professionals.
“The pro-am format is always good fun,” said Langer. “I think most of the professional look forward to the change of format – it helps you relax and it is great when you see your amateur partners having a lot of fun. Hopefully we can give the guys an experience they won’t forget.”
Langer is making his first trip to Winston Golf and was immediately impressed by the outstanding facilities that include this week’s championship course, the Winston Open Course, one other 18-hole course (Winston Links), a nine-hole lay-out (Winston Reich) and outstanding practice facilities.
He was also quite taken by the beautiful scenery surrounding the venue which reminded him of the town where he was born – Anhausen, near Munich.
“This is my first time in this part of Germany and I have to say that it is a very beautiful place and the landscape actually reminds me of Anhausen which always makes me feel good.”
