After producing the most dominant performance in the history of The Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex last year, Bernhard Langer defends his title at Sunningdale Golf Club this week targeting another place in the record books.
The German raced away from the field to win by an unprecedented 13 shots from Colin Montgomerie at Royal Porthcawl, in Wales, 12 months ago, lifting the famous trophy for a second time following his win at Carnoustie in 2010.
He now has the chance to match the record of three wins currently held by South African Gary Player and Tom Watson, the American who joins him in the field at the Berkshire venue.
Langer admits it would be hugely satisfying to stand alongside the illustrious pair, and cites Player as one of his main inspirations for taking up the game.
“I always admired Gary Player for several reasons,” he said. “First of all he's about my size in stature. He loves fitness. He's really the first golfer that put fitness on the map. Secondly, he came from a country where golf is not that big, South Africa, and he had to overcome the apartheid problem, and just travelling to Europe and to the U.S. and other parts of the world.
“It wasn't easy for him and I felt it was similar to me, my upbringing, when Germany didn't even know what golf is. I went to the institute of job placement and the guy says ‘golf professional, what is that, that's not a recognised profession’. So I related to him and I was able to play a practise round with him at an Open Championship early in my career and was very impressed with him, also as a man of faith, and just a great ambassador of the game.”
Langer rightly has fond memories of his win in Wales last year, which Montgomerie called one of the most impressive performances he had seen in golf.
“In my career, it ranks very, very high,” said the two-time Masters Champion.
“It doesn't happen very often that you play consistently well for four days at that level and beat a field by 13. That just doesn't happen very often. I was just on.
"My driver worked. My putting was good. Most of my irons were pretty spot on. I just was able to increase my lead every day by a little more and in the end it was quite a bit.”
The 2004 European Ryder Cup Captain finished fourth the last time the Senior Open was played at Sunningdale in 2009, missing out on a three-man play-off by just one shot. Having won the 1985 European Open at the venue, he is looking forward to becoming reacquainted with the Old Course.
“Sunningdale is beautiful,” he said. “It's absolutely magnificent for the eyes. You see the heather blooming, trees and the rolling hills, the bunkers. It's really pretty for the eye, and most holes are by themselves. It's not a golf course where you can see three or four holes all at once. You're really secluded as you play your own hole. You have the trees and rolling hills, and at the moment, it's very dry. They haven't had a lot of rain here I think, so it's quite bouncy. It makes it difficult to control the distances off the tee because the ball can roll times 20 yards, and the next time 60 or 80 yards, and it's difficult to control, but it's a beautiful venue.”
