Not that Bernhard Langer needs any more advantages on a golf course, but the 60-year-old German pro is the overwhelming favorite to win the Senior Open Championship at St. Andrews in Scotland.
The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has Langer at 5/1, with the next closest competitor, Jerry Kelly, at 9/1.
Langer has dominated the Champions Tour for a decade. Though he hasn’t won a major championship this year, he has shown himself to be a consistent threat on the PGA Champions tour. He finished 11th at the Tradition, tied for 16th at the US Senior Open, and tied for 17th at the Seniors Players Championship.
Despite not cracking the top 10 in a major for the first time since playing a full season on the Champions Tour in 2008, Langer is not concerned going into this week’s tournament at the Old Course at St. Andrews.
“The season’s been good,” Langer said. “Hasn’t been exceptional, but it’s been good and I had three or four chances to win. Won once and lost a couple of playoffs but pretty steady. Hope to get it into gear here soon and hopefully win one or two major championships before the major season is over.”
Langer Ubiquitous at Majors
While his results have not been what he expected on the Champions Tour, his play in two major championships on the PGA Tour have been extraordinary. Langer was eligible to play in the Masters as a past champion, and the Open Championship as last year’s Senior Open champion, and has taken advantage of the opportunities.
At the Masters he tied for 38th after rounds of 74, 74, 71, 72. He finished ahead of Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter. At last week’s Open Championship, Langer shot 73, 71, 68, 71 to finish tied for 24th — outscoring Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, and Rickie Fowler.
Colin Montgomerie, who is listed at 16/1 to win this week, marveled at Langer’s performance. He posted on Twitter that he couldn’t believe he made the weekend.
Golfing with a New Generation
Playing with golfers half his age at Carnoustie was a great way to ready for his Senior Open title defense, Langer told reporters on Monday.
“I think it was good preparation, just to play on links turf and to get the feel of the ground and the sand and the heavy wind and that kind of stuff,” Langer said. “I think it was good. I can’t see a much better preparation than that. So I’m excited about this week and looking forward to it.”
He also has extra motivation to win. The winner of this week goes to the 2019 Open Championship, and Langer thought about that when he was coming up No. 18 at Carnoustie on Sunday.
“Well, just as I holed my last putt, I was thinking, ‘Yeah, this could be my last Open Championship,’” Langer said. “You just don’t know at my age. The only way for me to get here is through the Senior Open because I’m not going to go through the qualifying stuff that I tried a few times when I was younger. I’m not going to do that anymore. It could be my last one unless I win the Senior Open.”