Category: PGA Tour Champions

NBA Hall of Famer Julius ‘Dr. J’ Erving plays PGA Tour Champions TimberTech Pro-Am

A 15 handicap, Erving said his best round came during what he called a “boys trip around the globe.”

BOCA RATON, Fla. — As amazing as he was on the basketball court during his Hall of Fame career with the New York Nets and Philadelphia 76ers, Julius Erving is equally impressive as a partner on the golf course.

Erving played in Wednesday’s Pro-Am of the PGA Tour Champions TimberTech Championship with one of his hosts from the Hard Rock Hotel and pro Kenny Perry, a star in his own right with 10 victories on the over-50 circuit and 14 PGA Tour wins.

One of 54 players who qualified for the second event of the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs, Friday through Sunday at the Old Course at Broken Sound, Perry shot a bogey-free 66 with six birdies. But for him, the highlight of the day was playing with the man known as Dr. J, although you can just call him Julius.

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“It was awesome,” said Perry, who grew up and still lives in Kentucky. “I told him before we teed off that I’ve got four autographed jerseys (framed and) hung up on the wall. They’re beautiful, and one of them is his. He signed it for me. I’ve got him and Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan and Brett Favre.

“We laughed a lot and enjoyed our group. He’s just so down to earth. He doesn’t have any attitude, nothing, just a good old boy that you love talking to.”

Steve Waters/Special to The Post

Erving, 71, played from 1971-1987: five years in the American Basketball Association with the Nets and 11 years with the Sixers after the ABA merged with the NBA, in part because of his phenomenal talent and class. He won two championships with the Nets and one in Philly.

Erving started playing golf in his 30s

He didn’t start playing golf until he was in his 30s, but he’s made up for that by playing “once or twice a week.” He’s a member at Rivermont Golf Club in Alpharetta, Georgia near his home in Atlanta, where he never has trouble finding a game.

“My old coach with the Nets, Kevin Loughery, is a member there, my best friend is a member there and my insurance broker is a member there, so there’s a foursome,” said Erving, who grew up on Long Island, New York, not far from Bethpage Golf Course.

He wasn’t a golfer when he played for the Nets, so he missed out on playing Bethpage and other famous courses in the area, but “I’ve been able to visit all those places and I realized what I missed.

“I think the most beautiful thing about golf is you can play with anybody because of the handicap system. You can play with your children, you can play with your parents, you can play with your friends, you can play with your enemies. There’s nobody you can’t play golf with. Male, female, different tee boxes, seniors, juniors. Anybody can play this game if they decide that they want to play it. It’s an acquired skill, so anybody can learn to play.”

Now a 15 handicap, Erving said his best round came during what he called a “boys trip around the globe,” when he and his buddies played golf on six continents.

Steve Waters/Special to The Post

“I played so much golf and one day I had a really good day,” he said. “I shot 74 with a double-bogey on the last hole. So almost got par golf in there. My handicap at that time was probably about 9 or 10.”

Erving, Smoltz won Michael Jordan’s tournament

He also gets invited to play in celebrity events, such as Michael Jordan’s tournament in the Bahamas. Erving and former Braves pitcher John Smoltz, representing Atlanta, teamed to win the tournament in back-to-back years on the strength of Smoltz’s driving and Erving’s putting.

“We played his drive almost every time,” Erving explained. “He would putt first and then I would putt and generally knock it in after he missed because I have a good putting game. Michael wasn’t too happy.”

Erving hosted the Julius Erving Classic, which was held in 2018 and 2019 at Atlantic City Country Club in New Jersey and sponsored by the Borgata Hotel. But Erving said the pandemic forced its cancellation last year and this year. He hopes to hold the event, which benefits the Salvation Army, in 2022.

“It’s my pet charity,” Erving said. “They’ve been a part of my lifelong journey in and out of sports. I was a Salvation Army kid.”

Erving is big on loyalty. His two favorite NBA teams are the Nets and the 76ers, but he also likes the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, and Indiana Pacers. “I want to see the old ABA teams do well and keep the ABA alive,” said Erving of the franchises that were accepted into the NBA when the leagues merged.

He also has a loyal equipment sponsor – Ping. Erving said that when he retired from the 76ers in 1987, the Phoenix-based company “gifted him golf clubs for life.”

At 6-foot-6, Erving uses custom clubs that are 1½ inches longer than standard, so when they arrive, they are just what the Doctor ordered. And no matter how he plays with them, he always makes a good impression.

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PGA Tour Champions TimberTech Championship going strong for recycling with Zero Waste certification

The Champions event in Florida pledges there will be no waste from the tournament sent to the landfills.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — At most PGA Tour Champions events, the excitement occurs on the greens. It’s what every golfer aims for on almost half their swings. And the best ones receive the most green – as in cash.

At the TimberTech Championship this week, the second-to-last event of the season, a focus is on going green – as in recycling.

The sponsor of the Champions event at Broken Sound Club on Nov. 5-7 pledges there will be no waste sent to landfill from the tournament. The program is called Zero Waste.

TimberTech Championship officials have spent the last several months designing waste out of the event and have found ways to recycle, reuse, compost or donate most waste streams. They’ll also take advantage of an on-site composter at Broken Sound, a club with a long-standing commitment to sustainability. Some of the waste will even be used to build TimberTech’s low maintenance and environmentally sustainable outdoor living products.

“We believe in bringing people together for unique outdoor experiences made possible by beautiful, high-performance outdoor products that are sustainable,” said Paul Kardish, chief legal officer at AZEK, TimberTech’s parent company.

“We are deeply committed to a lasting impact on the world by accelerating use of recycled material. We are very proud the TimberTech Championship is the only PGA Tour Champions event that will be certified Zero Waste.”

Fans can help with the tournament’s think-green initiative by bringing plastic bags – grocery bags and dry cleaner bags, for instance – for a chance to win a set of two Adirondack chairs, a matching side table (both made out of recycled material) and a TimberTech swag bag.

When dropping bags off, a fan can scan a QR code that automatically enters them into the drawing. Two sets of prizes will be given away each of the three tournament days, six in all.

To make a 300-square-foot deck, it takes about 30,000 to 40,000 plastic bags. Last year’s TimberTech Championship generated 4.1 million pounds of recycled material. This year’s will generate much more.

With the on-site composter, tournament officials will be able to return organic matter and nutrients to the soil and even grow wildflowers to help 22 beehives at Broken Sound.

That’s a lot of buzz.

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Shanks and quads: Collin Morikawa, Phil Mickelson provide relatable moments this weekend

Major champions aren’t immune to the rare bad shot. Just ask Phil Mickelson and Collin Morikawa.

Collin Morikawa lacked his A-game at the Zozo Championship last week, but his T-7 finish was good enough to boost him one spot in the Official World Golf Ranking to a career-best No. 2, vaulting over Dustin Johnson and now is only looking up at Jon Rahm.

The two-time major champion and reigning “Champion Golfer of the Year” as the British Open winner seems destined to get to the top of the mountain before too long. But major champions aren’t immune to the rare bad shot. They can look like you and me from time to time – and even laugh about it. On Saturday, in Japan, Morikawa had a relatable moment.

“I did something in my career that I haven’t done yet,” he said after his third round. “I don’t think many people know this. I was in the middle of the fairway on 6, the par 5, and shanked a pitching wedge straight in the trees.”

Oh, no, he didn’t! The sweetest swinger of the irons in the game hit a hosel rocket? We need video proof.

“Really good way to start the day after being 1 under through five,” he said facetiously. “I really had no clue where the ball was going to go, I was kind of just trying to make contact.”

No clue where the ball is going? Just trying to make contact? So relatable, Collin, I feel you. Here’s the difference between Morikawa’s muffed shot and the one’s by Joe Hacker at the local muni: Morikawa still managed to shoot 67.

Morikawa wasn’t the only major winner from this year to experience a brain fart last weekend. At the PGA Tour Champions’ Dominion Energy Charity Classic, Phil Mickelson, the reigning PGA Championship winner, had a case of the quads. His quadriceps were activating and surely he didn’t miss “leg day,” but the 547-yard par-5 ninth hole kept kicking his butt. Mickelson did birdie the hole in his opening round Friday, but on Saturday he pumped not one, but two drives out of bounds and made a quadruple-bogey 9. As Yogi Berra would say, it was déjà vu all over on Sunday – another nine on nine. Mickelson, who has been cleaning up on the senior circuit with three wins in his first four starts, got whipped by ageless wonder Bernhard Langer and finished T-47.

It created a moment of schadenfreude that some social media critics couldn’t help but ignore.

Nine on nine is also very relatable. Good to see Mickelson able to poke some fun at himself. Imagine that’s a lot easier to do when the Wanamaker Trophy is resting on your mantel.

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Bernhard Langer defeats Doug Barron in a playoff at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic

The first of three Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs went to overtime in Richmond, Virginia.

“I gotta go play in playoff, I think,” Doug Barron could be heard on Golf Channel telling a group of young fans as he signed autographs after his final-round 68 at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.

Barron had minutes before birdied the par-5 18th hole at The Country Club of Virginia to take a one-shot lead over Bernhard Langer, who then matched Barron with a birdie on the last to force extra holes.

They played the 18th hole again, and each missed the green with their second shots. Barron’s settled left of the green while Langer’s missed to the right. After Barron chipped on, Langer putted from off the green. They then faced similar birdie putts, with Barron going first but he watched his putt lip out. Langer then drained his, letting his putter fall to the green and raising both arms in celebration.

Langer, 64, is the oldest player to win on the Champions tour. He also earned his 42nd Champions title, which draws him within three of Hale Irwin for most all-time wins. Langer had lost his last five playoffs but is now 7-9 all-time on the circuit.

The Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs points leader also extended his lead in the points as he seeks his sixth Schwab championship and first since 2018.

Notables in the field

Ernie Els shot 70-72 before closing with a bogey-free 63, a round that included nine birdies and goes down as the best round in tournament history.

Jim Furyk, second in the points race, 69-68-69 and finished tied for eighth. He had a tap-in birdie to close with a 69 and finish 10 under but lost ground to Langer in the points.

Phil Mickelson was attempting to become the first Champions tour golfer to win four of his first five events on the circuit, but he shot 71-74-71 to finish tied for 47th. For the second straight day, Lefty posted a quadruple-bogey 9 on the ninth hole, which was his final hole of both his second and final rounds. He started his final round with seven birdies in his first 12 holes but also had a double bogey five holes before his second quad in two days.

Tom Byrum eagled the 18th hole for a 70 and a tie for 16th place. That moved him into the 54th spot in the points, which just squeaks him into the next round of the playoffs at the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton, Florida, in two weeks. The field will then go to 36 for the playoff finale, Nov. 11-14 at Phoenix Country Club.

Shot of the day

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Steve Flesch leads, four within three shots after the second round of the Dominion Energy Charity Classic

“I’m not overthinking it at night. I’m just playing golf, having fun out here. That’s really all I’m doing.”

Steve Flesch has been approaching golf more relaxed recently, and it’s paying off this week at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic at The Country Club of Virginia.

“I’m not overthinking it at night,” Flesch noted after his first round Friday. “I’m just playing golf, having fun out here. That’s really all I’m doing.”

He entered Saturday’s round just one shot back of Steven Alker, and his day started slowly making the turn with a pedestrian 1-under 35. Back-to-back birdies on 10 and 11 got him right back in the mix and another circle on 15 propelled him into the lead. The American would add another birdie on the par 5 last to get to 13 under.

Coming into the week, Flesch had eight finishes of T-13 or better in his last 10 starts on the Champions tour, including a solo third a few weeks ago at the Constellation Furyk and Friends.

“I’m not hitting shots I don’t feel comfortable hitting. I’m just kind of, I hate the term ‘playing within myself,’ but I’m just hitting shots I know I can pull off and I’m not taking unnecessary chances,” Flesch mentioned after his Saturday 67.  “It’s kind of how I’m playing. And the putter’s hot, so I just want to get the ball on the green and give myself a chance to run it in.

“That’s kind of the game plan and that will be the plan tomorrow. It’s working, so I’m going to stick with it.

He’ll enter the final round with a two shot lead.

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Bernhard Langer entered the second round three shots back of the lead and closed the gap quickly playing his first six holes today 4-under. He would cool down, however, closing out the rest of his round with two birdies and a bogey for a Saturday 5 under 67.

“Not pleased with my par-par-par finish, two par 5s,” Langer said after his round. “Wish I had made one birdie at least, but just lack of length off the tee put me in a position where it wasn’t easy but still could have made one birdie somewhere and I didn’t.”

“I’m going to go as low as I can because I’m going to have to. There’s a lot of guys right there and thereabouts and that’s all we can do.”

Langer currently leads the Charles Schwab Cup points list and is well within striking distance going into Sunday’s final round tied for second, sitting two shots back.

Alker, the 18-hole leader, cooled off a bit today pairing four birdies with two bogeys for a Saturday 2-under 70.

“I didn’t quite obviously putt as well. Sixty-three, you’ve got to putt well, so it wasn’t quite there, but I didn’t give myself as many chances,” Alker said following his second round. “Wedges weren’t as close. Kind of struggled on the back nine a little bit, I missed some approaches, just didn’t have the yardage, so that kind of held me back.”

He’ll have to turn it back on tomorrow to catch Flesch as he sits two shots back with Langer.

Notable names in the field: Jim Furyk (T-8, 7 under), Ernie Els (T-36, 2 under), Phil Mickelson (T-49, 1 over), Vijay Singh (T-52, 2 over), Davis Love III (WD), and John Daly (WD).

Shot of the day

 

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John Daly withdraws, Steven Alker leads after first round of the Dominion Energy Charity Classic

If you’ve never heard of Steve Alker, you’re not alone, but he had quite the day.

It didn’t take long for one of the premier names on the PGA Tour Champions to withdraw from the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, as John Daly called it quits after playing his first eight holes 1 over. No reason was given, but have to figure fans at The Country Club of Virginia are sad to see him go.

Steven Alker, on the other hand, had quite the day. He teed off on 10 and got right to work with back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13. Alker would make the turn with a blemish-free 5-under 31. He then birdied four of the first five holes on his back nine for a day total of 9-under 63.

If you’ve never heard of Alker, you’re not alone. The New Zealander spent most of his career on PGA Tour Australasia and Korn Ferry Tour (Web.com at the time). He does have a notable finish in a major championship, with a T-19 at the 2012 Open, an event won by Ernie Els.

“It’s a new chapter for me coming from Korn Ferry and playing with those young guys; big, strong, hitting it forever,” Alker said after his round on Friday. “So in places I was competitive out there, but I’m kind of maybe a little more competitive out here. But as I said, my game’s just coming around at the right time.”

“Out here I find with the three days, you’ve got to get a hot start, otherwise you’re kind of on the back foot of it,” he went on to say. “Only two to go. It’s kind of like playing the weekend really now, just keep going at it.”

Last week Alker finished in a tie for 16th at the SAS Championship, but before that, posted six straight top 10 finishes on the Champions Tour.

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Bernhard Langer, who currently leads the Charles Schwab Cup, played well on Friday keeping the bogeys off the card. After a pedestrian 2-under 34 on the front, Langer made four birdies coming home for a 6-under 66.

“It’s just been more solid play. I haven’t had a lot of Ws, but I’ve put myself in contention a number of times, lots of top-10s, top-5s, just knocking on the door,” Langer said Wednesday when asked about his lead going into the playoffs. “Very consistent play for the last, well, it’s been two years really because we had the super season going.”

He’ll enter the second round T-3, three shots back of Alker.

Notable names in the field and their position: Jim Furyk (3 under, T-17), Ernie Els (2 under, T-26), and Phil Mickelson (1 under, T-31).

Shot of the day

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How Jim Furyk realized the PGA Tour Champions was ‘where I wanted to be’

“It’s not as mentally and physically taxing, yet it’s still extremely competitive.”

RICHMOND, Va. — Last year Jim Furyk was anxious to give the PGA Tour Champions a shot.

He picked his first two starts strategically. First up in August 2020 was the Ally Challenge in Michigan because he loved the golf course, Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club, former host of the PGA Tour’s Buick Open (which Furyk won in 2003). Next up was the Pure Insurance Championship, an easy choice because as he said, “everyone likes going to Pebble Beach.”

Furyk took home the hardware from both events, joining Arnold Palmer and Bruce Fleisher as the only golfers to win their first two starts on the senior circuit. He then finished up his PGA Tour season and decided he wanted to come out and join his fellow 50-plus players on the Champions tour, and he hasn’t looked back since.

“It was just very apparent playing in (Champions tour) events, I enjoyed it. I didn’t have a lot of success here last year. I played solid, I finished 13th, but still really enjoyed the tournament, enjoyed the golf course and kind of had the feeling this was kind of my – where I wanted to be,” said Furyk ahead of this week’s Dominion Energy Charity Classic, the first of three events in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs.

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“It’s fun. It takes a little bit less out of you,” Furyk continued. “A three-round golf tournament, we’re in carts for the pro-am and for the practice rounds – that’s a great invention, by the way – then I walk during the three days, but instead of walking five or six rounds a week, I’m walking three. It’s not as mentally and physically taxing, yet it’s still extremely competitive.”

Plus he’s gotten the chance to get reacquainted with his 8-iron, 9-iron, and wedges again.

“I missed those guys for about four or five years on the PGA Tour,” joked Furyk.

Earlier this month the 51-year-old hosted the Constellation Furyk and Friends, won by none other than 2021 PGA champion Phil Mickelson, who’s set to defend his 2020 Dominion title this week after a war of words online regarding the USGA and R&A’s new local rule for club length. A week after Furyk and Friends at the SAS Championship, the event’s namesake was without longtime caddie Mike “Fluff” Cowan due to an injury. Instead, his son Hunter was on the bag, and the pair finished tied for third.

“Better. I’m actually surprised at how well he’s gotten around this week,” Furyk said of Fluff’s status. “He really was hobbled last week and wasn’t able to bear a lot of weight. He’s still got a little bit of a limp to his gait, but we went on — he was on the cart today for the pro-am and he put the bag on his shoulder a significant amount … He’s limping a little bit right now. I’m sure it’s a little sore. I’m sure he’s hiding it a little bit, too. He seems to be all right, thinks he’s going to be good to go.”

Furyk will need his right-hand man to be on his A-game this week as the pair take on the top-72 players from the season-long Schwab Cup points list, especially at 54-hole Champions tour events that are more of a sprint than a marathon compared to the 72-hole Tour stops.

“You can have a bad nine holes out on the PGA Tour, you’ve got seven more to kind of catch up. Out here you play a bad nine holes, you feel like you’ve put yourself behind the eight ball,” said Furyk, who enjoys the pressure and chance to be aggressive.

“I think playing a golf course that’s 7,000 yards gives me a little more chance to be aggressive, fire at more pins. I’ve got a little shorter iron in my hand. When we’re playing out on Tour and we’re sitting at 73, 74 and I’ve got 5-iron, 4-iron in my hand a lot, I’ve got to play a lot more conservative. Conservative isn’t fun, aggressive is fun.”

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Ahead of his PGA Tour Champions title defense, Phil Mickelson says driving accuracy is irrelevant: ‘I look at longest’

“If you want to look at stuff that’s irrelevant, have at it.”

RICHMOND, Va. — Do you think driving accuracy is important? Phil Mickelson sure doesn’t.

When the 51-year-old Lefty won the Constellation Furyk and Friends earlier this month for his third PGA Tour Champions win in just his fourth start (Fred Couples is the only other player to do so in 2010), he was 81st in driving accuracy.

“I look at longest, like I try to hit it the farthest out here and I was No. 1 in driving distance. That’s the way I look at it,” said Mickelson after his Thursday pro-am ahead of the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, the first of three legs in the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs. “If you want to look at stuff that’s irrelevant, have at it. What I’m looking at is distance, I want to hit it, I want to fly it 305 and try to – because I’m a really good wedge player, so if I get wedges in my hand, I’m going to be tough to beat.”

And that’s putting it lightly. Back at Country Club of Virginia’s James River course this week to defend his first senior victory at the 2020 Dominion, Mickelson has a chance to become the first player to win four of his first five starts on the senior circuit. Even though it’s the same course, Mickelson noted how different it’s playing this week compared to last year with firm and fast greens.

“I think from last year I’m able to take some of the subtleties and nuances of the golf course and have a better knowledge of where I want to be, where I don’t want to be and how I can play it aggressively,” said Mickelson. “So knowing those nuances is important. I think that if the course played like this last year, I don’t think I would have ended up winning, because you really need to know a lot of the subtleties and you could hit good shots and be in a bad spot if you didn’t know the golf course.”

But it won’t be without a little competition. The top-72 players from the Schwab Cup points list qualified for this week’s event, including three past champions at CCV: Miguel Angel Jimenez (2019), Woody Austin (2018), and Bernhard Langer (2017). Langer currently sits first in the standings and is looking for his record sixth Charles Schwab Cup.

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“There are a lot of really good players that are playing some really good golf. What you don’t see is how hard they work off the golf course, because as we all get older, to maintain flexibility, speed, strength, all those things, it’s a lot of extra work,” explained Mickelson. “Obviously Bernhard Langer’s the gold standard, right? That man at 64, what he’s been doing is incredible. That’s the guy to look up to to elongate your career, have a great quality of life.”

Langer, winner of 41 Champions tour events and 11 senior majors, had glowing things to say about all the new “young” players on the tour on Tuesday, especially Mickelson. The man to beat for the last decade and a half noted how eager the last few classes of PGA Tour Champions rookies have been, citing their realization that the senior tour is a second chance to compete at a high level. All that said, Mickelson is enjoying his time but isn’t ready to give the Champions tour his full attention.

“I’m using this as an opportunity to have fun, to be around people that I know, guys that I know. I’m using it as a chance to be competitive but in an environment that doesn’t beat you up,” said Mickelson. “I think it’s underrated how difficult the courses on Tour set up, how tough the pin placements are and you’re really not able to get away with a miss because the pins are so close to the edges. If you short-side yourself, you can’t get up and down.

“I like being able to play aggressive, so it lets me have fun and play the way I like to play out here, and then I try to take that back to when I play on the regular tour and try to implement that type of play. But I always have to dial it back on the regular tour and be more cautious, play to more center of the greens, have more 20-, 30-footers, because if you short-side yourself there, they’re so close to the edges, you can’t get up and down.”

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The 45-time winner on the “regular tour” said he’ll most likely play the season-finale Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix, but he’s unsure about next week’s stop in Florida for the TimberTech Championship.

“I feel like I’m playing a lot better than I have throughout the year, except for the PGA,” said Lefty with a laugh, “and I would like to test myself on the regular tour. So if there’s an event I could play, it might be the week of Boca, it might be the one down in Mexico. I’m not sure what exactly I’ll do, but I very well may go to Boca, we’ll see. That’s the only one I’m undecided on.”

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As the PGA Tour Champions grows, Bernhard Langer dishes on competing with the ‘young’ guns

Langer has run the senior circuit for a decade and a half, and he knows how to compete against the younger crop of players.

RICHMOND, Va. — After turning 50 in August of 2007, Bernhard Langer took his talents to the PGA Tour Champions where he has, over the last 14 years, solidified his title as the most decorated senior men’s player of all time.

How decorated? Two-time Masters champion (1985, 1993) and 42-time winner on the European Tour has amassed 41 wins on the Champions tour, including a record 11 senior majors.

Now 64, Langer knows he needs to step his game up to compete with the “young” guys on the 50-plus senior circuit. You know, players like Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Jim Furyk, Darren Clarke and oh yeah, 2021 PGA champion Phil Mickelson, who recently won the Constellation Furyk and Friends and will defend his 2020 Dominion Energy Charity Classic title this week at Country Club of Virginia.

“He’s had tremendous success. He’s only played, what, four or five tournaments and won three of them if I’m correct. That’s a very high percentage,” said Langer. “I just heard today that he won 10 days ago and he was 81st in driving accuracy, which blows my mind. If I was 81st in driving accuracy, I wouldn’t finish in the top 20 and he won the tournament.”

“Well, it’s been a very strong rookie class as we all know,” said Langer of his other competitors after a Wednesday practice round for the first of three legs of the tour’s season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs. “They’re proven champions, winners, major winners, and they’re going to have a big impact on this tour, no doubt about it, and we’ve already seen it.”

“What I notice is these guys hit it a lot further than we did 20 years ago, 10 years ago. So I used to be one of the longest guys out here about 15 years ago, 14 years ago, now I’m in the middle of the pack, trending the other way,” said Langer, who noted his drives top out around 280 yards these days. “So I’ve got my work cut out making up for that lack of distance somewhere else, either accuracy or better thinking or better short game or whatever, but it’s not easy because they’re good in all of that.”

The Champions tour is growing and becoming more competitive as the years go on, and the German who has been the man to beat for the last decade and a half is the first to admit it. Will the new names reach any of his marks? Depends how committed they are.

“Oh, they’ll all try and make a run. It all depends how committed they are to the tour and how much they play. We’ve seen Steve Stricker producing some tremendous results out here, but he hasn’t fully committed yet,” explained Langer. “Once he comes out here full time, he’ll win a bunch. I think Jim Furyk is fully committed and he’s going to continue his winning ways. So will Phil, I suppose, whenever that time comes from him.

“You have Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, they’re all working very hard. Mike Weir’s out here working his butt off, excuse my language, but so are many others,” he added. “They’re eager, they’re realizing there’s a second opportunity after the PGA Tour’s over now, and on the PGA Tour Champions they have another chance of playing some really good golf and showing how good they are for the next 10, 15 years.”

Langer drew the blueprint for how to find success in the next phase of his career, and some news players have hit him up for questions and advice on the transition to senior professional golf, not that he’ll tell you who asked or what was said.

“Not going to call any names now or whatever, but they asked what do you think and how did you feel and is there any difference. And there’s slight differences. Most of our tournaments are three days, so you’ve got to play aggressive from the get-go. You can’t afford to have a bad round and expect to win, that’s not going to happen when you play three rounds. That’s probably not going to happen when you play four rounds, but at least you have one more round to hopefully catch up,” said Langer, who has held the top spot on the Schwab Cup standings for 19 of the 36 regular-season weeks this year.

All without a win, shocking enough. Langer hasn’t lifted a trophy since the Cologuard Classic in March 2020, but he’s been in the mix, earning 26 top-10 finishes in 36 starts (with 36 cuts made) to top the season-ending points list with three tournaments to play. At the Country Club of Virginia, Langer has finished T-4 the past two years – runner-up in 2018 and he won here in 2017.

“They’re all special in their given time, but now being 64 years old, it gets harder and harder so it would mean a great deal, especially with the super season,” said Langer of the chance to win a sixth Schwab Cup. “You know, two years running to win one would be extremely special. But we’ve still got three big events ahead of us and I’m not going to get ahead of myself. Try and put my work in and hopefully get some good results.”

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Jim Furyk’s son fills in as caddie as Fluff Cowan misses SAS Championship on PGA Tour Champions

In Jacksonville last week, it was Furyk & Friends. This week in North Carolina, it was Furyk & Son.

In Jacksonville last week, it was Furyk & Friends.

In North Carolina this week, it was Furyk & Son.

Jim Furyk, competing in the PGA Tour Champions SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club, finished tied for third with his son Tanner on the bag.

“I’m sure he enjoyed it and I promise you I enjoyed it 100 times more. Special week,” Furyk said after his round. Regular caddie Fluff Cowan was taking the week off. “I feel bad that Fluff went down, that he wasn’t able to be here. I hope he’s healthy and getting better.”

This was a week after he and his wife hosted the first ever Constellation Furyk & Friends tournament on the PGA Tour Champions.

Furyk and Tanner were teammates in the PNC Championship last December in Orlando. The SAS was the first time Tanner caddied for his old man.

But he wasn’t the only Furyk child at the tournament.

“It was a real special opportunity for our family. Caleigh [daughter] came in from college,” he said. “To have Tanner on the bag, just really cool. Then to have a real solid week and kind of come down the stretch and feel like you’ve got to make a putt on the last.”

Furyk briefly took the clubhouse lead at 11 under after draining a birdie on the last.

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“I had him in there reading it. He put a great read on it, actually. Noticed something about the green that I didn’t early in the putt. Yeah, just really cool. A great memory for me.

“To go out and play well was a little icing on the cake.”

Furyk is among the 72 golfers who have advanced to the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs, which starts this week at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.

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