Tag: Champions Tour

The Phil factor: Will Mickelson’s major victory postpone Champions tour debuts?

Phil Mickelson’s victory at the PGA raised questions of how it would play out in the minds of his peers who are about to turn 50.

ARKON, Ohio — Phil Mickelson becoming the oldest major winner in PGA Tour history at age 50 could have a ripple effect on the PGA Tour Champions.

Mickelson’s triumph in the PGA at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island last month will likely postpone his return to Firestone Country Club, which now hosts the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship after last staging the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational in 2018.

But his victory also raised the question of how it would play out in the minds of Mickelson’s peers who are about to turn 50.

Joining the Champions tour later this year are four-time PGA Tour winner Robert Allenby (July 12) and three-time major winner Padraig Harrington (Aug. 31). Australian John Senden (April 20) competed in this week’s Senior Players; Stuart Appleby (May 1) did not.

Former British Open champions David Duval (Nov. 9, 2021) and Justin Leonard (June 15), former PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang (Jan. 15), as well as Brian Gay (Dec. 14, 2021) and Notah Begay III (Sept. 14) can join the Champions circuit in 2022. Duval, Leonard and Begay now work as television analysts.

Bridgestone’s agreement to host the Akron tournament runs through 2022.

While some like Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker have been able to straddle both tours, Mickelson’s success seemingly would prompt some PGA Tour players to hang on longer before making the leap to the senior circuit.

But Furyk, Stricker and Fred Couples consider Mickelson unique and don’t envision a Phil factor disrupting the Champions Tour.

“Phil’s a little bit of an anomaly,” Furyk said Wednesday. “He’s won 45 times, so other than Tiger [Woods] and maybe Vijay [Singh] in their 40s, no one else is really at that level in our era.”

Furyk, 51, said he’s been competing against — and losing to — Mickelson for decades. So he’s probably in no rush to see Mickelson come back to Firestone, one of Furyk’s favorite courses.

“He’s always been the guy at our age level that we had to beat,” Furyk said. “When he was a junior golfer, he was good enough to win in college. When he was in college, he was good enough and did win at the PGA Tour level. Then he went on to win all those events.

“I really take what he does with a bit of a grain of salt. Like if we were always comparing ourselves to him, we basically always got our butts kicked along the way.”

Stricker, 54, said players must listen to their bodies and consider how they’re playing when they approach 50.

“Phil’s a unique player, a special player, and he’s still got that flexibility and that length that most guys when they turn 48, 49, even before that they’re losing distance, and he picked up distance. He’s worked hard at it,” Stricker said. “For him to be able to do that was something extraordinary.

Steve Stricker
Steve Stricker watches his approach shot from the No. 8 fairway during the third round of the 2021 Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club on Saturday, June 26, 2021, in Akron, Ohio. Photo by Akron Beacon Journal

“I think you’ve just got to see where you’re at with your own game. Guys are going to see that and they’re going to say, ‘Hey, it’s possible,’ for sure, and maybe work towards that. But everybody’s a little bit different, especially the older we get.”

Furyk measured his driving distance against others on the PGA Tour to help him decide. He’s now fully committed to the Champions Tour save for occasional venues where he’s performed well.

“The longest I ever averaged in my career was 282 off the tee,” Furyk said of the 2015 season. “No. 100 [on the PGA Tour] was 289, so I was giving up seven yards, which is not a big deal. Cut to 2020, my last full year. At 50 I averaged 281, I was one yard off my all-time distance, but No. 100 was 298. Now, instead of giving up seven yards, I was giving up 17. I’m giving up two or three irons a hole for an entire week.

“That season I led the Tour in greens saves, but it’s a lot harder to be close when you’re giving up that much distance. So it was apparent to me there are courses I really feel I can compete, but to do it for an entire season was harder. And I really enjoy being out here. My wife and I now have a Champions tour event, so it made it even that much easier to support this tour 100 percent.”

Jim Furyk
Jim Furyk makes his second shot from the bunker on No. 7 during the third round of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club on Saturday, June 26, 2021, in Akron, Ohio. Photo by Akron Beacon Journal

Couples called Mickelson “a unique” individual and doesn’t expect PGA Tour players to try to copy his feat.

“I don’t see many 49- and 50-year-olds saying, ‘I’m going to win a PGA,”’ Couples said Wednesday. “Can Steve Stricker? Of course he can. Can Jim Furyk? Yeah. But I think as they get a little older, they’ll fall into [what’s] out here and love it.”

Jerry Kelly, 54, who won his first senior major last year in Akron, feels no pull to the PGA Tour, especially with a game built on accuracy, not length.

“I don’t have any kind of ego necessity to be out there at all,” Kelly said Tuesday. “I did well while I was out there. I would have loved to do more. But the things I want to do to make my career, win a major, things like that…

“That was incredible that Phil did that, but those majors are not in my cards. If they ever went back to Merion [in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania] again, I’d love to play in that one. But the distance, the way they’re setting up golf courses is not conducive to me. Really the last eight to 10 years was not conducive to me winning a major. That’s the only thing I could take away from playing consistently on the PGA Tour.

“Plus just hanging around the top 125, you wouldn’t get into the majors. My best way to get into the majors is playing here. I’m totally fine with where I’m at.”

A continued draw

The Senior Players offers a unique carrot that should continue to draw players to Akron. Since 2006, the winner has earned a spot in the Players Championship the following year. That event offers a $15 million purse, the largest on the PGA Tour, with Justin Thomas earning $2.7 million for his victory in March.

“I’d love to get back there and this is the way to do it,” Kelly said. “That course is right up my alley.”

Furyk talked to several players about when they knew it was time to choose the senior tour.

Hale Irwin initially split his tournaments 50-50, but that lasted less than a year. Players like Davis Love III and Vijay Singh, of whom Furyk said, “They weren’t wedge- and putter-type guys, they were guys that were built on power. … Davis always said, ‘If I putt well enough to win on the Champions Tour, I feel I putt well enough to win on the PGA Tour.’ He did at Greensboro.”

In 2015, at age 51, Love captured the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, firing a 6-under 64 on Sunday to become the third-oldest winner in PGA Tour history, a designation that still stands.

Stricker planned on playing more on the Champions tour in 2021, but then the U.S. Ryder Cup captain saw the competition postponed by COVID-19 until this year. That forced a change in his schedule because he wanted to stay close with potential members of his team.

But the senior tour’s stars are not concerned about the Phil factor convincing some in the class of 2021, 2022 and beyond to push back their commitment to the Champions tour.

“Guys are realizing that the competition on this tour is good enough to be able to say goodbye,” Kelly said.

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Bernhard Langer signs equipment contract with Tour Edge

The German star has used a Tour Edge hybrid in competition, and the two-time Masters champion is working to fill a bag with Tour Edge gear.

Tour Edge, which has focused most of its Tour marketing energies on the PGA Tour Champions in recent years, has signed one of the winningest players ever on that circuit: Bernhard Langer. Terms of the deal were not announced.

The German Langer – a two-time Masters champion and winner of 45 events combined on the European Tour and PGA Tour, as well as winner of 41 senior titles – used a Tour Edge Exotics EXS Pro Hybrid at Augusta National in November when he became the oldest, at age 63, ever to make the cut in the Masters. Tour Edge said in a media release that Langer is working with the company to dial in specs on a new driver, fairway woods, irons and wedges.

Langer leads the 2020-’21 Charles Schwab Cup money list for the PGA Tour Champions, a combined-season schedule in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Langer has won more than $1.5 million in 16 tournaments and has a slight edge on Ernie Els.

“I’m extremely excited to be joining the Tour Edge staff, they have been truly incredible to work with as I start updating my equipment,” Langer said in the media release Monday. “I have been playing many of the clubs in my bag for a long time, and when I started working with Tour Edge out on the PGA Tour Champions, I realized that they were the best option to getting me exactly what I needed to continue to perform at the highest level.”

The company, which was founded in 1986 and is based near Chicago, also said Langer will use a Tour Edge Exotics staff bag and wear the company’s logo on his right sleeve. Langer’s official Tour Edge debut will come at the Cologuard Classic on Feb. 28-March 1 in Tucson, Arizona.

“To be able to sign this awe-inspiring icon to our professional staff is a crowning achievement in our 35 years as a golf brand,” Tour Edge president and founder David Glod said in the media release. “He’s one of the very best players to ever play the game, so to have him trust Tour Edge to keep him at the top is something we are extremely proud of.”

Tour Edge said in its media release that Langer will join its professional staff that includes Tom Lehman, Scott McCarron, Tim Petrovic and Duffy Waldorf, and the company said it will announce another addition to its professional staff in the coming weeks.

“We’ve admired Bernhard for many years, so to be able to start working with him has been an amazing and humbling experience,” Glod said. “He is a shining example of what a professional should be, a great gentleman and global ambassador to our sport. We believe this signing will introduce a lot of Bernhard Langer fans around the world to Tour Edge.”

Phil Mickelson commits to his second Champions Tour event

Phil Mickelson is scheduled to make his second start on the PGA Tour champions tour at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.

After winning in his Champions Tour debut, Phil Mickelson is back for more.

The 50-year-old will make his second PGA Tour Champions start Oct. 16-18 at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic at The Country Club of Virginia’s James River Course.

The event will be Mickelson’s first individual start in Virginia since the 1993 Michelob Championship at Kingsmill in Williamsburg. The five-time major winner also played on four U.S Presidents Cup teams at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia, in 1994, 1996, 2000 and 2005.

The 54-hole Champions event is usually the first of three Charles Schwab Cup playoff events at the end of the season, but due to changes in scheduling from the coronavirus pandemic, the event will be played next week without fans on-site.

In his Champions Tour debut in August, Mickelson won the Charles Schwab Cup Series at Ozarks National by four shots. The 44-time winner on the PGA Tour finished the event 22-under 191 to become the 20th player to win his first Champions start.

Joining Mickelson in the field at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic are Ernie Els and Jim Furyk. Els, 50, tied for second in his Champions debut in January and won his third start at the Hoag Classic in March. Furyk, 50, won his tour debut at the Ally Challenge in August and won again in his second start at the PURE Insurance Championship last month.

The Dominion Energy Charity Classic can be watched live on Golf Channel Oct. 16 from 2-5 p.m. EDT and Oct. 17-18 from 2:30-5 p.m. EDT.

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John Daly’s snapped putter aside, Senior Players was eerily quiet

Akron Beacon Journal photographer Jeff Lange didn’t see John Daly snap his putter on the 16th hole Saturday at Firestone Country Club. But Lange heard it. During a normal year, even in 2019 when the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship replaced …

Akron Beacon Journal photographer Jeff Lange didn’t see John Daly snap his putter on the 16th hole Saturday at Firestone Country Club.

But Lange heard it.

During a normal year, even in 2019 when the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship replaced the departed World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, the loud crack might not have been audible. Still a man of the people on the PGA Tour Champions, Daly would have drawn a crowd and there would have been buzz as he hit two shots in the water and 3-putted.

In the fan-less COVID-19 world of professional golf, Lange was still able to capture the aftermath of Daly’s dismay after a quadruple-bogey 9, which left Daly putting with a 3-wood for his remaining holes.

Through four beautiful days marred only by a Sunday afternoon thunderstorm, Firestone’s South Course was eerily quiet. A tough Friday crosswind left the field fighting to compensate, but at least the sound of a ball cutting through tree leaves kept one observer from being struck.

The few outside the ropes were marshals, volunteers, girlfriends, wives, tour officials, the cleaning crew and Golf Channel staffers.

John Daly places his broken putter in the back of his cart after finishing with a quadruple bogey on hole sixteen during the third round of the 2020 Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020, in Akron, Ohio. [Jeff Lange/Beacon Journal]
With no television towers erected, the network used “spiders,” a motorized vehicle that looks more appropriate for saving house fire victims from the second story. Only two spiders were on site last year, but with no fans in 2020 the Golf Channel decided to bring in more.

Don Padgett III, executive director of the Bridgestone Senior Players, got the chance to sit behind the ninth green for about an hour watching some groups come through, which he said he’d never done in 14 years in this role. He marveled at being to hear every “good shot” or “good putt” uttered and felt like he was sneaking a peek at an everyday foursome, not the world’s best 50-and-over pros.

Those who did the same clapped politely but lightly at such shots. A robust reaction felt totally out of place.

Padgett also stood at the first tee on Thursday when Fred Couples, Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez opened the tournament.

“We all watched them tee off and said, ‘There would have been a lot of people here with that group going off,’” Padgett said.

But even without fans, Padgett was glad the event went on. Especially after 13 Champions Tour events were canceled and two Senior majors were postponed, including the Bridgestone, previously scheduled for July 9-12.

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“Everybody uses ‘Things are fluid,’ and when you’re trying to plan a big event and all the volunteers and supporters, it’s definitely a moving target. We had the goalposts moved on us a few times this year,” Padgett said.

The biggest challenge in putting on the $3 million tournament during the pandemic was awaiting the decision on fans, not announced until July 22, because of the structures that needed to be erected.

“We could have had limited fans-full hospitality, like Memorial had been approved for, we could have had just hospitality, or we could have had nobody,” Padgett said. “There was a time where we could have a full event, or if things really went sideways no event, and about three scenarios in between. You were just trying to make your best guess.”

Amid the economic devastation brought on by the health crisis, the event held a Wednesday pro-am at Firestone, a priority on the Champions Tour, and the Westfield Legends Pro-Am Thursday at Westfield Country Club. This year $750,000 was donated back to charity, as compared to $825,000 in 2019.

“It will be gratifying to know that we had a big impact on the community —$150,000 to the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, other great partners, the LeBron James Family Foundation will get some funds this year,” Padgett said. “That’s what it’s all about for a lot of people and why they’re involved with this event.

A masked volunteer works as a spotter along the No. 2 fairway during the final round of the 2020 Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2020, in Akron, Ohio. [Jeff Lange/Beacon Journal]
“All things considered, I think we’re going to have a really successful week.”

The field saw Firestone with all its teeth, with firm and fast conditions rarely seen during the WGC days from 1999-2018. Yes, there were COVID-19 tests and protocols. In-restaurant dining was prohibited by the tour, which meant no visits to the Diamond Grille.

But the competitors, even as they struggled, their wives and girlfriends may have enjoyed a peaceful respite amid the beauty of the historic oak-lined course.

If John Daly’s putter could talk, it might be the lone dissenter.

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Ace propels Jerry Kelly to Senior Players Championship title

Jerry Kelly survived more than a two-hour weather delay and shot a final-round 1-under 69 to win his first major.

What began as a relatively wide-open race with a possible mad dash to the finish became a two-man pursuit that muted what could have been a drama-filled day on the South Course of Firestone Country Club.

Then, with one scene-stealing, dagger-like swing, Jerry Kelly stood alone.

Buoyed by a stunning hole-in-one on the 200-yard 12th hole, Kelly won the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship by two shots over Scott Parel.

Kelly survived more than a two-hour weather delay and shot a final-round 1-under 69 to win his first major with a 72-hole total of 3-under 277.

One by one the contenders – there were seven players within four shots of the lead at the day’s outset – shot themselves out of the picture until just Kelly and Parel were the last men standing.

Scores: Bridgestone Senior Players Championship

Parel, third on the Charles Schwab money list and the winner of the Chubb Classic earlier this season, shot a final-round 70 to finish at 279.

Kelly’s ace, which extended his lead from one to three shots, came one hole after his bogey enabled Parel to get to within one shot of the lead with seven holes to play. Then, Parel bogeyed the 13th hole to fall four shots behind. Even a birdie on the 17th was not enough.

Kelly, who held or shared the lead from Thursday’s opening round, was winless and had just one top-10 finish this season before prevailing Sunday to win the $450,000 check and a spot in the 2021 PGA Players Championship at Sawgrass. He last won more than one year ago in the American Family Insurance Championship on the senior circuit.

Colin Montgomerie and Miguel Angel Jimenez, one of the first-round leaders, tied for third at even-par 280.

Kelly, with six Champions Tour and three PGA Tour wins on his resume, began the day at 2-under and held a one-shot lead over Parel, Montgomerie and Woody Austin.

He quickly took charge with birdies on two of the first three holes to get to 4-under.

Parel did the same to remain on Kelly’s heels until a bogey on the 469-yard sixth hole dropped him to 2-under.

No one was able to mount a challenge.

Jimenez, who began the day three shots behind, suffered back-to-back bogeys. Montgomerie, with seven career Tour Champions wins, bogeyed two of his first six holes and Els, winner of the Hoag Classic in March, suffered three bogeys on the front.

Austin, who has five top-10 finishes in six events this season, fell back with a bogey on the 471-yard fourth, a double-bogey on the sixth and another bogey on the ninth.

Kelly got sloppy on the final hole and created a little drama with a double-bogey six but Parel was unable to take advantage and finished with a bogey.

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Jerry Kelly alone atop leaderboard at Senior Players Championship

One Friday survivor was Jerry Kelly, who was one of six players to shoot par and took a three-shot lead over four others heading into the third round.

Aided by an ever-changing wind and a laser-like sun that turned the greens into a landing area slightly softer than an airport runway, the South Course at Firestone Country Club has turned ornery.

There were few survivors during the second round of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, which resumes Saturday with the field scrambling in the first of what was supposed to have been the third of five majors on the Champions Tour this year.

The Regions Tradition, postponed from early May, is scheduled for Sept. 24-27. The other three majors have been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

One Friday survivor was Jerry Kelly, who was one of six players to shoot par and took a three-shot lead over four others heading into the third round. Kelly, with six PGA Tour Champions wins under his belt, stood at 2-under 138 after adding a 70 to his opening 68.

Another to solve the conditions was slimmed-down Colin Montgomerie, one of four players in the field of 79 to break par with a second-round 69 and a two-day total of 141.

How tough was it?

“It was a challenge,” said Steve Stricker, one of four players in at 1-over 141 after a second-round 73 when he hit just nine greens. “I’m not hitting it all that great and that makes it more of a challenge. And we had a little bit more wind today and it’s a cross wind on all the holes, because it’s coming out of the east. So all these holes run north and south, so every hole’s a cross wind. It made club selection a little bit more challenging.”

Through two days and 159 rounds, only 20 scores have been at or under par.

Montgomerie, whose round included five birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey on the par-3 12th, said the conditions were what they should be.

“It’s a major championship and it should be more than a challenge,” said Montgomerie, who has lost approximately 40 pounds in the past five months. “It’s one of those courses where you get rewarded for good play and one of those where you get heavily penalized for not.”

Kelly, who finished in a tie for seventh in the recent Ally Challenge in Michigan, agreed.

“You get out of position here, you’re in deep trouble and that’s what it’s like in a major,” said Kelly, whose round had a painful ending when he suffered an elbow injury by hitting a tree root on the famed Monster 16th hole. “It’s definitely harder to get back in position. It seemed weird the way the holes were shaped and the way the wind was blowing. You know, it switched almost 180 degrees a couple times.”

Kelly saved par on the 180-yard 12th by chipping in from the right rough.

“The chip-in was awesome,” he said.

Not awesome was hitting the root from the right rough on the 16th.

“Hitting the root on 16 was not fun,” he said. “I saw a root in front of my ball but I didn’t see the root that my ball was sitting on. It is what it is.”

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Kirk Triplett on Black Lives Matter sticker: ‘This message isn’t out here’

Triplett put a Black Lives Matter sticker on his PING golf bag for the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, which opens Thursday

Kirk Triplett wouldn’t call the Black Lives Matter movement his new passion.

He and wife Cathi’s devotion to the cause of adoption will likely remain his priority because that’s how they brought two of their four children into the family.

But those two worlds intersected after George Floyd’s May 26 death while in custody of the Minneapolis police. The Triplett’s youngest son Kobe is African-American, his biological mother Japanese, his biological father Black.

Watching the ensuing protests worldwide, Triplett realized the discussions he needed to have with Kobe, 18. Triplett also knows that the message is not part of the PGA Tour Champions, which has no Black players among its regulars, and he thought it needed to be.

So Triplett put a Black Lives Matter sticker on his PING golf bag for the $3 million Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, which opens Thursday at Firestone Country Club.

“I’m not trying to make a big statement,” Triplett explained Wednesday. “For the first time I was kind of motivated that I don’t think we’re thinking enough about this in the circles that I travel in. I think we see it. We’re well-read. We understand. But I don’t think things are going to get accomplished until the circles that I travel in really understand it better. Sometimes it’s too easy to really not even think about it. I guess that’s why I put it on there.

“This message isn’t out here. It’s in other sports, it’s in the NBA, it’s in MLS, it’s in the women’s soccer league, it’s in the WNBA. I don’t see it in golf, so I put it on there.”

Kirk Triplett prepares for the Senior Players Championship in Akron, Ohio. (Photo by Phil Mastruzo/Akron Beacon Journal)

Kobe was 10 days old when the Tripletts took him in. He and Cathi had already adopted Alexis, now 20, a Latino who some prospective parents passed over because her 40-year-old biological mother had used methamphetamines. After three in vitro attempts, Cathi Triplett became pregnant with twin boys, Conor and Sam, now 24, but subsequent treatments failed as they tried to expand their family.

Staying at home with Champions Tour events canceled during the coronavirus pandemic gave Triplett time to think about things, he said.

“Being at home, reading the news a lot … A lot of times things in the world don’t affect me very much, but the protests and the stuff affected me this year,” Triplett said. “Not just in the sense of what’s going on in the world, but in the sense of ‘Oh, these are discussions I need to have with my son.’

“I thought, ‘Well, I don’t have to have the same discussion with my other sons.’ Since the discussion is going to be different, I don’t think that hits home and resonates with people unless it’s them.”

Triplett isn’t sure how Kobe feels about the sticker on his bag. Triplett said Kobe, a high school senior in Scottsdale, Arizona, might not like the attention if classes were in session.

“I don’t know, he doesn’t always share. He’s a teenage boy, he likes to be under the radar,” Triplett said. “I think if there was a lot of publicity surrounding this or publicity that affected him or if he was in school, he’d be uncomfortable with it. But he’s not, he’s learning from home and he’s a pretty quiet kid. When we have these conversations, I know he’s listening, but teenagers don’t always let you know that they’re listening.”

Triplett said he didn’t wait until the protests began to bring up systemic racism with Kobe.

“We’ve been talking to him for many years about the fact that, ‘You may get in some situations where you don’t understand why people are coming at you the way they are,’” Triplett said. “He’s experienced it a few times, so he knows it. He doesn’t see it I don’t think on the scale that some people … depending on which part of the country they live in or what their economic situation is. Your economic situation can shield you from so many of these things.

“We’ve talked about it and it usually sort of gets shrugged off and how could it not, because it really isn’t part of his day-to-day life.”

The Tripletts adopted Kobe and Alexis with the help of Debi Rolfing, wife of longtime NBC golf announcer Mark Rolfing, now with the Golf Channel. The Rolfings live in Kapalua, Hawaii, on the island of Maui, where Debi is a foster care parent.

“We’re not trying to change the world, we just wanted to have more kids and these were two kids we thought we could make a difference in their lives,” Triplett said. “More importantly, they’ve made a difference in ours.”

Triplett laughed when asked how his son got the name Kobe, saying Mark Rolfing initially wanted to name him Tiger.

“He goes, ‘No, that’s too big of a name,’ so Mark named him Kobe,” Triplett said. “When we adopted him, we were like, ‘Should we change his name? They’ve already been calling him Kobe for 10 days.’”

Triplett said he doesn’t know if his feelings about Black Lives Matter will ever rival how strongly he feels about adoption. But that wasn’t the point of the sticker prominent on his white golf bag.

“I don’t envision that being the case. For me it was more, ‘Think about this,’” Triplett said. “If somebody will just go on the web site and look. More of the stories that we have about this are anecdotal and we don’t really know the true depth of the issues and I don’t profess to. I have no answers at all.

“But I do know when you have a segment of the population that is frightened of the people that are there to help with their public safety, you have an issue. You have an issue.”

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.

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Hale Irwin’s competitive fire rises again as Bernhard Langer nears victory record

As Bernhard Langer closes in on his record of 45 PGA Tour Champions victories, Hale Irwin doesn’t sound overly possessive.

As Bernhard Langer closes in on his record of 45 PGA Tour Champions victories, Hale Irwin doesn’t sound overly possessive.

But there is a hint of regret in the 75-year-old’s voice, a touch of disappointment. Not because he feels as if the machine-like Langer will eventually pass him, but rather that he wishes he could have competed more in the twilight of his career.

Hampered by a foot injury that would require three to six months of rehab if he underwent surgery, Irwin has played in three tournaments in 2020, the same number in 2019, and hasn’t competed in more than eight since 2015.

“I probably could have played a little bit longer, more effectively had I wanted to,” Irwin said last week. “But things developed off the golf course that gave me opportunities to do other things. If you’re going to play competitive golf, that’s what you do. If you don’t do that wholeheartedly and with more attention than I was giving it, then you’re not going to play as well.

“Of course, someone like me that is highly competitive, I don’t like to accept something less than what I’m capable of. It was frustrating and I was tired of getting frustrated, so I just kind of stepped out of the arena and let those guys bang heads.”

Irwin returns to Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, this week for the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, but he won’t be competing in the $3 million event. Instead, Irwin will join Andy North, Tom Kite, Hal Sutton, Larry Nelson and Gary Koch in the Westfield Legends Pro-Am on Thursday morning at Westfield Country Club.

“I may have to withdraw, that’s too strong a field,” Irwin joked. He was speaking from Denver, where he was celebrating his son’s birthday.

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Langer, who turns 63 on Aug. 27, has totaled 41 victories and will be among the favorites in the Bridgestone field. No. 2 in the Charles Schwab Cup rankings with five top 10s in six events this year, Langer has one victory in 2020, that in the Cologuard Classic in Tucson, Arizona, on March 1. He has won at least once for 14 consecutive years and has triumphed eight times at age 60 or older.

Irwin’s last victory came in 2007, but he has shot his age or better 44 times on the Champions Tour, well ahead of Gary Player, second on that list with 30. Among Irwin’s recent highlights was a first-round 67 in the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach in September 2018.

“The body and the mind, you take just a little bit of a hesitant step and the field just goes right by you. That’s kind of what I’ve done the last couple years,” Irwin said.

He said he has a “bunion net” on the outside of his left foot, where the bone toward the end of his little toe separated. It changed his swing pattern and affected his distance.

“The putting is still good, the short game is still good. I still drive the ball accurately,” Irwin said. “I’m 75, do I really want to get my foot operated on? Is it going to work? You just don’t know.”

Hale Irwin lines up a putt on the first hole during the final round of the Senior PGA Championship golf tournament at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., Sunday, May 29, 2011.

Although COVID-19 protocols may prevent Irwin from hitting a shot at Firestone on this visit, he has fond memories of Akron, where he started to play in the American Golf Classic, which followed the Rubber City Open.

“Coming back reminds me of the very first time I was in Akron. It was such a well-run event, it was so much fun to play,” he said. “They were one of the first tournaments that actually had hospitality that would help players find housing and those kinds of things that we take for granted today. The city embraced it. It’s such a great golf environment.

“You had a really good golf course, you had really attentive crowds, it wasn’t a country club it was a golf club, so you kind of had that atmosphere. For me, it fit hand and glove.”

Family lured Irwin away from competitive golf after his design work dried up between 2007-09. But he plays in outings and said he has gotten more involved in non-golf-related businesses.

Irwin and his wife, Sally, have four grandchildren — “the light of my life right now,” he said — who range in age from 19 to nearly 5. His daughter lives in the Phoenix area near Irwin’s home in Paradise Valley with her two boys, his son in Denver has two girls. The Irwins have also kept their home in St. Louis, where they lived for many years.

Hale Irwin is shown with his trophy after winning the U.S. Open Championship title at the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., June 16, 1974. Irwin defeated Forrest Fezler with a score of 287. (AP Photo)

“I’m happy, let’s put it that way. I miss playing, I don’t miss the travel and all the other stuff that goes with that,” Irwin said. “There’s always a part of me that will stay tuned to the competitive arena of golf because that was my life for so many years.”

That means Irwin will be watching if Langer catches or passes his victory record.

“It’s his to make or break,” Irwin said. “Have to give the man credit, he’s played extremely well through his later years. I had my run at it.

“If Bernhard makes it, I’ll applaud him. If he doesn’t, he gave it a great try. Nothing I can do about it, just wake up every morning and bless the sunrise.”

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.

Jim Furyk one off lead in Champions debut at Ally Challenge; Brett Quigley leads

Furyk, who sits at 10-under par and trails Brett Quigley by one, likened the experience to the first day of school — but with a twist.

Like many before him, Jim Furyk’s indoctrination into the world of the Champions Tour has been welcoming.

Old friends. Old course. And the advantage of going from being one of the oldest bodies on the PGA Tour back to young-pup status.

Playing Warwick Hills outside of Flint, Michigan — the course that housed the PGA Tour’s Buick Open for years, and where he made the cut in all 15 of his starts in that event — Furyk looked right at home, posting a bogey-free 66 that puts him one off the lead heading into Sunday’s final round.

Furyk, who sits at 10-under par after two rounds, likened the experience to the first day of school — but with a twist.

“It’s been fun. It’s been great to be back at a golf course that I always
enjoyed playing when we were here on the PGA Tour and great to see some old friends,” Furyk said. “I told my wife, I always feel like the first round — I probably said it earlier in the week, the first round of the PGA Tour every year is like the first day of school, you get excited, you get a little nervous.

“Coming out here on the Champions Tour, I told her it was like the first
day of high school but I had been homeschooled the last five years. Lots of folks I hadn’t seen in a lot of years and a lot of good friends, and so just good to say hello to everyone.”

Furyk won the Buick Open at Warwick Hills in 2003, finished second twice and placed in the top 25 in all but three of his appearances in Grand Blanc.

Meanwhile, Brett Quigley raced in front of the pack during the second round, posting eight birdies in his first 14 holes during Saturday play, then cruised home to 11 under with a series of pars to take the one-stroke lead into the clubhouse over Furyk, Carlos Franco and Tommy Armour III. Quigley has picked up right where he left off before the break, but he admitted during Saturday’s round that he was too keen to get going on Friday and needed a day to settle in.

“I was trying to shoot 20 under the front nine yesterday. I was just trying to force everything after being off for so long. I was like, oh my gosh, now I’ve got to go bogey the first hole. And I was like, what am I doing out here?” Quigley said. “And really struggled the front nine and brought it together the back nine, and then came out today and played a little bit more like I’m capable of playing.”

The resident of Jupiter, Florida, said he wasn’t sure the Champions Tour would resurface this summer, so any opportunity to play is something of a bonus.

Quigley won his second start, in Morocco on Feb. 1, then added another top-10 finish and was second on the senior circuit’s money list (to Bernhard Langer) with $481,687.

“It’s almost like winning the lottery, because we just weren’t sure we were going to play. Other sports, PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champions, have done such a great job getting us back and getting us back playing and keeping us safe, keeping us tested, and keeping everybody with the appearance of being healthy,” Quigley said. “So it’s great. It was a tough one to sit down, but certainly great to be back and back playing and thankful that we are.”

Other prominent names looming include Colin Montgomerie, Bernhard Langer, Kirk Triplett, Tom Lehman, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els, all at 6 under.

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Bernhard Langer misses golf, questions why Florida courses are closed

Langer has won 116 professional tournaments. At 62, he dominates the PGA Tour Champions with 41 titles in 14 years.

Bernhard Langer has played golf all over the world. He has won 116 professional tournaments, at least one on six different continents. At 62, he dominates the PGA Tour Champions with 41 titles in 14 years.

But Langer estimates it’s been about 50 years since he’s played such little golf in a six-week period.

And he misses it.

Langer, like professional athletes around the world, is finding ways to stay occupied and stay fit while following social distancing protocols amid the coronavirus pandemic. But beckoning Bernhard outside his home at the Woodfield Country Club in Boca Raton is a wide-open, barren golf course.

“You got to look at the bright side, there are good things that come out of this. We have our son at home, and we can spend more time at home,” Langer said.

“But do I miss golf? Yes, I do! It was kind of nice to have a break for a week or two. Then I got a little itchy. I certainly would love to play, practice, or even compete. It’s very strange to live on a golf course and not be able to play golf or practice.”

Langer played a couple of rounds about two weeks ago in Naples. Prior, he played a round or two at Woodfield before it closed March 25 and in Myrtle Beach the second week of March while there to watch his son, Jason, a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, play in a tournament.

This is a man who has not allowed age to slow him down. He plays 20 to 25 events on the Tour Champions alone, five this year from mid-January to early-March, finishing in the top 6 in four and winning the Cologuard Classic in Tucson. He and Jason won the Father-Son Challenge in Orlando in December.

While he enjoys spending more time with Vikki, his wife of 36 years, Langer is ready to get back into the swing of golf. After all, he can only produce so many “Burn Baby Bern” videos – his attempt to become more active on social media with exercise videos that typically end with him in his pool. The videos appear on Langer’s and the PGA Tour’s social media sites.

“I think golf is an ideal sport to do social distancing because you have wide-open spaces,” said Langer, who was born outside of Munich, Germany, but has lived in Boca for nearly 40 years. “You can carry your bag or use a pull trolley. Even if you’re in a cart by yourself, you can wipe down a cart.

“There’s really hardly any chance of getting exposed to the virus.”

Langer is “actually questioning” why courses are closed, believing few sports like golf can be played while social distancing and remaining safe. As for tournament golf, Langer is in step with at least the PGA Tour, which became the first professional sports league to announce a plan to return, saying Thursday the season would resume the second week of June with tournaments scheduled every week through Dec. 6, except for Thanksgiving weekend. That plan is dependent on health guidelines.

Langer, whose two PGA Tour majors’ victories are the 1985 and 1993 Masters, said he “absolutely” believes golf can lead the charge for sports returning.

“We don’t have physical contact,” he said. “In football, you got to hit each other. In basketball, they’re going to have to hit each other. In soccer, they’re going to have bodily contact. Baseball, they’re going to run into each other.

“We’re one of the few sports where we don’t. I really don’t need to go near anybody if I don’t want to. Golf is different in that regard. Absolutely.”

That plan, he believes, will include tournaments without spectators at least to start.

“Just do it for television,” he said. “It would give the people something to watch. People get bored at home. They’re just sitting around watching the news or reading books, which is good. they’re getting closer to their families, so there’s good things as well.

“But I think people are hungry for live sport and we could provide that.”

Bernhard Langer sings autographs at the fifth tee during the Par 3 Contest at Augusta National Wednesday. (Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports)

Langer is monitoring the pandemic in two countries. He has family members, including his mother and a brother, and friends in Germany. That nation issued some of the world’s tightest restrictions about a month ago and has one of the lowest mortality rates among the largest countries in the world. Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Wednesday the country would slowly pull back on social-distancing rules starting next week.

As for the guidelines the last month, Langer said his family and friends have lived life in Germany in similar fashion to the way we have in United States.

Langer’s 41 Tour Champions titles are four shy of the record held by Hale Irwin. He is the tour’s career money leader with more than $29.1 million. All events on the Tour Champions through June have been canceled with the Senior Players Championship, one of five majors on the tour, still on for early July in Akron.

The biggest challenge for a 60-something to return after a long absence is in the more delicate part of the game.

“The good thing for me, who has been doing this for 44 years, it shouldn’t take me too long to get back to whatever I was doing,” he said. “The part that suffers the most is the short game. Longer game comes back quicker.

“When we get notice that things might start again, I’m going to have to focus on my short game.”

And continue that assault on golf courses around the world.

Tom D’Angelo is a staff writer for the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. Follow him on Twitter: tom_dangelo@pbpost.com

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