Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club

Bernhard Langer dominates TimberTech Championship for 44th PGA Tour Champions win, one back of Hale Irwin’s mark

There’s not supposed to be homefield advantage in golf. Try telling that to Bernhard Langer.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — There’s not supposed to be homefield advantage in golf. Try telling that to Bernhard Langer.

The Boca Raton resident won the TimberTech Championship on Sunday, marking the third time he has won his hometown event in 15 tries.

Not even shifting the tournament from Broken Sound to Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club while the Old Course is being renovated could stop Langer’s local dominance.

The biggest impact? Langer’s daily commute to work was 25 minutes instead of 10.

Not much else changed, Langer lifting the trophy in front of family and friends for his 44th career victory on the PGA Tour Champions.

And it wasn’t close.

Langer fired a final-round 66 to pull away for a six-shot victory over Paul Goydos and Thongchai Jaidee at 17-under 199. Langer was 1-over after 15 holes Friday, but played his last 39 holes in 20 under. That’s better than a birdie for every other hole.

“I wish we had 10 tournaments around here,” Langer said with a smile. “That’s probably not going to happen.”

Bernhard Langer celebrates with the trophy and his family on the 18th green after the final round of the 2022 TimberTech Championship at Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida. (Photo: Raj Mehta/Getty Images)

Sunday’s win means for the rest of his career, every time Langer tees it up on the PGA Tour Champions, he will have a chance to make history.

Langer’s next win will tie Hale Irwin’s once-thought untouchable record of 45 career titles on the 50-and-older circuit. The one after that will break the record, and more wins after that will make Langer’s mark seem untouchable.

You’re not supposed to be winning tournaments at 65. Try telling that to Langer, too.

“I’m getting closer and closer, but I’m also getting older and older,” Langer said. “The clock is ticking. I may have another two or three years where I could win. I’m not sure how much longer that will continue, but I will keep trying.”

Langer broke his own record for being the oldest champion on a major tour. Age is just another number for Langer. He bettered his age by two shots in Saturday’s second round for the sixth time in his career.

People often ask what’s the secret to Langer’s success. There’s no secret – he just outworks his peers.

Langer was one of the few players who had played Royal Palm before this week, but those were corporate outings, not tournament conditions.

He struggled on Royal Palm’s greens in the first round, like most of the players. So he arrived at the course hours before his second-round tee time to try a new putter that eventually allowed him to take only 21 putts while shooting the 63.

Bernhard was born in 1957.

He continues to defy Father Time. pic.twitter.com/h5Lnu8FHdZ

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) November 6, 2022

Langer’s career is remarkable. He turned pro earlier than most, at age 15, and he’s still winning tournaments later than anyone. Fifty years is the minimum age to join the PGA Tour, not usually the length of someone’s career.

$1.74 million in hometown tournament

They should eventually re-name this tournament the Bernhard Langer Invitational. Then again, he already owns it inside the ropes.

Consider: In his 15 starts at the TimberTech Championship, he has finished in the top three in more than half his starts (eight). The $350,000 first prize he pocketed Sunday pushes his earnings at his hometown event to—get this—$1.744 million.

That’s a career for most folks.

He isn’t ready to call it a career, either.

“I always said if I feel good, if I’m healthy, if I enjoy what I’m doing and somewhat successful, I’ll continue,” Langer said. “There’s no reason to stop. Hopefully, I know when to quit and I don’t go way beyond.”

Even then, he can always play in his hometown event. And probably win it.

“It’s always awesome to win anywhere in the world, but to win in your hometown in front of family, friends is that much more meaningful and special,” Langer said.

And, for Langer, quite often.

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TimberTech Championship: Harrington’s second-round 67 a testament to perseverance

Padraig’s round started with a snowman.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Padraig Harrington may have shot one of the best 67s Saturday in PGA Tour Champions history.

He started the second round of the TimberTech Championship with a big, fat 8.

That’s right, you can make a snowman in 85-degree weather.

“It was a good 8,” Harrington said of his triple bogey on the par-5 first hole at Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club.

He’s not kidding.

His opening tee shot went out of bounds to the left. His second tee shot should have been out of bounds to the right.

“I got a lucky break,” he said. “My third shot was going out of bounds, but it hit a tree, then hit a fence and was in bounds by an inch. I had to hit the next one left-handed, and that went behind a tree.”

He went for the green with his fifth shot, the ball landing in the water in front of the green. He dropped and hit his seventh shot to 6 feet and one-putted for the “good” 8.

Now what?

“After that, it turned into a practice round,” Harrington said. “When you feel like the tournament is gone, I reset it and let’s get the game in shape for next week.”

Most pros would have mailed in the next 17 holes. Not Harrington. He’s tougher than an IRS agent.

He birdied the fifth, sixth and ninth hole to get those three shots back and make the turn at even. He gained revenge on the two par 5s on the back nine, making eagles at the 13th and 18th holes, and added a birdie at the 16th.

No surprise Harrington finished his comeback round in style, holing a bunker shot at the 18th for an eagle. What a contrast it was to his struggling start.

Harrington went from a guy who couldn’t get off the first tee — sound familiar to the rest of us? — to playing his last 17 holes in 8 under.

The Irishman has little chance of winning the TimberTech Championship — he’s six shots behind ageless Bernhard Langer, who fired a 63 Saturday as he hopes to move within a win of Hale Irwin’s career mark of 45 PGA Tour Champions titles.

But still … What Harrington did Saturday earned the three-time major champion a ton of cred from his peers, especially on a course where he has zero confidence.

“I find this course exceptionally hard,” he said. “I’m swinging in a straitjacket out there. I wish I had more confidence on this golf course. I was struggling to get off the first tee box. That’s no fun.”

The 67 was meaningful because Harrington is the only player who can deny TimberTech Championship defending champion Steven Alker from winning his first Charles Schwab Cup. Harrington entered this week in second place in the standings, needing to earn $375,000 more than Alker in the last two playoff events to win the CSC.

Alker is in a tie for fourth place after a 68 Saturday and can clinch the title with a runner-up finish or better. Harrington’s amazing recovery left him a shot behind Alker, tied for ninth place.

So you’re saying he’s got a chance?

“Look, (5 under) is better than being 3-over par,” Harrington said. “It gives me a chance if I can shoot a good one tomorrow.”

Harrington was asked how proud he was of his 67, considering the start.

“Doesn’t often turn around like that, but if anybody knows me, they know that when bad things happen to me, I dig deeper,” he said.

It was like he had an excavator in his bag.

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Royal Palm course, brisk breeze give TimberTech combatants fits in first round

There were a lot of puzzled looks in Friday’s first round of the TimberTech Championship.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — There were a lot of puzzled looks in Friday’s first round of the TimberTech Championship.

Gusty winds and unfamiliar Bermuda greens conspired to frustrate the best players on the PGA Tour Champions.

For a change on the 50-and-older circuit, they weren’t playing limbo.

How low can you go?

Only six of 51 players shot in the 60s, with Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez finishing with four consecutive birdies to lead with a 5-under 67. Jimenez, who made a 30-footer on the 18th hole, leads by one over 2015 TimberTech Championship winner Paul Goydos and Rod Pampling.

“It was a beautiful finish,” said Jimenez, who tied for second behind Steven Alker in last year’s TimberTech Championship and has 13 career PGA Tour Champions wins. “I made some nice shots and a great putt on the last hole.”

The 67 was the highest score to lead after the first round in the 16-year history of the TimberTech Championship. The first 15 events were held at Broken Sound before moving to Royal Palm this year because the Old Course is being renovated.

Goydos said the major reason for the field’s struggles, besides the 20-mph wind, was this is the first time the players have seen Royal Palm in tournament conditions.

“It’s funny, normally I would say that that’s an overtalked-about issue,” Goydos said of unfamiliarity. “My job is to play a practice round and two pro-ams. If can’t figure the golf course out in three rounds, that’s problematic.

“Having said that, I think guys are struggling reading the greens, myself included. They’re not easy to read and I think this is one of the few exceptions to that concept. They are a little more difficult.”

Jimenez wasn’t the only player to finish strong. Pampling, who has won once on the 50-and-older circuit, closed with three birdies.

Pampling echoed Goydos’ thoughts about needing time to get familiarized with Royal Palm, an original Robert Trent Jones layout in the 1960s that was renovated by Jack Nicklaus in 2003 and updated in 2014.

“I think we get enough to see (in) the practice rounds, but we don’t see the pins, so we’re playing to the middle of the green,” Pampling said. “Now I think they’ll get lower as the week goes on. There’s definitely a visual that comes into play and once you get one or two days under your belt, you sort of can get after it after that.”

The only other players to break 70 Friday were Scott McCarron, Tom Pernice Jr. and Robert Karlsson, who each shot 69s. The field average was 72.3.

Alker, the defending champion, overcame a double bogey on the par-3 15th hole to shoot 2-under 70 and tie for seventh with 10 players, including World Golf Hall of Famers Bernhard Langer of Boca Raton and Colin Montgomerie and former major champions Retief Goosen and David Toms.

Langer has feasted on the TimberTech Championship; he’s the only player to win twice and has earned almost $1.4 million in 14 starts. He was 1-over through 15 holes Friday before rescuing his round with three closing birdies.

“Played pretty good all day,” Langer said. “Hit a couple of loose shots early on and paid the price immediately. The wind made it harder today. The greens are rather difficult for some of us to read; they’re a little grainy, changing directions, and I haven’t been putting great on them yet, so try to figure it out.”

McCarron, who won the 2017 TimberTech Championship, was the last player to get in this year’s field at No. 54 on the Charles Schwab Cup Playoff points list.

He knows what he has to do to be among the 36 players to advance to next week’s Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix.

“I know I have to win,” McCarron said. “I’m all in until I’m all out.”

They’re all chasing Jimenez after 18 holes. He did have a beautiful finish Friday, but 36 holes are left. The winds will remain, and so will the puzzled looks.

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