The stage was all set for a cardinal and white charge for the 43rd USGA Senior Open Championship on a picture perfect Sunday in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
Two Wisconsinites through and through were in the hunt as the final round teed off at one of the most beautiful properties in the state, SentryWorld. Madison buddies Jerry Kelly and Steve Stricker were just two and three shots off the lead when the last 18 began. A bell weather day in Wisconsin golf history was put to bed early by the tournament’s front runner.
65 year old Bernhard Langer, the stoic, compact swinging 65 year old from Anhausen, Germany let it be known from the start, he was going to really enjoy the central Wisconsin summer day. A hero of mine in the 1980’s when I just started taking the game seriously as a player, donning Green Jackets at Augusta winning the 1985 Masters, rising to number one in the world and then winning a second coat for the closet in 1993. He’s dominated the Champions Tour since he turned 50, leading the tour in money 7 straight years, winning 11 Senior Majors and 45 tournaments. Make it a record extending 12 and record breaking 46th, passing Hale Irwin.
Langer birdied the first two holes to jump to -8 for the tournament and a five and six shot lead over the Badger challengers. On the par 5 5th hole, Langer’s second landed short of the green on the bank of a pond amidst grass and rocks and water. Bernhard rolled up his pant legs, took off his shoes, stepped down into the mess and delivers a ridiculous out to make an improbable birdie with his shoes back on. His only stumble came when he missed the fairway left on 7 and had to make bogey but he got it right back on the par 3 7th when his iron died inches from an ace. A tap in there and another birdie on number 10 and Langer was at 10 under for the tournament. A rare three put on architect Robert Trent Jones Jr.’s Mona Lisa, the par 3 16th, dropped Langer to -9. He faltered again missing a par putt on 17 after finding sand off the tee and the lead was trimmed to 3. Playing it ultra safe on the last, his second rolled to a drain, he took a drop and conservatively played for one last bogey but another impressive win.
Our Wisconsin lads just couldn’t keep up. Kelly bounced back from a bogey 5 on two with a birdie on the par three 3rd. He wouldn’t get another birdie to drop until the 11th. A tough bogey from the front bunker on 12 was made up for with a long bomb of a birdie on the 14th. His even par final round never closed the gap and it was a third place finish. Kelly talked about his round and his playing partner champion.
Jerry Kelly meets the press at SentryWorld
Stricker started solidly enough but bogeyed both the 5th and 6th holes. He found the water short of the 5th green on his second and unlike Langer, wasn’t able to swim in after it. Stricker’s first birdie of the day came at the 11th but now was 8 shots back. He got another huge roar with a 10 footer on number 14 to get back where he started the day at -3. Another birdie on 15 and Stricker found himself tied for 2nd with Kelly at -4 but time was running out. One last bird on 17 got him to -5 and by two shots, settled for second.
Steve Stricker never forgets the fans
The only real charge of the day was made by Rob Labritz. A club pro from Hartford, Connecticut who made the cut at the 2010 PGA Championshp at Whistling Straits, zipped up the leader board with birdies at 7 and 9 and then an eagle 3 on the par 5, 10th to reach -4. He came off a tournament low round of 66 on Saturday after opening the week with a five over 76. Bogeys on 15 and 16 hurt and he finished -2 with a fist pumping long par putt on the last.
Y.E. Yang overcame a double on the first but four birdies got him to -3 with five to play. Another double on 17 ended his day.
Brett Quigley birdied five of his first six holes, going out in 31 and briefly got to -4 before a bogey on 15. He finished with a five under 66 and wound up at -2.
Steven Alker also saved his best for last with a 6 under 65, the low round of the week to finish in red numbers at -1.
The Wisconsin flavor ran deep all week, to the terrific job the folks at Sentry and the USGA did in bringing the US Senior Open to Point and carrying it off spectacularly, to the Saturday pairing of Jerry and Steve where they matched birdies on the 18th to big cheers and smiles to fantastic crowds.
But the stoic, steady play from Deutschland never allowed the storybook Badgerland finish to take place.
Bernhard Langer, the grand old man bid Wisconsin Auf Widersehen.
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