Cologuard Classic Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Bernhard Langer ageless? Well, he’s 62 and still rolling, winning the Cologuard Classic

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 05:16:26 +0000

TUCSON, AZ – MARCH 01: Bernhard Langeracknowledges the gallery on the third green during the final round of the PGA TOUR Champions Cologuard Classic at Omni Tucson National on March 1, 2020 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR via Getty Images )

By John Strege
No one is ageless, of course, but at what point it is evident in golf is a moving target, and Bernhard Langer continues to move the target more than most.

Langer, 62, won the Cologuard Classic at Omni Tucson National in Tucson, Ariz., on Sunday. He started the final round trailing by four, then shot a seven-under par 66 to win by two over Woody Austin.

It marks the 14th consecutive season the World Golf Hall of Famer has won on the PGA Tour Champions, and a record that only a few years ago seemed unapproachable suddenly is in play.

The victory was Langer’s 41st on the senior tour, second only to Hale Irwin’s 45 career victories. And there is no indication that this victory will prove to be an aberration. In four starts this year, Langer has finished tied for sixth, tied for fifth, tied for third and first.

First, but not his last.

Langer hit every fairway, 14 of 14, in an eight birdie, one bogey round that included a chip-in birdie at the seventh hole and an 18th-hole bogey. The German native completed 54 holes in 18-under par 201. Austin had the second-best round of the day, a seven-under 66. Thirty-six hole leader Brett Quigley, pursuing a second victory in this his rookie year on the PGA Tour Champions, stumbled to an even-par 73 and tied Rod Pampling for third.

Langer ranked it among his finest rounds as a senior. “It was very much up there, certainly the first 17½ holes,” he said. “That six-iron at the last wasn’t a lot of quality, but up until then a lot of quality shots. Really good driving all day long, and good putting. All in all, extremely happy.

“I still feel if I can play my best I have a chance to win out here, but I have to play my best I can’t play at 80 per cent. Too many good players out here.”

As for Irwin’s record, four wins to tie still represent, at age 62, an uphill climb for Langer, but he is not unaware of it. “I don’t really think about it,” he said, “but I get reminded of it just about every week out here.”

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Mark O’Meara, 62, wins the Cologuard Classic, his first victory since 2010

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 00:23:49 +0000

Michael Cohen/Getty Images
Mark O’Meara won the Cologuard Classic on Sunday, his first victory in nearly nine years.

By John Strege
Mark O’Meara prepared for the Cologuard Classic on a snowmobile in Park City, Utah, and why not? At 62, winning was no longer an option. Realistically, neither was contending.

Yet inexplicably O’Meara turned the clock back, way back, and won the Cologuard by four strokes at Omni Tucson National on Sunday. Willie Wood, Scott McCarron, Kirk Triplett and Darren Clarke tied for second.

It was O’Meara’s first victory since 2010, when he won twice, his only previous PGA Tour Champions wins.

“It’s a dream come true,” O’Meara said, “certainly, the first day, running over the edge of the first hole, and then making eight straight birdies and really playing well the first day. And today I knew it was going to be a lot of pressure. It’s been nine years since I’d won. To play the front nine the way I did, to make five birdies, I’m really happy and very pleased.”

A World Golf Hall of Famer with 16 PGA Tour victories, two major championships and a U.S. Amateur victory, O’Meara apparently had not forgotten how to close. He took a one-shot lead into the final round and took control with a front-nine of five-under-par 31.

O’Meara shot a seven-under-par 66, the same score he posted to open the tournament in a round that included those eight consecutive birdies, tying a senior tour record.

On Saturday, he was asked whether he had entertained any thoughts of winning when he arrived in Tucson on Tuesday. “No,” he said.

“I came into this week knowing that I had had a couple of good days up on the snow riding my snowmobile in Park City. I didn’t hit any balls all last week. But even on Tuesday when I got here and I practiced and played, I felt like I was swinging fairly decent, hitting the ball OK. So I kind of like what I’ve been working on and I think if I make good swings, I can still hit good shots.”

Yet he had not hit many of them in three previous starts this year, when his best finish was a tie for 30th. Then again, the senior tour is trending older this year; the average age of the winners of the four senior events this year is 59.25.

Meanwhile, John Smoltz, another Hall of Famer though in baseball, closed with an even-par 73 and finished 54 holes in one-over par 220 to tie for 53rd. Smoltz was playing on a sponsor exemption and has two more lined up.

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Steve Stricker makes amends with Tucson National, wins Cologuard Classic, his first PGA Tour Champions victory

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 04:40:22 +0000

By John Strege
The game gives and it takes, so it never really owes you one, but Steve Stricker owed himself one at the Omni Tucson National. He paid the debt to himself on Sunday by winning the Cologuard Classic.

The victory was the first of his PGA Tour Champions career and came nearly a full year after he kicked away a two-stroke lead with three to play in his senior debut at Tucson National, losing to Tom Lehman by one.

“I came close here last year,” Stricker said earlier in the week. “I finished second here in my rookie year on [the Northern Telecom Open on the PGA Tour] in 1994, so I’ve been close here. Not that this place owes me anything, but I feel like I want to get it, I want to finally get this place.”

Stricker, 51, got what he wanted by virtue of a final-round four-under par 69 to win by two in his eighth senior start, an overdue victory. He’s finished in the top three in six of them and has now played all 22 rounds under par.

“Been a long time. I cry every time,” he said wiping away tears. Stricker challenges Bubba Watson for the most weepy winner in golf. “It means a lot. It’s hard to win. It’s hard to win anywhere and it was building on me.”

The victory was his first since winning the PGA Tour’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions in 2012. He still is capable of competing on the PGA Tour and has been splitting his time between the tours, likely having postponed his maiden senior win.

Stricker began the final round trailing Tommy Tolles by a stroke. Tolles played his way out of contention on the back nine and tied for ninth. Stricker took a one-stroke lead over Scott Dunlap with a birdie on the par-5 15th hole and played the final three holes in even par, or two better than he had last year. He, too, made amends for the tee shot that cost him a chance at victory a year ago, at the par-4 18th.

Last year, he hooked a 3-wood that bounded into a pond left of the fairway. This time, he hit a 3-wood down the middle. “I was thinking of it all day today. It’s a hard one for me,” he said, explaining that he prefers to hit a draw that with a misguided effort can turn into a hook, a non-starter on 18 at Tucson National.

One other notable performance this week was that of Bernhard Langer, the most dominant player on the PGA Tour Champions over the last decade. Langer, 60, had the worst finish of his senior career, a tie for 54th. His previous worst was a T49 at the SAS Championship in 2011.

Langer was undone by four-over par 77 in the second round, then closed with an even-par 73.

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