It is one of British golf’s hoariest clichés, tritely trotted out whenever meteorological conditions veer into something substantially worse than ideal: “The winner this week was the golf course.”

But it is a cliché for a reason. And the reason is Senior Open weeks like this one at cold, wet and windy (gusts up to 40 miles per hour) Royal Porthcawl on the shores of an endlessly choppy Bristol Channel. In short, this wonderful but often wild Welsh links, aided and abetted by mother nature, kicked some experienced butt.

The moment Alex Cejka claimed his 3⃣rd Senior Major Championship title ?#SeniorOpen | #Rolexpic.twitter.com/HnmRE2LRBM

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 30, 2023

The winning score is revealing of a tortuous four days. At the end of a final round that began with only one player, Alex Cejka, not already over par, the German eventually emerged as the new champion after closing with a five-over 76 that included a lost ball off the first tee and only three birdies. Cejka’s five-over-par 289 total was matched Padraig Harrington, who somehow got himself around in 75. Four-over after only four holes, the Irishman played the last 14 holes in a remarkable even par.

It took two playoff holes (both the par-5 18th) to separate the pair. The first was halved in birdies before Harrington failed to match Cejka’s second two-putt 4. Ironically, the owner of one of the best short games in golf, no matter the age, ended what had been a brave effort to secure the title by duffing a chip from a “cuppy” lie just behind the putting surface.

It was a sore one for the ever-persistent Harrington, who lost by a shot to Darren Clarke in this event at Gleneagles last year and was bidding to become only the fifth player, after Bob Charles, Gary Player, Tom Watson and Clarke, to win both the Open Championship and the Senior Open.

All of which was no concern for Cejka, who led for most of the final round and now owns three senior majors. It was somehow appropriate — and eminently predictable — that the destination of the title be decided more by a mistake than a decisive thrust. Indeed, the playoff was an appropriate postscript to what was, for all concerned, a test of survival as much as golfing skill.

All but two holes (the downwind sixth a par 5, and the 18th) averaged over par. The average 18-hole score was just over 78.5 and only two men, former PGA champion YE Yang and American Rob LaBritz, matched the par of 71. Yang, tied for 55th place after 54 holes, eventually rose as high as T-11. Another American, Mario Tiziani, had the distinction of making the day’s lone eagle.

Carnage.#SeniorOpen | #Rolex pic.twitter.com/Zd247FX1wR

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 30, 2023

It was carnage really. Or at least something not far short of it. Former PGA champion, Rich Beem, needed 84 shots to get around. Eight-time European Order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie shot 88, six strokes more than former US Senior Open and Senior PGA champion Roger Chapman. Even renowned foul weather expert, former Open champion Paul Lawrie, took 81, as did last year’s Schwab Cup winner, Steven Alker, who played the last six holes in seven-over. In all, 26 members of the 70-strong field failed to break 80, with Swede Patrik Sjoland’s 89 the worst example.

Amid that plethora of sizable statistics, lower numbers were just about possible to achieve, especially during those brief periods when the almost horizontal rain abated and the relentless wind assumed the role of primary hazard.

Cejka, armed with a short game that time and again turned three shots into two, proved to be the best of a bedraggled bunch. That said, Harrington will surely rue, as well as that fluffed chip shot, the short putt he missed on the 16th green. Had that three-footer fallen, the gap between the two protagonists would have shrunk to a single shot.

“What a week,” said Cejka at a prize presentation conducted during yet another heavy downpour. “What a day. I still can’t believe I am here and have beaten Padraig in a playoff. He is such a great player. It’s been a really tough two days. I can’t believe I’m standing with the trophy here. Seeing all those great names on the trophy, coming in here with all the pictures and everything, all the guys who won it before me, now holding it myself, it’s surreal.

“I tried to make good shots, but it was almost impossible in conditions like today,” he continued. “In the end, I lost it a little bit. I didn’t really make good shots coming in, but I made some beautiful par saves. I didn’t want a playoff, especially against Padraig, but I’m glad it’s over and I’m just super happy.”

He should be. For those keeping score, Germany now has 15 senior major wins to its name, 12 of those attributable to Bernhard Langer. Ever consistent, the two-time Masters champion pulled up T-7 this week. But the spoils, of course, always go to the winner.

Congratulations Royal Porthcawl.

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The Senior Open returns to Royal Porthcawl in Wales for a third time this week and several stars have spoken to the European Tour website about the challenge the historic Welsh links course poses.

Europe’s only Senior Major Championship is back at the venue following memorable events in 2014 and 2017 in which Germany’s Bernhard Langer won on both occasions.

When Royal Porthcawl hosted its first Senior Open in 2014, two-time Masters Champion Langer stormed to a wire-to-wire victory as he finished 13 shots ahead of runner-up Colin Montgomerie — a record margin that still stands.

Royal Porthcawl, which offers stunning views across Swansea Bay to the Gower Peninsula and offers a true test of golf, has hosted The Amateur Championship and the Walker Cup.

Once again the members’ 18th hole will be used as the first this week, but what are players making of the test?

Bernhard Langer. European Tour

Two-time Masters Champion Langer admitted both his triumphs were achieved in vastly different conditions and the German believes mentality will again be vital if he is to win his 13th senior Major title and fifth at this event.

“It is a typical links course and a very demanding one,” he told EuropeanTour.com. “The last two times we have played here were totally opposite. One time it was bone dry, the ball was running 100 yards — that was a challenge in itself because you couldn’t stop it.

“The second time we played it the rain came sideways, the wind was howling, and it was wet and miserable. But I am used to making the best of it. It seems to bring the best out of me.”

“It starts from the tee shot and that is the sign of a good golf course.”

Colin Montgomerie. Getty Images

Colin Montgomerie, one of many European greats of the game in the field, believes Royal Porthcawl ranks highly among the best UK links courses.

The Scot revealed how new fairway bunkering since it last played host in 2017 will provide an even greater complexity.

“The greens have got a lot of undulation to them,” he said. “Most links greens don’t, the trouble is really off the tee with most links courses but here it is actually everything.

“They have put in a number of new fairway bunkers in the last five or six years since we were last year and it has made it much tighter off the tee.

“You will see a lot of people having to think more on their tee shots rather than just hit a driver aimlessly and try to find it.

“Now there are bunkers in the way and you know with links golf — Brian Harman proved it at The Open — if you stay out of the bunkers, drive the ball well you can score.

“You can always move it forward from the rough but you can’t move it forward from the bunkers, you have to come out sideways.

“It starts from the tee shot and that is the sign of a good hole and golf course overall.”

Royal Porthcawl boasts a stunning setting sloping down to the seashore, with impressive views of the coastline from every hole.

Ian Woosnam. European Tour

The second to fourth holes can play particularly difficult when played into a freshening wind, something Ian Woosnam attests to as he highlighted the challenge of approach shots onto undulating greens.

“If the wind is off the left playing those first few holes, trying to get it on the green is a challenge,” he said. “You have got to try and hug the right hand side to get a better shot into the green.

“Once you get on the green it is hard to get it close and you have got to try and two putt.”

Padraig Harrington. Jared C. Tilton

But it isn’t just the greens that Pádraig Harrington is focusing on as he targets a strong performance off the tee in his bid to complete The Open-Senior Open double.

“The course is well designed,” the 15-time DP World Tour winner said. “There is a staggering number of bunkers. You can take some trouble out but you can’t take it all out. Avoiding trouble off the tee will be my goal for the week.

“Sometimes I will play cautious, sometimes I will play a little more aggressive. If I can avoid those bunkers and any of the major trouble I think that will set me up enough.

“The greens are difficult, there are slopes, but if I hit it straight you will create so many opportunities that you will overcome the odd lack of knowledge or the odd mistake around the greens.”

Darren Clarke. Mark Runnacles

Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke is this week’s defending champion having won his first Senior Major at Gleneagles last summer.

On his first return to Royal Porthcawl since the 1988 European Team Amateur Championships, the 2011 Open Champion is excited and alert in equal measure of its challenges.

“Conditions-wise, holes, everything, it’s pristine,” he said. “But no, there are some very strategic bunkers positioned out there.

“Sometime you’ve got to play in between bunkers, carry one and not reach the next one.

“And then obviously with the contours on the greens, there are a few you’ve got to miss in the right place.

“The wind is going to get up a little stronger and that’s fine.”

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With a two-under 69 on Thursday at Royal Porthcawl in Wales, in windy and rain conditions that saw the scoring average come in a 76.8, Langer established a lead that would not be topped. He then spent the next three days toying with the rest of the field, posting scores of 74-65-72 to win by three strokes over Corey Pavin.

It was Langer’s third Senior British Open title, going with wins at Carnoustie in 2010 and Porthcawl in 2014. The victory was also his third major triumph of 2017, letting him join Jack Nicklaus as just the second golfer to ever win three in one calendar year, the Golden Bear accomplishing the feat in 1991.

Langer’s latest triumph came amid his continued frustration over questions about his putting stroke. With the USGA coming out after the U.S. Senior Open earlier this month stating that he was in compliance with the 2016 ban on an anchored stroke, the German golfer hoped things will soon be put to rest. But whispers linger.

Langer was also under the weather in Wales, dealing with a sore throat that left him with laryngitis at the start of the week and limited his practice.

Lastly, there specter of a rare slip-up from Langer two weeks earlier at the Senior Players Championship, when he double bogeyed the 17th hole to squander a final-round lead and lose to Scott McCarron.

“I’m just going to enjoy the fruit of the labor, and to have won three majors in one season is pretty spectacular, and it actually could have been four if I didn’t mess up two weeks ago,” said Langer, who now has 33 career PGA Tour Champions wins, 12 behind all-time leader Hale Irwin. “But when you put yourself in that situation, you’re going to win some and you’re just going to lose some. That’s how it goes.”

As Langer’s list of superlatives grows, they’re worth repeat if only to help convince people that they’ve actually happened.

This is his fifth senior major victory since turning 58; only three other players in history had one a single senior major at that age (Tom Watson, Irwin and John Jacobs).

He has won his 10 senior majors in 48 starts, giving him a win percentage of 20.83. Meanwhile, for his career he has led or held a share of the lead after 42 of 192 rounds (21.88 percent).

That rate increases to 42.5 percent at the Senior British, where Langer has now led after 17 of 40 rounds. His worst finish in the event in 10 career starts is a T-12.

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While the USGA has come to Langer’s defense, many prominent voices continue to cast aspersions on Langer (and to a lesser extent, Scott McCarron). Speaking at Royal Porthcawl ahead of this week’s Senior Open Championship, the two-time Masters champ sounds fed up with the matter.

“I personally don’t understand it because I’m a man of integrity and the last thing I want to do is break rules and be known as cheating or something,” Langer said. “I mean, that’s the very last thing I want.

“What’s even stranger is that I have conferred with the USGA rules officials, with the Champions Tour officials, on a regular basis…And then you have a few people that come up on whatever it is, Twitter or somewhere else, and questioning my integrity, which is really hurtful. “

But Langer said he plans on continue to employ his current stroke, and offered his thoughts on why this vendetta is aimed his way.

“It’s human to be jealous,” Langer said. “If I was No. 180 on the Money List, I don’t think anybody would be talking about it. But I’ve been No. 1 the last few years on a regular basis, and now McCarron has a lot of success, as well. We’re actually No. 1 and 2 on the Champions Tour. So you’re going to have people, you know, being jealous or whatever you want to call it.”

Langer is shooting for this third career Senior Open title this week.

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