Bernhard Langer holds off Fred Couples to win US Senior Open

Posted on August 4, 2010 by godadnet

Langer adds title to British Senior Open he won last week
Fred Couples’ mistake on 2nd proved to be critical

Bernhard Langer shot a final round three-under-par to win the US Senior Open and complete a trans-Atlantic double having triumphed at the Senior British Open at Carnoustie last week.

Langer took advantage of Fred Couples’ critical mistake to finish at eight under for the tournament, fighting off jet lag and a partisan hometown crowd hoping Couples could pull out victory near where he grew up.

Langer became the first German player to win any US Golf Association championship and the first Champions Tour player to win back-to-back majors since Tom Watson took the Senior British and Jeld-Wen Tradition. But Watson didn’t travel eight time zones and win his titles on consecutive weekends like Langer did.

It was Langer’s fourth Champions Tour title this year. And he did it in almost Ryder Cup conditions, with the crowd urging on Couples with every step he took.

But match play is never as penalizing as the second hole was to Couples. He hit his third shot into the greenside pond and by the time he walked off with a triple bogey, he was always playing catch-up.

Only once did Langer appear to wobble and he got a fortunate bounce. He pulled his tee shot on the 11th well to the left and into some of the thousands of trees framing Sahalee. Instead of dropping into the deep rough, or going out of bounds, Langer’s shot deflected into the middle of the fairway.

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