Bernhard Langer on Thursday while walking off the 13th green at Greystone Golf & Country Club.
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Bernhard Langer javelin-threw his putter. He tossed his ball into the woods.
We’ll type that again.
Bernhard Langer javelin-threw his putter. He tossed his ball into the woods.
Still doesn’t seem accurate, does it? Langer — the two-time major winner, one of the greatest Champions tour players and one of the overall nicest guys you’ll meet — exploded. End of sentence. Golf is undefeated. It takes no prisoners.
The sequence came Thursday, during the first round of the Regions Tradition, the PGA Tour Champions circuit’s first major of the year. Langer had been playing well. Through nine holes, he was three-under. On the par-3 10th, Langer had a 15-footer for birdie that would have given him a share of the lead.
He missed to the left.
On the par-4 11th, he missed a 20-foot birdie putt to the right. It, too, would have handed him the co-lead.
On the par-4 12th, he missed a 15-foot birdie putt to the left. It also would have put him at the top.
Things were building.
On the par-5 13th, from just off the green, Langer missed a 12-footer for eagle. He then missed a 3-footer for birdie. He put his left hand up to his chin. He stood straight up. He paused. He was confused. He circled around the hole, and he made his par.
“Ooh, ooh,” said analyst Lanny Wadkins, on the Golf Channel broadcast, of the second putt. “That was not a good stroke from the get-go. He went back closed. And, wow. That was …
“Shocking,” analyst Robert Damron said.
“It was — well, the putter head got closed when it went back and it came off straight left,” Wadkins said. “He’s trying to put it in the right center of the hole. You don’t see that kind of bobble out of Langer very often. Unfortunately for him, when you do, it usually leads to more of those.”
“Yeah, they multiply, those bad shots,” Damron said.
“And that stroke right there got a little short,” Wadkins said. “So all of a sudden you got the daylight stroke going.”
Then came the reason why you’re here.
Langer walked off the green slowly.
He took his broomstick-style putter with his right arm and javelin-tossed it into the ground.
On the way to 14, he flung up the spectator rope.
He then tossed his golf ball into the trees.
“Ooh, and there’s something you don’t see everyday,” Wadkins said of the putter fling.
“Wow, in the 10-plus years that I’ve been out on the PGA Tour Champions,” announcer Bob Papa said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Bernhard Langer throw a club.
“That may be the most upset I’ve seen him,” Wadkins said.
As you’ve sometimes experienced, things can snowball. Langer was not immune. He missed twice more.
Bernhard Langer makes history with latest PGA Tour Champions win, reflects on improbable journey
On the par-3 14th, he hit to 8 feet, then missed.
On the par-5 15th, Langer missed a 3-footer for birdie. He had jabbed at the putt, and it went to the right.
“Oh noooo,” Damon said on the broadcast.
“No. That was — I hate to say it, but I’ve seen this act before,” Wadkins said. “Bernhard has been through the yips in his career. Probably at least three times, and it hasn’t been pretty. And he has changed styles and manners of putting as much or more than anyone.”
“It’s kind of shocking because it literally just started three holes ago,” Papa said.
“When you got issues putting, you go along with all the confidence in the world and make everything,” Wadkins said. “Confidence is a fragile thing. And it only takes one really massively bad one like he hit on the par-5 to shatter it completely. And that’s what looks like has happened.”
From there, over his final three holes, Langer took four putts. He recovered.
On the par-4 16th, he made an 18-incher for par. The stroke was solid. He had a relieved look. On the par-3 17, after hitting his tee shot into the left greenside bunker, he made a 6-footer for par. On 18, Langer two-putted from 50 feet, making the second from about a yard away.
He finished with a three-under 69, with no bogies. He returned Friday and fired an even-par 72.
“Well, we’ve always talked about Langer being one of the great on-course correctors,” Papa said after the 15th hole. “We’ve seen it over the years when he’s struggling to hit shots. He always seems to find a way back. When you correct your putting, though, that’s a little different.”
“That’s a different thing, yes,” Wadkins said.
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