Golf Update: U.S. Senior Open- Bernhard Langer smashes 68
Bernhard Langer took the lead of 2-under 68 on Friday at the U.S. Senior Open being held in Sahalee Country Club.
It seemed as if he was only waiting for the bad weather to drift away. As soon as this happened, he took the charge and smashed a score in the inward nine holes closing them with an eagle and a birdie. When Langer was picking up his pace, other senior players were trying hard to remain on par.
This is the second time for the 43-year-old German to compete in 2 consecutive, major championships. Bernhard Langer’s performance on the front nine holes was not convincing enough for the lead and this was partially because of the weather conditions as well. However, after a delay of approximately three hours, Langer shot a 2-under 68 and got away with a lead.
According to the experts, Bernhard Langer was very careful with his putting on Friday and he was the only player who scored with 60s in his second round. The course of Sahalee Country Club is stretched on the par-70 layout and for players above 50; it becomes a tough job to keep the shot away from sand bunkers and water hazards. Not to forget this German has won the last weeks’ Senior British Open held at Carnoustie.
Rest of the players had a tough time and that includes Tom Watson as well. 60-year-old Tom Watson is the only player to win the two consecutive major championships of the Senior British Open and Tradition in 2003. The only reason behind his laggard performance was the tee timings that were shifted to late hours because of the delay caused earlier in the day.
He started with a bogey at the first hole, but covered it with a birdie on the second. Rest of the round was mainly at par; however, Tom Watson did not want to finish with a mediocre score, so he smashed a birdie at the par -4,18th hole which is “the toughest hole on the course”. Despite the will to finish with under par, Tom Watson could not make it because of the bogey which he delivered at the 17th hole.
Next to Tom Watson is Fredrick Steven Couples, whose performance was not much spectacular as expected .He was constantly seen stretching his stiff back, which he has from the days of young age. His first half was at par, eventually he managed to use a tricky 35-foot bender on the par-3 9th hole which bought him to 1under.However , his performance was pretty consistent in the second half as well with a couple of bogeys, but Fred Couples birdied the 16th hole and got himself back in a safer position (at par).
While Bernhard Langer was playing his way out of the tree range, others barely made it under the par, which includes Bruce Vaughan who scored 66 in the first round, but gave it all back in the second round with a score of 82.
A player who made a score of 66 in the second round is Roth J.R. He is two shot behind the leader after using a 25-foot bender on the 18th hole. John Cook and Tommy Armour III, both are in tie for the second position with 1 under. The strategy which John Cooks seem to use was, that he would hit the ball in the fairways and then use the right quality irons to make an accurate trajectory and the distance into the greens.
On the whole, the overall scorecard showed results close to the par as compared to Thursday. Tom Kites and Larry Mize stopped on 69, but their overall stats showed 1and 3 over the par respectively. Bernhard Langer so far is the only contender eligible for the lead at the U.S. Senior Open being held in Sahalee Country Club, because of his right game plan.
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