Featured Golf News
Langer Two Up
Bernhard Langer has overcome his jet lag. After notching his first over-50 major title last week in the Senior British Open, Langer now leads the U.S. Senior Open at Sahalee Country Club by two strokes.
He stands at 3-under 137, a couple of shots in front of Tommy Armour III (68), John Cook (68), and J.R. Roth, who shot the best round Friday, a 4-under 66.
Bruce Vaughn, the laid-back Kansan who launched the 2010 U.S. Senior Open with a promising 66 Thursday, shot 16 shots higher Friday. His 12-over 82 and 36-hole total of 8-over 140, however, was well under the cut line of plus-10, the highest in the Senior Open since 17-over at Oak Hill in 1984. (Through two rounds, the average score is 76.564.)
Despite Vaughn's missteps, the main protagonists close to the top after the first round managed to hang tight. Cook, a sweet swinger with four Champions Tour victories, Roth and Armour, along with marquee players Fred Couples (two straight 70s), Tom Watson (same numbers), 2009 Senior PGA champion Michael Allen (71, 69) and Loren Roberts (68, 72) will make sure the next two days are full of drama.
Delayed two hours and 15 minutes by fog, the second round ended up basked in sunlight. Playing in the morning with two other pre-tournament favorites, Corey Pavin and Mark Calcavecchia, Langer outshone both. After a birdie on the first, Langer had two bogeys to go out in 1-over 36. On the back nine it was a different story, as Langer eagled the difficult tree-imperiled par-5 11th by sinking a snaky 25-foot putt from above the hole, then tacked on an unlikely birdie on the par-3 17th for a 32.
Ever the pragmatist, Langer, the player who - justifiably when you think about it - raised the biggest stink about having to play two majors in two weeks eight hours apart in time change, said of his round, "I hit it straight and made some putts. It's always the same, isn't it? Just different venues, different conditions, but it's always same idea, hit it where you're looking and try and play smart, attack the holes that can be attacked and play smart on the other ones."
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