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KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 27, 2017

Bernhard Langer

Washington, D.C.

JOHN DEVER: Good afternoon and welcome back to the 78th KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Pleased to be joined by Bernhard Langer, who put up a 2-under 70 today. He currently resides in second place at 14-under par. Bernhard, not as much scoring today, was that maybe the golf course, the weather, or was it perhaps some missed opportunities.

BERNHARD LANGER: A little bit of both, I think. Actually, the weather was pretty good except for the rain. It wasn't much fun holding the umbrella and the greens slowed up a little bit with the rain for awhile while they were wet.

But that's not an excuse, that's just how it is. And I played okay, just maybe didn't makes as many putts this afternoon as I had done the first couple days or didn't hit it quite as close. But overall it was still a solid round of golf and it was fun being with Vijay and Scott.

JOHN DEVER: Questions?

Q. You were a little off with your ball striking today, at least by your standards compared to the first two days. Given that, are you pleased that you were able to stay close to Vijay given how well he was playing?
BERNHARD LANGER: Yeah, that's true, Vijay played extremely well. He only hit a couple of -- well two or three bad shots or unusual shots, but the rest was really, really good. As you said, I missed a couple of greens, more than a couple, that I would normally maybe not or wish I wouldn't miss. But I got some of them up-and-down and so I'm still in a good position, I would rather be two ahead than one behind, but there's a lot of golf left tomorrow and we'll see how it plays out.

Q. Is there a part of your game where you feel like you have the advantage over Vijay?
BERNHARD LANGER: I'm not sure. He hits it further, for sure. He hits it pretty straight off the tee, which is very important on this golf course. And if anything, maybe putting I have a slight advantage. His pitching, chipping was pretty good. So there's not a whole lot in it, he's just very long.

Q. Does your approach change at all tomorrow, now that you're chasing as opposed to having led the first couple rounds?
BERNHARD LANGER: I don't think it's going to change my game plan for the first nine or 15 holes even. Just see how it goes. Hopefully I'll get in front or stay in touch and then we'll see how it all plays out on the last six or nine holes. But if I -- my game plan will only change if necessary on the last few holes.

Q. Slightly broader question here, you're second all-time in senior wins and you're tied for senior Major Championships and you're in a perfect position to now capture that title. Do you feel that you intimidate players at the stage in your career, if so how and if not why not?
BERNHARD LANGER: I don't try to intimidate them, if they're intimidated by me, then that's their own fault. It's like Tiger Woods though, people said or, I don't know, I read many times that people were intimidated by Tiger Woods and then whenever they were paired with him they couldn't play as good as normal. And I never was. And I didn't think Tiger Woods was intimidating, maybe I understand the word wrong, intimidation. But he's a great golfer and he had some shots that I didn't have, but that didn't mean I was intimidated by him. So, whatever, I have no idea.

Q. Do you think you and Vijay have similar personalities when it comes to being on the golf course in the course of a round? Seems like you both kind of keep to yourselves and do your own thing and it's obviously worked out well for both of you throughout your careers.
BERNHARD LANGER: I'm not sure if we're similar, but the game of golf, you figure out what works for you and whatnot. And we'll talk every once in a while, we'll talk to our caddies and we'll talk to each other. We were talking a little bit, he told me about his foot issues, because I saw him hobbling down the hills. And I told him about my knee issues that I had a few months ago. And, you know, that's a common talk on this tour, what is hurting today and what was hurting last week, there's very few who don't have any ailments. But it's still great to be out there with these guys and, I mean, he played phenomenally, it was fun to watch some of the shots that he hit.

Q. On the Regular Tour the four Majors are very well established, everyone who follows golf knows them. How do you feel about the senior Majors? Do you feel, as I do, that there are three really real senior Majors or do you feel there are five or what's your feeling about that?
BERNHARD LANGER: Well, no, as a player we feel there's five. When I came on this tour I was told there's five Majors, so we treat them like Majors, usually you play against the best in the world in Majors on some very good golf courses and I think that's the case in all our Majors. They're distinct from each other, some have a little smaller field, some have a larger field, some are totally open, some are a little more closed, but you still have to beat the best players. It's not that there's 20 of the best guys missing in any of them.

Q. Last week you were in a similar situation going into the final round, will you draw anything from that or do you draw from all of your wins?
BERNHARD LANGER: Well, I've had some tremendous rounds on Sundays, this year especially. My lowest rounds came on Sundays this year. So that's encouraging. It gives me hope that I can, if I've already done it four or five times this year, where I went really low, so it wasn't a one-day wonder or a surprise or something like that. Hoping to pull another one tomorrow, but it doesn't happen all the time.

I think it helps to be in contention on a regular basis, just to deal with the pressure and the situation and what's going on than if you're only in contention once every five years, that's probably a little bit uncomfortable here and there.

Q. To follow that up, tomorrow you've got a new opponent in contention in Vijay. Is that exciting for you?
BERNHARD LANGER: Oh, Vijay and I have played many times before, so it's not the first time. Maybe not for a Major title, but we have been paired many many times over the years in European in America and all over the world. So there's not going to be any surprises.

JOHN DEVER: Okay, thank you, Mr. Langer, we appreciate your time and have a good evening.

BERNHARD LANGER: Thanks, same to you. You're welcome.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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