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THE SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY MASTERCARDJuly 25, 2010Bernhard LangerCARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND STEVE TODD: Bernhard, many congratulations, Senior Open Champion, 2010. Your first senior major, if you can just start by describing how it feels. BERNHARD LANGER: Well, it feels wonderful. It's always fantastic to win and to win a championship like this one is very special. As I said the last few days, I've always wanted to win An Open Championship trophy, and I know this is not The Open Championship, but it's at the senior level the same thing. So I'm very pleased to be the champion this year, and look forward to defending next year. STEVE TODD: The 18th hole has claimed many a victim over the years, if you can describe what was going through your mind as you approached it there. BERNHARD LANGER: My goal was to come into 18 with at least a three-shot lead. Obviously it was only two, but still, better than anything. So I was just trying to take a large number out of play. And the wind started switching constantly the last four holes; it was not consistent. And actually when I teed up the ball, it was off the right hurting, and you know 20 seconds later it was straight into me. So anyway, I had it 3-wood to take most of the bunkers out of play, and pushed it a little bit to the right, a little too close to the water for my liking but it stayed on the fairway and then decided to -- my only option would have been a 3-wood into the green, or lay up. So Terry, my caddie, Terry, and I decided to lay up with a 6-iron just short of the creek and leave me a full wedge or something in there and play for bogey, maybe par. The odds that Corey would make birdie on last hole were, you know, generally fairly slim, because he needed a 3-wood just to get over the creek, and probably wasn't going to be able to get it all the way back there. So laid up, hit a good third shot to about 15, 20 feet, and Corey had a really long putt for birdie and left it short and I had two putts to win. STEVE TODD: You've had a fantastic career on the Champions and Senior Tour so far, but does this cap what you've achieved? BERNHARD LANGER: It certainly is, on the senior level, it's always fun to win tournament, and I was Player of the Year two years running over there, won the Money List and all sorts of stuff, but I had not won a major yet. So this is certainly again something I have not done in my career before as a senior, and it's something I've always wanted. Well, always is the wrong word; for the last two years I've wanted to win a major, and hopefully there's more to come. Q. You're exempt now next year for the Open at Royal St. George's. BERNHARD LANGER: All right! Q. Well, you almost won there. BERNHARD LANGER: Yeah, a couple good finishes down there. That's another tough track down there. Q. So what do you think your prospects will be this time for that? BERNHARD LANGER: Well, I don't know. It's one of the longer courses I think, but you know, I'll have to look at the schedule and all that, but I might show up and hopefully play decent. If I remember correctly, I don't know if they made any changes, but it's a fairly long golf course, isn't it. So that's not going to suit me, you know, being a senior, these guys hit it 30, 40 yards past me. But you never know. So, we'll see. That's a long ways away right now. We're just going to enjoy this victory for a day and then we're battling again in Seattle next week. Q. We've been on the main tour talking about the depth of European talent; can we sort of say now that the depth of the European talent on the Senior Tour, with your victory here? BERNHARD LANGER: I'm not going to create a lot of depth; it takes more than one. But we do have a number of good players, obviously, with Woosie and Sam and Sandy Lyle has been showing good form here and there and a bunch of other guys. We had Des Smyth, Mark James and on and on. So I think there's certainly more interest now for the Senior Tour in Europe, more players from all over the world participating that are willing to travel and fly all over, and they enjoy it. That's good. Hopefully the Tour will grow. STEVE TODD: Thank you and congratulations. End of FastScripts |
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