Improbable bunker shot lands Langer Allianz title
By Craig Dolch, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
BOCA RATON -- The ball was buried in the bunker. So, too, appeared to be Bernhard Langer's chances of finally winning his hometown event.
But with a stroke of brilliance, Langer watched as his ball left its tangled dirt, rolled across the green and disappeared into the hole for an unlikely eagle. Langer did his best Bob Tway impersonation, jumping up and down in the bunker three times before high-fiving his caddie.
Langer's eagle enabled the Boca Raton resident to defeat John Cook on the first hole of Sunday's sudden-death playoff at the Allianz Championship in front of family and friends at Broken Sound. The finish came just 30 minutes after Langer appeared to have blown the tournament when he missed a 4-foot par putt at the 17th hole.
"I didn't want to make it that exciting," Langer said. "It's very emotional because I was able to win in front of my family. When I saw the lie was plugged, I was just trying to get it within 4 feet. You could probably put me in there 50 times and I probably wouldn't hole it again."
He doesn't have to, of course. Langer (67-199) made the shot when it counted, and he was still giddy an hour later.
"I've won a lot of tournaments around the world," he said, "but this probably ranks in the top three in my career."
It's kind of hard to crack the first two -- his two Masters titles.
This also marked the second consecutive victory for Langer when he holed a shot at the final hole (he also chipped in at last year's 3M Championship). That's how you claim consecutive Player of the Year titles on the Champions Tour.
"Hall of Famers do things like that," Cook said. "That's why they're Hall of Famers. I've now played in three playoffs in my career. I've shot 1 under and I'm now 0-3. As much as I've won in my career, I can tell you it's no fun to lose in a playoff."
Cook (67) appeared to be in control of the playoff when he reached the par-5 18th hole in two shots. He was looking at a 30-foot eagle try.
"I saw he had a buried lie, so I'm thinking I might just have to two-putt this to win," Cook said. "When I saw his ball come out, I'm thinking, 'Well, this is going to be close, so I'll just two-putt and we'll go to the next hole.' All of a sudden it goes in the hole and now I have to make it."
Cook almost matched Langer's heroics, but his eagle try lipped out on the high side. Cook had run backward, thinking the putt was going in, but quickly walked toward Langer and shook hands with the winner.
"He said, 'You were unlucky,' " Cook said. "I told him, 'No, I wasn't.' "
It was a dramatic ending to an intriguing day of golf where at one point eight players were tied for the lead.
Langer birdied the 13th hole to become the first player to get to 17 under. Cook, who's now 0-for-105 in Florida on the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour, was the only one to join him, though, at 17 under when he birdied the 18th hole in regulation.
Langer dropped to 16 under with the bogey at No. 17, but made a short birdie putt at No. 18 to force the playoff.
"I felt like I had a good putt at 17, so it didn't bother me that much," Langer said. "I knew what I had to do at 18, and I was able to do that."
Joey Sindelar, playing just three months after he suffered a pulmonary embolism, challenged for his first career Champions Tour title, but came up one shot short after a 67. Gene Jones (66) finished alone in fourth.
Marquee names such as Hall-of-Famer Nick Price (70) and Tom Lehman (69) were also in contention, until they both double-bogeyed the difficult par-4 15th hole.
Sunday's finish marked the third consecutive Champions Tour event this year that has been decided by a shot. The winners have been stout: Tom Watson, Fred Couples and now Langer.
"Our tour is very strong," Cook said. "It takes great golf to win out here. For anyone to think otherwise, they're very misguided."
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