He’s the record holder with 10 PGA Tour Champions major victories and has topped the money list every year since joining that tour except for 2011 when he was out for several months with a thumb injury. As defending champion of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, Bernhard Langer had a great time at Harbor Shores this morning, but also had some tough news for local fans. He will not be defending his championship next month because he will be marking the occasion of his son’s high school graduation. “Family always comes first,” he told a large contingent of media today assembled for Media Day, but he promised he will return because he loves Harbor Shores.
Langer flew in from his second place finish at the Legends Championship in Missouri yesterday when he and playing partner Tom Lehman were unable to convert potential birdie putts after Kirk Triplett holed out from a green-side bunker to lock up the championship for himself and playing partner Paul Broadhurst after the one-hole playoff.
Langer was, nevertheless, in excellent spirits this morning as he sat with the PGA of America’s Julius Mason for a “Fireside Chat,” to discuss his illustrious career and provide a peek behind the curtain at the Hall of Fame golfer who has won the Masters twice and took last year’s KitchenAid Senior PGA event and would have been the defending champ if not for his family commitment on the Memorial Day Weekend next month.
Langer, who is from Augsburg, Germany, told the audience today, that community in the southern part of the country is the best part of Germany, and jokingly dismissed anything north of Frankfurt as unworthy of consideration. He says he came from a poor family and got his love of golf from his brother’s job as a caddie. Once he saw the money his brother was pocketing as a caddie, he garnered a new interest of his own by the age of 9 and actually turned pro at the age of just 15, and the tour itself at the age of 18.
The only golf course within 30 miles was about 5-miles from his home and he would ride his bicycle to the course to play. He admits that his first love of the game was for the money not for the game, but, even though he has earned millions over the course of his prodigious career, he clearly has a love for the game.
His first win was at the German Open in 1974, and his most recent victory was at last October’s PowerShares QQQ Championship in a playoff against Miguel Angel Jimenez.
Langer has 110 professional wins in his life including 42 on the European Tour, 3 on the regular PGA Tour, 1 each on the Japan and Asian Golf Tours and 27 other wins before venturing onto the senior circuit. He’s been highly successful over the past 10 years with 36 Champions Tour wins, a half dozen European Senior Tour Wins, and 10 major senior championships.
Langer still maintains a home in his ancestral Anhausen, Germany but lives largely in Boca Raton, Florida today with his wife Vikki, and children Jackie, Stefan, Christina and Jason. Jason is the one graduating high school next month, which is why Langer will not be in Benton Harbor to defend his title.
Mason queried Bernhard extensively regarding his play and his role as Captain of the European Ryder Cup team leading them to victory in 2004. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001, and continues to be a major draw on the Champions Tour. In his three appearance at Harbor Shores he has finished in the top 5 all three times. Asked about Harbor Shores, Langer says, “I definitely like this golf course. The first round I played here years ago, a practice round I immediately said to my caddie this is a special place. I thought that it was tee-to-green one of the best places I’ve ever played. I did feel that some of the greens were a little bit severe, but there’s a reason for all of that, and I can see why Jack (Nicklaus) did what he did. Good shots get rewarded and make a bunch of birdies, and if you don’t hit it in the right corner, the right place, you might make a three putt, or even a four putt, and that can happen out here, it’s a very demanding golf course, but I really enjoy competing out here. I know that I haven’t won here yet, but hopefully I get the chance in the near future.”
Mason told the crowd today that Langer has been the scoring leader on the Champions Tour 6 times in the past 10 years, Player of the Year 7 times and the money leader 9 times. He then asked if his senior career is better than his regular tour career to which he replied, “I think it is!”
Following the media chat and individual interviews, Langer put on a small demonstration Skills Challenge with Retired NFL Football Wide Receiver and UofM Alum Braylon Edwards, PGA Hope Graduate Sgt. Jason Fuller and PGA Junior League Representative Dylan Walters from the First Tee of Benton Harbor.
Each contestant tried to break framed glass bearing each of their organization’s logos in a driving competition won by Edwards, a chipping contest won by Walters, and a Putting Competition also won by Edwards.
KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship Director Ryan Ogle presented Langer with a top of the line KitchenAid blender to mix his famous morning smoothie in each day. He also delivered a check for $1,000 to the Benton Harbor Athletics Programs in Edwards name to Braylon, a new set of junior golf clubs to Walters and a new set of Callaway clubs to Fuller for their participation in today’s events.
Even as today’s proceedings were underway, crews continued to build a virtual city around the Harbor Shores Golf Course in preparation for next months Championship from the 22nd through the 27th. The tents, grand stands, sky boxes, camera towers, and many other temporary structures are well underway for the big event returning to Benton Harbor for the fourth time since 2012. It is also due back in 2020, 2022 and 2024.
Championship General Chair Sam Abdelnour applauded the army of 1,700 volunteers who will log more than 30,000 hours helping the championship to run smoothly. He voiced exceptional pride in the fact that more than a third of those volunteers have worked in every local event thus far and they will be notable by their yellow 4th year credentials lanyard as compared to blue lanyards for other volunteers.
KitchenAid’s Deb O’Connor also addressed the media this morning foretelling the excitement of live concerts at City Center downtown Benton Harbor and on the course alongside the KitchenAid Fairway Club on Saturday evening. Also appearing at the KitchenAid Fairway Club will be celebrity chefs offering up live cooking demonstrations utilizing KitchenAid appliances and other gear. Coming this year are Adam Richmond from The Travel Channel and The Food Network, Carla Hall from The Chew, and Justin Chapple, Culinary Director at Food & Wine Magazine. Also on the KitchenAid stage will be local Chefs Tim Foley of Bread+Bar, Cheyenne Galbraith of The Bistro on the Boulevard and Mike Kenat from Salt of the Earth in Fennville.
Additionally O’Connor highlighted the KitchenAid Shopping Spree being introduced this year which will see one winner every day Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of a $5,000 shopping spree. To be eligible ticketholders need only to make sure their ticket is scanned upon entry and they are in the running for each day’s prize.
Shown below, in the first photo are (l to r) Bernhard Langer, Sgt. Jason Fuller a PGA Hope graduate, PGA Jr. League Rep. Dyland Walters and former NFL & UofM star Braylon Edwards. In the second photo Langer and Walters are on one side of the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy and Fuller and Edwards are on the opposite side.
In the photo at the top, Fuller and Langer chat with PGA of America President Paul Levy before the press conference and Fireside Chat at Harbor Shores.
