An Interview with Bernhard
Langer
March 29, 2008
DAVE SENKO: Bernhard, thank you for joining us. Followed up
your 67 with 6-under par. 66, today you are 11-under. Two shot
lead going into tomorrow. Maybe just a quick recap on the day
and get your -- looks like six birdies and no bogeys.
BERNHARD LANGER: Played very solid today. Played a lot better
than yesterday, better ball striking-wise from tee to green. Hit
a lot more greens. Had a lot more opportunities. And didn't putt
quite as well yesterday. The short game was brilliant,
especially the putter.
Today the game was pretty good, and the putter wasn't quite as
good. Misread a cup of putts and left a couple short. Otherwise,
it could have been two or three or four better but no
complaining.
DAVE SENKO: Start off, birdies on 1 and 2. Shot sequence on
that?
BERNHARD LANGER: Hit a 3-wood, sand iron into -- actually lob
wedge, 3-wood lob wedge into 1, to about 8 feet. And then driver
5-wood, two putts from 30 feet. 7 was 3-wood -- actually, I
birdied -- didn't I birdie 6? I thought I birdied 6. I had
driver in the left bunker or waste area, whatever it is. 3-iron
onto the front level of the green and 2-putted again from about
35 feet.
Then 7 was 3-wood off the tee. Trying to remember what I
hit in there. I think it was 6-iron for about a 12-footer.
DAVE SENKO: And then on 12?
BERNHARD LANGER: On 12, the par 3?
DAVE SENKO: Yeah.
BERNHARD LANGER: We all had great shots in there. The others and
I were about 12 feet away with a 6-iron. And then driver 3-iron
onto the green pin high, 2 putt from 20 feet.
And the rest were more good up and down. On 17, I missed the
green left. Actually, hit the green and rolled left and left and
left and never stopped and then it was 10 yards off the green
and chipped it to about 3 inches. Had a good chance on 18.
Misread it, just went over the lip.
Q. What was your comfort with the lead going into Sunday,
historically? Do you like that position?
BERNHARD LANGER: I'd rather be ahead than behind. But anywhere
--
Q. You rather be ahead by 8, I'm sure.
BERNHARD LANGER: I would.
Q. Does it affect the way you go about your business at all?
BERNHARD LANGER: Not really because it is too close. If I was 8
ahead, I might play a little more conservative. But with a
one-shot, a two-shot lead, whatever, you can't do that. So you
need to --
Q. If the wind picks up -- they are talking about that being
a possibility -- does that do anything to you at all? It is not
like there is anything you can do about it, I guess.
BERNHARD LANGER: We got to cope with the elements, whatever they
are. It is going to be the same pretty much for everyone since
we play two tees.
We are all out there at the same time. It is not like U.S. Open
or British Open when one group goes off at 7:00, the other group
goes off at 4:00 in the afternoon. We are battling the same
elements also, the same course.
It could be an altered pin position where I might not aim for
the pin and go more for the middle if it is asked for, if it is
too much trouble, too much wind, too much club.
In general, I know I am going to have to go low tomorrow to win
this thing. I can't lay on my laurels and just take it easy.
Q. Bernhard, a lot of momentum swings. You saw Freddy makes
that chip in on 15 and then he makes a double-bogey later. Tim
Simpson chipped in for eagle on 10 and doubled 11. Is that kind
of -- is that kind of swing out there waiting for you? How have
you been able to avoid the high swings as opposed --
BERNHARD LANGER: It is. It is the type of golf course that can
happened real fast. I said that yesterday.
If you play really good shots, perfect shots, you will have
birdie opportunities because you are going to hit the fairway
and hit the right plateaus and have a shorter putt. If you are a
little off, you will be in some big trouble.
And that's what happened to Freddie. He had a great run of three
or four birdies in a row and playing good and didn't even hit a
bad shot -- not a real bad shot on 17. The wind cut a little
bit, went a little left, hit the green. But left half of the
green is really nonexistent. It might as well make the green
smaller because it is there but it is really not, you know? So
the ball just takes off.
And then he left his chirp short. You probably saw it. You know,
without really doing too much wrong, you end up with a
double-bogey and that can happen on a lot of holes out here.
Q. You think you are not doing too much wrong?
BERNHARD LANGER: Well, today, I didn't. I hit a lot of solid
shots, kept the ball in play in the right positions and set
myself up for many opportunities.
Yesterday, I hit a few loose shots but my pitching, chipping and
my putter saved me.
Q. Bernhard, how confident are you going in after putting
together two rounds like you have? Not having played here last
year, first time on the course, and putting two low rounds like
this together, how confident are you going into the last round?
BERNHARD LANGER: I am comfortable with my game. I have had some
good games lately. Played well the last two times I was out here
in L.A., had a win and a fifth. Been playing pretty solid this
week. So I'm fairly happy. Not too many complaints.
Q. Can you remember the last time when you were in contention
week after week, and do you feel 30 years old again?
BERNHARD LANGER: I was -- yeah, I remember it. In the '80s and
early '90s, I was in contention a lot, especially over in
Europe. Week after week, I seemed to be in contention certain
years and that was fun. A lot of adrenalin, a lot of excitement.
You're eager and happy to go out there and work hard at it
because you actually are seeing the fruit of it.
Q. Do you feel young again?
BERNHARD LANGER: I feel like that's what I said when I was asked
"What do I expect out here?" I expect to be one of the dominant
players. If I can play to the level that I can play, I think I
can be one of the dominant players out here and I can be in
contention a lot.
And that is my goal, and that's the way it's been most of the
time the last ten events, not every time but most of the time.
Q. When you talk about certain greens, parts of the greens
being nonexistent and having to hit to the right part of the
green to even have a shot, and if you do hit that right part of
the green, you probably got a pretty good shot of birdie, sounds
similar to a tournament you got coming up in a couple weeks.
Doesn't it? Is there any relation you can draw between those
greens and these?
BERNHARD LANGER: A lot of it, yes. Right now they're actually
very similar. They're firm like Augusta is firm most of the
time, if they have it their way. If it doesn't rain, they're
firm, they're fast.
And you have lots of little areas where you have to hit it to.
And if you miss that area, it is going to roll off the green or
you have a 40-, 50-footer with three or four different breaks.
You know, you're going up and then down and over and around and
it's not easy, you know? It is easy to make a few 3-putts if you
are 50, 60 feet away with these type of conditions and the wind
is blowing as well.
So, yeah, there is a lot of similarities. And the golf course we
played last week -- or two weeks ago, I should say, Valencia,
was a little bit like that. Even though the greens were soft,
they were extremely tough.
Q. (No microphone.)
BERNHARD LANGER: No.
Q. Whatever you were doing, it doesn't look like you were
checking the wind.
BERNHARD LANGER: The ball is not moving on the green, not today.
It was blowing but it was only about 10 miles an hour maybe.
Q. Was the course different today? Was the wind any different
with the different pin placements? Did it play any different
than yesterday or was it pretty similar?
BERNHARD LANGER: Yesterday we had some really tough pins.
Starting out it looked like one Sunday pin after another. We
were going to say, "Where are they going to put the pins on
Sunday?" They picked the hardest spots right now.
Their thinking might have been knowing the forecast yesterday
being fairly calm and Sunday's going to blow, might use some of
the harder pins on Friday and make it slightly easier on Sunday
when it's supposed to blow. But I don't know. There is plenty of
tough pins on these greens. You can hide them all over the
place.
The wind was more consistent today. It was pretty much
northeast-east all day long. Yesterday, it went from southwest
ending up northeast. That was quite a switch. They had to be
very much aware of when it switched and how strong it was.
Q. Bernhard, some guys who had good professional years before
50 play well out here and some guys who are in the Hall of Fame
don't necessarily play well out here when they come. It is
always an issue of how seriously they take it. It appears you
have taken this as seriously as you've taken any competition
you've been in in any TOUR. Is that a fair statement?
BERNHARD LANGER: It's my philosophy. If I haven't prepared well,
why am I here? I might as well stay at home. I am out here to
play well and also to have fun. But I'm also here to win and do
the best I can. And if I don't prepare, I can't expect my best.
So that's my philosophy that if I go to work, I might as well
give it 100% and do the best I can, and that's how I treat most
things in life.
If you ask me to do something, I'm going to give the best effort
I can. I'm not going to give it 30 or 40%.
Q. You have the same threesome to be going out tomorrow. How
did you get along today? Is that a good group to play with?
BERNHARD LANGER: Yeah, it is fun to play with Freddy and Lonnie.
It is very casual and calm guys, too. So it was a good group,
yeah. We enjoyed each other's company, I think.
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