CENTRAL WISCONSIN PASSES TEST
USGA SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP
Langer holds off crowd favorites Stricker, Kelly
Many of the world’s top golfers from the past 25 years spent last weekend a little more than an hour from Medford, but it was the two Wisconsin guys who nearly stole the headlines at the 43rd USGA Senior Open Championship.
Bernhard Langer of Germany held off crowd favorites Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly of Madison to win the fourday event held at SentryWorld in Stevens Point. This was just the second time a U.S. Senior Open Championship has been held in Wisconsin. One could argue this was the most prominent sporting event ever to be held in central Wisconsin from a national and worldwide perspective.
In winning the championship, Langer, 65, became the oldest-ever Senior Open champion by eight years and he passed five-time USGA champion Hale Irwin as the winningest player in PGA Tour Champions history with 46 titles. His four-day total score of 277, which was 7-under-par, beat Stricker by two shots and Kelly by three. Brett Quigley and Rob Labritz tied for fourth, two shots behind Kelly.
“Well, I knew it was going to be a tough day just because Steve Stricker has been in top form,” Langer said after clinching the championship Sunday. “He’s winning basically every time he tees up or thereabouts. I knew he would want to have his streak going of three majors in a row, and I knew he was going to give it his all.
“The same with Jerry Kelly,” Langer added. “He’s one of the best ball strikers, very underrated golfer. I knew he would do well because he is one of the straightest hitters. The key this week, I think, was hitting the fairways. If you could keep it out of the cabbage, you had a chance.”
That was the sentiment from several of the pros during the week, whether it was following their practice rounds Monday through Wednesday or following actual competition Thursday through Sunday. Accuracy and hitting fairways was necessary to stay in contention and pin placements on the greens were challenging as well.
“It is a different mindset, but it’s one that we’ve played and you’re used to,” Stricker said after his round on Friday. Stricker, who was gunning for his third straight victory in a major on the Senior tour, shot a 1-under-par 70 that day and lowered his scores to 68 and 69 Saturday and Sunday. He started with a 1-over-par on Thursday. “You revert back to that mentality pretty quick knowing that you have to get it in the fairway on the tee at all costs, and if you don’t, then you become in scramble mode. How best can you get a 10-footer for a par, look at it on the green.”
“The greens are extremely different,” 2022 USGA Senior Open champion Padraig Harrington said after shooting a 3-over-par 74 on Thursday that had him six shots behind day-one leader Rod Pampling. “There’s huge undulations in them. They’re super fast.”
Wisconsin golf fans were treated to a fun surprise on Saturday when Stricker and Kelly were paired with each other as they chased Langer. Langer took the lead on Friday with a 3-under-par 68 that gave him a one-shot lead over Pampling at the time. Kelly was two shots behind and Stricker was three back starting play on Saturday.
On Friday morning and into the early afternoon, Stricker played in front of a gallery of fans that seemed to grow larger with each hole. By the afternoon, Kelly’s following was smaller but he enthusiastically played to the crowd as it reacted to each good shot.
“The crowds were unbelievable here this week,” Stricker said. “Way more people than what I expected. They were so gracious, so supportive, showing me so much love and support. It was really cool. It really was. It was something we don’t experience, like I’ve said before, very often.
“For them to all show up like they did this week was a testament to Wisconsin golf, Wisconsin people, and they really put on a good show,” he added. “It was a well-run event, and the crowd, the volunteers, they all make that happen.”
“Yeah, talk about energy; that gave us a lot of energy right there,” Kelly said of finishing Saturday’s round walking toward the 18th green. “What a great reception. What a great show-up for all the people from Wisconsin and all over. They’ve been nothing but fantastic. It definitely sends chills up the back of your spine. It’s fun.”
Langer shot another 68 on Saturday to stay two shots ahead of Kelly and three ahead of Stricker. His lead grew to six shots at one point on Sunday before he settled for the two-stroke margin when he ended with three straight bogeys.
In winning the event, Langer was steady throughout. He hit 49 of 56 fairways, the best percentage in the field and he topped the field in greens hit in regulation with 52 of 72. He tied for fourth in birdies with 16. He started with birdies on the first two holes on Saturday and Sunday. He sank a 30-foot birdie putt Sunday on the 501-yard, par-4 second hole.
Langer’s biggest shot Sunday might have come on the tricky fifth hole, a 514yard, par-5 that half-circles a pond and has a pesky tree golfers have to take into account on the last turn before the green. He hit his second shot to the edge of the pond to the side of the green. He took off his socks and shoes and chipped out of the mud to within 5 feet of the green. He came within a couple of inches of a holein- one on the 201-yard, par-3 seventh.
SentryWorld, a public, parkland course was developed by Sentry Insurance in 1982 as part of a sports complex that includes indoor tennis courts, banquet space and restaurants. The championship course layout on the 200-acre property was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. In 2013, Jones oversaw a major renovation that was led by architects Bruce Charlton and Jay Blasi. The course has been closed to public play since 2020, with the exception of a few months last year, due to Covid and renovations to prepare the course for this event.
The USGA Senior Open Championship is open to any professional or amateur golfer who is 50 years of age or older as of June 29. An amateur is eligible with a Handicap Index not exceeding 3.4. The USGA accepted 3,066 entries for the 2023 Senior Open, the second-highest total in championship history. The record was established in 2002, when 3,101 golfers applied to play. More than 3,000 entries were accepted for the fourth time.
Thursday’s starting field of 156 golfers was cut to 66 after the first two rounds.
Qualifying, conducted over 18 holes, was held at 33 sites around the country between May 8 through June 8. Qualifying sites were scheduled in 25 states, including five in California, three in Florida and two in Wisconsin and Texas. In Wisconsin, Troy Burne Golf Club in Hudson hosted on May 17, while Stevens Point Country Club was a qualifying site on May 26.
“I was just saying to several people, it’s one of the best golf courses I’ve ever played,” Langer said Sunday. “Condition of the golf course was fabulous all week long. Beautiful fairways, great greens. The ball rolled really nice. Bunkers were good. Rough was a bit juicy, but it’s the same for everybody, and it’s a U.S. Open.
“My hat’s off to the greens keeping staff, to the owners of SentryWorld. They’ve got a jewel here. It’s a really beautiful spot.”
Retief Goosen reviews his notes before putting on the ninth green Friday. Goosen parred this hole and then sunk a chip out of the bunker for eagle on the par-5 10th hole.
The most popular man on the golf course, Steve Sticker, is ready to start his round Friday at the hole 10 tee box. He golfed Thursday and Friday in a threesome with David Toms (l.) and Stephen Ames.
Mark O’Meara wipes away the sweat while waiting to shoot on the 10th fairway Friday morning.
Just some of Steve Stricker’s followers chase him down on the 13th hole of SentryWorld’s course Friday morning.
