STEVENS POINT – Bernhard Langer still considers himself a contender to win major golf titles, but he knows time is running short.
The 65-year-old Langer, who has won 11 senior major titles and became the all-time leader in that category with his 2017 Senior PGA Championship victory, will try to make it 12 at this week's U.S. Senior Open at SentryWorld Golf Course.
The World Golf Hall of Fame member hasn’t won a major since the 2019 Senior Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in England. His only win in the U.S. Senior Open came in 2010.
“I am working on it. That’s the idea,” Langer said Tuesday when asked if he can still win majors. “When I came out here, I wanted to win majors and tournaments and I’ve been very fortunate to do a number of those. But there’s always room for more.”
Langer has one victory this season, the Chubb Classic in Naples, Florida, in February for his 45th win on the Champions Tour to tie Hale Irwin for the most ever. Langer won seven tournaments in 2017 but hasn’t won more than two events in a season since.
He acknowledged his competition is hitting the ball farther than him and that makes it hard to compete, but he believes he still can.
“I know I have to play at my highest level to have any hope to win, but I know I’m capable of doing that,” he said.
When asked who his toughest competition this week could be, he joked: “There’s about 100 other guys, I think, who have a chance out of 156.”
Jerry Kelly has superstitious mom
Athletes are known to be a superstitious group. Apparently, the mothers of athletes are as well.
Before his practice round Tuesday at SentryWorld, Madison’s Jerry Kelly talked about his mom, Lee, planting feathers at golf courses to bring him good luck.
“She goes and picks up feathers everywhere, and she has a bag of feathers and when she follows me around she plants a feather to grow a birdie,” Kelly said. “It’s funny now. Every time I’m walking on a golf course and I come upon a feather, I’m like, ‘Hey, mom, love you.’ ... But that's my favorite superstition going on right now.”
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Air quality is topic of conversation at U.S. Senior Open
An air quality advisory was issued Tuesday and the USGA displayed a message on scoreboards all over the course.
“The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has issued an Air Quality Advisory for the state associated with air flow from the Canadian Wildfires. At risk groups onsite at the U.S. Senior Open Tuesday and Wednesday should take proper precautions," the message said.
The hazy sky was evident on the course, but tournament favorite Steve Stricker said he didn’t think it would pose too much of a problem.
“So far it hasn't,” he said. “We could smell it down in Madison a little bit more, I thought yesterday, for some reason. I think I haven’t really noticed it affecting anything out on the golf course, and me personally I haven’t noticed anything affecting myself from a physical standpoint.”
Kelly said accounting for the air quality would be part of his tournament preparation.
“It affects my nose,” he said. “I’ve got a routine where I’ve got to do some extra allergy things morning and night just to make sure I’m able to breathe. That really is your energy, your lifeblood. Yeah, I’ll be focusing on my preparation for that.”
The advisory goes through noon Thursday.
Tee times, pairings set for first two rounds
Kelly, Stricker and Brad Lanning of Hortonville will all tee off on the first hole in Thursday’s opening round.
Lanning is scheduled to go off No. 1 at 7 a.m., Kelly at 8:24 a.m. and Stricker at 2:04 p.m.
Mick Smith, an Australian who lives in Summit, will tee off at 7 a.m. on No. 10.
Here are the complete pairings for the first two rounds:
Thursday, hole No. 1/Friday, hole No. 10
7 a.m./12:30 p.m. – Brad Lanning, Hortonville; Jason Widener, Chapel Hill, N.C.; (a) Robert F Gerwin II, Cincinnati, Ohio
7:10 a.m./12:40 p.m. - (a) Mike Finster, St. Petersburg, Fla.; Brad Adamonis, Cumberland, R.I.; Chris Gum, Fort Worth, Texas
7:21 a.m./12:51 p.m. - Bobby Pritchard, Frisco, Texas; Steve Schneiter, Sandy, Utah; (a) Doug Clapp, Manomet, Mass.
7:31 a.m./1:01 p.m. - (a) Lee James, England; (a) Trip Kuehne, Dallas, Texas; Iain Pyman, England
7:42 a.m./1:12 p.m. - Harrison Frazar, Dallas, Texas; Mauricio Molina, Argentina; Takashi Kanemoto, Japan
7:52 a.m./1:22 p.m. - Phillip Price, Wales; Scott Verplank, Edmond, Okla.; Notah Begay III, Albuquerque, N.M.
8:03 a.m./1:33 p.m. - Dicky Pride, Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Joe Durant, Pensacola Beach, Fla.; John Huston, Tarpon Springs, Fla.
8:13 a.m./1:43 p.m. - Colin Montgomerie, Scotland; Fred Funk, Jacksonville, Fla.; Kenny Perry, Franklin, Ky.
8:24 a.m./1:54 p.m. - Jerry Kelly, Madison; Davis Love III, Sea Island, Ga.; Kevin Sutherland, Sacramento, Calif.
8:34 a.m./2:04 p.m. - Steven Alker, New Zealand; Miguel Angel Jiménez, Spain; Mark Hensby, Australia
8:45 a.m./2:15 p.m. - Jesús Amaya, Colombia; Ricardo Gonzalez, Argentina; (a) Joey Gullion, The Woodlands, Texas
8:55 a.m./2:25 p.m. - Danny Mulhearn, Wheaton, Ill.; Mark Brown, Hobe Sound, Fla.; Dave Cunningham, Carmel, Ind.
9:06 a.m./2:36 p.m. - Jody Bellflower, Milledgeville, Ga.; (a) Brooks Newsom, Portland, Ore.; Alan McLean, Canada
Thursday, No. 10/Friday, No. 1
7 a.m./12:30 p.m. - Mick Smith, Summit; Mark McCormick, Middletown, N.J.; Scott Petersen, Parker, Colo.
7:10 a.m./12:40 p.m. - Tony Robydek, Lakewood, Wash.; Jerry Springer, Wellington, Fla.; Jon Levitt, Arcadia, Calif.
7:21 a.m./12:51 p.m. - Mike Small, Champaign, Ill.; (a) Tom Lape, Atlanta, Ga.; (a) John O'Donnell, Los Angeles, Calif.
7:31 a.m./1:01 p.m. - Bob Sowards, Dublin, Ohio; Stuart Smith, Reno, Nev.; Tony Wise, Georgetown, Ky.
7:42 a.m./1:12 p.m. - Jeff Sluman, Delray Beach, Fla.; Brad Bryant, Lakeland, Fla.; Jonathan Kaye, Phoenix, Ariz.
7:52 a.m./1:22 p.m. - Kirk Triplett, Paradise Valley, Ariz.; Jeff Maggert, Houston, Texas; James Kingston, South Africa
8:03 a.m./1:33 p.m. - Vijay Singh, Fiji; Ken Duke, Stuart, Fla.; Rod Pampling, Australia
8:13 a.m./1:43 p.m. - Ernie Els, South Africa; Tom Lehman, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Justin Leonard, Jupiter, Fla.
8:24 a.m./1:54 p.m. - Kris Blanks, Jupiter, Fla.; Richard Green, Australia; Fran Quinn, Holden, Mass.
8:34 a.m./2:04 p.m. - Darren Clarke, Northern Ireland; (a) Rusty Strawn, McDonough, Ga.; Padraig Harrington, Republic of Ireland
8:45 a.m./2:15 p.m. - Jeff Brehaut, Park City, Utah; Keiichiro f*ckabori, Japan; Michael Muehr, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
8:55 a.m./2:25 p.m. - Will Yanagisawa, Long Beach, Calif.; (a) Brad Wayment, Mesa, Ariz.; Jonathan Mansfield, Clearwater, Fla.
9:06 a.m./2:36 p.m. - (a) Davis Boland, Louisville, Ky.; Craig Barlow, Henderson, Nev.; Micah Rudosky, Cortez, Colo.
Thursday, No. 1/Friday, No. 10
12:30 p.m./7 a.m. - (a) Joel Johnson, Hugo, Minn.; Chris Hockaday, Angier, N.C.; Rick Garboski, Westlake Village, Calif.
12:40 p.m./7:10 a.m. - Joseph Summerhays, Syracuse, Utah; Scott Foster, Gold Canyon, Ariz.; (a) Brendan Hester, Northbridge, Mass.
12:51 p.m./7:21 a.m. - Jim Estes, Olney, Md.; Anthony Rodriguez, San Antonio, Texas; (a) Brian Quackenbush, Aiken, S.C.
1:01 p.m./7:31 a.m. - Cameron Beckman, San Antonio, Texas; Tom Pernice Jr., Scottsdale, Ariz.; Prayad Marksaeng, Thailand
1:12 p.m./7:42 a.m. - Paul Stankowski, Flower Mound, Texas; Harry Rudolph III, La Jolla, Calif.; Tim Herron, Minneapolis, Minn.
1:22 p.m./7:52 a.m. - Bob May, Las Vegas, Nev.; Tim Petrovic, Austin, Texas; Adilson da Silva, Brazil
1:33 p.m./8:03 a.m. - Joakim Haeggman, Sweden; Marco Dawson, Melbourne, Fla.; Woody Austin, Derby, Kan.
1:43 p.m./8:13 a.m. - Y.E. Yang, Republic of Korea; Mike Weir, Canada; Lee Janzen, Orlando, Fla.
1:54 p.m./8:24 a.m. - Thongchai Jaidee, Thailand; Rob Labritz, Pound Ridge, N.Y.; Paul Goydos, Long Beach, Calif.
2:04 p.m./8:34 a.m. - Steve Stricker, Madison; Stephen Ames, Canada; David Toms, Shreveport, La.
2:15 p.m./8:45 a.m. - Ross Fisher, Riverside, Calif.; Jeff Gove, Sandpoint, Idaho; Joe Kern, Vero Beach, Fla.
2:25 p.m./8:55 a.m. - Steve Pleis, Wentzville, Mo.; (a) Christian Raynor, Kennesaw, Ga.; David Branshaw, Oswego, N.Y.
2:36 p.m./9:06 a.m. - Javier Quevedo, Mexico; Roger Rowland, Ocala, Fla.; (a) Miles McConnell, Tampa, Fla.
Thursday, No. 10/Friday No. 1
12:30 p.m./7 a.m. - (a) Scott Almquist, Wallace, Idaho; Patrick Sheehan, Warwick, R.I.; Tim Fleming, Oklahoma City, Okla.
12:40 p.m./7:10 a.m. - Mitch Lowe, Portland, Ore.; (a) Eric Williams, Honesdale, Pa.; Laird Small, Pebble Beach, Calif.
12:51 p.m./7:21 a.m. - (a) Ken Bakst, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; Emanuele Canonica, Italy; Tom Gillis, Lake Orion, Mich.
1:01 p.m./7:31 a.m. - (a) Doug Hanzel, Savannah, Ga.; Phillip Archer, England; Hiroyuki Fujita, Japan
1:12 p.m./7:42 a.m. - Euan McIntosh, Scotland; Peter Fowler, Australia; Brian Gay, Windermere, Fla.
1:22 p.m./7:52 a.m. - Mark O'Meara, Las Vegas, Nev.; Retief Goosen, South Africa; Bernhard Langer, Germany
1:33 p.m./8:03 a.m. - Brett Quigley, Barrington, R.I.; Steve Flesch, Union, Ky.; Stuart Appleby, Australia
1:43 p.m./8:13 a.m. - Michael Campbell, New Zealand; Scott Parel, Augusta, Ga.; Billy Andrade, Bristol, R.I.
1:54 p.m./8:24 a.m. - Rocco Mediate, Greensburg, Pa.; Bob Estes, Austin, Texas; K.J. Choi, Republic of Korea
2:04 p.m./8:34 a.m. - Ken Tanigawa, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Paul Broadhurst, England; Alex Cejka, Germany
2:15 p.m./8:45 a.m. - Ted Tryba, Orlando, Fla.; Clark Dennis, Fort Worth, Texas; Miguel Angel Martin, Spain
2:25 p.m./8:55 a.m. - John Aber, Sewickley, Pa.; (a) Mark Strickland, San Diego, Calif.; Monte Scheinblum, Tustin, Calif.
2:36 p.m./9:06 a.m. - Danny King, Canada; Paul Archbold, Australia; (a) Scott Cornette, Montgomery, Ala.
(a): amateur
