Despite "senior moment," Langer wins again

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THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- He laughed that it was a senior moment.

One of those didn't-think-just-reacted things. Been doing it one way all week. Didn't even dawn on him that the local rules might have changed.

His victory Sunday boosted Bernhard Langer to the top of the money list. (Serota/Getty Images)

Inside the Numbers

Langer in 2008

Category Total Rank Driving Distance 282.7 yds. 9 Driving Accuracy 71.27% 34 Greens in Regulation 72.12% 11 Putting Average 1.761 12 Sand Saves 61.11% 3 Scoring Average 69.54 1 Money Leaders $1,992,573 1

Not, at least, until Bernhard Langer had marked his golf ball with a tee in the fringe on the third hole and had the ball in hand.

Oops. No lift-clean-and-place today, after that had been the case in each of the first two rounds. One-shot penalty. Two-shot swing. One minute he's tied with Lonnie Nielsen, the next he's two back.

"I wasn't happy with myself,'' Langer said. "But it's done. I had to deal with it."

Deal he did. Kind of like Heisman frontrunner Colt McCoy waiting for the fumble to bounce back to him Saturday night against Missouri then completing the pass.

Langer was every bit as calm, cool and collected. As confident. He hung in there, tying it back up twice before back-to-back birdies at the 13th and 14th holes put him up for good and on his way to his second consecutive win at the Administaff Small Business Classic.

But when he accepted the trophy on the 18th green at the TPC Woodlands Sunday night, Paul Savardi, the chairman and chief executive officer of Administaff, couldn't resist reminding him about it.

"Here's second chance at a lift-clean-and place,'' Savardi said.

Langer chuckled and grabbed the microphone to explain to the crowd.

What could have been a costly mistake turned into a two-putt, a kick in the shorts and eventually a two-shot win over Nielsen. It was Langer's third Champions Tour win of the year -- his fourth overall -- and vaulted him to the top of the money list and into a tight-as-can be Charles Schwab Cup race, where he's sandwiched between leader Fred Funk and Jay Haas. Those three are separated by 97 points going into the last two weeks.

"It could be very interesting,'' Langer said of the race. "It should come down to Sonoma (site of the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship)."

In some ways, Langer is thankful just to be in the races. Three months ago, he was exhausted from Epstein-Barr. He feels great now, but after the U.S. Senior Open, he lost is energy, ran low-grade fevers and had an elevated heart rate.

When he took a vacation after the Open, he got exhausted after taking an hour-long walk in Aspen, Colo.

"I can normally walk forever,'' said Langer, who dropped 10 pounds during the ordeal and will likely take medication the rest of his life. "We had a nice fitness center right next to where we stayed, and I never set foot in it in eight days, and that's not like me. I just didn't have the energy."

Despite the illness, Langer still finished in the top seven at the last three majors of the year and won the European Seniors title last month in the Czech Republic.

Now, his second Administaff title. On a second course. Langer won last year's event by eight shots at Augusta Pines. This new venue was the site of the Shell Houston Open for almost two decades.

Langer first played here in 1985 when, after winning the Masters and the then-Sea Pines Heritage Classic (now Verizon Heritage). Duke Butler, who was the Houston tournament director back then, talked him into playing and trying to win three tournaments in a row.

"I was truly worn out,'' Langer said. ". . But he kept calling me."

Langer didn't fare well back then, but he played in last year's Shell Houston Open and tied for ninth -- a finish that put him on his way to a great debut season on the Champions Tour. And, well, these back-to-back wins.

This one was far from easy. Last year, he threw out an opening 62 and raced to the finish. Here, he had that early oops and needed a bogey from Nielsen at the 10th hole and those two birdies at 13 -- a pitching wedge to two feet -- and the 14th a 7-iron to 8 ˝ feet -- to open the two-shot lead.

"They were huge,'' he said.

So was a break at the 17th. He pull-hooked his 3-wood off the tee and, most times on that line, the ball dives into the water. His stayed up in the rough.

"We all thought it was wet,'' Nielsen said. "Caddies who've caddied out here for years, everyone. They said they'd never seen a ball stay up on that line.''

But it did. A par there, two good shots at 18 and two putts and ... Langer was champion once again.

"He played beautiful golf,'' Nielsen said. "He doesn't miss from 6-8 feet.''

It was Nielsen's third runner-up finish of the year. In fact, this was the same order of finish -- Langer, Nielsen, Funk -- as at the Ginn Championship Hammock Beach Resort earlier this year.

Nielsen was happy with the way he played, but admitted he was a little taken aback on the first tee.

"They announce (Langer) saying he's won 85 tournaments worldwide,'' Nielsen said. "It makes you wonder what you're doing out there."

He paused. "But I hung with him today."

And Langer? The oops aside, he played the same steady game that won him two Masters, all those titles and put him into the Hall of Fame.

He'll be back in Houston, too, but likely only for the Administaff. He's having too much fun, he said, on the 50-and-over circuit to play anything more than the Masters.

"And I'm about 30 yards too short for how it plays now,'' he said.

But on the Champions Tour? He's a perfect fit. Senior moment and all.