McCarron so close to beating Langer

Scott McCarron knows how close he came.

“Over the last three years I’ve been right on his heels every time,” McCarron said.

He, of course, is the indomitable Bernhard Langer, who continues to rescind the invitations of Father Time to hang up his competitive spikes. Instead, the German, at 61, won his fourth Charles Schwab Cup in the past five years on Sunday, edging McCarron and his other closest pursuers. McCarron needed to win the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in order to take the season-long race for the cup, but he faltered on Sunday after leading through 54 holes.

Langer is at once both tormentor and inspiration. What he has done since turning 60 any player on PGA TOUR Champions gladly would have taken at 50. He turned 60 on Aug. 27, 2017, and has added five more titles to his resume. Yes, it’s a record, surpassing the three won by Hale Irwin.

“He’s pushed me,” McCarron said of Langer. “It’s a friendly rivalry. Really, I look up to him. He’s a great mentor. I’m striving to get to his level. And he’s been doing it for so long. He’s giving everybody hope. I think he has won 20 times after turning 57. That’s really impressive.

“Yeah, I want to beat him. But hats off to him. He’s a stunning performer, and an even better person.”

McCarron scoffed at the notion that Langer has to slow down at some point.

“He’s not stopping. I know that,” McCarron said. “He will be working hard. He was there all week (in Phoenix) before the Schwab Cup practicing and getting ready. That’s what champions do. I’m so impressed with his work ethic.

“When the Dominion Energy Charity Classic announced its 10-year extension, I said, ‘You’ll be 71 at the end of this thing and we’ll still be going at it.’ He’s a great competitor and has helped me elevate my game.”

McCarron, who won three times on the PGA TOUR, has been a force on PGA TOUR Champions. The 53-year-old California native has eight victories, including two this year – the American Family Insurance Championship and the Shaw Charity Classic.

Did he expect to win more often in 2018? He absolutely did after racking up four victories in ’17, including his first major, the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship.

“I had a good year, but I had a lot of opportunities to win and didn’t get the job done,” McCarron said. “It’s a little disappointing, and I’ll be looking at those to see what I can get better at to get in the winner’s circle more often.”

McCarron’s game is centered around his power. He ranked fourth on PGA TOUR Champions in driving distance in 2018 with an average of 295.2 yards, and he has ranked in the top four in each of his three full seasons. He also ranked first in eagles for the second consecutive year; he was second in 2016.

What changed for him this year was his putting. After a stellar 2017 in which McCarron ranked second on tour in putting average to Langer, he plummeted to 22nd this year. He said his long putter broke early in the year, and he struggled to get it weighted correctly for a large part of the season.

McCarron said he’ll take a couple of weeks off and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday before getting back to work.

“I have to do a better job of putting and with my short game from 100 yards in,” McCarron said. “I have a lot of opportunities from 120 in. I have made my hay on the par 5s. But I have to be better on the par 4s when I have wedges in my hand. I have to get them closer and have more opportunities for birdie and convert them when I do.”