Boling: Tired yet energized, Langer battles Sahalee

SAMMAMISH – Those harboring the image of Bernhard Langer as an emotionless automaton on the golf course should check out clips of his response to snaking in a 30-foot downhill putt for an eagle Friday on No. 11 at Sahalee.

Langer executed a reasonably enthusiastic double-chug fist-pump, accompanied by a grin and a thumbs-up signal to the gallery. It’s a little surprising that the jet-lagged Langer had the energy, but the zeal clearly was warranted, as Sahalee surrenders strokes with famed reluctance.

Langer’s 69-68 effort in the first two rounds of the U.S. Senior Open put him in position to challenge for a stunning double. Having held off Corey Pavin on Sunday to win the British Senior Open at Carnoustie, Scotland, he is aiming to capture two major tournaments on two continents in two weeks.

Langer and Pavin, the senior circuit’s version of Hall and Oates, played together in the first two rounds at Sahalee. Pavin struggled with a 75 on Friday, while Langer showed estimable determination by not only eagling 11, but by scrambling for a number of improbable pars on Sahalee’s Teflon-coated greens.

All this comes after dealing with the adrenaline rush of Sunday’s championship and the demands of traveling to Seattle. How does one find the mental focus to regroup after Carnoustie and challenge for a title on a radically different course a few days later eight time zones away?

“It’s tough, but I’m pretty good in that area,” Langer said. “Once I’m out here, I’m pretty motivated and struggle through it.”

Struggle is a good term for it, as Sahalee’s narrow fairways seem like little more than winding hiking trails through an arboretum. And it wasn’t as if the 52-year-old German made it around without adventure; he just didn’t relent.

On the second hole, he got up and down for a par from 80 yards away after hitting his ball in the water. At least four other times he made lengthy putts to salvage pars. And perhaps as impressive as his eagle on 11 was his par on the next hole, where he recorded a double-sandy, parring after landing in two bunkers along the way.

After his own disappointing 75 on Friday, Pavin touted Langer’s performance. “(I’ve got) no excuses,” Pavin said. “Bernhard is in the exact same situation and he’s leading the tournament (after the morning rounds). It’s a U.S. Open situation and you have to make putts like (Langer is) if you want to contend.”

Considering the time changes, Langer said his Thursday round felt as if he were finishing at 2 in the morning.

“But this is a big enough event to pick yourself up and get motivated and get moving, so I don’t have a lot of problems with that,” he said.

Langer is one of the best-conditioned golfers in senior competitions, which he credits to genetics, disciplined eating and staying active – but not too active. “I don’t drink and I don’t smoke and I get plenty of rest; I get eight hours of sleep (a night), so all that over the years probably helps.”

And when asked about his mental toughness on the course, Langer cited his favorite reading matter. The Bible.

This is often where those of us writing sports columns turn off the tape recorder because it sometimes becomes a diversion from the sporting context of our stories. But Langer’s take is worth relating.

“There’s no tricks,” he said. “I read the Bible and it’s all in there.”

What ... Thou shalt not bend thine left arm on thee backswing? Have I missed that?

No, no, it’s about his frame of mind.

“You don’t have to see a sports psychologist,” Langer said. “You just open the Bible. It tells anything you need to know.”

Let his score stand as his testimony.

Not sure whether Langer knows this, but the word “Sahalee” is translated as “high, heavenly ground” in the Chinook language.

Wherever he learned it, Langer certainly is playing with the kind of clear head, steady hand and steely resolve it takes to win a U.S. Senior Open.

Dave Boling: 253-597-8440 dave.boling@thenewstribune.com