Langer's eagle chip-in for back

to back US senior victories

Bernhard Langer’s build up to The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard gathered momentum with his fourth US Champions Tour victory, and second in succession, on Sunday.
The German chipped in for eagle on the last to win the 3M Championship at the TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota.
A seven under par 65 gave him a 16 under par total of 200 for the tournament and a one stroke victory over American Andy Bean.
Langer, who leads the US Champions Tour Money List and the Charles Schwab Cup standings, takes a week off this week before heading to Sunningdale for the season’s second Senior Major, the same venue where he won the 1985 European Open.
Langer secured victory with a perfect chip. Standing about ten feet off the back fringe, Langer softly chipped the ball on the edge of the green and watched it roll into the hole. Langer turned and pointed to the crowd with both arms raised when the ball dropped. It was his only eagle of the tournament.
"It came out a little hot, but right on line, hit the back of the cup, and popped up an inch or two and then disappeared," he said. "Before I played that shot I told my son, Stefan, 'I'm going to make this.' Sometimes you just have a feeling like you can do it."
It was the first eagle to win a tour event since Loren Roberts at the 2006 Turtle Bay Championship.
Langer's four wins have come in 12 events. He has finished out of the top nine just three times in amassing a seemingly insurmountable 660-point lead in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup points standings. In 37 Champions Tour events, Langer has eight wins.
He admits he may be playing some of the best golf of his career in "the last two or three years," but cannot explain why. "There's always somebody who's a little bit better than the rest. I'm trying to be that somebody out here."
Spectators can buy tickets for The Senior Open Championship by visiting www.europeantourtickets.com or by calling +44 (0) 800 023 2557 or on the gate. One day tickets are £25 and season tickets are £70.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
200 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 67 68 65
201 Andy Bean 65 69 67
202 Scott Hoch 67 69 66
203 Tom Kite 69 67 67
204 Nick Price (Zim) 65 68 71, Steve Thomas 73 64 67
205 Mark O'Meara 71 70 64, Dan Forsman 67 71 67, Larry Mize 71 67 67
206 Gene Jones 66 68 72
207 Mark McNulty (Irl) 70 70 67, Ronnie Black 67 74 66
208 David Edwards 70 71 67, John Cook 71 68 69, Jay Haas 71 69 68
209 Bruce Fleisher 69 73 67, Jeff Sluman 72 70 67, Dana Quigley 71 69 69, David Eger 72 71 66
210 Brad Bryant 70 71 69, Chip Beck 71 70 69
211 R.W. Eaks 70 71 70, Tom Jenkins 73 69 69, Mike Goodes 68 71 72, Mark James (Eng) 71 69 71, Morris Hatalsky 71 75 65, Don Pooley 71 73 67, James Mason 74 69 68, Fuzzy Zoeller 70 68 73, John Jacobs 70 74 67
212 John Morse 70 71 71, Keith Fergus 70 72 70, Jerry Pate 70 73 69
213 Gil Morgan 71 74 68, Robert L Thompson 69 77 67, Bruce Vaughan 71 69 73, John Harris 71 72 70, Olin Browne 71 73 69, Fred Funk 70 75 68, Mitch Adams 75 72 66, Tim Simpson 73 72 68
214 Gary Hallberg 68 74 72, Bruce Lietzke 73 73 68, Joey Sindelar 69 76 69, Graham Marsh (Aus) 71 74 69
215 Bobby Wadkins 73 72 70, Tom McKnight 72 74 69
216 Mike McCullough 71 74 71, Fulton Allem (Rsa) 68 73 75, Ben Crenshaw 68 74 74
217 Mike Reid 73 73 71, Hale Irwin 72 71 74, Hal Sutton 72 75 70
218 Tom Purtzer 75 73 70, Lanny Wadkins 71 75 72, Dave Stockton 75 72 71, Wayne Levi 70 72 76
219 Phil Blackmar 72 74 73, Jay Sigel 79 71 69, Jim Thorpe 78 71 70, Scott Simpson 75 71 73
220 Mike Hulbert 70 75 75, Larry Nelson 75 74 71
221 Mark Wiebe 75 73 73, Lonnie Nielsen 71 75 75
222 Bruce Summerhays 77 76 69, Gary McCord 73 72 77, Tom Herzan 75 73 74, Blaine McCallister 74 72 76
223 Bob Gilder 72 76 75
224 Allen Doyle 78 68 78, Ron Streck 73 77 74, Leonard Thompson 73 74 77
225 Mark W Johnson 73 74 78, Denis Watson (Zim) 71 77 77, Dave Eichelberger 77 74 74
226 Jim Colbert 75 76 75
227 Peter Jacobsen 75 81 71, Jim Dent 73 81 73