PNC Father Son Challenge
PNC Father Son Challenge
PNC Father Son Challenge
Orlando, Florida
Winners: Bernhard and Jason Langer
It was a father-son golf lesson for the Langers, though not of the classical variety. This time, it was the son, Jason, 19, putting on a clinic for the dad, Bernhard, 62. Three teams seemed set for a tough playoff in the PNC Father Son Challenge at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club. Retief and Leo Goosen and Tom and Thomas Lehman and the Langers tied for the lead after the two rounds, were all sitting snugly in the fairway of the first extra hole, the par-five 18th.
Then Jason took his three wood. “ …270 into the wind, and he flew it all the way there,” said dad, Bernhard. “It’s something I don’t know how to do. I don’t have that in me. I could barely get a driver there.”
But Jason’s shot pierced the wind, cleared that front bunker and ended up 16 feet from the flag. He holed the putt for an eagle to give dad his fourth Father Son victory. Bernhard and Jason also won in 2014, and dad won the other two with son Stefan.
The three teams had tied at 24-under 120 in the scramble format. The Langers shot 60-60, the Goosens 58-62 and the Lehmans 61-59, topping a 20-team field loaded with Hall of Famers. Among them, Jack Nicklaus, 79, and grandson G.T. tied for 16th, and former LPGA star Annika Sorenstam, the first female pro ever invited, and her father Tom, 78, tied for 19th and last. “Score is kind of secondary today,” Annika said.
There was also Tom Watson, playing through the pain of the recent loss of his wife, Hilary, to cancer. “My kids said, ‘Dad, we think you want to play,’” Watson said. “And I really didn’t want to play. But when they said I should, I told them, ‘Okay, I will.’” He and son Michael tied for 13th. The talk of the tournament ultimately returned to Jason Langer and his wondrous three wood. “I feel like I contributed a little more [this time],” Jason said. Said Dad: “I’ve seen clutch shots in majors, and Ryder Cups, and all over the place. For our family, this is right up there.”