Eagle out of bunker gives Langer Champions Tour victory

Man, what a shot!

Bernhard Langer’s ball was plugged in a bunker, about 45 feet from the hole, in a playoff with John Cook at the Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, Florida. It looked like the German would do very well to get a half from there with Cook on the green in two, but Langer holed the improbable shot and Cook missed a 30-foot eagle putt to extend play.

Langer dropped his club and jumped up and down three times, in his best Bob Tway impersonation before high-fiving his caddie, after winning for the ninth time in 48 career Champions Tour starts. And he made the day for his many fans in his adopted hometown.

“It doesn’t get any better than that, to play near where you live is fantastic.” Said Langer. “To finish it off the way I did today with an unbelievable shot, that only happens every so often, and makes it that much more thrilling. I’m still flabbergasted…You could put me in there 50 times and I probably wouldn’t hole again.”

Cook looked like he had control of the hole and the tournament, but Langer’s hole out left him with a long putt to halve the hole. The American almost matched Langer’s heroics, but his eagle try lipped out on the right side.

“Hall of famers do stuff like that,” Cook said about Langer. “I felt, for sure, if I hit a good putt there, I have a good chance to win the tournament.”

That brilliant bunker shot was worth $255,000 to the German, who closed on Sunday with a 5-under 67 at -17.

In a close contest with Cook, Langer lost the lead when he missed a 4-foot par putt on the 17th, but rebounded with a birdie on the par-5 finishing hole to force a playoff, recovering after his tee shot landed in a bed crushed shells.

“I’ve been all over the world and won a lot of tournaments, and the way this turned out it’s definitely in the top three of my experiences,” Langer said. “The two Masters weren’t shabby and there was a couple of wins in my home country, too.”

It was a dramatic ending to an intriguing day of golf where at one point eight players were tied for the lead. Joey Sindelar challenged for his first career Champions Tour title, but came up one shot short after a 67 on Sunday. Gene Jones with a 66 finished alone in fourth.

Renown players such as Hall-of-Famer Nick Price (70) and Tom Lehman (69) were also in contention, until they both double bogeyed the difficult par-4 15th hole.

Sunday’s finish marked the third consecutive Champions Tour event this year that has been decided by one shot. The winners have been marquee names: Tom Watson, Fred Couples and now Langer.

“Our tour is very strong,” Cook said. “It takes great golf to win out here. For anyone to think otherwise, they’re misguided.”

It can’t get more exciting than that, Golf betting is a lot of fun.

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Eagle out of bunker gives Langer Champions Tour victory

Eagle out of bunker gives Langer Champions Tour victory

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