Bernhard Langer charges to four-shot lead over five players at U.S. Senior Open

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Bernhard Langer opened his third round with three straight birdies and had eight in 12 holes before a late bogey and double bogey.

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Larry Lage

Associated Press

Series: Champions Tour

LAKE ORION, Mich. -- Fred Couples joked that someone will have to close with a 60 to catch Bernhard Langer at the U.S. Senior Open.

That might not be low enough.

Langer shot a 6-under 64 on Saturday to move to 10 under for the tournament, putting him ahead of a big-name field by four strokes.

"That's not a huge lead," he insisted. "That can disappear in no time. I'm going to have to get out there and shoot under par. That's my goal.

"If I go 2 under or 3 under, it will be very difficult for anyone to catch me. And if they do, they deserve to win."

The two-time Masters champion opened with three straight birdies and eight in 12 holes at Indianwood, a course with tight and unforgiving fairways and undulating greens.

"He didn't win two Masters by luck," said Corey Pavin, who was in a five-way tie for second place. "He's an exceptionally good player, very methodical."

Langer didn't miss a green in regulation during the third round until the par-3 No. 13, where a double bogey cut his cushion to three shots. He bounced back with a birdie at 15 before giving that stroke back with a bogey at 18.

Pavin, Tom Lehman, Roger Chapman, John Huston and Tom Pernice Jr. were at 6-under 204.

Couples surged up the leaderboard with a 65 after starting the day tied for 25th place. He was part of a pack -- along with Fred Funk and Jay Haas -- that was five shots back in a tie for seventh at the Champion Tour's fourth of five majors.

What did Couples think it would take to get into contention with Langer in the final round?

"Sixty," he said. "How does that sound? Does that sound pretty good? Not really realistic.

"He's not going to come back. Corey and whoever is going to have to play a remarkable round to win. I'm at least inching closer."

While Langer was in his sensational stretch Saturday, first-round leader Tom Kite and second-round leader Lance Ten Broeck were struggling in the final group.

Kite finished with a 74 to drop into a tie for 17th, nine shots back. Since opening with a U.S. Senior Open nine-hole record 28, Kite is 6 over.

Ten Broeck, a full-time caddie for Tim Herron and occasional player, shot a 72 with three birdies and five bogeys. He is alone in 11th place, six shots back, after starting the round with a one-shot lead over Kite and a two-stroke edge on a group that included Langer.

Pavin was tied with Langer coming in and finished the third round four shots back, insisting he only thought about a two-stroke penalty from Thursday when a reporter asked about it. After pulling into a first-round tie for the lead, Pavin was docked two shots for hitting a ball that moved a fraction of an inch when he grounded his club to prepare for a chip.

Couples, who said that his chronic back problems have kept him from ever practicing for a Champions Tour event, got into contention by driving the green at the 360-yard, par-4 No. 9 and posting an eagle from 105 yards on the next hole that created a buzz on the course.

"You know it's going to be close when they start to ooh and aah," he said. "As it went closer, they threw their hands up. Yeah, it's a great feeling. You don't make many eagles, especially from the fairway."

Langer scored with his flat stick, making a pair of 20-foot-plus putts for birdies on the first two holes while building confidence on a course set up to be a tough test for the best 50-and-older golfers in the world.

The 54-year-old German has nine top-10 finishes in his 11 previous Champion Tour events this season, including three runner-up showings, and is shooting for his first win since needing surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb last year.

Langer sounds as if he's back to being the golfer that led the senior circuit money list from 2008-2010 -- each of his first three seasons on the Champion Tour -- before slipping to 25 last year because of a surgery-stunted season.

"Without being big headed, I think I'm one of the better players out here the last three or four years," he said. "I've won the Schwab Cup. If you do that, you've got to play well. If you can win normal tournaments and be in the top five or top 10 on a regular basis, you ought to be doing fairly well in the majors too because the majors are even harder.

"The better players, I think, will separate themselves even more from the average player in the majors because conditions are usually tougher.

Tyrone Van Aswegen takes lead at TPC Stonebrae Championship as course begins to dry

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PGA.com news services 

Series: Web.com Tour

Mother Nature finally cooperated Saturday at the TPC Stonebrae Championship and the tournament did its best to get back on schedule. Fog and rain in the Northern California area caused six hours worth of delays the first two days, but Saturday was filled with sunshine as players went into a hurry-up mode.

When the dust finally settled and the sun went down, the 36-hole cut had been made and nearly half of the 70 who made the cut had completed Round 3.

A check of the leaderboard finds Tyrone Van Aswegen holding down first place. The 30-year-old South African reeled off three consecutive birdies on two separate occasions Saturday and currently stands at 10 under par through 14 holes.

Van Aswegen, who has made the cut in all five of his starts this season, made up ground quickly with three straight birdies to open Round 3. He then closed with three straight at Nos. 12, 13 and 14 before the horn sounded to halt play for the day.

Michigan’s Brian Stuard didn’t make a birdie in his 12 holes, but did chalk up a couple of eagles to reach 8 under par. Stuard eagled the par-5 third hole and par-4 10th hole, and is the first player this week to record two eagles in a single round.

Jim Renner is at 7 under with one hole to play and tied with Pepperdine grad Michael Putnam, who is in the final threesome and has also finished a dozen holes. Alex Aragon is at 6 under through 15 holes.

Monday qualifier Wes Roach had just enough daylight to close out a 3-under 67 and holds the distinction of being the leader in the clubhouse at 5-under 205.

Play was suspended due to darkness at 7:40 p.m. PT with 36 players still on the course. They will return to TPC Stonebrae at 7:30 Sunday morning and pick up where they left off. Officials are hoping to start the final round about 10 a.m. and are looking for a finish time of 5:00 p.m.

Saturday Notes:

--A total of 70 players made the 36-hole cut, which came at 3-over-par 143.  It was the highest cut in the tournament’s four-year history. The 70 players also represent the most players to make the cut since the event started in 2009.

--Defending champion Daniel Chopra missed the cut after posting rounds of 74-73--147.

--Charles Warren withdrew during the second round and did not return to finish play on Saturday. Jerrel Grow was disqualified for not signing his scorecard following the second round.

--Steve Elkington, making his first career start on the Nationwide Tour, shot scores of 79-74 (+13) and did not make the 36-hole cut. Elkington has made 566 career starts on the PGA Tour and won ten times, including the 1995 PGA Championship.

--Ryan Hietala aced the 171-yard second hole using a 7-iron. Hietala shot a 3-under 67 and was tied for 36th after two rounds.

--Diego Velasquez had the best round of the week with a 6-under 64 in Round 2. Velasquez is tied for first in fairways hit (24 of 26) after 36 holes. His 3-under 137 put him tied for eighth heading into the final two rounds.

--Luke List shot a 1-under 69 thanks to a 5-under 30 on his closing nine. List’s opening nine (back) included two bogeys and a quadruple-bogey 8. He was done in by an opening-round 76 and did not make the cut.

--Monday qualifier Michael Weaver, a redshirt junior at California, shot scores of 72-75 and missed the cut. Weaver, who had his father caddying for him, hit only 14 of 26 fairways during the first two days and had 33 putts each round. Weaver is redshirting this year as he pursues admission into Cal’s Haas School of Business after two strong seasons to begin his college career in Berkeley. Weaver played in 22 events his first two years and had a stroke average of 72.5. He tied for eighth at the 2011 NCAA Championship, the highest finish ever for an individual Cal players at the NCAAs.

--Lift, clean and place conditions have been in effect all week. This is the third time this year (in six events) that preferred lies were used (Round 1 and 2 at the Pacific Rubiales Colombia Championship and the Chitimacha Louisiana Open).

--The Nationwide Tour will take next week off before heading to Georgia for consecutive weeks. The Tour’s next stop will be the South Georgia Classic at Kinderlou Forest April 23-29.

Gary Kubiak Kicks Off Relationship With Joe Flacco

Posted Jan 28, 2014

Ryan MinkBaltimoreRavens.com Staff Writer@Ravens All Ryan Mink Articles



Gary Kubiak hasn’t met with Joe Flacco yet, but will immediately begin closely studying him.



Gary Kubiak said his first day as Ravens offensive coordinator will begin very early Tuesday morning with studying tape of quarterback Joe Flacco.

Kubiak knows Flacco fairly well from his time facing him from the opposing sideline.

But now that Flacco and Kubiak’s future success is closely intertwined, they’re going to get mighty comfy with one another.

While the Ravens hired Kubiak’s right hand man, Rick Dennison, to be the quarterbacks coach, the job of working with Flacco will in large part be on Kubiak. Kubiak spoke briefly with Flacco on Monday when he was hired. Now they’ll strike up more of a relationship.

“It’s our job to find the things that Joe is comfortable with and to make him as successful as we possibly can. And we’ll do that,” Kubiak said.

“He’s a championship quarterback, and that’s all you can ask for as a coach in this league. I’m very excited, along with Rick, to work with him.”



Flacco is coming off his roughest season as a pro, statistically. The reigning Super Bowl MVP followed up a record-setting postseason with a career-high 22 interceptions to 19 touchdowns. He threw for a career-high 3,912 yards, but posted a career-low 73.1 quarterback rating.

Now Flacco will be working with his third offensive coordinator in the past 13 months (Cam Cameron, Jim Caldwell, Kubiak). It will be Flacco’s fourth quarterbacks coach (Hue Jackson, Jim Zorn, Caldwell, Dennison). Flacco didn’t have a quarterbacks coach last year.

Kubiak and Flacco have yet to meet in-person. Kubiak said he looks forward to picking Flacco’s brain to see how he has been taught and what he’s done in the past.

“Joe and I need to sit down together, and I need to talk to him about how he feels with what he’s done up to this point – how he feels about the future and what he thinks he needs to do better,” Kubiak said.

“Together, we come up with that plan – how we make him better, how we progress as a player. Ultimately, it’s about the team and it’s about the offense and him doing his job for the football team.”

Kubiak has a history of working with quarterbacks and specifically with Texans quarterback Matt Schaub, who went from a third-round pick and backup in Atlanta to a two-time Pro Bowler in Houston.

With Flacco, he has a quarterback with more physical tools and playoff success than Schaub. But like Schaub, Flacco is coming off a difficult season.

“I’ve been doing it long enough with enough quarterbacks [to know] if you’re playing in this league, and playing a lot of football, you’re going to go through some tough times,” Kubiak said.

“Joe has been very successful and done a lot of great things, but there’s a lot of pressure playing that position and a lot is expected of you. I feel very comfortable helping Joe through his years of growth as a player, because I’ve been with so many guys and seen how that has to take place.

“This league is about rebounding. You’re going to have tough times, you’re going to have tough days and maybe some years don’t go the way you want them to go, but you keep battling and it’s about the long haul. There’s no doubt in my mind, when Joe is said and done – he’s already a championship quarterback – but there’s a lot of great things left to happen and I’m looking forward to being part of that.”