The big pressure shots at the PNC Father-Son Challenge typically come from experienced major champions.
But Bernhard Langer watched son Jason hit an incredible shot that set their team up for a playoff win Sunday afternoon at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club.
Team Langer finished with a second straight 12-under par 60 in the scramble format for a 24-under total for 36 holes. That wasn’t good enough to win in regulation as Retief Goosen and son Leo finished at 24 (58-62) as did Tom and Thomas Lehman (61-59).
The three teams headed back to the par five 18th.
After his dad’s drive found the fairway, Jason pulled a three-wood from his bag and stood over a 270-yard second shot, into a slight breeze. “I don’t have that shot,” said his major champion father. Jason certainly did. He launched a perfect shot that carried the greenside bunker, landed on the fringe, rolled toward the hole and stopped just 12 feet away.
That put the head on the other two teams. No eagles from them and Jason stepped up quickly to his 12-footer for the victory. He hit a perfect putt, the slight right-to-left breaker found the middle of the hole — victory for team Langer.
“It was unbelievable,” said the elder Langer, who has been a dominant force on the Champions Tour for the past decade. “That last shot, 270 into the wind, I don’t have that shot.”
Jason, a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, said he’s a more experienced player now. “This year was much different,” he said. “I’m a little bit better golfer now.”
His second into the playoff hole showed he’s more than a little bit better. The memory of that shot should last at least a year.
