Langer leads Wisconsin natives Kelly and Stricker as Harrington fades

Bernhard Langer reacts to a missed putt on the 18th green during the third round of the 2023 U.S. Senior Open at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis. on Saturday, July 1, 2023. (James Gilbert/USGA)

Could the USGA, SentryWorld, NBC and Wisconsin golf fans ask for a better leader board going into Sunday’s final round of the 43rd U.S. Senior Open?

Your 54-hole leader, 65-year-old Bernhard Langer, is a two-time Masters champion looking to become the oldest winner of the championship by eight years. The owner of 45 PGA Tour Champions titles, including 12 senior majors, carded a second consecutive, 3-under-par 68 in Saturday’s third round for a three-day total of 6-under 207.

Two and three shots behind, respectively, are 56-year-old Wisconsin natives and fan favorites Jerry Kelly and Steve Stricker. Paired together on Saturday, they each shot 68s on the 7,011-yard layout designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and that has undergone two renovations since opening 41 years ago.

Darren Clarke is nine strokes behind Langer on three-over after a 71 while Padraig Harrington’s grip on the title appears to have loosened definitively after a 73 left him on five-over.

The Wisconsin men each delighted the fans who were 10-deep around the first tee on what was a beautiful first day of July, punctuating the round with final-hole birdies – Kelly from 25 feet and Stricker from 15 feet. Kelly, a two-time U.S. Senior Open runner-up, posted 4-under 209 to get into Sunday’s final pairing with Langer.

“Talk about energy,” said Kelly, the winner of two senior majors and 11 PGA Tour Champions titles. “What a great reception. What a great show-up for all the people from Wisconsin and all over. They've been nothing but fantastic. It definitely sends chills up the back of your spine.”

Stricker, the 2019 champion seeking a third consecutive senior major in 2023, sits at 210. But never count him out. A year ago at Saucon Valley Country Club, he shot a final-round 65 to fall just one stroke shy of champion Harrington.

Two other major champions are five back at 1-under 212. Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen (2001 and 2004) and Y.E. Yang, nicknamed “Tiger Killer” for his rally to defeat Woods in the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club, shot 71 and 69, respectively, in Round 3. Yang is the only player to beat Woods in a major when Tiger held the 54-hole lead/co-lead.

Only those five players are in red figures.

Two more – former club professional Rob Labritz and two-time senior major champion Alex Cejka – are at even-par 213.

But the man everyone will be chasing on Sunday will be Langer, who hopes to surpass five-time USGA champion Hale Irwin as the winningest player in PGA Tour Champions history. A victory would be No. 46 for Langer, which would also make him – by eight years – the oldest U.S. Senior Open champion. Allen Doyle was just shy of his 58th birthday when he successfully defended his title in 2006 at NCR Country Club in Kettering, Ohio. Langer, one of the fittest players on the 50-and-over circuit, turns 66 in 56 days, and he’d dearly love to add a second Senior Open title to the one he claimed 13 years ago at Sahalee Country Club in suburban Seattle, edging out hometown favorite Fred Couples.

“It’s going to be difficult,” said Langer about facing a Wisconsin crowd rooting for Kelly and Stricker. “I remember playing against Fred Couples in Seattle … and if there were 30,000 people, every one of them [was] cheering for Fred, and the only one for me was my caddie, who was my son at the time.

“It was like a Ryder Cup match in America. It's going to be similar tomorrow I take it. Hopefully the crowd will be somewhat fair and still appreciate good golf shots. I understand. They want their hometown boy to win. I've been there myself.”

He opened Saturday’s round with consecutive birdies, bogeyed the fourth due to a poor drive and then birdied the par-5 fifth, reaching the 514-yard hole in two shots. He then made 11 consecutive pars before stuffing his approach to 5 feet on No. 17.

The loudest cheers were for the third-to-last pairing of the day. Thousands were there to greet Kelly and Stricker on the first tee and roars went up for every birdie the two Madison residents made, punctuated by their 18th hole exploits.

Kelly stayed out of the rough, hitting 13 of 14 fairways, and found half the greens (9 of 18) in Round 3. That was a recipe for success as he registered five birdies against two bogeys. One was a 35-foot birdie on the par-5 10th.

Stricker, who won a Wisconsin state high school title at SentryWorld 39 years ago, got to 4 under par before a bad drive on 13 led to a bogey, and he three-putted No. 15 before getting good looks at birdie on Nos. 16-18, converting just the one on the final hole.

“It was good to finally get one in,” Stricker said of his 18th-hole birdie. “Jerry beat me to it really because I was thinking if I could make that putt, I would have been in the last group tomorrow, but Jerry beat me to it. Then I'm like, well, I've got to try to top him and get it in there. It was a good way to finish for us.”