Bernhard Langer bought shrewd with the principles. Then wowed Tiger Woods

The PNC Championship proved as soon as once more this weekend that it’s a one-of-a-kind occasion amongst nationally televised golf tournaments. Mother and father competing with their youngsters. Males taking part in with girls. A 13-year-old within the subject alongside an 89-year-old. 4 units of tees in play. Thirty-six holes. Birdie-fueled dash to the end. Great things all of it.  

The PNC’s format is also a differentiator: a two-player scramble, which is a rarity for community TV golf.

In a scramble, every participant hits a tee shot after which selects the higher of the 2 pictures to play subsequent. Similar goes for the third shot, with this sample repeating till a ball has been holed. It’s an ultra-forgiving format, which explains how each Crew Langer and Crew Woods shot 28 underneath over two rounds, and no crew shot worse than eight underneath; the Langers finally defeated the Woods’ on the primary playoff gap.

Scrambles are distinctive from conventional golf in a single different essential method: When gamers determine which pictures they’ll play, they’re permitted to put their balls inside one club-length of the unique spots. That allowance typically ends in perfect lies within the fairway. Balls that discover hazards, bunkers, tough, pure areas or the perimeter might also be picked up and positioned inside a club-length however usually should keep inside the “similar situation” — i.e., in most scrambles, together with on the PNC, event organizers don’t allow gamers to maneuver a ball from, say, a bunker to the green.

Bettering one’s lie in a type of areas, although? That’s one other matter. There’s nothing within the guidelines that prohibits such an motion, that means gamers are empowered to take away their ball from, say, a dastardly fried-egg lie and place it on a extra manageable lie atop the sand — once more, assuming the brand new spot is inside a club-length of the place the ball initially got here to relaxation.  

Simply such a state of affairs performed out on Sunday on the PNC after the Langers — Bernhard and his son, Jason — had performed their tee pictures on the par-5 14th, at which level they have been tied for the lead at 24 underneath with the Woods’. After Jason heeled his drive into the water up the left, the Langers had no alternative however to play Bernhard’s ball, which landed in what appeared to be a bunker on the left aspect of the green however was, actually, deemed a pure space, which meant the Langers have been free to make contact with the sand with their observe swings.

When father and son arrived on the ball, they seen one thing: a small clump of sand inside a club-length of their orb. Recognizing that the tiny tower may in impact act as a tee for one among their pictures, they collectively determined that, strategically, it could take advantage of sense for his or her greatest ball-striker — Bernhard — to make the most of the principles break and place his ball upon the mound.

Jason hit first, from a more difficult lie. He caught a fairway wooden fats and popped up his ball into the center of the green however a great distance out from the inexperienced. Then Bernhard stepped in. Understanding he had the posh of basically teeing up his ball and with solely a small lip to hold, he made an aggressive membership choice: driver.        

“What do you consider this play?” announcer Dan Hicks mentioned in an incredulous tone on the NBC broadcast.

“I’m loving each second of it, Dan,” mentioned on-course reporter Jim “Bones” Mackay. “I believe he thinks as a result of he can place the ball so properly, he can get numerous membership on the ball right here and get the ball up on the inexperienced.”

Bernhard didn’t fairly attain the inexperienced, however he got here shut. His ball rocketed out and carried roughly 230 yards earlier than settling right into a bunker fronting the inexperienced, an effort Tiger Woods later known as “among the best pictures I’ve ever seen.” From there, he and Jason bought up and down for a birdie 4.

It wasn’t lengthy earlier than a screen-grab of Bernhard’s perched lie started making the rounds on social media, with no scarcity of ill-informed observers taking digs on the two-time Masters champion’s integrity. Factor was, Bernhard had accomplished no incorrect. He and his son had merely taken benefit of the identical guidelines that have been obtainable to the remainder of the sector.

On Monday morning, Bernhard acknowledged in a cellphone interview with GOLF.com that he’d gotten “very lucky” along with his lie, however even when he’d had a much less favorable lie, he mentioned, he thinks the results of his second shot would have been related. In that hypothetical situation, Bernhard mentioned, he doubtless would have hit a fairway wooden as an alternative of a driver and are available up simply wanting the greenside bunker, which nonetheless would left him and Jason a good chance at getting up and down. Bernhard added that there additionally occurred to be a footprint within the neighborhood of his ball, which, if he had positioned his ball on the imprint’s edge, additionally would have given him a equally elevated lie.

After the spherical, the PGA Tour Champions chief guidelines official on-site, Joe Terry, consulted with the Langers and confirmed that Bernhard was “in full compliance with the principles for a scramble,” a Tour spokesperson informed GOLF.com by e mail. “Joe is 100% assured that no infraction occurred.”

Bernhard and Jason adopted their birdie at 14 with two extra on 15 and 16, a par at 17 and a clutch 4 on the par-5 nearer to safe a playoff with Tiger and Charlie. Each groups replayed the 18th within the playoff, which concluded with Bernhard and Jason staring down an 18-foot eagle attempt for the win. Jason putt first.  

“I believed he made it,” Bernhard would say later. “When his ball was six ft from the outlet, it was supposed to interrupt just a little left and it didn’t. It simply stayed there. I used to be virtually in shock that he didn’t make it as a result of he hit such a pure putt. I used to be the beneficiary of seeing what his ball did. I performed much less break, and mine was capable of bounce in there.”

That’s the factor with golf: If you catch a break, you’d be clever to take it.

GOLF senior author Josh Sens contributed to this report.