Langer makes strong start to Senior Open defence 

Bernhard Langer made a strong start to his title defence of the Senior Open presented by Rolex with an opening round of 66 at Sunningdale Golf Club.

The four time Senior Open winner credited his long game after making five birdies and one bogey on day one, which saw him join Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez at the top of the early leaderboard on four under par.

The first of those birdies came at the par four fifth, before he added a second at the ninth to make the turn in 33. His single dropped shot of the day followed two holes later at the 11th, but he moved back to two under par after another birdie at the 14th.

One particular highlight was a birdie putt, which was followed by an emphatic celebration, at the 16th hole, but Langer admitted that it took him that long to feel comfortable on the greens.

He rolled in another at the 17th, and a good par save at the 18th guaranteed a share of the early clubhouse lead – although it was still the part of his game which Langer said he was planning to work on after his round.

“I think my strength was my driving,” said Langer, who hit 11/14 fairways during his opening round at Sunningdale.

“I hit it pretty good off the tee and I hit some pretty good iron shots.

"Weakness was the putter. I had two 3-putts early on and made my first putt on 16 and another one on 17 and I had a par save on 18. I wish I could have played a few more holes but I was just getting warmed up with the putter.

“I'm going to practise a bit and see if I can fix my putter, and maybe hit a few putters and maybe rest for tomorrow's late tee time.”

“I'm going to practise a bit and see if I can fix my putter, and maybe hit a few putters and maybe rest for tomorrow's late tee time.”

Langer has already surpassed anyone in the game's history with the 11 Senior Major titles he already holds, and his opening round puts him in the perfect position to continue that streak.

When asked what the secret is to his continued competitive success, Langer replied with a laugh: "Eating lots of sauerkraut and sausages

"No, obviously I have pretty good genes I would think. My mother is going to be 98 in a couple of weeks. But I do work on it: I enjoy working out, I love playing golf, I love to walk, not sitting in a cart and all of that helps.

"Obviously to be successful, you need more than fitness. You need good technique and have to be mentally tough and strong, and a good caddie and coach and hopefully a good private life and all that stuff. It's a puzzle and the pieces need to fit most of the time if you want to have longevity and success in this game."