Bernhard Langer is enjoying another dominant season on the Champions Tour, winning three times with nine top-10 finishes in 12 events. Alas, 2017 has bestowed its share of issues as well, as Langer's putting stroke — one that many believe is in violation of golf's anchoring ban — has begat a wave of cheating accusations.
While the USGA has come to Langer's defense, many prominent voices continue to cast aspersions on Langer (and to a lesser extent, Scott McCarron). Speaking at Royal Porthcawl ahead of this week's Senior Open Championship, the two-time Masters champ sounds fed up with the matter.
"I personally don't understand it because I'm a man of integrity and the last thing I want to do is break rules and be known as cheating or something," Langer said. "I mean, that's the very last thing I want.
"What's even stranger is that I have conferred with the USGA rules officials, with the Champions Tour officials, on a regular basis…And then you have a few people that come up on whatever it is, Twitter or somewhere else, and questioning my integrity, which is really hurtful. "
But Langer said he plans on continue to employ his current stroke, and offered his thoughts on why this vendetta is aimed his way.
"It's human to be jealous," Langer said. "If I was No. 180 on the Money List, I don't think anybody would be talking about it. But I've been No. 1 the last few years on a regular basis, and now McCarron has a lot of success, as well. We're actually No. 1 and 2 on the Champions Tour. So you're going to have people, you know, being jealous or whatever you want to call it."
Langer is shooting for this third career Senior Open title this week.