FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, July 29th, 2017

NOTABLE QUOTES: THE SENIOR OPEN, SATURDAY’S 3RD ROUND ON NBC – LANGER LEADS BY 4

NBC Notable Quotes
The Senior Open Presented by Rolex
Third Round
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Royal Porthcawl Golf Club
Bridgend, Wales

**To avoid potential inclement weather on Sunday, tee times have been moved up for the final round at The Senior Open presented by Rolex. Golf Channel Digital will live stream the final round from 5:30-10 a.m. ET.**

**Golf Channel and NBC airtimes will remain the same: Final round coverage of The Senior Open presented by Rolex will air on Sunday from 9:30 a.m.-Noon ET (Golf Channel) and continuing from Noon-2 p.m. ET (NBC).

On Bernhard Langer, leader at 5-under par (6-under par 65 on Saturday)
Rich Lerner – “To put in perspective on how dominant he has been since 2010 in the Senior Majors. He is now is 282 under-par. That is 148 shots better than anyone else. That is staggering.”
Lanny Wadkins – “You just expect him to be there. He plays so well. There are no weaknesses in his game. He drives it plenty long, very straight. A terrific iron player and makes no mistakes around the greens.”
Dave Marr – “It has been a renaissance for him since his win at the 2014 Senior Open.”
Rich Lerner – “This guy really is remarkable. 17 wins since turning 55.”
John Mahaffey – “He gives his mind a chance to rest when he is away from the course. When he plays, he mentally prepares and focuses. That is what you are looking for out here, and that is exactly what he does.”
Billy Ray Brown – “He has been spectacular. He has certainly been in control.”
Wadkins – “I don’t think we expected to see him – not feeling well – to play this well today. It has been remarkable. I can’t think of a shot that he has really hit poorly.”
Wadkins – “It is utterly amazing not only how well he plays, but the consistency day-in and day-out.”

Bernhard Langer speaking with NBC’s Todd Lewis following his round
Bernhard Langer – “It was a lot easier to play today. The first 10-12 holes we didn’t have any rain and the wind was 5-10 miles per hour, which makes it a lot more playable versus 25 gusting to 35 and rain in between. It was a lot more fun today.”
Langer – “Same mentality as the last few days. Still have to be aggressive. There are a lot of guys waiting for me to fall apart or whatever, so I need to shoot a good round, hopefully under par depending on the conditions. If I can do that, then I’ll make it difficult for the other guys to catch me. So, my plan is to go under par.”

Corey Pavin in 2nd at 1-under par (6-under 65 on Saturday) speaking with NBC’s Todd Lewis following his round
Corey Pavin – “It was nice out today. I hit the ball a lot better today and I putted nicely. I made about a 50-footer on 4 which kind of got me going and made me feel like, ‘Ok things might be going ok today.’ I made three in a row right there, so once I did that, I eased into the round and felt pretty comfortable.”
Pavin – “When I came out I saw that there were a couple of good scores out there. Guys were under par. There isn’t much breeze today and the course is getable when it is like this. Certainly it hasn’t been like that the previous two days but I still had to be patient, go out there and hit shots and take what the course gave me and today it gave me a little bit.”

On Steve Flesch, T4 at 1-over par (even-par 71 on Saturday)
Lerner – “On a day when a lot of players took it deep, Flesch kind of stalled today.”
Wadkins – “Flesch shot the same score today that he shot yesterday. As hard as it played yesterday, he played an amazing round. Today, he was just stuck in neutral.”

On Tom Watson, T11 at 3-over par (4-under par 67 on Saturday – shooting his age)
Wadkins – “That was fun to watch today. Tom was hitting a lot of quality shots. His putting has looked very good all week.”

On Fred Couples, T11 at 3-over par (5-under par 66 on Saturday)
Wadkins – “He got himself there today. He has got himself where a 65 or 66 might do some real damage on Sunday.”

On Saturday’s 3rd round at The Senior Open at Royal Porthcawl
Lerner – “Compared to yesterday, Wales feels like Waikiki today.”
Marr – “How difficult was the scoring the first two days here at the Senior Open? 286 scores posted, only one in the 60s.”

-NBC Sports Group-