Family first for Langer
It is the final week of the Ryder Cup race and European captain Bernhard Langer has no doubt he is in the right place - with his family, at least until the weekend.
When the last qualifying tournament starts in Munich on Thursday and the mad scramble for the remaining places resumes Langer will be in America, preparing to take his 18-year-old daughter Jackie to college.
He has received some criticism in the media for that, just as he did for not being at the Open when American captain Hal Sutton was.
But the double Masters champion is furious with the suggestion that his devotion to the captaincy is not all it should be.
“The Ryder Cup is very important to me, but I know I am doing the right thing,” he said. “There are certain things you have to be as a father and a husband and supporting my daughter and my wife this week is one of them.
“I will be in Germany at the weekend and that is when it matters that I am there. Nothing is going to be decided on Thursday and Friday.
“People don’t know how badly I wanted to play this week. Real bad – it is my home event.”
Langer has long been the BMW International Open’s biggest crowd-puller and that would have remained the case this week even with the return of John Daly, winner three years ago, and all the leading contenders in the Ryder Cup standings.
That said, there is a doubt about defending champion Lee Westwood, whose wife Laurae – sister of former cup team-mate Andrew Coltart – is expecting their second child at any time.
While becoming a father again could stop Westwood trying to repeat the win which re-ignited his career last August, being a father is Langer’s priority for the next few days.
