It pays to be well connected. It also helps to have a little luck.
In Bernhard Langer’s case, he got both when he was once grouped with Alabama football coach Nick Saban during a PGA Tour Champions event pro-am.
“I’ve created some wonderful friendships over the years with some of the people I’ve met in pro-ams. I’m always excited to see who I’m playing with and just the conversations we might have,” Langer said.
It was a particular round that the two-time Masters champ had with the now seven-time championship-winning college football coach that stands out.
“I had plantar fasciitis last year, and I was paired with Nick Saban in Birmingham in the pro-am and I told him about my foot problem,” Langer said during a conference call to promote the Cologuard Classic in Tucson in February. Langer is the defending champ. “And I asked him if any of his players have a problem with plantar fasciitis and he goes ‘Yea, they do but I don’t know what the cure is. Here, why don’t you talk to our doctor,’ and he pulls out his cell phone and dials the number and goes, ‘Here, talk to our team doctor.’
“Sure enough, I’m talking to the team doctor for five minutes, he gave me some pointers and a couple weeks later my plantar fasciitis was gone.
“Those are just things you don’t get on a regular basis.”
Not for most of us, that is.
