Langer engine is purring nicely at Carnoustie

• Bernhard Langer found sand at 18 but still carded 67 to share the lead. Picture: PA

And, in motoring parlance, Langer's engine was purring at Carnoustie yesterday. In opening with a four-under-par 67, the 52-year-old from Anhausen who spends most his time these days at Boca Raton in Floria earned a share of the lead with former Scottish Open winner Carl Mason and American Jay Don Blake after the first round of the Senior Open Championship.

On a day when only 18 players in the 144-strong field broke par despite conditions being favourable, Langer, fourth in this event in two previous appearances, gave himself the perfect start in his bid to record a victory he admits would be the next best thing to winning the Open Championship, a feat that has so far eluded a man who was part of the so-called 'big five' in Europe during the 1980s.

Langer, who laid the foundations for his score with an outward 32 that ended with three straight birdies, recorded his only victory in Scotland back in 1983, when he overcame lower back trouble - it is believed he received treatment during the week at nearby Ibrox - to claim the Glasgow Golf Classic at Haggs Castle. "That was a nice win for me when I was still fairly young," he recalled.

To many, he's probably not changed a single bit since then, both in terms of looks and his game, and revealed the secret of the latter was down to more than simply just diet, exercise and clean living. "It's a lot of things," he said. "There are probably 10-15 things that are a factor. First of all, you've got to be healthy. You've also got to have the will to practice, the drive to do all of the stuff that needs to be done.

"In addition, you have to be surrounded by good people, by a good family, have a good coach. What else is there? You need a good technique and a decent short game. You need to have mental strength to go through the downs. Everyone is going to have up and downs, and it's what you learn in the bad times that make you better."

Asked if he was still as enthusiastic about the game, the two-time Masters champion and winner of more than 40 European Tour titles added: "Not every morning, no. There's a few mornings when things ache and hurt and it takes a little while to get in gear. I was probably more enthusiastic in my teens, 20s and 30s. But I still enjoy it most of the time. What I don't enjoy is playing bad - I would rather stay home with my kids and play with them when that happens." Not that it happens very often. Since joining the senior circuit towards the end of 2007, Langer has chalked up ten Champions Tour titles and one on the European Senior Tour. He's topped the Champions Tour money list for the last two years and the only surprise is that he's still waiting to add a major to the two he landed on the regular tour.

Mason, a 57-year-old from Oxfordshire, should have won this major at Turnberry seven years ago, when he failed to make a par-4 at the last and then lost to Tom Watson in a play-off. "I should have won that, no doubt. In the first few hours aftewards it was very disappointing but, ultimately, I took losing in a play-off to Tom Watson as a massive positive and I went on from there with great guns."Mason, who had five birdies in six holes yesterday as he went out in 31, certainly has and recently equalled Tommy Horton's record of 23 European Senior Tour titles. "If this was the 24th, that would be something special," added the Scottish Open winner in 1994, who had to pull out last year's Sebior Open with a bad back. Blake, a 51-year-old from Utah whose only win on the PGA Tour came in the 1991 Shearson Lehman Brothers Open at Torrey Pines, was also pleased with his opening effort. "I've had to learn a whole new game, which is fun but also tough," said the American. "It's a golf course you can't be aggressive on - I'm just trying to stay out of those death bunkers that I call them."

On a day when tees at the tenth and 18th were moved foward from where they had been for the practice rounds, it proved a promising start all round for the Americans, with Bruce Vaughan, the winner at Troon two years ago, signing for a 68 to sit alongside compatriots Dans Forsman and Mark Wiebe, while Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, Mike Donald, Jeff Sluman, John Cook amd Larry Mize are a shot further back.

So, too, is Sam Torrance, who attributed his effort to a practice session at Largs with his father, Bob, earlier in the week that was still going on as darkness descended. "My swing wasn't in great shape and I couldn't see my dad last week at The Open," said Torrance. "After playing in the pro-am on Tuesday, I left here at 6.30am and drove to Largs, getting there around 8.30. We stayed there working till 10 and he's given me a great swing."

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