Triumph after Welsh ordeal
Alex Cejka defies the disastrous conditions
7/31/2023 11:41 am
Alex Cejka doesn’t let the wind and rain unsettle him and wins the Senior British Open. The 52-year-old had to work hard for his date with the silver trophy. “I still can’t believe it,” he marveled after his success.
When Alex Cejka celebrated the end of the Welsh ordeal with his eyes closed and two victorious fists, his Eintracht Frankfurt woolen hat was already soaked with raindrops. Despite the disastrous weather conditions on the course of the Royal Porthcrawl Golf Club, the 52-year-old won the Senior British Open at the weekend – and thus joined the long list of prominent winners around compatriot Bernhard Langer.
“I still can’t believe it. It was a really tough week,” said an overjoyed Cejka, who celebrated his third major success with the over-50-year-old golfers: “I can’t believe I’m standing here with the trophy .” Cejka, who was born in Czechoslovakia in December 1970, had worked hard for his date with the silver trophy. In the last two days alone, no professional played under par on the course west of the capital Cardiff.
It was also “brutal” for the self-confessed Eintracht fan Cejka. You had “wet hands, wet grips” and “a cross wind of 40 miles per hour” on the laps. But Cejka didn’t let himself be disturbed – not even in the all-important jump-off, which he nerve-rackingly won on the second extra hole against Padraig Harrington from Ireland.
And so, for once, Germany’s golf icon Bernhard Langer, who is the only player to date to have won the $2.75 million event four times, was not in the limelight in Porthcrawl. With a shared seventh place, the record winner on the seniors’ tour rounded off the strong German result – and was probably looking forward to the warm shower after the Welsh ordeal like all the other professionals.