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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Your leader after the second round of the Players Championship is Alex Cejka, and people are getting a little too gooey telling his story. Yes, his Dad took him when he was 9 years old, and they escaped Communist Czechoslavakia."I was too young to understand what was going on,'' said Cejka, who is 11-under par, with a two-stroke lead. "For me, it was a vacation.''
A vacation that included climbing fences, he said, and going "by foot, by train, by bike, everything. I think we swam across the Rhine.''
But that was nearly 30 years ago, and Cejka has won more than $5 million in his career, mostly on the European tour. Great story, yes, but don't get the idea that he's beating Tiger Woods barefoot, or anything like that.
But Cejka, who then lived in Germany, did tell a great childhood story about meeting his idol, Bernhard Langer.
You've heard these stories before, of a kid being motivated, inspired by a touching moment with a legend. And the karma builds into something special.
That's not this story:
"The first time I met him ... well, I don't call it met him. He was playing in Frankfurt, pro-am. There was nobody there, just a couple German pros. I was a young kid, and he was a superstar, but nobody knew that he was coming. No press, nothing. It was raining so hard, and I was following him 18 holes.
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"I remember the first time I approached him, on No. 9. It's a long par-4, the amateurs are like 50 yards ahead, hiding in the trees with their umbrellas, and he goes on the tee. Everything is wet, and he takes his rain jacket off, and I'm like in school, 'Mr. Langer, can I hold your jacket?'
"And he just looked at me and threw it in the water on the tee. For a young kid, this is your hero. You want to touch something, whatever. So I followed him 18 holes. He shot like a 1-under par. After the round, I told him, 'Great round.' I expected that I'd get a ball or something.
"Nothing. He just walked past me.''
That's it? Nothing? End of story? Didn't Cejka confront Langer about this years later?
Yes, he did.
"He couldn't remember this.''
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-08-2009 @ 10:44PM
Sully said...
That story is in sharp contrast to my experience with Bernhard. Last year at the Senior PGA at Oak Hill in Rochester, NY, Bernhard was out there for a practice round, and it was brutally cold and damp, and he was bundled up in warm rain gear, hardly anyone was around, and I watched him tee of on # 13 and got some pictures. I was outside the ropes, and as he walked down off the tee, I yelled to him about getting an autograph, and he motioned for me to come inside the ropes, and I walked along with him for a while and chatted for a moment as he signed the autograph, and I thanked, him, wished him well for the week, and he smiled and said "thank you", and thanked me for coming out and hoped I enjoyed the week! That was class to me, and I have always liked and respected him, especially for his dedication to the game. A true champion and Hall of Famer!
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