It was March 2007 and Bernhard Langer was playing out the string on the PGA Tour. He was struggling with his game and would be eligible for the Senior Tour when he turned 50 in August of that year.
Approached in the locker room at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Langer was asked if he’d be going to the over-50 circuit after his upcoming birthday, as some players stay on the PGA Tour for a few more years if they’re still competitive.
“Might as well,” a clearly discouraged Langer said.
Just as the German knew it was time to leave the PGA Tour, he knows it’s time to bid goodbye to the Masters Tournament. The farewell for the two-time champion (1985, 1993) begins Thursday at 8:35 a.m. It will be his 41st start at the Masters, moving Langer into solo 12th all-time on the Augusta National list.
“The course is just getting too long and I’m getting shorter and shorter and I’m hitting hybrids where the other kids are hitting 9-irons and 8-irons, maybe even wedges,” Langer said this week.
“I knew I wasn’t going to be in contention anymore. A few years back I asked the chairman of the club, is there a time limit? Do we age out when we’re 60? Or what is it? He said, ‘No, you will know when it’s time to quit. It’s totally up to you.’
“It is time to quit.”
Langer made those remarks in the interview room of the Press Building this week. Earlier in the interview he was asked what this week means to him. With that, he was no longer a stoic German.
“It’s very emotional. You can tell already my voice is breaking a bit just realizing it’s going to be my last competitive Masters. After four decades, it’s going to be bittersweet,” he said.
He had planned to bid adieu to the Masters in 2024 but tore his Achilles’ tendon before the Masters and had to sit it out.
Now, a year later, the time has finally come. How will he handle his final trips around Augusta National?
“Usually I’m pretty good compartmentalizing, so when I’m inside the ropes, my mind switches to being a competitor, play golf and take care of the task in front of me. But I might get a bit emotional looking around and the spectators, seeing my family, my kids, my grandkids, my brother and other friends that are going to be supporting me this week.”
Langer went on to what is now the PGA Tour Champions – and found his game in spectacular fashion. He has a record 47 wins, 43 runner-ups and 29 third-place finishes. That’s 119 top-three finishes.
“I just thought, I’ll try the Champions Tour for a few weeks and see if I like it or not,” Langer said. “I really had no idea what it would be like, and I think it was after three weeks I said, ‘Man, this place is great.’ This is where I want to spend the majority of my golfing life and just kind of played less and less in Europe, less and less on the regular tour and kind of focused on the Champions Tour. But then even, I was just trying to be one of the better players. I had no idea what kind of Champions Tour career I would have and was blessed with fairly good health and a lot of success.”
And he’s still going strong.
“I said many years ago three things have to be in place: I need to be healthy, I’ve got to have fun, enjoyment doing this, and probably be in contention. If those three things are there, there’s no need to quit. If one or two of those leave me for whatever reason, it’s time to think about it.”
In all, Langer has made 687 combined starts on the PGA Tour (326) and senior tour (361).
“His legacy is just amazing,” Rory McIlroy said this week. “Sort of like the Iron Man of golf. I’ve played with Bernhard a little bit. I played a couple of times with him in my rookie year on the European Tour in 2008, played with him in Germany, once, actually, which was really cool. And then I actually played with him in the third round of the 2020 Masters.
“Yeah, I mean, he’s been amazing. Just what he’s been able to do on the Champions Tour – what he did in his regular career but especially what he’s done post-50, I think just to have that competitive spirit and have that competitive fire burn for so long, I don’t know if I would be able to do that. But I think it’s unbelievably impressive. Hopefully he gets the sendoff that he wants this week.”
Langer hasn’t made the Masters cut since he played with McIlroy in 2020. Barring an exceptional first two rounds, his final round here will be Friday. It would be his 136th round at the Masters.
“Well, if it doesn’t hit me earlier on, it will definitely hit me on 18, I know that,” Langer said of the emotion of the occasion. “But one of my favorite places was always Amen Corner here. It’s just a beautiful part of the golf course. The 13th hole, I’ve made eagle there on Saturday in ’85 to get into contention and I made eagle on Sunday in ’93 to win. So that’s become one of my favorite holes, not just because I made eagles but just the beauty of the hole and what it demands from you.
“Yeah, to answer your question, hopefully I can control myself until the 18th, but there’s no guarantees.”