THE PGA Tour Champions is back in full swing with all eyes on Bernhard Langer as he seeks to equal Hale Irwin’s all-time wins record of 45 titles.
Late last year, Langer notched his 44th Tour Champions title – the TimberTech Championship – to become the oldest winner on the tour at 65 years and two months.
It would come as no surprise to see him continue on his winning ways although the German is finding it more difficult to eke out a victory against the ‘young guns’. While Langer may no longer dominate the 50-and-older circuit as he did in the past decade and a half, he remains an admired figure on the tour.
“He’s somebody I would admire the most as a pro,” Padraig Harrington, who joined the tour last year, told the Palm Beach Post’s Tom D’Angelo.
“He’s the most professional out there. He’s gotten the most out of his game. It doesn’t surprise me what he’s doing. He’s fit and strong.”
Langer also captured his record sixth Charles Schwab Cup last year and he has shot his age a number of times. In fact, he carded a 63 on his 64th birthday in 2021.
Now in his 51st year as a professional (he turned pro aged 15), Langer has undoubtedly been the best player on the Tour Champions for the past 15 years.
Is there a better player in the world over the age of 60? Don’t think so!
And he has kept his bank manager extremely happy for many years.
For the record, Langer won $US10.76 million in three decades on the PGA Tour including the Masters twice (1985 and 1993). Since joining the PGA Tour Champions, he has added more than $US33 million to his wealth.
His 44 wins are one fewer than Irwin but his 11 majors on the Tour Champions circuit is the standard – four more than Irwin.
In 50 years as a professional golfer, Langer has racked up 120 professional wins on six continents – Africa, Asia, Japan, Oceania, North and South America.
In 1985, Langer won the Australian Masters at Huntingdale with a score of 281. He finished three shots clear of Greg Norman and Nick Faldo.
Australian champion Rodger Davis said Langer was one of the game’s legends.
“Bernhard Langer is one of the toughest competitors in the game – especially in playoffs,” Davis told me a few years ago.
The chairman of the PGA Tour of Australia should know. Twice Langer edged out Davis in playoffs.
“Bernhard beat me in two playoffs – one in the German Open and one in the German Masters,” Davis recalled. “The 1986 German Open playoff went five holes. “I birdied four of the five holes and he birdied five.”
Then, in 1991, Langer again broke Davis’s heart.
“When he beat me in the 1991 German Masters playoff it was a week after he missed a five-foot putt in the Ryder Cup and Europe lost,” Davis said.
Langer and American Hale Irwin finished all square when Langer missed a short putt. Had the putt dropped, Langer would have won 1-up, the teams would have tied (14-14) and Europe would have retained the Cup.
“In the German Masters, Bernhard holed a 35-foot putt on the last hole to tie me and then he holed a 25-footer on the first hole to beat me in the playoff.
“I said, ‘Bernhard, why didn’t you swap it? You can have the Ryder Cup and I’ll have the German Masters’.
“Not only is Bernhard Langer one hell of a player, he is a great bloke,” Davis added. “You don’t get much better than Bernhard. He is just a lovely man.”
Langer told D’Angelo retirement wasn’t quite on the radar.
“I’m getting closer to where I’m thinking about it,” Langer said. “So far I really haven’t thought about it much. I always said if I feel good and I’m healthy, I enjoy what I’m doing and I’m somewhat successful, I’ll continue.”
Standing 5ft 9in and weighing in at 74kg, he is in extraordinary physical shape and dedicated to his conditioning.
Still, the aches and pains to the body are starting to creep in.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” he said. “The body starts to ache here and there. Different parts of the body – it’s not always the same.
“It could be two percent here, two percent there. I noticed I’m getting a little bit shorter. That makes a difference. If you’re 10 yards shorter off the tee you’ve got to hit an extra club more into a green and the other guys are already farther so if they’re hitting 7-iron and I’m hitting 4-iron, that’s every hole, it’s hard to make that up. You’re going to hit a 7- or 8-iron closer to the hole than a 4-iron just about every time.”
That said, this could be the year Langer equals and then breaks Irwin’s all-time wins record.
Chief writer David Newbery has been living, breathing and writing and editing golf for more than 30 years. His extensive knowledge of the game comes from covering golf around the world. Hired by Inside Golf in 2009, David previously worked as the editor of The Golfer for 25 years and before that worked for numerous daily newspapers in Australia and overseas. The Brisbane-based journalist describes his golf game as “a work in progress”, but has had the privilege of playing golf with some of the game’s best players including nine-time major winner Gary Player. David enjoys travelling, reading, music, photography and spending time with family and friends – on and off the golf course. 
