It is a stellar pedigree of golfers. Among the major winners born in 1957 – and turning 60 last year (with varying degrees of trepidation) – are Nick Faldo, Mark O’Meara, Wayne Grady, Nick Price, Marta Figueras-Dotti and Nancy Lopez. Severiano Ballesteros would also have reached six decades on the Sunday of the 2017 U.S. Masters, appropriately the same day that Sergio García finally broke through for his first Grand Slam title.
Then there is Bernhard Langer. The dual U.S. Masters champion (1985 and 1993) was born on 27 August 1957. Before turning 50 and joining the senior ranks, he had carved out one of the most impressive international careers of any player of his generation. Over the past decade, however, he has not only embellished his CV but in many ways resoundingly surpassed his achievements pre-2007.
In May 2017, he won the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship for a record (albeit disputed by Gary Player) ninth senior major and the only one that had eluded him during his domination of the U.S. PGA Champions Tour over the past 10 years (he tied Jack Nicklaus’ record of eight majors the previous week in the Regions Tradition), and he also became the first player to win the career “super slam” of all five senior majors.
In July, he picked up the final (and his third) of the five annual majors, the British Senior Championship, to dispel Player’s dissenting voice. The South African had argued that his three British Senior titles (1988, 1990 and 1997) should count retroactively in his majors tally (otherwise “only” six) – even though the championship wasn’t officially added to the Grand Slam elite until 2003. No matter how valid that argument might be, it is now purely academic.
Langer wasn’t finished there for 2017, however.
He won another regular Champions Tour event in September, as a recently turned 60-year-old, and the first two of the three end-of-season finals series tournaments. That made him a clear favourite to win last year’s Charles Schwab Cup but in the end his dreams were thwarted by first-time winner Kevin Sutherland – and his own tournament curse. He only needed to finish high enough in the final Charles Schwab Cup Championship to seal the Schwab Cup for a fourth straight year and fifth time overall.
His woes in the tournament continued, however, as he finished tied for 12th after a mediocre start in the first two rounds. The season finale was one of just eight tournaments on last year’s 26-event schedule that Langer had not won during his otherwise stellar senior career. He closed with a 64 to finish second in the final standings, the sixth straight year he had been first or second in the Cup.
In spite of his final-week setback, it wasn’t all that bad a year for the 60-year-old: he finished the season with a Champions Tour record $3,677,359 in winnings; secured the tour money title (Arnold Palmer Trophy) for a sixth straight season and ninth in 10 years since turning 50 (the only season he missed out was 2011 when convalescing after thumb surgery); his seven wins in 2017 was a personal best (including an impressive three of the aforementioned five majors); and his 36 career wins is second behind and now even closer to Hale Irwin’s record 45. Later he was philosophical. “It was meant to be play-offs. Everybody in the field was given a chance to win… I have to pinch myself. Just got to be really grateful and thankful.”
Overcoming Yips… and the Broom-Handle Controversy
One of the many admirers (and frustrated challengers) among his peers is Fred Funk, who calls him the German robot. “I’d love to throw Bernhard in the salt-water ocean and see if he rusts.”
In the Senior PGA back in May he had come from one stroke back to beat Vijay Singh, who is five years younger, drives the ball 30 meters longer and is still regularly competing on the main tour with reasonable success.
“I think what really frustrated him was my putting,” Langer said. “I made a bunch of putts just to keep in touch and he didn’t really make anything.” Langer has himself struggled with the putting yips off and on throughout his career, and faced a new challenge in 2016 when golf’s governing bodies banned the anchored putting stroke he had been using since before his senior days. Langer was able to continue using the long putter, moving his top hand two to three centimetres away from his chest, although there is ongoing controversy about whether this is in the spirit of the new rules – even if it is legal.
“I found a way now that I feel reasonably comfortable most of the time, not always,” Langer said. “It’s encouraging for me to see that even under pressure I can make some putts.”
After winning his second straight Regions Tradition last year (his 105th victory worldwide, he noted proudly at the winner’s press conference), Langer had observed of his then eight major titles, “Yeah, that’s pretty neat. Not many people can say they match Jack Nicklaus in anything. To have won as many majors on this tour as he has is outstanding, obviously, and a thrill for me. I’m still way behind on the (PGA Tour), though, in majors.”
As Langer prepares for his first full season as a 60-year-old, there is one more question remaining about his legacy. Just over two per cent of events contested on the Champions Tour have been won by golfers 60 or older. “There’s always exceptions,” he said on the eve of his own 60th birthday last year. “I hope to be one of those exceptions.” As it turned out he was, and few would bet against him further confounding those odds in 2018 – and beyond.
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