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AUGUSTA, Ga. – Bernhard Langer looked resplendent in red as he climbed the hill and marched to the 18th green at Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday during the opening round of the 89th Masters. It was the same color that he wore 40 years ago – along with a white belt and visor – when he won the tournament for the first of two times.
Langer, 67, made a birdie at the third, his lone birdie of the day, and threatened to be the oldest golfer to shoot even par at Augusta National in the first round since Gay Brewer did so in 1998 at age 66. But Langer made bogeys at Nos. 12, 13 and 17 and settled for 2-over 74 in the first round of his swansong at the Masters.
“Overall, it was a pretty good round for a 67-year-old to get around in 2 over,” he said. “I played really well the first 11 holes, really well, and then I made a mistake at 12 taking the wrong club.”
Langer is the Energizer Bunny of PGA Tour Champions, the winningest player in senior golf, but a few years ago he asked Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley if there was an age limit for past champions to continue competing.
“He said, ‘No, you will know when it's time to quit. It's totally up to you,’ ” recalled Langer.
The German actually determined it was time to say farewell last year but he tore his Achilles heel playing Pickleball and missed last year’s Masters. He defied the odds and returned to action just three months later and won his 47th title on the Champions tour since turning 50 at the season-ending Charles Schwab Championship. Still, Langer has stuck to his belief that it’s time to bid adieu to the Masters.
“I'm just not competitive on this course anymore,” he said. “We're playing, what, 7,500-plus yards, and I'm used to playing courses around 7,100. I can still compete there but not at this distance… I'm hitting hybrids where the other kids are hitting 9-irons and 8-irons, maybe even wedges. So I knew I wasn't going to be in contention anymore.”
Langer still marvels that a young man, who turned pro at age 15 and grew up in the village of Anhausen, near Augsburg, Germany, the youngest of three children, ever made it to Augusta National.
“It's been an incredible journey, for a young man being born in a village of 800 people in an area where golf was nothing, to make it here, to get an invitation to play the Masters first time around when it was extremely difficult for a European or international players to get an invitation, and then to win the first Masters on the third go-around was just a dream come true,” he said. “It's just incredible.”
It was Langer’s oldest brother, who worked as a caddie at the one golf club located 5 miles away from the Langer family home, that introduced Bernhard to the game when he was nine years old.
“I begged him to take me and eventually he took me, and my first bag was the club champion, a 2-handicap, best player in the club and he liked this little nine-year-old plump kid and he said, ‘You’re going to be my regular caddie from here on in,’” said Langer, who would ride his bicycle to the course. “I would say I fell in love with money first. As a caddie I was earning money as a nine-year-old. That was pretty cool. But I immediately fell in love with the game.”
The same could be said for his affection for the Masters.
“Coming here the first time, driving down Magnolia Lane, seeing this place was an eye-opener for me,” Langer said. “I had never seen a golf course manicured like this or a tournament run as efficiently as this has been.”
Forty years later, Langer received multiple standing ovations from the Augusta National patrons, who appreciate his longevity and consistency in the game.
“It's so fragile. It's so volatile. It's like the stock market. It just comes and goes. You hear major winners one day, and then you don't hear about them two years later for some reason,” Langer said. “It's a difficult thing. I guess God has blessed me with tremendous talent and being a great competitor, but there's many other things that are important. You need to be healthy. You've got to have a great support system, a good caddie, a good coach, on and on, the list goes on. You've got to be willing to sacrifice, as well, because it's not always easy.”
Langer’s love affair with the Masters, where he also won the title in 1993 on Easter Sunday, will be chronicled in an hour-long special on CBS on Sunday as a prelude to the network’s final-round coverage. Langer plans to wear green and yellow on Friday, the same two colors he wore on Sunday during his second victory as his personal tribute to his greatest days at Augusta National. Langer was pleased with his opening-round performance but at 67 there’s no room for error if he wants to show off his weekend outfits.
“If I want to make the cut I have to do better tomorrow,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Masters 2025: Bernhard Langer, 67, shoots 74 in first round of Masters
Continue reading...
Langer, 67, made a birdie at the third, his lone birdie of the day, and threatened to be the oldest golfer to shoot even par at Augusta National in the first round since Gay Brewer did so in 1998 at age 66. But Langer made bogeys at Nos. 12, 13 and 17 and settled for 2-over 74 in the first round of his swansong at the Masters.
“Overall, it was a pretty good round for a 67-year-old to get around in 2 over,” he said. “I played really well the first 11 holes, really well, and then I made a mistake at 12 taking the wrong club.”
Langer is the Energizer Bunny of PGA Tour Champions, the winningest player in senior golf, but a few years ago he asked Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley if there was an age limit for past champions to continue competing.
“He said, ‘No, you will know when it's time to quit. It's totally up to you,’ ” recalled Langer.
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The German actually determined it was time to say farewell last year but he tore his Achilles heel playing Pickleball and missed last year’s Masters. He defied the odds and returned to action just three months later and won his 47th title on the Champions tour since turning 50 at the season-ending Charles Schwab Championship. Still, Langer has stuck to his belief that it’s time to bid adieu to the Masters.
“I'm just not competitive on this course anymore,” he said. “We're playing, what, 7,500-plus yards, and I'm used to playing courses around 7,100. I can still compete there but not at this distance… I'm hitting hybrids where the other kids are hitting 9-irons and 8-irons, maybe even wedges. So I knew I wasn't going to be in contention anymore.”
Langer still marvels that a young man, who turned pro at age 15 and grew up in the village of Anhausen, near Augsburg, Germany, the youngest of three children, ever made it to Augusta National.
“It's been an incredible journey, for a young man being born in a village of 800 people in an area where golf was nothing, to make it here, to get an invitation to play the Masters first time around when it was extremely difficult for a European or international players to get an invitation, and then to win the first Masters on the third go-around was just a dream come true,” he said. “It's just incredible.”
It was Langer’s oldest brother, who worked as a caddie at the one golf club located 5 miles away from the Langer family home, that introduced Bernhard to the game when he was nine years old.
“I begged him to take me and eventually he took me, and my first bag was the club champion, a 2-handicap, best player in the club and he liked this little nine-year-old plump kid and he said, ‘You’re going to be my regular caddie from here on in,’” said Langer, who would ride his bicycle to the course. “I would say I fell in love with money first. As a caddie I was earning money as a nine-year-old. That was pretty cool. But I immediately fell in love with the game.”
You must be registered for see images
The same could be said for his affection for the Masters.
“Coming here the first time, driving down Magnolia Lane, seeing this place was an eye-opener for me,” Langer said. “I had never seen a golf course manicured like this or a tournament run as efficiently as this has been.”
Forty years later, Langer received multiple standing ovations from the Augusta National patrons, who appreciate his longevity and consistency in the game.
“It's so fragile. It's so volatile. It's like the stock market. It just comes and goes. You hear major winners one day, and then you don't hear about them two years later for some reason,” Langer said. “It's a difficult thing. I guess God has blessed me with tremendous talent and being a great competitor, but there's many other things that are important. You need to be healthy. You've got to have a great support system, a good caddie, a good coach, on and on, the list goes on. You've got to be willing to sacrifice, as well, because it's not always easy.”
Langer’s love affair with the Masters, where he also won the title in 1993 on Easter Sunday, will be chronicled in an hour-long special on CBS on Sunday as a prelude to the network’s final-round coverage. Langer plans to wear green and yellow on Friday, the same two colors he wore on Sunday during his second victory as his personal tribute to his greatest days at Augusta National. Langer was pleased with his opening-round performance but at 67 there’s no room for error if he wants to show off his weekend outfits.
“If I want to make the cut I have to do better tomorrow,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Masters 2025: Bernhard Langer, 67, shoots 74 in first round of Masters
Continue reading...
