Bernhard Langer announces final Masters start
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Bernhard Langer celebrates after winning the 1993 Masters, his second of two wins at Augusta National Golf Club (1985). (David Cannon/Getty Images)
PGA TOUR Champions legend, 66, won two green jackets over four decades
Bernhard Langer has played in 40 Masters Tournaments and twice won the green jacket.
His next start at Augusta National Golf Club will be his last.
“It’s going to be my last Masters this year, I’ve already decided on that,” Langer, 66, said from the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, which will kick off the new season on PGA TOUR Champions. “And it probably will be my last U.S. Open, too, unless some miracle happens.”
Langer has won a record 46 times on PGA TOUR Champions, most recently last season when he captured the Chubb Classic and U.S. Senior Open. The latter victory will get him into the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, where he will become the oldest to play in the national championship.
Bernhard Langer | All-time leader in wins on PGA TOUR Champions
“Yeah, it’s exciting,” Langer said. “At the same time, I am aware that I’m going to be hitting 3-irons and 2-hybrids when the guys are hitting 9-irons into the greens. That’s tough to compete against, but it’s a challenge, and I usually don’t shy away from challenges.”
He could have said the same about playing the Masters at Augusta National, which also has become onerously long for Langer’s brand of precision, point-to-point golf. Last year, he shot 75-74 to miss the cut there for just the 13th time.
From 1984 through 2002, Langer made 19 straight Masters cuts, including his victories in 1985 and ’93. He was the oldest to make the cut at the Masters at age 63 in 2020 (T29), but Fred Couples, also 63 but 109 days older than Langer, broke his record in 2023.
Sandy Lyle and Larry Mize called it a career in 2023 when Langer said he played reasonably well but did not make a birdie in his first-round 75. His second-round 74 wasn’t much better, begging the question of how long he intended to keep competing at the famously brawny course.
“I asked the chairman several years ago, I said, ‘Is there an age limit?’” Langer said. “‘When do you tell people to stop playing?’ He said, ‘Listen, Bernhard, you will know yourself when it’s time to stop,’ and I hope he’s right. I don’t want to make a fool of myself.”