Bernhard Langer just barely missed the cut in what was his 41st Masters start on Friday afternoon. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
(Michael Reaves via Getty Images)
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Bernhard Langer walked off the 18th green at Augusta National Golf Club with a smile on his face on Friday afternoon, completely overwhelmed with emotion.
Langer, having just missed the cut at his 41st and final start at the Masters, took his visor off and waved to the crowd that was situated along the final green. After giving a hug to Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley, the 67-year-old Langer tracked down his family. Then, with his wife Vikki’s hand in his, the pair made the long walk up from the green to the clubhouse for the last time.
“There were lots of standing ovations throughout the golf course in various spots,” Langer said afterwards. “Today, coming up 18 was mixed emotions because I was still inside the cut line, even when I made bogey.”
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Langer was at 2-over heading to his ball nestled beside the 18th green and needed to get up-and-down to make the cut, but his 11-foot putt burned the edge and would not fall.
“There were lots of emotions flooding through my mind the last two days as I was walking down the fairways …” he said. “I saw my wife, I saw my four kids, and I saw two of my grandkids come out and supported me, and friends from Germany and family from Germany. Just even friends from all over the world, literally, walking a few holes with me. It meant a great deal.”
Langer grew up in Anhausen, Germany, where he said “golf was nothing” at the time. He started caddying and then took a job as a local assistant golf pro. “I thought that was going to be my life,” he reflected on Friday afternoon.
But quickly, Langer’s playing career took off. He won 42 times on the DP World Tour and became a dominant force on the European Ryder Cup teams, of which he played on 10. He was the very first person to ever be ranked No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings when they were first introduced, too.
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Langer won three times on the PGA Tour in his career, two of which came at Augusta National, where in 1982 he became the first German to play in the Masters. He won his first green jacket in 1985 when he was just 27 years old. That win, which only came after he rallied to beat Curtis Strange in the final round, made him just the third international winner in the tournament’s history.
Langer won the very next week in a playoff in South Carolina, too. He then won his second Masters in 1993, and he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002. Eventually, Langer joined the PGA Tour Champions. He’s now won 47 times on that tour, and is the all-time wins leader. He’s also won a record 12 senior major championships, too.
“I had no clue I would ever play in America and end up living in America and marrying an American, raise my kids here, and then win the greatest tournament in the world, and on and on,” Langer said. “Yeah, it’s truly a fairy tale.”
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The reason Langer is calling it quits at the Masters is because he said that, at 67, he simply can’t compete with the PGA Tour’s best anymore. The course is too long for him.
But despite that, Langer wasn’t totally out of it this week. He posted a 2-over 74 on Friday, and then was 1-over on Friday — which only came after he pushed that makable par putt and had to settle with a tap-in bogey on the 18th. He ended up finishing just a shot outside the cut line. While he may be well back of the leaders, he still more than held his own in the field, even against some very long hitters.
While he admitted that he questioned his decision briefly a few times, Langer thinks winning a green jacket again is just out of the question for him.
“I love the game of golf, but I love to compete. I’m a competitor,” he said. “I want to be in the heat. I want to be on the leaderboard. I want to have a chance to win.
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“On this golf course, I don’t feel I can win anymore. I can maybe make the cut if I play really good, which I did play really good today, and just didn’t get rewarded.”
Though Langer won’t get to compete at Augusta National anymore, he’s not planning on staying away from the course. Not only will he be invited back each year for the annual champions dinner, but he said he and his family aren’t even going to leave town right away.
With everyone around, they want to soak it all in.
“I’m going to spend time with my family and still enjoy the tournament,” he said. “We might come out and have lunch. … We’re not going to be bored. It’s going to be a good weekend either way.”
