The Masters is a tournament of permanence and change. It celebrates the past while adapting to the present. It lends the impression that time stands still, only to remind us of its swift passage. The course evolves. Young stars emerge. Old champions morph into honorary starters. Even rich traditions have expiration dates. This month, one is coming to an end.
At 67, Bernhard Langer, owner of two green jackets and a tournament fixture since the days of persimmon, will appear in his 41st and final Masters, closing out a hard-to-fathom run. All things must pass, but it has often seemed that Langer’s ironman relationship with the event would go on forever.
Since 1982, when he made his first drive down Magnolia Lane, his Masters showings have been as consistent as the hybrids he now hits into most holes. On top of his two wins, in 1985 and 1993, Langer has notched nine top 10s, made 27 cuts and maintained a 72.8 tournament scoring average while giving off the Benjamin Button air of someone aging backward. In 2014, at 56, he became the oldest player to ever make the weekend in the Masters (a record later broken by Fred Couples) and was two shots off the lead with 12 holes to play before slipping into a tie for 8th. Two years later, he scraped his way into the second-to-last group on Sunday only to be passed by a handful of players young enough to be his sons.
Langer himself is the child of long-lived parents. His mom made it to 100, his dad to 86. But his competitive endurance owes to something more than his DNA. Peter Kostis, the golf instructor and former CBS broadcaster, first met Langer some 50 years ago at a teaching seminar in Langer’s native Germany, when Langer’s coach, Willy Hoffman, asked Kostis to assess his star pupil. The then-teenage Langer played with a strong grip and a slightly closed clubface. But, more than his mechanics, what stood out to Kostis was his mindset.
“He had a thirst for knowledge and a burning desire to get better,” Kostis says. “Everybody talks about the golf swing, but they don’t look at the total package. The greatest golfers throughout history have had unparalleled mental toughness and discipline, and Bernhard had that from an early age.”
That maturity was paired with a sense of perspective, Kostis says, and the confidence to remain himself. Resisting any urge to remake his swing — a temptation that derails many elite players — Langer opted to refine it, tweaking his grip and clubface position and eliminating a reverse-C finish to put less strain on his back. Never a big hitter by Tour standards, he also never bothered chasing distance. Instead, he doubled down on his resolve.
His focus found expression in many forms. Fitness, for instance. Langer still works out six to seven days a week, though the greatest sources of his strength are faith and family.
“I think the stability in my life off the course has been key to my success on it,” says Langer, who has been married for 40 years to his wife, Vikki, with whom he has four children and four grandchildren.
On Sunday in 1985, Langer’s near-miss eagle try at 15 would have given him the lead. Ultimately, he snatched victory anyway.Sports Illustrated via Getty Images
In recent seasons, Langer had let it be known that he felt the time was coming to say auf wiedersehen to the Masters. Leery of making “a fool of myself ” in competition, he wanted to bow out before he was reduced to playing a mere ceremonial role. But even his farewell wound up being prolonged. He’d originally planned to make his last appearance in 2024, until an Achilles tendon tear forced him to withdraw from the tournament and postpone his swan song.
The injury was expected to sideline him for the season, if not for good. But, in typically regimented fashion, Langer devoted himself to rehab, and three months later he was back to his old tricks, committing elder abuse on the Champions tour. This past November, at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship, he drained a coldhearted 30-footer on the final hole to secure a win for the 18th straight year on the senior circuit. A month later, he and his son Jason defended their title at the PNC by edging Tiger and Charlie Woods in a playoff on the first extra hole. It was Bernhard who banged in the clinching eagle putt, and when it dropped, he raised both arms in celebration and doffed his visor, an exuberant display for a man whose idea of flashy is beige.
Also, this past year, Langer played in what he said would be his final German Open, on a course near the town where he was born and raised. Competing for the last time before a cheering home crowd left Langer teary-eyed, which to some fans had the look of a cyborg crying. Don’t be fooled. Langer has feelings, and he’s bracing for them at Augusta.
“I love the Masters more than any tournament in the world,” he says. “I’m expecting it to be very difficult emotionally.”
He’ll be prepared. The rest of us should get ready too.
Encore Performances
In 1985, when 27-year-old Langer rallied to overtake final-round leader Curtis Strange and win his first Masters, he did it by besting the best of the best. Among that year’s top-10 finishers were Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Ray Floyd, Lee Trevino, Fred Couples and Craig Stadler. Langer won just three times on the PGA Tour, but on the senior circuit he’s been lethal, winning a record 47 times. How did the rest of that Masters class of ’85 shine in their sunset years? Pretty well. But not Langer well.
A golf, food and travel writer, Josh Sens has been a GOLF Magazine contributor since 2004 and now contributes across all of GOLF’s platforms. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Sportswriting. He is also the co-author, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Having Any Fun Yet: the Cooking and Partying Handbook.
