Bernhard Langer’s 2023 Masters honors last of Europe’s first wave of golf greatness

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Bernhard Langer knows he’s played in the Masters Tournament a long time when he takes a look the field for the 87th Masters Tournament.

There’s not a single player teeing it up in Thursday’s first round who played in the 1982 Masters, when Langer made his debut.

At 65, he’s the oldest player in the field, five-plus months older than fellow European Sandy Lyle.

After qualifying for the 1982 Masters by leading the 1981 European Tour money list, Langer didn’t make it back for 1983. He returned in 1984, and earned his first victory here in 1985. With that came a lifetime invitation and his health has allowed him to play in every Masters since, winning again in 1993, which marked the last time the champion played a persimmon driver.

That means this is Masters No. 40 for Germany’s greatest golfer.

“It’s hard to believe how time flies when you’re having fun,” Langer said this week while sitting on the veranda of the Augusta National clubhouse after a practice round. “When you look around, everybody’s moving on, right? We’re all getting older. But it’s hard to believe it’s been that long. But’s it’s great, it’s fun.”

Masters 2023 leaderboard: Get the latest news from Augusta

Langer doesn’t remember much about his Masters debut, other than the fact he had 11 three-putt greens while shooting 77-78. Still, he missed the cut by just a shot.

“The greens were so fast,” Langer said. “I had never played fast greens like these because I’d never played a U.S. Open. I’d played the British Open several times, but the greens aren’t fast at the British Open. It was an eye-opener but I immediately embraced and loved it even though I didn’t play very well.”

In addition to his two Masters victories in 1985 and 1993, Langer had one other win on the PGA Tour, at the Heritage the week after his 1985 Masters victory.

It has been on the 50-and-over PGA Tour Champions where he has really excelled, starting in 2007.

By the end of the 2015 season, Langer had 25 tour wins but Hale Irwin’s career record of 45 looked unreachable.

“It seemed that way,” Langer said.

But he kept chipping away, picking up four wins in 2016, seven in 2017 and two each in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. He did not win in 2021.

He tied Irwin’s mark on Feb. 19, 2023, in the Chubb Classic, his third start this season.

“I’ve learned to think that most records will be broken sooner or later,” Langer said.

He’s had three shots at breaking the record so far, and the next Champions event is April 21 in Irving, Texas.

“I get reminded of it every week now,” Langer said. “A lot of the tournaments I enter, they say, ‘We hope you break the record this week. We’d be excited to be the tournament when you break the record.’”

Langer and Lyle, of Scotland, are the last men standing from the “Big Five Europeans” in the Masters. From 1980-93, Langer, Lyle, Spain’s Seve Ballesteros, England’s Nick Faldo and Wales’ Ian Woosnam combined to win eight green jackets – two each for Langer, Ballesteros and Faldo, who would win a third in 1996.

Lyle is playing in his final Masters this year. Faldo last played in 2006, Woosnam called it quits in 2021 and Ballesteros, who died in 2011 at age 54, made his final Masters appearance in 2007.

Ben Crenshaw presents Bernhard Langer with green jacket after winning the 1985 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: The Augusta Chronicle)

“We think talk about him and things that happened with him,” Langer said of Ballesteros. “We tell stories. I’m good friends with (Jose Maria) Olazabal and (Miguel Angel) Jimenez, a couple of Spaniards, so Seve comes up here and there. Or other pros say, ‘Seve showed me how to get this out of the bunker,’ or, ‘The greatest shot I’ve seen is Seve hitting a 3-wood out of a fairway bunker.’ He was a big part of my life for quite a while. We miss him. But that’s life. We have no guarantees.”

The question for Langer now is how many more years will he play in the Masters. He missed the cut the past two years.

“I’m coming toward my end, I think,” Langer said. “The golf course is just very, very long. It’s just too long for me. This year, they lengthened 11, which nobody talks about, and No. 18. I heard about it and I asked somebody and they confirmed it.

“So every year there is more length and the fairways are mowed into you into the grain,” Langer said. “The greens are not designed to be hit with 3- and 4-irons and 3-woods. They are designed for mid- to short irons to come in high with a lot of backspin. I don’t want to make fool of myself around here. We’ll see. I will definitely come back next year but I don’t know how many more. I haven’t thought about it in detail.”

Gannett may earn revenue from sports betting operators for audience referrals to betting services. Sports betting operators have no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Terms apply, see operator site for Terms and Conditions. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available. Call the National Council on Problem Gambling 24/7 at 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, OH), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN). Must be 21 or older to gamble. Sports betting and gambling are not legal in all locations. Be sure to comply with laws applicable where you reside.