Bernhard

Langer

There is possibly no greater example of golfing resilience than the evergreen German who has overcome the yips, serious back injury and form losses, often more than once. He’s now played the Masters 35 times, making 25 cuts and nine top tens, including victories in 1985 and 1993. Shortly after his final top five (in 2004) he struggled, missing six consecutive cuts, but in recent times he has enjoyed a little renaissance with four cuts made in six, including T8 in 2014. Bear in mind that he reported to Scottish journalist Martin Dempster that he had to hit driver, 3-wood into the newly extended fifth: The course gets harder for the old boys. His last four Champion Tour starts are all top five, with one win and a play-off loss.

He could miss some time with the injury, but details are sketchy at this point. He might be too risky to start for your team at the British Open this year. Monday’s Open qualifying event at Congressional has been pushed back until the afternoon and will only be 18 holes as opposed to 36, but the weather forecast isn’t very good, calling for rain again.

The two-time champion of this tournament has hit 26 greens in regulation and taken a tidy 59 putts. He’s squared seven bogeys, four of which today, but reeled in the red numbers with four birdies on Thursday and an eagle-3 (at the second hole) and three birdies today. He signed his card sitting three strokes off the pace of 36-hole clubhouse leader and fellow senior, Fred Couples.

Langer’s round was remarkably consistent, with 16 pars only broken up with a birdie at the par-4 third and a bogey at the par-4 fifth. That the Champion’s Tour regular in contention is a surprise to many, but he has a tall mountain to climb if he is to win his third green jacket on Sunday.

Langer’s first win came in his third start, back in 1985. His second fell in 1993. He had a remarkably consistent run beginning in 1984 and ending in 2002 where he never missed a cut. He’s made just two of 10 since then, illustrating the correlation of the lengthening of the golf course and increased age to his performance.

He turned down a chance to captain the Euro Ryder Cup team because he plans on playing on the team instead. His game looks to be in shape right now and he could easily make the team.

The German won the 2016 Senior Players Championship to punch his ticket into the field. It will be his third straight appearance here (MC-MC) and 26th overall (21-for-25 with five top 10s). While the 59-year-old continues to crush on the senior circuit, he’s finished outside the top 70 in five of his last six PGA TOUR appearances. Gamers can safely keep him on the sidelines this week when setting lineups.

The German is 21-for-24 in his PLAYERS career, but he’s played just once over the last seven years. His latest here was a missed cut, last year. In terms of recent form, Langer stays busy on the Champions Tour, posting top 15s in all seven of his starts this year. Sometimes good golf is just good golf, and it translates to all levels of competition. He proved that earlier this season with his T24 at the Masters. Langer makes for a very intriguing sleeper in DFS this week.

Langer is twice a runner-up at The Open: 1981/Royal St. George’s; 1984/St. Andrews. In total, he’s 22-for-29 with eight top 10s, the latest a T5 at St. Andrews in 2005 (he didn’t play the 2010 edition on the Old Course). The 57-year-old missed the cut by five strokes in 2011 (Royal St. George’s) in his latest appearance. This week marks the 30th playing of The Open for the 57-year-old and in a recent CNN interview admits it may time to bid adieu, saying, “It will be hard to play that last round when it happens,” he says. “It could be this year, I don’t know. I just have to enjoy it.” The German enters the week third in the Charles Schwab Cup on the Champions Tour with seven top 10s in 11 starts, including his 24th career win at the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS in June. Langer has two starts in 2015 on the PGA TOUR missing the cut by two at THE PLAYERS and by one at the Masters.