Double Masters winning Bernhard Langer admits he’s struggling to walk, let alone play golf ahead of what is expected to be his final inside the ropes appearance at Augusta National.
Langer, 67, tore his Achilles tendon while playing pickleball in February 2024, forcing him to delay his intended 2024 Masters farewell until this year.
Now his send off could be put back to 2026 should the 1985 and 1996 winner of the famed Augusta National members green jacket not be fit enough to walk the course.
If Langer does tee-up it will also be remarkably his 41st Masters appearance since making his debut as a 24-year-old in 1982.
Bernard Langer wins a second Masters green jacket in 1996. Image Getty
“So I’m not going in there with a mindset of winning anymore, that train has passed”, said Langer.
“But trying to still perform and show some good shots and hopefully be there on the weekend.” Now, Langer openly discusses the ongoing effort to regain his prior form and the difficulties that accompany navigating the full 18 holes,
“To get back to where I was and I always thought I would come back, it was just a matter of when and how.
“So it was a long and tough process. It still is. I’m not 100 percent and maybe I never will be, but walking is still difficult.
“So I’ve been riding a cart for the most part — well, walking 18 holes. I can walk, I’m okay walking nine holes, but then I get a little fatigued and stiff and all that kind of stuff”.
Langer has won a remarkable 125 tournaments, and 42 of those on the DP World Tour but since turning 50 it has been the Champions Tour where he has dominated winning 47 events since a first in 2007.
Disappointintly, that has not been reflected his Masters efforts in rccent years missing 11 Augusta cuts from 17 showing since 2006.
Langer added: “It’s still a process trying to get better in that department. I’m hoping to play great, and I have to play great to make the cut because the course is so long for me that nothing but great will do it.
“I’m coming in with two and three-irons where the other guys are hitting nine-irons, on every hole, and that’s just hard to compete.” When asked about his retirement timeline and the age he will hang up his clubs, Langer added: “No, I never had a number in mind.
“I always said the three things that need to be in place, first of all, I’ve got to be healthy to swing the club the way I want to swing it. Secondly, I’ve got to enjoy the game and have a desire, and certainly I need to be in contention or playing at a level where I’m not finishing in the bottom third of the field every week.
“I’ve always said, if those three things are still there, if I have the desire, the health and the success, I probably will continue to play the Champions Tour. When one or two of these things go away, then it’s probably time to quit playing.
“Obviously if I’m not healthy, I can’t play at all. If I don’t have some success, I may not enjoy it as much, and then it’s time to pack it in, too.”
* Langer quotes from the Mirror
