The show can’t go on for Bernhard Langer at the Masters this year after he tore his achilles in February, but it will go on next year for the final time when he brings the curtain down on an illustrious career at Augusta National.
Although he can’t play this year, Langer is still on site for the various past champion duties that go on before the tournament. Having said this week would be his last Masters as a player, injury has forced him to delay that until the 2025 edition.
“My goal was to make this my last Masters appearance as a player. But, now that I have a torn Achilles tendon, that’s not going to happen. I won’t be playing for a while,” explained the two-time Masters winner.
“The goal now is to come back next year and say goodbye and farewell as a player and have a lot of my family and friends to attend. It will be a very emotional, goodbye for me. I think I’ve never done anything like this in my life before, but Augusta and the Masters means a great deal to me and to my career. It’s going to be tough to realize that this will be my last round on this golf course as a competitive player.”
The German has a terrific record at Augusta National and even as the course lengthened and he got older, he has still only carded rounds of 80 or over, twice in 40 appearances. But unfortunately for him, Father Time has caught up on the 66-year-old.
“I just realized that the course is getting too long. It’s 7550 yards from where we tee off and the fairways are mowed against us, which means the grain is into us and the ball doesn’t run quite as much. It’s just very, very long, I’m going to be 67 next year and I’m getting shorter.
“The young guys are all getting longer, it seems. They hit 9 irons into Par 4s or whatever it may be, I hit 2 irons. When you do that over 72 holes. They reach the Par 5s, I can’t. It’s just not that much fun anymore. To me, I have to be competitive to have fun. I realized my time was there. My time is ending and finishing, and it’s time to go. I don’t just want to be somebody that shows up and shoots two times 78 and misses the cut by 5 or 10. That’s not me. I want to be competitive, and I want to be on the leaderboard if possible.”
It could prove to be a happy accident as next year will mark the 40th anniversary of Langer’s first Masters win which will only add to the occasion as he bows out of the tournament.
“I think it will. It will sink in how many years it’s been. It’s incredible, 40 years. It’s a very long time but it was certainly a fun time for me. I always enjoy coming back to play. This tournament is certainly one of my favorites and I have many wonderful memories.
“But it’s going to be, I think, very emotional and quite difficult. In a way, very positive, but in another way, sweet and sour, as we say. I have so many fond memories and it’s going to be tough to say goodbye, but I know it’s the right thing to do, and I’m going to have lots of family and friends from all over the world there to say farewell to me.”
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