Burn. Hard. Longer.
Pronunciation-wise, it’s a bit of a stretch. As a description of Bernhard Langer’s enduring success, it’s a 300-yard drive that splits the fairway.
The German golfer is doing things on the PGA Tour Champions that seldom have been done before. He won the Cologuard Classic at Omni Tucson National Resort last year at the age of 62. It was his 23rd victory since he turned 56.
Langer has won at almost the exact same rate since his 56th birthday (15.132%) as he did between 50 and 55 (15.126%). That isn’t supposed to happen.
The average age of winners on the PGA Tour Champions is 53.04. Tournaments are won by players 55 or younger 83.7% of the time.
Players 60 and above have won 33 tournaments. Langer has nearly a quarter of those victories (eight).
Langer has 41 career wins, second most in Champions Tour history. The man he’s chasing, Hale Irwin, has 45. Only three of those came after Irwin turned 60 in 2005.
Since he won the Cologuard Classic last year, Langer has posted eight top-10 finishes in 12 Champions Tour starts. He also finished 29th at the Masters a few months after turning 63.
So what’s the secret to his longevity? Langer adheres to a regular fitness routine. It consists of six exercises, per Golf.com: 10 minutes on a stationary bike, stability-ball hamstring pull-ins, planks with arm and leg extensions, medicine-ball throws, biceps curls and overhead presses. He’s also a big proponent of stretching.
Bernhard Langer prepares for his putt on the 18th green during the final round of the Cologuard Classic hosted at the Omni Tucson National Resort, on March 1, 2020.
But he concedes there’s more to it than that.
“Golf is not just about fitness,” said Langer, who begins his Cologuard Classic title defense Friday. “It’s very technical and very mental. I have been able to improve my golf swing over the years, and it becomes a little more consistent and reliable. And then mentally, it is one of the hardest sports you’ll ever tackle, because there is so much time to think and so many shots are not good or not great or not as good as you expect them to be. So it is easy to get down on yourself.
“It is always a battle, but I have been tremendously blessed to be able to play this long at this level. When I turned pro on tour at 18, I never thought I would still be playing professionally at 63.”
Langer’s ability to extend his “prime” is rare, but it isn’t unique. More and more athletes are performing at an elite level at ages when they’re supposed to be in decline.
Tom Brady just steered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl win at 43. Serena Williams reached the Australian Open semifinals at 39. Novak Djokovic (33), Rafael Nadal (34) and Roger Federer (39) occupy three of the top five spots in the ATP world rankings. LeBron James is an NBA MVP candidate at 36.
What do they have in common?
“It comes down to five or six things over and over again,” said Dr. Michael Joyner of the Mayo Clinic, a former University of Arizona runner who has studied human performance and exercise physiology.
“They’ve all stayed motivated for some reason; it’s easier to stay motivated now because of the money. People have avoided catastrophic injuries. Brady had a knee surgery, but what they did to him wasn’t what they did to Joe Namath.
“Sports medicine is much better than it used to be. People strength-train. They’re all on this diet or that diet. And they all do a better job of thinking about recovery, picking their battles a little more.”
Langer has avoided major injuries. Only once has he missed significant time — in 2011 after having thumb surgery.
He doesn’t credit improved nutrition either.
“I don’t eat that well, believe it or not,” Langer said. “I always say I’m on the ‘see food’ diet, which means whatever food I see, I’ll eat. That cannot be the secret.”
Genes undoubtedly play some role. Langer’s mother is 97. His father passed away at 86.
“But again, that by itself doesn’t do it either,” Langer said. “There’s just a lot of little things that matter. One is probably just the dedication I have and the discipline. And I love to compete. I love to play well. I hate to play bad.
“One of the worst things for me on the tour when I was younger, or still now, is missing the cut. That was always a horrible feeling.”
There are no cuts on the Champions Tour. The Cologuard Classic field is loaded with under-55 standouts who have won countless professional events, including 2018 champ Steve Stricker and Champions Tour rookies Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk.
But as he has proved time and again, it’d be a mistake to count Langer out.
“He’s amazing,” said Furyk, who will turn 51 in May. “To have that work ethic and that grit and grind, and really the will to go out there and work as hard as he does and stay as fit as he does and stay as competitive as he does, it’s pretty impressive.”
