AUGUSTA, Ga. – All the talk about the 50-somethings this week at the Masters surrounded Miguel Angel Jimenez and Fred Couples. But 56-year-old Bernhard Langer jumped up and birdied four of the last six holes to shoot a final-round 69 and tie for eighth at even par.
Langer did what Langer does for the first three days. He plodded his way around Augusta National in 72-74-73.
On Sunday, Langer got off to a red-hot start by making birdie on the first hole, then eagle on the second. He made double bogeys on Nos. 10 and 14, but birdies on 13, 15, 16 and 18 gave him one of the better scores of the day.
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Langer, a two-time Masters champion, told a story about hitting balls next to Rory McIlroy on the range in the morning. He was standing next to McIlroy and noticed that both men were hitting their golf balls a similar distance. Langer was hitting 4-iron at the time. McIlroy told him that he was hitting 6-iron.
“So he’s hitting two clubs less,” Langer said. “Then he hits his drive probably 40 yards past me.
“But there’s a lot of good over-50 players. We can compete at the highest level and even on a very, very long golf course like this one.”
