There’s no stopping Langer in SAS Championship

One thing often said about Bernhard Langer is that the man never seems to age.

Langer, for one, tends to disagree.

“We all age and it shows,” he said this week at the SAS Championship. “Things are hurting and aching that didn’t hurt 10 or 20 years ago.

“But that’s life and you just make the best of it. The good thing is the golf ball doesn’t know how old I am.”

For the record, Langer is 61. He’s still making the golf ball do good things and Sunday turned the SAS Championship into a runaway victory at Prestonwood Country Club.

With a 7-under-par 65, Langer quickly broke away from Gene Sauers in the final round of the PGA Tour Champions event. He finished a tournament-record six shots ahead of Scott Parel and seven in front of Jerry Kelly, also setting a tournament record with his 22-under 194 total in winning the SAS Championship for a second time.

“It’s always fun to go back to where you’ve won before,” Langer said.

Fun for Langer also is contending for the Charles Schwab Cup, the biggest prize on the tour. He has won it four times but fell short last year, and now will go into the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs in the top position with $1,918,904 in winnings after a $315,000 payoff Sunday.

Langer nearly shot his age for the first time -- and said he had it on his mind -- in the opening round, carding a 10-under 62 that had a torrid run of nine birdies on his last 10 holes. But Sauers and Tom Lehman also had 62s to share the lead the day after Tropical Storm Michael softened up the golf course with 3.5 inches of rain.

It was Langer and Sauers tied at the top after the second round, three shots ahead of Lehman, but Langer continued to surge on Sunday. Langer had a four-shot lead over Sauers at the turn and it was six after Langer birdied the par-4 10th while Sauers double-bogeyed after a poor drive.

“It was pretty special,” Langer said of the week. “The 10-under was amazing. I had a phenomenal start (Saturday) ... and today just played very solid all day long. Putted well, hit the ball where I was looking and did everything exceptionally well.”

The career numbers for Langer, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002, are almost staggering: 112 professional wins, 38 PGA Tour Champions wins, 10 senior major championships.

“I don’t have anything to prove but I love competing and I love winning, or being in the hunt,” Langer said. “As long as I can do that you’ll see me out here.”

One thing lacking for Langer this year has been victories. He won seven times in 2017, when he led the money list for a fourth straight year with $3.78 million, but had one victory entering the SAS.

Langer was the SAS Championship winner in 2012 and said he likes the feel of the Prestonwood layout. He also said he enjoyed visits to the Triangle, especially when a son, Stefan, attended UNC.

Stefan has since graduated and works in New York. Bernhard has kept on winning.

Langer won the Insperity Invitational in early May and has twice been second, including a runnerup finish in the Senior British Open. But he’s peaking at the right time, having now won multiple titles for a seventh straight year on tour.

Langer won two Masters tournaments, in 1985 and 1993, allowing him to continue to play the major championship each spring at Augusta National. But it has been far from ceremonial -- he has made the cut in three of the past five Masters and tied for eighth in 2014.

Langer does look much the same as he did in 1985, ‘93 or 2003. If he has added a few pounds, they don’t show.

His hair has some gray. He still wears a visor, just as he has for many years. Still has the same swing.

Ageless? No, he is 61. But still playing winning golf.

This story was originally published October 14, 2018 at 6:00 PM.