There isn’t much Bernhard Langer hasn’t been able to achieve on the PGA Tour Champions.
Langer is the only player to complete the Career Grand Slam by winning each of the five senior major championships.
He’s also won more majors than anyone in Tour history with 11 titles.
And, with a win at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, Langer could pull within one of matching the all-time number of wins on the PGA Tour Champions.
Langer, 64, has 43 victories and sits just two wins shy of matching Hale Irwin’s all-time record. Langer inched closer to eclipsing the record with his victory in February 2022 at the Chubb Classic, where for the third time in his career, he shot his age.
Langer makes his return to Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Michigan for the first time since 2016. He did not play the Senior PGA Championship the last time it was staged at the venue in 2018. But in his three prior starts in Michigan, he’s never finished worse than a tie for fourth. Langer says he expects his performance to largely hinge on the weather conditions as the course sits less than two miles inland from Lake Michigan, which can kick up a bit of wind depending on what Mother Nature has in store.
“If the weather is decent here, I think if you play really good golf, you can go low here because the conditions, the greens are very good,” Langer said about Harbor Shores. “The fairways are at times generous and there's a lot of shots where you really have to be committed because there's just a lot of trouble left and right.”
The second-round 64 from Bernhard Langer was his lowest ever in the #srpga. He's played 30 Championship rounds pic.twitter.com/BBr3fpLGWa
— KitchenAid Senior PGA Champ (@seniorpgachamp) May 27, 2016
Langer says Harbor Shores is a course that tends to reward those who are playing their best golf, but he’s not confident that will be him. Langer says he hasn’t played much golf since November, despite making seven starts on the PGA Tour Champions this year in addition to playing the Masters Tournament. He did, however, skip the last two events on the PGA Tour Champions, including the season’s first major, the Regions Tradition, to attend his son’s graduation from the University of Pennsylvania.
“My form, I'm not sure where I am at this point in time but had a good start to the year and last few weeks were so-so when I played. But I played very little,” Langer said ahead of the season’s second major. “This is really when I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things. It's going to be busy from here on until November.”
Bernhard Langer wins the 2017 Senior PGA Championship pic.twitter.com/laR6zTsS4L
— KitchenAid Senior PGA Champ (@seniorpgachamp) May 28, 2017
Age has always seemed like just a number for Langer given what he’s been able to achieve on the PGA Tour Champions, but even Langer has acknowledged he is beginning to slow down. Lack of injuries throughout his 45-year career has given him the ability to continue to compete at a high level, but even Langer is beginning to feel the effects of Father Time.
“Getting up, the body is starting to ache here and there,” Langer said about growing older. “It's not getting easier, so I'm not trying to kid anybody here. It's normal, I think. Losing a little bit of distance but if I play my best game and hit it straight, I still have a chance to win a few tournaments.”
A few more wins are all he needs to add another staggering record to what has already been an incredible run on the PGA Tour Champions. And a victory at Harbor Shores would go a long way towards Langer making history once again.
