Bernhard Langer has bid farewell to the European tour on house soil in Germany 50 years after the two-time Masters champion made his debut.
Langer, 66, missed the reduce on the BMW Worldwide Open in Munich on Friday however stated he’ll cherish the “fantastic reminiscences” he is made.
“It is laborious to place into phrases. It is sort of been a dream come true for me, rising up in a village of 800 folks the place no person knew what golf was,” Langer stated. “After I instructed my classmates I’ll go play golf, they thought I used to be loopy. I used to be capable of reside that dream for 50 years.”
Langer made his European tour debut in 1974 and performed greater than 500 occasions, claiming 42 wins, second solely to the late Seve Ballesteros of Spain.
He shot a 1-over 73 within the second spherical to complete three under the reduce line in his closing look on the tour.
Early this 12 months, Langer tore an Achilles tendon whereas exercising and had surgical procedure. He had deliberate to play the Masters one final time. It is potential he might nonetheless return in 2025 for an Augusta farewell.
“I used to be capable of journey the world, meet with kings and queens, and play golf with all types of individuals, whether or not they’re profitable businessmen or simply the typical butcher or bricklayer or no matter,” Langer stated.
Langer continues to play on the PGA Tour Champions circuit and has received 12 majors, most lately the 2023 U.S. Senior Open. He tried a U.S. Senior Open title protection final month and made the reduce earlier than tying for forty second.
He has 123 general profession titles, together with on the 1985 and 1993 Masters. Langer additionally amassed a 21-15-6 Ryder Cup report and captained Europe to the 2004 championship at Oakland Hills in Michigan.
Thomas Bjorn, a former Ryder Cup teammate, stated Langer can be missed on the DP World Tour.
“You’ll by no means meet a more true gentleman within the sport than Bernhard Langer,” Bjorn stated, in accordance with the tour’s web site. “He’s an honor to be round and a pleasure to be round. … I performed numerous match golf with him, however I additionally performed numerous apply golf with him, and he all the time made me really feel welcome into his world.”
The Related Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
