Bernhard Langer’s fairy tale swan song at Augusta National all but ended when his par putt on the 18th hole slid just right of the cup to close his second round on Friday.
In position to make the cut in his 41st and final Masters appearance just an hour before, Langer was even par for the tournament when the 63-year-old’s approach shot on the par-5 15th spun back off the green and into the water.
When his bogey putt stopped short of the hole, Langer fell to the projected cut line at 2 over for the tournament. After a par on the 17th hole, Langer’s approach from the 18th fairway missed the green left. Unable to get up-and-down, he dropped to 3 over.
“It was very different than a normal tournament for me because I’m usually pretty focused when I’m inside the ropes,” Langer told ESPN after the round. “It was even worse in a sense that I didn’t know if this is the last (Masters) or am I going to play the weekend.”
The 1985 and 1993 champion previously announced this would be his final Masters as a competitor, and he made a valiant run at playing the weekend. After posting a 2-over 74 on Thursday, Langer rallied for three birdies against a lone bogey through 14 holes of his second round.
In ideal position after a layup on 15, the storybook ending began to unravel as his ball zipped back off the green to a watery end.
“I was playing pretty well today, I just had a horrible finish. Which knocked me out of the cut, otherwise I would be here on the weekend,” he said. “I wasn’t sure walking up 18, is it the last time or am I going to be here tomorrow.”
Langer made his debut at Augusta National in 1982 as the Masters’ first competitor from Germany. He won the event for the first time three years later, at the time joining South Africa’s Gary Player and Spain’s Seve Ballesteros as international Masters champions.
A second green jacket in 1993 would prove to be Langer’s final major title. But he has racked up numerous accolades while assembling a World Golf Hall of Fame career that includes playing in 10 Ryder Cups, 42 victories on the DP World Tour and a record 47 more on the Champions tour.
Langer has played in the Masters every year since 1984 except 2011, when he was recovering from thumb surgery, and 2024 when he was dealing with an Achilles tendon tear.
On Friday, he fell just short of becoming the oldest player to make the Masters cut, a record Fred Couples set in 2023 at 63 years and 78 days old. Couples was also in position to make this year’s cut before a 77 on Friday dropped him to 4 over.
Langer does conclude his Masters playing career with 136 rounds and nine top-10 finishes under his belt.
“A lot of gratitude,” he said. “It has been tremendous to be here 41 times, playing this tournament and this golf course.
“Boris Becker once said Wimbledon is his living room. And I felt like this feels like my living room. I feel very much at home here Always have. Even the very first time I set foot at this place, I just felt like, ‘wow, this is fantastic.'”
