When Bernhard Langer Won The Senior Open by 13 Shots

When you think of dominant performances in major championships, you will likely instantly recall Tiger Woods' 15-shot triumph at Pebble Beach in 2000, coming three years after he won the Masters by an extraordinary 12. The achievements in the US Women's Open of Louise Suggs (1949) and Babe Zaharias (1954) shouldn't be overlooked either, winning by 14 and 12 strokes respectively.

More recently, Cristie Kerr clinched the LPGA Championship by ten shots back in 2010, while golf historians will point to the victory of Old Tom Morris in 1862 at Prestwick, when he vanquished rival Willie Park by 13 to become Champion Golfer of the Year.

But what about Bernhard Langer, who lapped the field by 13 at Royal Porthcawl in 2014? That might have been the most remarkable display in a lengthy career defined by them.

That Senior Open was the first professional major held in Wales and conditions could not have been more welcoming as sunshine baked the testing links into a fiery and quintessential examination of seaside golf.

Strategy and examimation would be an equal requirement for success - and few have bettered Langer in both categories.

In his seventh full season as a senior golfer, the two-time Masters champion had just won his third over-50s major at the Players Championship and was the pre-tournament favourite alongside Colin Montgomerie, the winner of that year's Senior PGA and US Senior Open.

Ultimately, not even the mercurial Scot could halt the procession of Langer, who started with a six-under 65 to lead by two. By Friday evening, that advantage was extended to seven as the former world number one backed his opening round up with a 66. 

Montgomerie and English-born South African Chris Williams were tied in an already distant second place.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Saturday arrived and Monty made his move, playing the front-nine in three-under. However, the lead was still seven as Langer matched his fellow Ryder Cup legend. That's where any sense of parity ended as Langer pulled ahead of the rest while Montgomerie faltered with a horror back-nine and the day concluded with the German sitting eight ahead of Canada's Rick Gibson.

The breeze was up on Sunday and only ten players broke par. Bernhard Langer shot the lowest of the day (67) to complete a truly astonishing 13-stroke victory, a senior major championship record.

Eventual runner-up Montgomerie said afterwards: "This was a brute of a golf course with no wind, never mind with the wind. But what I would like to say is that Bernhard Langer's performance here is one of the golfing performances of all-time."

Langer finished the week on 18-under-par. Just four other players were under-par after four days. Combined, they were 11-under, a ridiculous eight behind the total accumulated by Langer who had mastered Porthcawl.

The champion reflected: "We all have certain weeks and certain days when just everything goes great and we're so called in the zone and everything is wonderful and you can shoot course records and break other records. But to do it four days in a row and to lead from the front, to win it from the front is not easily done."

It was Bernhard Langer's 22nd title on the PGA Tour Champions. He has since won another 24, including a 12th major at the US Senior Open this summer, which saw him surpass Hale Irwin's long-standing winning record on the American senior circuit.

Three years after that mesmerising victory in South Wales, Langer was back at Porthcawl and said of his success in 2014: "It's very much up there. The play I played that week as exceptional. It doesn't happen very often and it might have been the best golf of my whole career, four days in a row. I did everything well: I drove it well, hit good irons, short game was good."

Montgomerie, who has always relished his friendly rivalry with Langer, was effusive again in his praise: "But when I talk about modern things, I think that was one of the greatest victories in the modern golfing era. We talk about Tiger's 15-shot win at the US Open in 2000 followed by winning by eight at St Andrews, and they were two phenomenal performances. I would put Bernhard Langer's performance here in 2014 right up there with them.

"Incredible performance, to beat the field by more than three shots per round, every round, doesn't happen very often at all, and hasn't happened for 14 years since Tiger did that at the US Open."

Bernhard Langer won the Senior Open again that week in vastly difficult weather and circumstances.

"I'm just very fortunate to pull out on top. I didn't feel very good earlier on. I had a sore throat for most of the week, and just thrilled to be up here again lifting this beautiful trophy."

Now approaching his 66th birthday and still winning, Langer returns once more to Royal Porthcawl in 2023 searching for a hat-trick of wins at this fabulous venue. 

But we may never again see the like of what he accomplished in 2014.

We'll leave the final word to Montgomerie: "It was a phenomenal performance and something he'll look back on I hope over his lifetime and think that was the best performance he had ever put together."