Bernhard Langer Ends Champions Tour Season With Remarkable Win

Bernhard Langer produced what is surely the most remarkable victory on any tour in 2024 as he birdied the final hole to win the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship - at the age of 67!

In the process he broke his own record as the oldest winner on the Champions Tour and continued his incredible streak of winning every year since joining the tour in 2007.

Langer made a long birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole, throwing his arms up in the air and tossing his hat to the ground in celebration to close out a final-round 66. He finished the day at 18 under and then watched as Steven Alker missed a birdie putt of his own to end his week at 17 under, tied with Richard Green for second.

For Langer, it extended his record as the player with the most victories - this was his 47th. 

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

Bernhard Langer claims the season finale in style @SchwabCupFinale ????

Win No. 47 for the 67-year-old!! pic.twitter.com/HcBxU6QJ8g

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) November 10, 2024

Langer shot his age on Saturday to take the 54-hole lead. That marked the 22nd time he had shot his age or better. In Friday’s second round, he beat his age by three after posting a 64.

He started the final round with four straight birdies and led by five at one point. He struggled somewhat on the back nine with back-to-back bogeys at the 10th and 11th, which cut his lead over Alker and Green to three.

Langer made birdie on the par-three 13th hole but then on the 17th, the German hit his second shot out of the rough off a tree. He put his third on the green but left himself a long putt for par. Moments later, Alker stuffed his third on the 17th to less than a foot, setting up a tap-in birdie. Green then drained a long birdie on the final hole to finish at 17 under. 

Langer then made a two-footer for bogey, and suddenly there was a three-way tie for the lead. But Langer came out on top after that final-hole birdie. He shot rounds of 69, 64, 67 and 66.

Langer’s win at Phoenix Country Club came in the tour’s final event on the 2024 schedule. It’s also his first win in this tournament. He has won the season-long title six times but each time did so without winning the season finale. This is the 25th different PGA Tour Champions tournament he has won.

Alker won the Schwab Cup, the season-long points race.

Who is Bernhard Langer?

Langer was born in Germany on August 27, 1957. He is a two-time Masters champion and in 1986, he became golf’s first official world number one.

He is one of five golfers who have won professional golf events on all six continents where golf is played. He won 42 times on the DP World Tour, three times on the PGA Tour and has also recorded wins on the Japan Tour, Asian Tour, Australiasian Tour and Tour de las Americas.

He was already the oldest winner on the Champions Tour (65 years, 10 months, 23 days) and has now won more tournaments (47) than anybody else. At the age of 67 he has once again broken the age record.

His first major win came at the 1985 Masters, which he also won in 1993. He was twice runner-up at The Open - in 1981 and 1984. And in 2020 Langer became the oldest player in Masters history to make the tournament cut, at age 63.

After turning 50, Langer has established himself as the most successful player in the history of the PGA Tour Champions. He has won a record 12 senior majors, been the money leader in a record 11 seasons and a record seven times in a row. 

He is one of only two players who have achieved the career Senior Grand Slam (winning each of the five major championships at least once during one's career). 

Langer has never been a big hitter. He averages 275.5 yards but finds an astonishing 79.74% of fairways and 73.23% of greens in regulation. He tops the list in scrambling, gets up and down from the sand 54.35% of the time, averages 28.50 putts per round and has a stroke average of 69.50.