Can the 68-year-old legend beat Tiger Woods? We may find out soon

Nothing says a happy new year like the arrival of Bernhard Langer in the media center for a big event in Florida, and Langer was there the other day, 68 years old and still very active, taking questions about the state of his game at the presentation of the Chubb Classic presented by Servpro at the Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, a two-hour drive from Raton home from Bocanger’s Raton drive to Bocanger.

I’m not there this year but I’ve been there in the past and if you like your golf tournaments soft and controlled – well, let me say this: The Chubb Classic presented by Servpro at Tiburón Golf Club in Naples will never be confused with the 2025 Ryder Cup on the Black course at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, NY.

The last question Langer asked was a doozy, a classic example of what we like to call a category For Golf only.

Tiger Woods turned 50 and may be competing with you this year. Can you see yourself trying to hit him?

Langer: “I try to beat everyone, it doesn’t matter who comes out here, the goal is to win, if you want to win you need to beat them.

“But my goal is not to play with Tiger Woods. My goal is to play against the golf course and myself and shoot low scores and see if anyone can match that. If Tiger Woods is better, so be it.

“I’m sure we’ll have a good game, I hope he comes out, I hope he’s healthy, nobody knows, he won’t let us know until a few weeks ago, that’s usually how he works.

“But it would be a pleasure to play with him again.

“We had a great time about a year and a half ago when we played together at the PNC Championship on Sunday, when he played with Charlie, his son, and me and Jason, my son, and we spent Sunday together, we had a good time and enjoyed being together.”

Three quick notes.

I. Langer, born and raised in German, speaks perfect, accurate English without a wasted word.

II. Langer is too modest to note that he and Jason beat the father-son Woods team in a hole-in-one contest.

III. It is conceivable that Langer and Woods could play in the same major and Langer finish ahead of Woods, despite the 18-year age gap. But it is impossible.

For a non-scientific comparison, I looked at the 11 major events in which Woods and Langer played on the same course since Langer turned 50, in the summer of 2007.

For example, in April 2008, Langer missed the cut at the Masters and Woods finished tied for second.

In 2018, Langer – at the age of 60! – finished T38 at Augusta and T24 at the British Open. But Woods, in one of his many comeback trips that year, went T32 and T6, respectively, in those same events.

Langer is 1-for-11 in this rare matchup. In 2020, he finished T29 at the Masters and Woods, as the defending champion, finished with a T38, when he famously made 10 on the par-3 12th hole on Sunday.

Is it possible? Can Langer finish ahead of Woods (arguably) in the 72-hole, best-of-one-only, high-profile events he’s likely to play? That’s right. Will it happen? It would be interesting to see.

For now, two quick pictures that tell you something about these World Golf Hall of Famers.

When Woods won the 2019 Masters, there was a congo line of players waiting to high-fist-bump and bro-hug the winner on his way to the scoring room. Langer was the last person Woods saw before entering the clubhouse, scorecard in hand. They shook hands the way Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer would have seen.

When Langer made the putt to win the 2024 PNC to defend the son and son winning Tiger and Charlie Woods, as far as I can tell, he said this to Langer: “Bernhard? You’re the best. You’re the best, man. He’s great.”

Well, that was Tiger in a glorified display. The US Senior Open is something completely different.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com