Six 50-something golfers made the cut at last week’s Masters. Five of them are playing at the Greater Gwinnett Championship on Friday through Sunday.
Two of those — Miguel Angel Jimenez and Bernhard Langer — finished in the top eight. Only one other time have two golfers over 50 finished in the top 10 at the Masters. That was 1967, when Sam Snead and Ben Hogan finished in a group tied for 10th.
If there is a hangover, Langer, 56, is betraying none of it. That despite fighting off a virus that plagued him all last week.
“Mondays are always tough because you’re kind of worn out and the adrenalin is leaving the body, you’re a little tired,” he said Thursday. “Hey, by (Friday) we’ve had four days to get over it and there’s a new, exciting event happening right here. No reason to have any kind of letdown. I’ve always been a believer of focusing on the next challenge.”
Langer’s play reveals more than just a vocal commitment to consistency. The current leader in the Charles Schwab Cup points race — the Champions Tour version of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup — Langer has won one event this young season. He also has a streak of 15 consecutive top-10 finishes on this Tour, dating to last season, as well as 15 consecutive sub-par rounds.
Langer will go for his 20th Champions Tour title. That’s still not halfway to the record 45 held by Hale Irwin.
Friday's Masterly groupings: While we're still in an Augusta frame of mind, there are six former Masters champions in the Greater Gwinnett field.
They are, along with their Friday tee times: Larry Mize (11:10), Ben Crenshaw (12:10), Fred Couples (12:10), Langer (12:20), Mark O’Meara (12:30) and Sandy Lyle (12:40).
Most interesting man to wed: This is a busy time for Jimenez. He finished tied for fourth in the Masters last week; he's making his Champions Tour debut this week, and there's one other thing: He said he's getting married May 3. It will be his second marriage.
He met Susanne Styblo at a tournament in Austria more than two years ago. “You know women, they start pushing and looking for something. Am I right?” he joked Wednesday.
“No. It’s very nice. Very happy.”
Made young again: Jimenez is not the only player making his Champions Tour debut at the Greater Gwinnett Championship. Four-time PGA Tour winner Joe Durant is starting over here at 50.
“It feels great being a rookie again,” Durant said.
While Durant never had much success at the Masters (four appearances, four missed cuts, scoring average 77), he did have reason to come in here celebrating this year’s champion.
He’s from the Florida Panhandle, near Bubba Watson’s hometown of Bagdad. In fact, Durant and his older brother were friends of Watson’s late father, Gerry.
Further, Durant figures he performed a great service for Watson years ago when Gerry asked him to work with the kid. The favor: Saying no.
“We have two totally different kinds of games. Plus he had a creativity that I knew was special. He didn’t need a teacher,” Durant told Golf Digest shortly after Watson won his first Masters in 2012.
“You can’t teach what Bubba can do.”
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