Bernhard Langer ‘the gold standard’ for PGA Tour Champions? What about Hale Irwin?
By Gary Baines – 11/29/2021
How soon they forget.
That was my reaction earlier this month when I saw a tweet from the folks at PGA Tour Champions.
In the wake of Bernhard Langer winning the season-long Charles Schwab Cup competition for the sixth time, the tweet read: “Bernhard Langer is the gold standard” before listing his career senior tour totals in the categories of earnings, seasons leading the money list, Champions wins, runner-up finishes, top-10s and Schwab Cups (a competition which began in 2001).
They were all extremely impressive numbers, and Langer seems like a wonderful guy who’s deserving of loads of accolades.
But when I look up “gold standard” on the dictionary of my handy-dandy laptop, the definition that comes up in this sense of the words is “the best, most reliable, or most prestigious thing of its type.”
So, being a sports writer based in Boulder who has spent almost four decades covering a certain World Golf of Famer who grew up in our state, my first thought — following “how soon they forget” — was, “What about Hale Irwin”?
While Langer certainly could become the all-time gold standard for PGA Tour Champions, he’s not there yet — at least not in the mind of this longtime golf writer. It seems a little odd to proclaim someone “the gold standard” — without any caveats — when someone else has won more.
That would be Irwin, the former Boulder High School and University of Colorado golfer who has a record 45 PGA Tour Champions victories to his credit, compared to 42 for Langer. In all, of the six statistics the tweet cites for Langer, Irwin is ahead of him in three categories (wins, runner-up finishes and top 10s). In another (career earnings) Langer may very well lead because of inflation — the general increase in purses over time as he’s more than 12 years younger than Irwin — though that money gap inevitably will get larger.
But let’s do a tale of the tape, to borrow a boxing term, and people can decide for themselves if Irwin or Langer is the gold standard — or if either should be dubbed as such at this point given how closely they match up:
CAREER PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS VICTORIES
Overall
Irwin: 45, which remains the record for the over-50 circuit.
Langer: 42
Advantage: Irwin.
Both At Age 64 Years and 3 Months (Langer’s Current Age)
Irwin: 45
Langer: 42
Advantage: Irwin
CAREER PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP WINS
Irwin: 7
Langer: a record 11, including each of the current five designated Champions majors.
Advantage: Langer.
Note: The Senior Open Championship, also known as the Senior British Open, which Langer has won four times, only became a major in 2003, which means it’s had that designation for Langer’s entire senior career, but became a senior major when Irwin was 58. The latter never won the event, competing there when it was a major only twice (2006 and ’18).
CAREER RUNNER-UP PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS FINISHES
Overall
Irwin: 43
Langer: 39
Advantage: Irwin
Both At Age 64 Years and 3 Months (Langer’s Current Age)
Irwin: 43
Langer: 39
Advantage: Irwin
CAREER TOP 10 PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS FINISHES
Overall
Irwin: 211
Langer: 199
Advantage: Irwin
Both At Age 64 Years and 3 Months (Langer’s Current Age)
Irwin: 195
Langer: 199
Advantage: Langer
CAREER CHAMPIONS EARNINGS
Overall
Irwin: $27,158,515
Langer: $31,908,625
Advantage: ??? given the increase in purses over time as Irwin is more than 12 years older than Langer.
Both At Age 64 Years and 3 Months (Langer’s Current Age)
Irwin: $25,093,268
Langer: $31,908,625
Advantage: ??? — again given the increase in purses over time as Irwin is more than 12 years older than Langer.
There are plenty of other categories that could be compared — Irwin leads in some, Langer in others — but you get the general idea.
Age-wise, Irwin was a more successful player in his 50s than Langer was in his (42 victories vs. 35), while Langer has been better in his 60s (7 wins vs. 3).
For those wondering, Irwin was asked again about Langer during his visit to Colorado this fall to support the impending move of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame to The Broadmoor:
“Bernhard is very capable; obviously he’s proven that,” Irwin said. “… He’s also realizing that time marches on. It’s a very healthy environment in which to compete. That’s one reason I wish I was out there — just to compete, with not just him but with the other players. Anybody who is in the game who has any degree of success wants to compete. They want to play against their peer group. They want to go out and play against the best.
“… When I was having my run on the Champions Tour, there was Gil Morgan, Bruce Fleisher and other players who spurred you on. That’s what it takes; it take competition. And what I think Bernhard is realizing is that at age 64, he’s undoubtedly seeing some of the things that I saw. You just don’t have the skill sets quite like they used to be. … It gets pointed out very quickly to you what you can do and what you can’t do (at that age on that tour). He doesn’t realize how good he’s had it because he’s still in the thick of things. He plays every week and prepares as well as anyone I’ve ever seen in the game, including young players. He prepares very, very diligently. He’s very thorough in what he does. He doesn’t leave anything to chance. He’s very accomplished.”
Indeed, Irwin and Langer are by far the top two Champions players of all time. In fact, no one else has more than 29 career victories on the senior circuit. But given Irwin’s level of success — and the fact that he remains the record holder for Champions victories — for anyone at this point to proclaim Langer “is the gold standard” is, at the very least, jumping the gun. And, at worst, it does Irwin and his career a disservice.