Special to Sports News Highlights

(SNH) — “I’m Back.”

Michael Jordan used those words when he returned to the Chicago Bulls for his second stint with the team after his first retirement. On Wednesday, those words were used once again, this time by a longtime PGA Tour and now PGA Champions Tour pro Bernhard Langer.

He held up a sign with those two words on it at the PGA Champions Tour Insperity Invitational. Langer was in front of large billboard at the golf course holding up a sign with those two words: I’m Back.

It’s simply remarkable and inspiring that the 66-year-old Langer is back from such a major injury like a torn Achillies.

Typically, this type of injury can take up to a full calendar year to return, but Langer is back in action already and ready to try and win again on the PGA Champions Tour.

He’s won more than 130 professional golf tournaments around the world in his long and very successful career. He’s a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, most notably, a two-time Masters champion, earning a pair of Green Jackets in 1985 and 1993.

After his successful run on the Tour, Langer hit 50 years old and took aim on the PGA Champions Tour, where he’s won 12 major victories. To put it simply, Langer is the man on the PGA Champions Tour. Langer won twice last year, including the U.S. Senior Open, which moved him past Hale Irwin for the most career victories on the Champions Tour.

Ageless Langer

The ageless Langer has finished in the top-five in more than 40 percent of his Champions Tour starts. He has 28 titles after the age of 57, and 13 of his wins have come after his 60th birthday. He’s also the only player to win after turning 64; he’s done that an incredible four times. Langer is also the only player in history to win every major on the Champions Tour.

Langer is also one of only five players to have won tournaments on all six continents where golf is played. He’s also played on 10 Ryder Cup teams and captained the European squad to victory in 2004. 

Bernhard Langer is truly one of the greats of the game of golf.

This recovery for Langer, who has defied his age and expectations many times before, as documented, is nothing short of incredible.

“Statistically they say that guys win the most tournaments from age 50 to 55 on the PGA Champions Tour, and then they kind of drop off,” Langer said recently. “I’m trying to continue to prove them wrong.”

I wouldn’t bet against Langer. He’s proven time and time and again he can and will prove everyone wrong. He just prepares and goes out and plays the game of golf at the highest level as his career shows.

So that’s the story of Langer’s golf career.

Then the Achillies injury occurred three months ago on February 1, 2024.

He was playing pickleball, the sport that is all the rage in the U.S. He had surgery the day after he tore the left Achillies.

“Part of my training is doing other things like ping-pong and other sports, so I played pickleball with some of my friends,” Langer said. “My opponent lobbed me and I did a few steps back, jumped up and hit it (the ball). As I landed, I heard this loud noise and pain in my leg. I went down on the ground and thought I hit something walking backwards. But as I looked around, there was nothing there and I realized most likely it’s a torn Achillies tendon.”

Langer then started to wonder to himself, “What does this mean, how long will I be out? Will I ever be back?” He then spent more than a month wearing a walking boot on the left foot, but he stopped wearing it by the end of March and was able to stand on his own again. Shortly after that, he was cleared by his doctors to begin working out and hitting golf balls again.

What a comeback. Just incredible for Langer to be fully recovered in three months from an injury like that.

Ready to win

So now, he’s ready to play golf again, the game he’s been great at for decades. And if we have learned anything about Langer, he’s ready to not just play, but to win, like he’s done time and time and time again in his distinguished career.

This week the PGA Champions Tour is in The Woodlands, Texas, for the Insperity Invitational. The tournament begins Friday and Langer has no intentions of letting this injury slow him down.

“My goal was always to be the best I can be and I think if I get back to being my best again, even at my age (66 years old), I still think I’m competitive and can win,” Langer said.

Should this surprise anyone in the world golf? Absolutely not.

Langer is indeed back, and he’s ready to play and ready to win again.

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