Jacket placed on them for the first time? Extra credit:
Whose gentle touch is helping him out?
Two-time champion Bernhard Langer played his final Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club this week.
At 67-years-old, Langer’s not considered old by today’s standards, but in golf terms, to still be competing competitively in one of golf’s four majors, it likely is. As he often does, Langer gave himself a chance this week and narrowly missed the +2 cut line by a single stroke.
(Photo by John Iacono/Sports Illustrated)
The image for this week’s Fan Teaser was taken from his first Masters’ victory in 1985 when he came back from four strokes behind on the final nine to defeat third-round leader Raymond Floyd, 63-hole leader Curtis Strange, and Seve Ballesteros by two shots. As is tradition, the previous year’s champion, Ben Crenshaw in this case, is seen helping Langer slip on the champion’s green jacket.
A fun fact we learned earlier this week about Langer is that when he played his first major championship, the 1976 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club, in the field that day was Gene Sarazen who was born in 1902. One of Langer’s playing partners this week was amateur and University of Florida player, Noah Kent, was born in 2004. Langer finished eight shots clear of Kent, by the way. (The youngest pro playing this week is Tom Kim, born in 2002!)
For Further Reading
- This piece from Golf Magazine looks at the Langer-Kent pairing and how the youngster knew what was at stake.
- This piece from the BBC previews how Langer was emotionally preparing for his farewell.
- This piece from the New York Times last year focuses on the injury that kept him from finishing this Masters’ run a year ago.
For Your Viewing Pleasure
- This is Langer’s video goodbye to playing competitively at Augusta National.
Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.