Bernhard Langer set for Champions Tour return after Achilles tear

Langer isn’t the first Tour player to sustain an injury playing pickleball. Recent PGA Tour winner Akshay Bhatia dislocated his shoulder playing the game a couple of years ago — an injury that still bothers him.

Langer told the Champions Tour he was encouraged by New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who underwent surgery for a torn Achilles in September, and was throwing footballs again three months later.

“That lifted my spirits, hearing he was back on the field throwing the ball after eight or nine weeks,” Langer told the Champions Tour. “That encouraged me that I may do something similar.”

Langer opted for the same “SpeedBridge” procedure as Rodgers, which is touted as allowing for immediate weight-bearing and range of motion, thereby enabling a faster track to full recovery.

Langer will turn 67 this summer, and has been setting a new standard for senior-level achievement since he joined the Champions Tour in 2007. Langer is the only player in history to have won all five senior major titles, and last year, he eclipsed Hale Irwin’s win-total record with his 46th title at the U.S. Senior Open.

“I think I can still be very productive for a few more years,” Langer said. “I still think I have a lot of good golf left in me.”

Click here to watch the full video on Langer’s recovery on the PGA Tour Champions website.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.