AGE IS Will JUST A NUMBER
Will someone shoot low at US Senior open?
Bernhard Langer has matched his age on the golf course 43 times, with the last coming this year at the Senior PGA Championship, where he fired a 66.
ON THE TEE | YOUR GUIDE TO THE WEEK IN PROFESSIONAL GOLF
You likely have not heard of C. Arthur Thompson, who never won the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open or British Open. In fact, the Canadian amateur golfer never won on the PGA Tour, yet his single greatest accomplishment is as remarkable as anything achieved by professionals.
In 1973, over 18 holes at the 6,215yard Uplands course in Victoria, British Columbia, Thompson shot his age.
He was 103.
Thompson's feat, which is a Guinness World Record for the oldest man to shoot his age or lower – the women's record belongs to Kayoko Fukui of Japan, who shot 70 at age 70 – put him in select company. The USGA does not track the specific data, but it is estimated that less than 1% of all golfers ever shoot their age. Anecdotal analysis puts the number at fewer than nine occurrences per million rounds played on standard-length courses.
Lest anyone assume that shooting your age is easier for the best players in the world, think again. The average age of PGA Tour players is 32, and only foreign dictators and U.S. presidents are capable – ahem – of scoring that low. The last professional to shoot his age at a PGA Tour event was 71-year old Arnold Palmer, who shot 71 at the 2001 Bob Hope Classic.
The Champions Tour
But a caveat exists. Or perhaps it is an anomaly? The Champions Tour, comprised of golfers ages 50 and up, has witnessed a handful of players shoot their age or lower during competition, led by the well-preserved 68-year-old Bernhard Langer, who has done it 43 times. The German golfing god first matched his age in 2021 when he shot 64 on his 64th birthday. The last time happened this year when he shot 66 at the Senior PGA Championship.
Other Seniors who have turned the trick include Gary Player, Hale Irwin, Fred Couples, Jay Haas and Vijay Singh.
Might a few more players shoot their age during the U.S. Senior Open, held Thursday through Sunday at Scioto Country Club in Upper Arlington, Ohio? Perhaps 72-year-old Jay Haas or 66-year-old Mark Calcavecchia? Unlikely, because Scioto's course setup should preclude low scoring.
But if there is a sport in which older players can still pull a rabbit out of their logo-emblazoned hat, it is golf. The game is funny that way. Viewed from a certain perspective, the U.S. Senior Open is a puzzler for sports fans who don't know golf, or assume the game was invented by the same people who think music comes out of bagpipes.
Watch 156 guys who grunt when getting up out of their chairs compete for a prize as prestigious as a national championship? Celebrating graying golfers vying for an actual trophy and $4 million purse? What's the point? Think about it.
Do baseball old-timers' games get this much serious attention? Imagine if the NFL played a Seniors Super Bowl, with 59-year-old quarterback Troy Aikman avoiding the rush from 67-year old Lawrence Taylor. Or how about 66-year-old Magic Johnson trying to dunk on 50-year-old Kevin Garnett?
Silly and ridiculous, right? Except golf is different. Players in the half-a-century-and-up crowd may not be able to compete week in and week out with their flat-bellied brethren on the PGA Tour, but more than just occasionally, they can hold their own. Check out the 2025 PGA Championship, at which 54-year-old Padraig Harrington tied for 18th.
Paddy is no threat to overtake 30-year-old Scottie Scheffler as the No. 1 player in the world – he missed the U.S. Open cut by 11 strokes last week – but his game remains impressive enough to slay most country club champions. He is the defending U.S. Senior Open champion, having defeated 53-year-old Stewart Cink by a stroke at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
