“Beats the Pi** Out”: Justin Thomas Can’t Fathom 68-Year-Old Golf Veteran’s Skills

At 68, Bernhard Langer still treats golf like something he wants to do, not something he has to do, and he’s carrying a strong start to 2026 to prove it. People assume it’s all reps and range balls, but he corrects them: eat right, stay healthy, stay fit. That’s the actual formula, honed over five decades, and it’s what leaves current athletes amazed watching him up close. Matthew Tkachuk found that out firsthand. Walking the course with PGA Tour golfer Justin Thomas, on a video shared by the PGA Tour Champions on X, the NHL player couldn’t get over how a German in his late sixties keeps outplaying men half his age.

Tkachuk said, “I’ve seen Bernhard Langer a bunch of times at the Adios Golf Club. He’s always there.”

Thomas picked up the thread immediately, saying, “It’s just crazy, man. Like at his age, he beats the pi** out of those seniors. Obviously, we love what we do, but, like, when you put it in perspective, you’re like, “Okay, in 40 years you’re gonna wake up and be like, ‘God, I can’t wait to get better today,'” he said, laughing.

Thomas further added that if he were Langer’s age, he would probably be seen in a boat with his friends.

Why are the pros so starstruck? For one, Langer still trains at the Adios Golf Club in Boca Raton, Florida, even through the tough winter months. And it’s not random. Langer is competing again this week at the Rogers Charity Classic in Calgary, the PGA Tour Champions’ only stop in Canada. He’s headlining the field that includes Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh. At an age when most players have long since traded competitive rounds for member-guest outings, Langer is still teeing up as the top draw.

Langer’s 2026 has him ninth at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, sixth at the Cologuard Classic, and tied for seventh at the Hoag Classic so far, all before this April’s Senior PGA Championship. He didn’t have that kind of year in 2025, going the whole season without a win for the first time since 2007 and ending an 18-year streak of picking up at least one PGA Tour Champions title every year, even with a ninth-place finish at the Insperity Invitational along the way. His last win in that run was the 2024 Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix, where he closed with a 66 for career win No. 47, still more than anyone else on the tour.

Langer opened the Senior PGA Championship with a 6-under 66 at Concession Golf Club, double bogey included, and still broke his own age by two strokes. He joked about it afterward.

“It’s fun to shoot my age,” Langer said afterward. “Whenever I shoot my age or better, usually I’ve played some good golf.”

His longevity inspires younger players. But Langer believes it does not happen by accident. He detailed his approach in a Golf Digest cover story last December, saying that staying excited about competing is what keeps the rest of his routine sustainable.

“I think if you’re looking forward to playing, it goes a long way to motivating you to do all the things you need to do to make that happen, no matter how old you’re getting.” The message, as he puts it, is to keep fresh rather than treat the sport as a grind.

Gary Player Draws the Same Awe From Younger Golfers

Langer’s already lived that pattern, from the 2024 Schwab Cup breakthrough to his form this year at the Senior PGA. He’s not the only one out there pulling it off. Gary Player, 90, backs up his own claim to Golf Digest that he can “beat most youngsters in the gym” with a fitness routine that includes heavy ab work and a strict two-meal-a-day diet, even in his ninth decade.

Player and Langer share more than a stubborn refusal to slow down. Both built their reputations on their games long before launch monitors and swing coaches existed, and it shows in how players decades younger react to them now.

Player hasn’t chased trophies competitively in years, but he hasn’t disappeared either. He struck the opening ceremonial tee shot at the 2026 Masters in April, a role he’s held since 2012. Speaking to Bunkered, he said he wants to keep doing it “probably until I’m 100.”

What Tkachuk and Thomas are circling in that conversation isn’t a swing or a training block. It’s a question of pacing. Careers built on fitness and moderation tend to outlast careers built on sheer volume, and the gap between the two only becomes visible decades later. Whether the current generation of pros heeds that lesson now, or learns it the hard way at 60, remains an open question.

The post “Beats the Pi** Out”: Justin Thomas Can’t Fathom 68-Year-Old Golf Veteran’s Skills appeared first on EssentiallySports.