BERNHARD Langer has hit 60. Years, that is, not shots. The meticulous German still regards The Open championship as the one that got away, but not only does he have a couple of green jackets from the Augusta National gathering mothballs in his closet, he is more than making up for that glaring omission on his resume now he is a senior citizen.

Three times already he has claimed the Senior British Open, presented by Rolex, most recently in Royal Porthcawl in July 2017, a title which he will defend at the home of golf, St Andrews, at the end of next month, shortly after he has another crack at the Open itself in Carnoustie. Most clubs golfers would approach the challenge at both these links courses with dread, but Langer knows what it is like to taste success, or alternatively come up just short, at both venues.

Let’s start with 1984, and the last round of a breathless Open final round at St Andrews where Seve Ballesteros pipped both he and Tom Watson to the title. Amazingly, Langer feels he is a better player in some key areas now than ever – a better driver of the ball or 3-wood player, with a more consistent short game. But how great it would be if the Spaniard was still around to give him a run for his money on the senior tour.

“I’ve won in Carnoustie and had some decent tournaments at St Andrews, which really is one of my favourite golf courses,” said Langer, who declined the chance to defend his Senior PGA crown to attend his son’s graduation. “So I’m really excited about coming over for back-to-back weeks on two of my favourite courses playing links golf.

“The Open probably is the one which got away from me,” Langer added. “I felt I had the game to win it. I got myself into contention many times, not just once or twice. St Andrews, 1984, was one of those times. I seem to remember that I outplayed Seve tee-to-green, but he out-putted me, and in the end, he was two shots better than Tom Watson and I, who shared second. But you know, it was fun being part of that. Even if it wasn’t fun missing a lot of the putts that I feel I could have made or should have made. But that’s golf. There’s 14 different clubs and you’ve got to be in command of all 14 of them and not just 13.

“I had a couple of chances too at Royal St. George’s and another second when David Duval won at Lytham. There were a number of chances where I with a little bit better putting or a couple of different breaks, or just better golf, I would be The Open Champion, but it never happened. On the other hand, I won two Masters, which is kind of strange in a sense because if you don’t putt well there, you’re not going to win. So, I’ve been a very good putter at times, and one of the worst at times, and sometimes in between obviously.”

Before then comes the Open at Carnoustie, the site of Paul Lawrie’s epic surprise win in 1999, and a venue where Langer knows what it takes to win, claiming the Senior Open title there in 2010. It says something about the consistency of this player that he needs to be prompted to recall the fact he was amongst the first round leaders that year, and even started his final day tied for ninth, ahead of Lawrie.

“Carnoustie is definitely a very challenging venue,” Langer said. “You’ve got to stay out of the pot bunkers, and then you have a number of holes where it’s out-of-bounds in play and some water hazards. So, if the wind is not up too bad, you can score. We all know it’s a tough finish with the last three holes generally playing really hard, if not the last four.

“So the round is never done until it’s actually over, because you’ve got to get through those last few holes,” he added. “We all remember what happened to Jean Van de Velde a few years ago. That was tough to watch, but that’s the type of course that it can get you if you’re not quite there. The course was set up extremely tough that year. The fairways were narrow, more dog-legs, and the rough was extremely high, it almost dictated where you had to hit a 1-iron off the tee then a 1-iron or 3-wood into some greens. That’s a hard way to score.”