Don't write Langer off

In the immediate aftermath of Europe's sensational Ryder Cup victory in September, it was obvious that the players were, as one man, anxious that Bernhard Langer should continue at captain for next year's match in Ireland. Langer was clearly touched by their unanimous show of support but, disarmingly modest as ever, refused to talk about it.

That he went away and thought about it is obvious but perhaps the proceedings of last week in California might have provided a clue as to why Langer is now not, apparently, going to allow his name to be put forward for the contest at the K Club in 2006.

The man who grabbed the headlines over here on Monday morning was young Luke Donald, who had the day before finished joint second in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines. Writers both extolled Donald's virtues and remarked upon a slightly unsatisfactory end to the tournament for the kid but few wrote beyond a few cursory words about the player who, very quietly, slipped into fifth place.

It was, of course, the old war horse Langer.

His lasting qualities as a player did not completely escape the attention of his charges in Detroit. Sergio Garcia, for one, heartily endorsed his team-mates' laudatory comments on the subject of their leader and the next match but added a caveat of his own "It would be great,' Garcia said. "But he might be playing in it.'

He might indeed.

Langer finished fifth at the Buick Invitational. (Getty Images)

Forget for a moment that Langer is likely to be succeeded as captain by another of the European Tour's senior citizens (the favorite at the moment, incidentally, seems to be Ian Woosnam). By the time the 2006 bun-fight gets under way, the saintly German will be 49, which would make him the oldest European Ryder Cup player of the modern era.

And our response to that is: so what?

Langer has himself commented on the question of the erection of age barriers in golf. He is a firm believer in the maxim that age is just a number. "The ball doesn't know how old you are,' he said only last year. He was right -- the only thing a golf ball needs to know is how straight and true it is being hit and Langer still hits it as straight and true as anybody.

It all depends on whether he has the impetus and the enduring ambition to go again to that most stomach-shrivelling place on the golfing planet, the Ryder Cup.

If he has and, furthermore, is prepared to commit himself to the long and exhausting qualification process, we can see no reason why he should make his 11th appearance in the verdant surroundings of Kildare next year.

As though playing in the match just in an of itself is not enough incentive, Langer would also achieve another milestone in that he would pull alongside Nick Faldo, the present record-holder in terms of appearances.

Langer and Faldo have much in common, especially in their utter dedication to the game. It would be appropriate if they were to stand shoulder-to-shoulder at the top of the totem pole.

It's a self-evident fact that one of the major reasons why great or even very good players don't manage to sustain their game at the highest level is that their putting powers are diminished. The rest might be perfectly fine, but put them on the really short stuff and they struggle.

Not Langer. This guy knows more about putting horrors than any man still playing the game at the top level, simply because he has had to combat and beat the dreaded yips time and time again. The making of him was the broomhandle putter -- it was, literally, his salvation.

Over the years he has been the player alongside whom most of his peers in Ryder Cup teams have wanted to play. It is Colin Montgomerie's good fortune that he was put into the fray with Langer more often than anybody else. The result was one of the most powerful and dangerous pairings in the history of the competition, right up there with Severiano Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal.

Montgomerie, too, has been prevailed upon not to offer himself as captain for the match in Eire because it is thought, rightly, that he still has much to contribute as a player. When he played with Langer in the 2002 match at The Belfry, both Montgomerie and his partner probably thought it would be for the last time.

It might still prove to be the case. All we're saying right now is that nobody should write Langer off. People have done that before and have been made to look awfully foolish. Please, dear reader, don't let us join them.

Editor's note: Mel Webb covers the international golf scene. Look for his columns each week on GolfWeb and PGATOUR.COM.