Breakfast Ball #13: Jaeger Becomes the Meister of Houston

Stephan Jaeger wins his first PGA Tour title in his 134th start, we continue our #MastersMoments series

Author

Evan Cannon
April 01, 2024

This day next week, players will begin practice at Augusta National for The Masters. Excitement levels are high.

Yesterday, we saw a chink in Scottie Scheffler’s armour, and a European took advantange.

In This Week’s Newsletter:

  • Stephan Jaeger 🇩🇪 WINS the Houston Texas Children’s Open, holding off Scottie Scheffler on the final hole

  • We continue recounting iconic European #MastersMoments with Bernhard Langer’s triumph in 1985

Stephan Jaeger Finally has his Day on the PGA Tour

Stephan Jaeger after winning the Houston Texas Children’s Open (credit: AP)

In his 135th start on the PGA Tour, Stephan Jaeger won the Houston Texas Children’s Open. He finished one shot ahead of a group of five players including world number one Scottie Scheffler. Jaeger has been a model of consistency over the last 12 months, making the cut in 23 of his last 25 starts. Today, that consistency shone through once more as he made par in each of his last nine holes. Jaeger said that he “couldn’t have dreamed up a better week" as he celebrated with his wife and their baby boy on the 18th green.

Coming into the last hole, Jaeger was one shot ahead of his playing partner Scottie Scheffler. Jaeger could only make par on the 18th, and Scheffler had a five foot putt for birdie. Jaeger was already preparing for a playoff: “[I was thinking] where to hit it in the playoff on the green.” However, Scheffler missed his putt and Jaeger became the champion. Jaeger finished third in strokes gained putting for the week, impressing in an area where he lost strokes to the field in five of his last six starts:

“I had a couple of tough weeks in Florida, but I felt like if I could just get putter a little warmer, I could have a chance. The putter was nice this week and I got the job done”

Stephan Jaeger

Results:

  • With the win, Jaeger qualifies for The Masters and will enter the top 50 of the world rankings

  • Thomas Detry 🇧🇪 was also part of the group that finished one shot back, improving to 27th in the FedEx Cup rankings

  • Aaron Rai 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and David Skinns 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 finished in the top 10, two off the winner

Masters Moments Continue with Bernhard Langer’s Win in 1985

Langer accepts his green jacket from 1984 Masters Champion Ben Crenshaw (Credit: Augusta.com)

For every player on tour today, there has been a trailblazer before them that set the stage for their success. For German golfers (such as Stephan Jaeger) there can be no doubt who that is. Bernhard Langer has 142 professional wins during the course of his career, which is still ongoing on the Champions Tour. The 1985 Masters is his most treasured and famous victory.

At the time, there was only one public golf course in West Germany, where Langer was born and raised. He was the only player from West Germany on tour in Europe or the US. Despite these hurdles, he rose to become the world’s best for a period of time as the first ever world number one when the rankings were established in 1986.

Going into the final round of the 1985 Masters, Langer trailed leader Raymond Floyd by two shots. With six holes to play, Floyd had extended his lead to three and it seemed like a win was out of sight for Langer. However, bogeys for Floyd at 13 and 15 opened the door and the German walked right in.

Langer birdied the 12th, 13th, 15th, and 17th to take a two shot lead going into the final hole. Under immense pressure, chasing his first major championship, he dominated the back nine at Augusta on championship Sunday. He won the tournament by two strokes ahead of his playing partner and friend Seve Ballesteros, Raymond Floyd, and Curtis Strange.

Germany now has the second most golf courses of any country in Europe, only behind England. There can be no doubt that Langer was the driving force behind this growth.

Credit: The Masters

Quick Hits:

  • Japan’s Keita Nakajima won the Hero Indian Open by four shots on the DP World Tour

    • Sebastian Söderberg 🇸🇪 had his 3rd top 10 of the year in T2

    • Matteo Manassero 🇮🇹 finished T5 to move into the top 10 of the DP World Tour rankings

    • Former British Amateur champion Romain Langasque 🇫🇷 had his first top 10 of the year in T5

  • Paul McGinley said that LIV players will have “hurdles to jump” to make the Ryder Cup team next year

    • The DP World Tour Ryder Cup advisory board met last week in an effort to determine how to deal with LIV players qualification for the European Ryder Cup team

“Under the current systems, they’re not going to be eligible, so the rules will have to be changed if they are to be played. But there are a lot of hurdles to jump to get to the place where they’re going to be eligible.”

Paul McGinley, speaking about LIV player’s eligibility for the Ryder Cup in 2025

Coming up this week on Tour:

  • The PGA Tour moves to the Valero Texas Open, where players will play for the final spots in The Masters

    • European Ryder Cup players Ludvig Aberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick, Nicolai Højgaard, and Rory McIlroy will be in the field

  • Trump National Doral is the venue for LIV Golf Miami

If you have any feedback for the newsletter or would like to get in touch, I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] or message us on Twitter/X at @BlueHorizonGolf. Thank you for reading!