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Bernhard Langer withdrew from the Cologuard Classic this week.

By John Strege
It took more than aging to slow down Bernhard Langer’s ongoing assault on the PGA Tour Champions. It took an injury.

Langer announced on Wednesday that he would be unable to play in the Cologuard Classic at Omni Tucson National in Tucson, Ariz., this week, citing an injury to his rib and stomach area.

“It happened last Wednesday at home [in Florida], practicing,” he said in a PGA Tour Champions news release. “I didn’t practice much after that, just chipping and putting. I had some treatment and took some medication and I thought it was getting better, and when I got here yesterday, I got even more treatment and was able to play eight holes.

“Then on the ninth fairway I re-injured it again. When I talked to my doctor, he advised that I not play the next several days to allow it to heal.”

Langer, 61, has played in all three previous senior tournaments this year, winning one and finishing second and third in the others. He has been the PGA Tour Champions’ player of the year five straight years.

“I was hopeful the injury would feel better by today, but unfortunately that has not been the case,” Langer said.

He was replaced in the field by Fran Quinn Jr.

The field still has a marquee name on board, though he is not a tour member. John Smoltz, a Hall of Fame pitcher and now a professional golfer, will be making the first of three senior starts in the Cologuard Classic.