2025 Golf Year in Review: Quiet Farewells and Loud Highlights

The year in golf was marked by emotional turning points, personal stories, and powerful scenes both on and off the course.

2025 was a year full of stories. Major careers came to an end while new paths were forged. Between farewells and fresh starts, crisis and clarity, emotion and spectacle, golf had it all this year. Sometimes, a single putt is enough to define an entire season. Here’s the year in review.

One Last Augusta – Bernhard Langer’s Quiet Farewell

There are few images in golf that speak louder than words. But when Bernhard Langer stood on the 18th green at Augusta in April, the crowd rising to its feet as the two-time Masters champion took his final putt, it was one of those moments. After 41 starts, it was time to say goodbye. The last putt didn’t make the cut, but that hardly mattered. It was the decades Langer spent on that course that earned him global respect. And Langer himself? Calm, grateful, and clear-minded, he expressed his wish to return often as a “non-playing champion.” A quiet exit from a great who never sought the spotlight, yet was impossible to overlook.

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Between Glory and Smoke

While Augusta was filled with memories, another historic course in California faced a very different challenge. Wildfires, driven by strong winds, forced tens of thousands to evacuate and came dangerously close to the Riviera Country Club. With nearly a century of history, the venue—host to Olympic events, Major wins, and celebrity appearances—found itself in the evacuation zone. As thousands fled their homes, emergency crews fought to protect one of golf’s most iconic locations from disaster.

Laura Fünfstück – From Wedding Waltz to First Tee

Not only places, but people shaped the year in special ways. On the Ladies European Tour, a heartwarming moment stood out: the wedding of Laura Fünfstück. The German golfer married her tour colleague Rosie Davies and was back on the course just days later, ready for the next tournament. “Nice to think about my swing again instead of tablecloths,” she joked, showing how closely personal life and professional golf are intertwined today. Between off-course emotions and on-course focus, sometimes only a travel day separates the two.