The hopes of the European team rested upon Langer's putt.
On the autumn afternoon, the course was overflowing with spectators who looked on silently,
anxiously, as Langer paced around the ball and the hole, considering his putt from every
conceivable angle. The German addressed the ball, one foot on either side, his body inclined over
it. He drew back his putter, then smoothly brought it into contact with the ball, guiding it towards
the hole. As the ball veered to the right, Langer lent back in anguish, the American crowd erupting
in joy. The United States had won the Ryder Cup by a 14.5 to 13.5 score.
`I was very disappointed,' Langer says. `I didn't want to let my teammates down. We played all
week very hard to win this Ryder Cup and it all came down to this very last putt from six feet. The
main thing was really my concern for them. They really didn't blame me for anything. They tried to
make me feel better, but I still felt very disappointed.'
Six years later, playing in Europe, the score was again 14.5 to 13.5, but this time in Europe's
favour. The Ryder Cup had again come down to rest upon the abilities of Langer, but this time he
lived up to them and snared victory.
Bernard was born in Anhausen, Germany, in 1957, where his father had settled after escaping from
a Russian prisoner of war train en route to Siberia. It was in Anhausen also that Langer first got
involved in golf. `My older brother was caddying to earn some pocket money,' he says. `We come
from a very poor family; we never received any pocket money. When I was about eight-years-old, I
asked my brother, Erwin, to take me along to the golf course so I could caddy and earn some
money.'
After saving for four years, the Bavarian boy bought his first set of clubs at twelve. It was clear that
he had natural talent and, three years later, he turned professional.
Langer's career has been impeded by a putting condition known as `the yips' but, despite this, he
has risen to among the top golfers in the world, winning over fifty tournaments.
Langer's first tournament win came in the Cacharel Under-25s Championship in 1979, when he
won by a record seventeen strokes. In the eighties, he cemented himself among the world's best and
today this success continues. Over the years, he has provided many memorable moments - winning
the US Masters in 1985 and 1993, the PGA Championship in 1995, and the individual title at the
1993 World Cup. Bernard was also integral to the Ryder Cup team in 1993 as the Europeans won
for the first time in twenty eight years. Two years later, he also helped them win on US soil for the
first time in sixty years.
Many followers of the game will also remember Langer for his shot out of a tree during the 1982
Benson and Hedges tournament, one of the most recognised images of the European tour.
Langer is one of the most respected players on the tour, as former world number one Greg Norman
testifies: ‘I've known Bernard since playing the European tour together back in '76. When you grow
up with someone on a tour, like we have, you get to know them very very well because you get to
see their different personalities, you get to see what they're going through in life. One thing about
Bernard is that he's always been consistent. And that is a real credit to him, because a lot of people
change with success, but he hasn't. I admire that in somebody.’
‘I've seen a lot of people that have actually changed. He is also loyal to his word, which is another
great thing about him. If he says he's going to be there and do something for you, then he's going to
be there and do something for you. They're the kind of things that you admire in the quality of a
guy. I've helped him out a lot over the years and I know that he's helped me out a lot.’
At the Lakes course in Sydney, Australia, playing in the 1999 Greg Norman Holden International,
something happened which reflects the character of this golfer. Needing only par on the last hole to
win the tournament, Langer was considering a nine foot putt when he inadvertently picked up his
marker before replacing the ball. No one saw the infringement, but regardless he summoned the
rules official onto the green and informed him of what had happened, incurring a one stroke penalty
and losing the tournament. Despite all that had happened, he remained remarkably composed.
` I don't know, I just picked it up,' he said. ` It's never happened before and it happened today. Don't
ask me why I did it. I didn't do it on purpose; it just happened. I was probably too much focused on
what I was trying to do.'
Bernard Langer is a man of character and he has needed it at many times throughout his career to
cope with the yips. They first appeared when Langer was eighteen playing on the European tour
and have haunted him three times during his career, nearly ending it in 1988.
` It's like a muscle spasm,' he explains. ` You hold the putter and sometimes you can't take it back.
You freeze or you just jerk. Your muscles do something and your hands feel like they're not part of
your body. I had times when they wouldn't give me a one foot putt in a match play tournament
because they knew that the chance I would miss it was greater than the chance I would make it. I
remember one occasion where I four putted from three feet!'
This was a very low point in Bernard's life. ` I led one tournament after two rounds, I was ten under,
and the next two days I shot five over. From that day on, I had the yips again. They wouldn't go
away; I had them for about five or six months. I missed every cut and I went from the very top to
the very bottom. I could not see my way out of this. I was a believer by then and I prayed to God:
"Lord, if you want me to do something else, if you don't want me to play golf, tell me where you
want me. Tell me what to do - and I'll do it."'
Langer was ready to bring his professional golfing days to a premature end. ‘I worked hard to get
there and I was very fortunate, but when you go through that for five or six months... I know how
good I was before and there was nothing left. There wasn't even five percent left. I was ready to
give up.’
‘I was very fortunate that, just before I gave golf up, a friend of mine came over and spent a couple
of days with me. He prayed with me and said: “You know, Bernard, I don't think God wants you
anywhere else. You should just persevere and continue what you are doing, and he will show you
the way out of this. He wants you playing golf and he wants you playing golf successfully, so you
can reach out to other people and hopefully be a good example to others.”’
Langer stuck with his game and again rose to be among the top ten golfers in the world. As his
words suggests, his faith in God has been instrumental in helping not only his golfing career, but
also his life. ` I was very fortunate to grow up in a religious home,' he explains. ` Both my parents
believed in God. I went to church everyday, not just Sunday. I was an altar boy for seven years.
This really laid the foundation for my Christian belief later-on. I believed all my life in God. I was
in a way very religious, but just never really had that personal relationship with Jesus Christ which
is so important.'
The turning point in Bernard's faith came shortly after the 1985 US Masters. ‘My priorities were
golf, golf and more golf, then myself - and finally a little time with my wife. Every now and then I
prayed, I went to church. But if my golf game was not good, my whole life was miserable and I
made everyone around me miserable.’
‘I always thought that I was doing all the right things. I always believed in God, I just didn't have
this personal relationship. The week after I won the Masters, I was invited by Bobby Clampett to a
Bible study. For the first time in my life, I heard that I needed to be reborn. He showed me Jesus'
words: “Truly, truly I say to you unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John
3:3). But surely at the age of twenty-eight, I could not be born again.’
‘I had achieved basically everything I ever wanted to achieve. I was higher than I ever even could
have dreamt of. I had a young, beautiful wife, all the money, I was number one in the golfing world
- and yet, when I woke up, there was something missing. There was a void in my life and I realised
that I didn't know where I was going when this life here on earth was over.’
‘I then heard that I could never get to heaven by my own deeds or by my own works, that I just
have to trust Jesus Christ, that he died for my sins, and that this was the only way to get there. He
has made sufficient payment for me and I should just accept him and put him on the throne of my
life. That really got me going. Then I got myself a Bible, which I never had when I grew up, and
started reading his word, growing and fellowshipping with other believers.’
‘After understanding that God loved me so much that he sent his only Son, it was natural for me to
ask the Lord into my life. Since then, I have seen tremendous changes in my life, my marriage and
my whole outlook. My priorities have changed: now its God first, family second and then my
career. I believe that when your priorities are right, everything is managed better.’
‘Everyday, we have to make many decisions, but the most important decision we will ever make is
who we believe Jesus is. We either accept him or reject him. Jesus himself said: “You are either for
me or against me.” There is no in-between.’
Growing up, Bernard believed in God but really didn' t know the Bible. ‘I heard small messages
from the Bible in the sermons, but I never had my own Bible and I never had this personal
relationship with God. I thought that, hopefully, I would get to heaven by my good deeds and then I
will meet God. I never knew that I could have this relationship right here in this world.’
‘Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one gets to the father but through me.”
Now if you realise what this means, you' ve got to stop, think about this for a second, and then turn
around and really focus on what you' r e doing in this world. I would say that no one in this world is
good enough to get to heaven by their own deeds - not one - but, at the same time, no one is bad so
that they couldn' t be saved by Jesus Christ.’
Bernard Langer' s faith has fundamentally changed his life and, in retrospect, he adds: ` I believe that
it might take more faith not to believe in Jesus Christ than it takes to believe in him.'
Bernhard Langer
