I’ll show I can still be the grand Master at 59
BERNHARD LANGER EXCLUSIVE
Thirty-one years to the day after the world rankings were introduced, with Bernhard Langer installed as the first no1, the German will set off in his 34th Masters believing he can replicate his feat of 12 months ago, when he was in contention on the final day.
‘i’ve always loved that english saying: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”,’ said Langer, and nobody in golf with perhaps the exception of Gary Player was a more perfect embodiment.
there might be a few more lines on the face and a few more aches and pains, but there are no extra pounds around his waist and no quit in him, even though his 60th birthday is in August. neither was that display a fluke. two years ago, Langer finished tied eighth, and tied 25th in 2013.
‘i honestly don’t know how he does it,’ said three-time major champion nick Price, who is six months older. ‘he turned pro at 15 and yet he is still trim and practising harder than anyone else. he looks about 25. Most of us get to 55 and we’ve had enough of those four-footers, but he’s still figuring out how to get better. he’s a wonder of nature.’
All that wonder was on show during the third round at Augusta last year when he played with Jason Day, the no1 at the time. Day was 40 yards past Langer off the tee and using irons into greens that were as many as six clubs lower. yet the Aussie carded one shot more. Langer was two off the lead and playing in the penultimate group on Sunday.
‘that was a lot of fun, testing my game against the player who was the best at the time,’ recalled Langer. ‘on the Sunday i felt it was important to stay aggressive because, at my time of life, finishing 15th or something is neither here nor there, but i got bitten right at the start.
‘i was two feet out at the first and had a bogey and 12 inches out at the third and ran up a double bogey. But that’s the great challenge of Augusta and i’ve always enjoyed a challenge.’
Langer was presented with one from the start when he turned up for his first Masters in 1982. he came with a reputation in europe as a magnificent ball-striker but a dodgy putter, and both were on show during rounds of 77 and 78.
‘i played pretty well but i had 11 three-putts in 36 holes,’ he said. ‘i was 11 shots off the lead and missed the cut by one. So i resolved to work hard on my putting. i knew i could cope with the rest of the course.’ how Langer-esque that, three years later, he claimed the green jacket without a three-putt, chasing down Curtis Strange and making up a four-shot deficit. in 1993, he won again.
A devout Christian when he won for the second time, but not the first, Langer felt blessed to win again on easter Sunday. ‘After my first win, i went into the Butler Cabin and the American commentator Jim nantz asked me how it went and i said: “i looked up at the leaderboard and thought, Jesus Christ, i can’t believe i am four behind!”
‘i used the name of Jesus in vain on national TV. So to win a second time on the most important day in the Christian faith meant a lot to me, and still does.’
there were a few years when Langer turned up at Augusta and acted his age. in six appearances between 2006 and 2012, he missed the cut every time.
‘it was unlike me but during that period i thought if i could make the weekend that would be an achievement,’ he said. ‘i thought about it and realised my expectations were too low.’
nothing sums up Langer’s indefatigability quite like enjoying perhaps the best season of his career in 2016 after the anchored putting stroke on which he had relied for 17 years had been outlawed on January 1.
He WAS its most famous user, with his broom-handle putter, and there were genuine worries he would not be able to cope. not from Langer, of course.
‘i had seven weeks off before the ban and i tried everything,’ he said. ‘Different grips, different lengths of putters, different methods. i’d spend hours and hours, there were putters everywhere, but it didn’t occur to me i wouldn’t find something.
‘eventually, i came up with a method that became comfortable with practice. And i putted pretty decently last year.’ you could say that. not just his Masters feat but in 21 Champions tour events against players up to nine years younger, he had four wins, 11 top threes and 18 top tens.
‘i do think it might have been my best year ever,’ said Langer. ‘i know you’re not supposed to be able to compete after the age of 55 but there have always been exceptions, and i truly believe i can still get better into my 60s.’
Langer has lived in south Florida for longer than he lived in Germany and is an American resident. he married his American wife Vicki in 1984.
But he chuckled when i asked if it caused mixed feelings when the ryder Cup comes around. ‘Are you kidding?’ he said. ‘i played in ten of them and captained at one. My heart beats for europe.’
in 1991, he was the unlucky man who saw a six-foot putt bounce off a spike mark that led to the ryder Cup falling into American hands. how did he feel when he saw the proposal for the rule to be changed in 2019 and players allowed to repair spike marks? ‘it was always a bad rule and i’m glad they’ve finally got around to changing it,’ he said.
there is only one subject he is reluctant to talk about and that is the bizarre incident earlier this year when US President Donald trump spoke about voter fraud and brought up the example of ‘the very famous golfer Bernhard Langer’ who had allegedly been turned away when trying to vote on election day. Among the many problems with the story was that Langer was not eligible to vote, as a German citizen with permanent residence. to be fair to trump, he did ring Langer to apologise.
So to his 34th Masters, one that ends on the day Seve Ballesteros would have celebrated his 60th birthday. it says everything about their contribution to the game that words have been invented to illustrate their powers.
Seve-esque: pulling off the miraculous. Langer-esque: indomitable will.
Bernhard Langer is a brand ambassador of Mercedes-Benz — a global sponsor of the Masters.