On Sunday evening, Jim Nantz is expected to be in Butler Cabin waiting for the Masters champion, but it must have come as a surprise to discover that God is also there. But, as Bernhard Langer explained after finishing his 136th and final competitive round at the Masters on Friday evening, apparently that’s what happened to him when he won the tournament for the first time in 1985, back when it was Brent Musburger asking the questions on CBS. Langer told the media that he saw a light right next to the 18th green at Augusta National, which was one of the most extraordinary revelations. In an odd response to a question about whether he was the last man to win a major using a persimmon driver, Langer said, “I never mentioned it to the public but this tournament was very instrumental in me becoming a Christian.” The club went by the name “The Last Supper”, which must have been what got him thinking about it. Because I was raised Catholic, I thought I was a Christian. But in my first interview in Butler Cabin, I used Jesus Christ in a very bad way. You can watch the clip again by going back. “Did you feel any pressure?” The club chairman, Hord Hardin, questioned him. Langer retorted, “I was just trying to stay cool and play my own game,” and now and then I looked up on the leaderboard and saw Curtis Strange’s numbers going up, six and seven under, and I thought, “Jesus Christ! Even though you’re playing well, you’re four or five behind! Are you aware? Langer was dragged to a Bible study group at Hilton Head three days later because someone else must have decided that if he was going to use that kind of language on live television, he needed to brush up on his catechisms. It seemed like Hardin thought it was funny enough. That’s also when I realized that spiritual regeneration is necessary. So I went to Bible studies and bought my own Bible. I became a Christian and gave my life to Jesus a few months later. You’ll find God in the church of your choice, as Bob Dylan said. It turns out that the Almighty was a pretty good swing coach, which you can laugh at. “Eight years later, I was a Christian, and I won on Easter Sunday, which was very emotional and very meaningful for me because that’s the one day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And that’s what Christianity is all about. Therefore, even spiritually, this tournament had a deeper significance for me than most people realize. They do claim that his movements are baffling. On Friday, the 15th, Langer himself was informed of this. I hit a beautiful wedge into the hole, hitting it right in the middle of the green. I counted seven as it spun back into the water. I hit a perfect golf shot, literally, and I made seven, which is very annoying,” Langer said, as he reflected on his final round. That’s the nature of golf. It can be the best game, but it can also be very brutal at times. It’s a very fine line between hitting a great shot and getting stuck in a bad spot. At 67, and after a lifetime of play, he’s still as baffled as the rest of us by the vagaries of the game.
Langer was a great golfer who only got better as life went on; he has dominated the Champions Tour, where he has won at least one event for 18 consecutive years. Even after what happened on 15, he would have cut if he had only holed a six-foot putt on 18. He could probably get away with playing another few years in the field here. However, he simply believes that the course is currently too long for him to enjoy playing. I have to compete. I would like to be in the heat. I want to rank among the top ten. I want to win the chance. I don’t think I can win on this golf course anymore. I might make it if I play well. “I’m hitting such long clubs into these greens that I can’t stop the ball where I need to stop it, and it’s a golf course that was designed to be hit with medium to short irons,” the player complained. Despite this, he still shot a 74 and a 73, both of which were significantly better than those of numerous younger, longer, stronger golfers. He was greeted by the usual roars and applause that Augusta gave to its favorites as he left the 18th green for the last time. “How will they ever remember me?” Langer stated. “Hopefully, as a good golfer, as you know. However, I hope he was also a good person, a man of faith, and a husband and father. In Butler Cabin, he continues to be the man who reincarnated.
