Posted March 19, 2015, 1:49 am
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Throwback Thursday: Langer wins in 1985

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1985 Masters Tournament winner Bernhard Langer is congratulated by Ben Crenshaw at the green jacket ceremony.
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Bernhard Langer "shoots" at his ball on No. 18 after he barely missed a putt on the final hole of the 1985 Masters Tournament.
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1985 Masters champion Bernhard Langer acknowledges the crowd on the 18th green.

With Augusta National Golf Club’s slick, undulating greens, most experts would agree that a skillful putting touch is a requirement for Masters champions.

A man who putts cross-handed and once quit the game because of a bout with the yips? Forget about it.

But Bernhard Langer doesn’t fit the conventional mold when it comes to Masters winners. The German turned pro as a teenager, battled putting woes and persevered to become one of the game’s all-time greats.

Both of Langer’s Masters victories – 1985 and 1993 – will be remembered for back-nine decisions made by players who wound up as losers. Weekend rounds of 68 wound up being the difference in his first win at Augusta.

In 1985, the European trailed American Curtis Strange heading into the second nine. But Strange, bidding to win after opening with an 80, found water on both of the par-5s on the back nine and made a pair of bogeys to squander a four-shot lead.

“What’s a three- or four-shot lead on a golf course like this where you have holes like 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16?” Langer asked.

The German hit both par-5 greens in two and made birdies. A birdie on the short 12th helped him shoot a 3-under 33 on the back nine.

“I think I won the tournament on the back nine,” Langer said.

Strange came to the 18th hole with a chance to tie if he made birdie, but he made a bogey and joined Seve Ballesteros and Ray Floyd in a tie for second, two shots behind Langer.

The win was Langer’s first major championship and his first win on American soil. A week later, he won the MCI Heritage Classic at Hilton Head Island.

Bernhard Langer

SLIDESHOW: Bernhard Langer

Bernhard Langer - Masters Record

Year	Place	Score	Round				Money
Year	Place	Score	1	2	3	4	Money
2014	8	E	72	74	73	69	$ 234,000
2013	25	+2	71	71	72	76	$ 56,040
2012	72	+8	72	80			$ 10,000
2010	54	+5	71	78			$ 10,000
2009	73	+6	70	80			$ 10,000
2008	71	+7	74	77			$ 10,000
2007	74	+11	78	77			$ 10,000
2006	69	+9	79	74			$ 5,000
2005	20	+1	74	74	70	71	$ 84,840
2004	4	-3	71	73	69	72	$ 286,000
2003	69	+11	79	76			$ 5,000
2002	32	+4	73	72	73	74	$ 32,410
2001	6	-9	73	69	68	69	$ 181,300
2000	28	+5	71	71	75	76	$ 28,673
1999	11	-1	76	66	72	73	$ 92,000
1998	39	+8	75	73	74	74	$ 14,720
1997	7	-2	72	72	74	68	$ 78,570
1996	36	+7	75	70	72	78	$ 12,333
1995	31	E	71	69	73	75	$ 13,325
1994	25	+5	74	74	72	73	$ 16,800
1993	1	-11	68	70	69	70	$ 306,000
1992	32	-3	69	73	69	74	$ 8,717
1991	29	-2	70	68	74	74	$ 8,000
1990	7	-2	70	73	69	74	$ 35,150
1989	26	+5	74	75	71	73	$ 8,240
1988	9	-1	71	72	71	73	$ 28,000
1987	7	+1	71	72	70	76	$ 26,200
1986	16	-2	74	68	69	75	$ 12,000
1985	1	-6	72	74	68	68	$ 126,000
1984	31	+1	73	70	74	72	$ 4,000
1982	49	+11	77	78			$ 1,500

Throwback Thursday: Langer wins in 1985

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