Easter Sunday is special for Bernhard Langer

A CHANGE FOR BERNHARD LANGER

Easter Sunday is special for Bernhard Langer.

Langer won the Masters Tournament in 1985 and 1993, and the latter victory had even more meaning for him by falling on Easter Sunday.

Langer wasn’t a Christian when he won for the first time at Augusta National Golf Club, and he told a story about what he said in the post-round interview.

“I was asked did you ever look at a leaderboard,” Langer said. “I said no I didn’t, but when I walked (from No. 9 green to No. 10 tee) I looked at the board real quick and said, ‘Jesus Christ, I can’t believe I’m four shots behind Curtis Strange.’

“This was on national TV, going to hundreds of millions of homes. So when I got home two weeks later I had stacks of mail saying who are you to swear on national television. But I wasn’t a believer at the time, and to me it was an expression, nothing more or nothing less.”

A week after his first Masters win, Langer went to Hilton Head Island, S.C., to play in the Heritage. While there, he attended the PGA Tour’s weekly Bible study session. A few days later, Langer won the Heritage for his second PGA Tour victory, and he soon became a Christian.

His 1993 Masters interview didn’t draw any complaints.

“They asked me which victory is more important or more meaningful,” Langer said. “I said this one means more to me because it’s Easter Sunday and we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. I might be the only one to mention Jesus Christ in the post-win interview on national TV.”

At age 57, Langer is still a threat to contend at Augusta National. A year ago, he tied for eighth after a final-round 69.

Langer pointed to fellow seniors Miguel Angel Jimenez and Fred Couples as those who shouldn’t be discounted at Augusta National.

“A golfer over 50 will win a major,” Langer said.

HISTORY LESSON

Today is the 80th anniversary of the most famous shot in Masters history.

On the afternoon of April 7, 1935, Gene Sarazen made his double eagle at the 15th hole in the final round. His 4-wood shot from 235 yards out enabled him to make up three shots on clubhouse leader Craig Wood in a hurry, and Sarazen parred the final three holes to force a tie. The next day, in the tournament’s only 36-hole playoff, the Squire prevailed by five shots.

To read more about the early Masters, visit golfhistory.augusta.com.

THE LIST

The Masters typically releases the groupings for the first two rounds on Tuesday. Though the U.S. Open uses some whimsy in making up its groups, the Masters is more traditional. Here are five groupings we’d like to see:

5 Bubba Watson, Brian Harman, Brendon Todd: Defending champ can play with fellow Bulldogs, both first-timers.

4 Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Morgan Hoffmann: Ex-Jag Reed can brag about Augusta State’s run to the NCAA Division I golf championship in 2010 against Florida State and Oklahoma State.

3 Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler, Jason Dufner: These three all have WAGs, or ex-wives or girlfriends, in the case of Dufner, who aren’t shy about posing for photos on Instagram.

2 Ben Crenshaw, Larry Mize, Erik Compton: U.S. Open usually has a “bad boy” grouping. Masters can have a threesome of good guys.

1 Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth: The past No. 1, the current No. 1 and a potential No. 1.