Bernhard Langer - Part 7 (The Senior Tour - Act 2)

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to do it.

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Well you squeezed one more major in before COVID kind of uh uh stopped the world for a while, and this was uh uh your fourth senior open championship, this time at Litham, which has got a great history in the open championship by two over Paul Broadhurst. Came from three back on the final day.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Yeah, I love Lynx golf. I've always said I did, and I felt very comfortable most of the time on a Lynx course. Uh obviously Paul Broadhurst is a fantastic player, and he's he grew up with Lynx Golf, so he knows how to play in those conditions. Uh but I I pulled through uh in again on the last day, played exceptionally well, and uh pulled ahead and finally won on a, you know, not finally, but won on another fantastic venue at Lytham and C. Ann. So I won a Carnusti and Lytham uh, you know, two of the better tests that they they use these courses for the regular open championship as well.

Mike Gonzalez 1:22

Sure. I wish they just had a few bunkers out there, Bruce.

Bruce Devlin 1:25

Yeah, yeah. Well, it's 114, I think, isn't it? Is that correct?

Mike Gonzalez 1:31

No, uh no, I I think it's way more than that. It's it's uh and they've taken they've taken bunkers out recently, but it's I think it's way more it's a crazy number. I don't know what it was, but it it seems like it's 5,000, but uh yeah, yeah. Um well uh I'll ask you this. I I hadn't thought about asking this to you, but it just came to mind. So, and I'm not sure I know the answer. You won the senior open championship four times. How many of those would you trade for a regular open championship?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Yeah, great question. Never thought about it. Um you know, maybe all of them, I'm not sure. But uh the the senior open still meant a lot. I know it's not the same as the open championship. For a European, uh the open championship is really probably more special than than for anybody else, just because it's the only major in our on our continent.

Bruce Devlin 2:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

And I always thought I could win an open championship. I always thought I had the game, and and I certainly had chances, but uh it was never meant to be. And it's one of those regrets, but there's nothing I can do about it. I've played, I tried my hardest, it didn't happen.

Bruce Devlin 2:47

We talk about the senior open. Let's talk about the last one, Bernhard. In uh last uh last year you won the uh senior open. Uh and you were in uh one of your hardest fought players uh territory, weren't you? Stick weren't you in Stricker's country there? And you ended up winning that was a great victory.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Yeah, it was uh a very wonderful way to break Hale Erwin's record, you know, uh winning the US Senior Open, which is one of the hardest tournaments you can ever compete in, because you know everybody's playing, it's the biggest perse we have, it's usually on great venues, and uh we were up in Wisconsin uh where Steve Stricker and a couple other of my colleagues are from Cherry Kelly, and they were both in contention. Uh so it it was uh again a great test of golf. I I thought I had a great game plan. I hit a lot more three woods off the T than most people, but even though it meant I had to hit three-wood into the green, so I would hit three wood, three wood instead of maybe driver, you know, four-rine or something like that. But it in the end it worked out for me, and I, you know, at one time I tried not to look at the leaderboard too much, but on Sunday after about 11 holes, I had a glance and I think I had a seven-shot lead with uh seven holes to go, and I'm going, wow, this is figured you could handle that, right? You know, from that point on I tried to play smart golf and just uh hit the middle of the green and make parse because I I figured nobody's gonna uh go seven under on the last seven holes, not at a at a US Senior Open. Right. And uh yeah, that was a very, very special moment to, as I said, to to win number 46 and do it in the in the style and at a tournament against the very best of my trade. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 4:58

So at the time it made you once again the oldest winner ever on the champions tour. Uh do you still hold that distinction? Has anybody else beat that since then?

SPEAKER_00 5:09

No. No, I've I've beat my own record a few times, but um not no nobody surpassed that yet. But you know, like every other record, sooner or later it it will topple. That's just how it is.

Bruce Devlin 5:24

Well, I don't know, I'm doubtful about that one.

Mike Gonzalez 5:30

So you come off that victory, Bernhard, and I don't know, maybe you're on to the next tournament, maybe you get a little break and go home for a while. But um at what point did it dawn on you that man, I I just achieved uh uh a very large goal I set for myself, and maybe I need to think about what's going to motivate me to get me to the next goal.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

No, it it sank in right away. I mean, I I remember just standing there at the 18th screen and made the winning putt, and my caddy came over, and you know, we talked about you know, this is unbelievable what what we've just done the last few days and playing against two of the homeboys. I was paired with Jerry Kelly the last round and Steve Strick in the second or third last group. They were both snapping at my heels, and and just you know, to win 46 times against uh the competition I was facing week after week was very, very meaningful. And like I said, and to do it at maybe the hardest tournament that we play all year made it even more special. Uh so it it pretty much some tournaments don't sink in until much later, but it pretty much hit me right there on the spot. And uh I counted my blessing and just uh you know was amazed what I've done so far. I never had any issues with setting goals. I you know, I went home, I had a week off, but uh there was no no uh downled, you know, I didn't have feel like I I'm gonna have a low period or something like that. I felt like okay, let's keep if I can win the senior open, the hardest tournament, I should be able to win other tournaments. And I just kept going and uh it just gave me another boost of confidence that even at the age of uh what was I 64 or 65, I could still compete against the very best.

Mike Gonzalez 7:36

Yeah, and I think I heard you say that relative to new goals, it was you just want to keep getting better.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Yeah, that was always that was my standard uh goal every season, every year I played professional golf. I I would try to get a little better, and people would laugh at me and say, You can't you're you're turning 50, you're turning 60, how are you gonna get better? You know, and I said, Well, just look at the statistics or look at the game of golf. I can still, even though I'm weaker, I'm not as strong, I'm not as flexible, I don't hit it as far, I can still become a better putter, I can become a better sinker, I can mentally become tougher, I can become a better bunker player or chipper or pitcher of the game. You don't need strengths to do any of that. Yeah, certainly not putting. If you can shave off a quarter stroke or half a stroke around a day, that can make a difference of whatever, winning once a year or winning five times a year, or not winning at all, or you know, whatever it is. It's my scoring average, if I can snip at that a little bit and bring it down half a stroke or a quarter stroke, it would make a huge difference.

Mike Gonzalez 9:00

Yeah. And uh you didn't say longer, you said better. Yeah, that's right. Because we all know we're not getting any longer, and they're they're they're starting to put a curb on the technology now. Well, looking back on the fabulous career on the senior tour, 46 wins, 12 majors. You also in the majors had seven seconds, four thirds, and I think to date, 49 top 10 finishes in majors.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Yeah, that was sort of always one of my trademarks. As I look back on my whole career, I was very consistent. I was often uh I had a streak going where I made the cut like seven years in a row. I didn't miss one cut in Europe on the European Tour or something like that. And uh I was very consistent. I was often in contention, uh, didn't always cross the finish line as winner, but I raked up a lot of top tens uh wherever I played. I had lots of top tens and uh was very consistent. Uh and as I said earlier, sometimes just my putter probably wasn't good enough uh in certain times of my career to give me more of those victories that uh I I think I could have achieved if I had been a better putter during those times.

Mike Gonzalez 10:23

I I think we talked with you last time about uh playoff records uh uh throughout the various tours you played on. Uh Bruce and I probably shared the statistics with you. You may recall, but uh uh the playoff percentage record for all the great players we've interviewed, and we've done 92 of these interviews now, Bernhard, is about 43 percent. And so your senior tour record of seven and nine, which by the way includes a couple close calls and playoff losses and two more majors, uh is about on par with what we would expect from uh from the rest of the folks we've talked to. Uh just sort of the nature of the beast, I guess, in terms of it being a bit of a crapshoot.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Yeah, it it is, you know, and it's um it's not easy in a playoff, it often comes down to just one shot at the right time or one putt, yeah, or or something, a bit of luck, or a bit of a good break, or a bad break, and that's it. You don't have three or four days to make up for it. Uh uh so yeah, I I'm a little surprised that the average is 43%, but I guess that's what it is, and and um how other players deal with it too.

Mike Gonzalez 11:38

Yeah, I think if we adjusted for multi-person playoffs, perhaps it inches a little closer to just being a 50-50 deal, but it still probably was quite surprising. Uh before we uh let you get out of here, there are a couple of things we'd like to uh certainly touch on, have you talk about. You brought it up earlier, and that's uh uh putting affliction, which I suffered with uh from at an early age as well. And probably 30 years ago, after seeing Orville Moody try it, I grabbed the broomstick and started experimenting. And I've been using a long putter for at least the last 30 years. Uh tell us about uh when that first uh arose, uh how you tried to deal with it, because like most, you probably tried a variety of different methods to see if one might work better than the other. And then we want to touch on uh uh the anchoring ban rule and what you did to adjust to that back in 2016.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Right, yeah, great questions. Uh so I had my first uh bout of the hips uh very first year on tour. I was 19 or 18. I traveled to Portugal for the Portuguese Open in January of 1976, I think. And I don't know if I put too much pressure on myself, probably part of it. I didn't have much money. I knew I had to pretty much succeed right away to be able to continue on tour. Um, or if it was a combination of pressure and then very fast greens that I wasn't uh you know used to because I grew up in Germany playing most of my golf there, and the greens were running six to eight on the stint meter, and now I'm facing 20 to 13 on a regular basis. So a combination of all that, uh uh I I immediately developed the yips uh down there, but then for some reason the it went like Portuguese Open, Spanish Open, Madrid Open, and Madrid Open at Puerto de Hero, I finished fifth, tied for fifths in my third tournament as a rookie on tour. Uh and at that week I kind of felt like, oh, you belong out here. You know, you have the game. You just gotta work on your short game. My chipping and my putting wasn't quite there, and so I I tried different putters, I tried different methods, and uh eventually went to cross-handed. Um but you know, it was on and off. Uh 1978 or 79, I still had some issues again, and you know, sometimes with three putts from three feet, uh just ridiculous. But uh it it happened. Sometimes I would make more putts than strokes, you know. I would hit 17 fairway uh 17 greens in regulation that makes it about 37 long shots, and then I would have 40 puts and I shoot 77, you know, something like that. So uh and so I went to cross-handed uh at some point in I believe in the 80s, and that seemed to work a little bit better uh for a few years. I think I put it that way about seven years, and then I started feeling uncomfortable again and missing short putts. With me, it was always short puts. I was very good on long putts. Uh never had issues with long putts. You know, you could give me there were times when I would have more chance making a 30-footer than a four-footer. Um and I that I don't know exactly why and how, and nobody else could explain it to me either. Um so as I said, cross-handed worked for a number of years. Um, then I started having tremors again and issues. Then I went to uh where the potter shaft goes on the forearm, on the left forearm, the way uh Kutcher plays now for many, many years. And uh there's a Danish guy from Denmark, he putts that way now for 20 years or something. Kilsen, Kieltson, Kielsen, he's pretty successful that way. Anyway, so I was the first one to ever do that. And I remember people looking at me like I'm from Mars or Moon. Uh, how did I do that kind of crazy putting style, you know, and ended up winning the Masters. Uh one year cross-handed, and the second time was uh gripping my forearm or leaning the putter shaft against my left forearm. Uh, and then again that lasted about seven years, and then I didn't feel too comfortable. I felt like I should be putting better. Um at one stage, Sam Torrens at the Belfry, he was putting with a long one, uh, and he was holding it up against his chin. And we were on the putting green, and he goes, Hey Bernhardt, you should try this. And I said, All right, show me what do you do? You know, I I wasn't really too interested, but I I went over and I said, Okay, show me what you do. He said, Oh, you just you know put it up there on your chin or your chest and just let that putter handle uh swing like a pendulum. And you can either just use your right hand or you can rock your shoulders, whatever feels better. So I probably tried 10 puts and it felt like I had a snake in my hands. It felt like potter was moving all over the place, and I didn't get anywhere near the hole. And I said, Sam, thanks for you know, letting me try. It's not for me. I'm just gonna have to work it out with a short one. Well, about two years later I was so desperate that I got myself a long potter and uh really started to seriously practice with it and figure it out and uh won the Italian Open with it, you know, a few weeks later, and then uh continued to go down that road, and then I tried to short one again and didn't feel good, so I went back to the long one, and I did that for a number of years, you know, back and forth, tried to short one, felt good on the putting green, but in the pro-am it didn't work. So if if it doesn't work in a pro, it's gonna work in the tournament. So I just you know stuck with the long one and uh kind of tried to uh make it as good as possible. Certainly was better on the short puts, maybe not quite as good on the long puts, but not bad. And then they came out with a ban, um which I never understood. Uh I was a big uh opponent uh against the band, not just because it affected me personally, it affected thousands and thousands of people who either spent a lot of time putting with a long one and felt comfortable, or who had major issues with the short one, and now the USGA, the RNA, take that long putter away from them, and now they're out there on the weekend trying to play golf and having the yips. Yeah, well, how much fun is that? So I I felt a lot of people might give up the game of golf because it's no fun when you have the yips, and why why should they go through that? And I never really understood the thinking, and I I found out later why, but I don't want to get into the details right now. Uh it was one person uh you know that was in charge, um, and and he pushed it through. Uh because the the tour was really against it, the American PTA was against it, but they still weren't able to change it. So now uh I would face the dilemma again. You know, what did I do? So I got like six or eight putters, different, different lengths, different weight, different grips, different lofts, different styles. And in the off-season, uh whenever that was, uh you can tell me probably one year.

Mike Gonzalez 20:10

It was 2016, uh January 1st of 16 that they came out with that rule.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

My off-season was uh part of November, December, and then part of January. And I spent those two months, I spent so many hours on the potting green trying to figure out how do I play, how do I pot the next season? Uh, that's the most I ever potted in my life for two months with all sorts because I was kind of lost. I was thinking, well, should I go back to cross-handed? Should I go to, you know, clap leaning the potter against my forearm? Should I stick with a long one and not anchor it? What should I do? And after many, many thousands of hours, uh came to the conclusion I still felt the most comfortable not anchoring and just moving that uh putter away from my chest where I wasn't anchoring. And and then even you know, making sure my rhythm is better uh slower and smoother because now that you can't anchor, it becomes a little harder because it it will move around a bit more. So yeah, I had to really focus on keeping it smooth, the tempo. And when I did it, it was very good. But every once in a while it got a little bit off, and then I would miss putts. Um, but so that's my really my story about uh putting. Um always whenever I had the yips, I prayed a lot, I practiced a lot, and I tried different grips, different styles to just feel have a new sensation, a new feeling to overcome this anxiety, uh, whatever you might want to call it.

Mike Gonzalez 22:00

What did you come to learn about the Yips and its and its root cause uh and and and and sort of what was going on in the head and the hands?

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Well, I I talked to a lot of people obviously, uh uh from sports psychologists to doctors, professors who deal with the anatomy of the body and the brain and all that kind of stuff, and then uh, you know, coaches, and and I was asking myself, I said, why are you so nervous when it comes to a three-footer? Or why is there so much pressure? Because my grandmother could make a three-footer, my four-year-old grandson can probably make a three-footer. Now, why can't I do that? I practiced golf for that many years, and I'm the best in the world that I'd be able to make that. So, and it wasn't, I always said it's not life and death. You know, it felt like life and death at times, but it's not. You know, life will go on, whether I make the card or not, whether I win the tournament or not. Um so it's it's a phenomenon that I don't think anybody has ever figured it out totally. But there's uh nerve endings are involved, I think, because there's surgeons who do surgery on people, and when they get the tremor, uh let's call it a tremor, they they're dumb. You know, they can't do surgery anymore, and many other people where they need fine motor skills. Uh so but Bruce, you were gonna say some, I think.

Bruce Devlin 23:40

No, I was just gonna uh I I look at you the fabulous record that you have and talked about all your putting problems and the rest of it. The one thing that I have to ask you is how do you stay motivated?

SPEAKER_00 23:57

I just love the game of golf, I think. Um that's all I've uh ever done since I was since I turned 15 and um really enjoy playing golf, I enjoy competing. I'm a very competitive, have a competitive nature. Uh and the I had times it's not like my whole career was you know the yips. I've had some years when I was number one or two in the putting statistics. And obviously you can't win't win as many tournaments as I did if you're a bad putter. So uh I have tremendous and eye coordination. I'm a very good ping-pong player and I'm very good at many other sports. So yeah, it never really made a lot of sense that I could hit a flop shot from a hard pen over a bunker and stop it, but I can't make a three-foot cut. So it's uh part of a miss. Uh but you know, it happened to many others, like Hogan had it, Johnny Miller. I mean, there's a whole list of people who were great who faced uh the same dilemma.

Mike Gonzalez 25:12

Yeah. You know, one thing I think I mentioned the last time we were together that I wanted to get into at some point with you, and I think now's the time, and I wasn't sure whether you were ready to answer the question uh before you were retired because you didn't want to give any secrets away, but I really want to get at the secret sauce of Bernhard Longer. You know, you look at all the aspects of being a great golfer, a winning golfer, I kind of put it in three categories. There's a there's a number of things in each of the categories head, heart, and hands. And as you go through all those elements, whether it's mental control, strategic thinking, discipline, competitive drive, work ethic, uh physically being physically gifted, uh aspects of your game like ball striking, putting, short game, being lucky, being injury free. Uh you've had a long, long time to think about it, reflect back on a wonderful, wonderful career. But why Bernhard Longer? Why is he the greatest champion golfer of all times on the senior tour? What sets you apart?

SPEAKER_00 26:21

That's a it's a great question. I'm not sure I can really answer that, but um, it's all of the above. You know, you mentioned a list of things, and all of those things are very important. Uh, I think my faith has played a great role in it. That was not on your list. Uh, just being grounded in my faith, knowing that there's more important things than winning golf tournaments or being successful. Um the other thing, you know, I once did uh I was 15, I played in a in an exhibition match with Jack Nicholas in Munich. I don't know if we covered that or not, but uh uh we did. And they asked him, they asked Jack afterwards, you know, what he thought about his three playing partners, and he said something like, Well, the two amateurs were had great technique and show a lot of promise and uh you know fantastic players, and he would talk about them, and then some reporter would finally say, Well, what about the young pro? And uh, that was me. And uh Jack says, Well, he's got a lot of heart, and that's all he said. So he didn't he didn't want to talk about my technique or anything else, but he he probably realized uh spending you know four and a half hours with me playing 18-0s or whatever, that I have a lot of heart, and sometimes a lot of heart, much further than a good technique.

Bruce Devlin 27:55

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Uh so there's a lot of things that are involved uh to be successful, and obviously some of them are the drive. You have to have the inner drive to work on your game, to go out in miserable conditions at times, to spend hours on misery hill, to have people around you that are good for you, like a good coach that uh guides you in the right direction, or or good family, um, and and all of that. So there's a lot more than what uh seems to just look whatever, what what it looks like from the outside. Uh and why me, I really don't know. But uh as I agree with the list. It's a long list, and it all has to be there at times to to achieve uh to win.

Mike Gonzalez 28:49

Bruce, I would suspect that as you go through that list, Bernhard Longer is certainly in the upper quartile in each one of those elements, and perhaps he wins on high average. For sure, definitely.

Bruce Devlin 29:00

Well, there's one thing we haven't talked about, Bernhard, and that is all the honors and awards that you've received over these years. I mean, it is quite a list. Uh I suppose being elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame is is probably up towards the top, or if not the top, of all the awards that you've received.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

It certainly is for me because I am a golfer, and uh that's kind of one of the highest awards you can get as a professional golfer. Uh, and especially you know, from my background, coming from Germany. I mean, golf is huge in Scotland, Great Britain, and it's big in the US. But I mean, they laugh at you if you say a golfer, they think you're playing putt-putt, miniature golf.

Bruce Devlin 29:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

You know, to come from that background and make it into the Hall of Fame, uh, I think is is much harder than growing up in a nation where golf means something.

Mike Gonzalez 30:07

Yeah, well, you've been recognized uh by your country as well. You've uh you're an OBE and the honorary officer of the most excellent order of the British Empire. You got the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the silver laurel leaf, the highest German sport award there is, uh inducted into the Germany Sports Hall of Fame in 2016. And and I think another one that I'm sure you hold dear in your heart, and that's the 2018 Payne Stewart Award.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Absolutely. You know, we all hold Payne Stewart very dearly in our hearts. Uh, I've been blessed to call him my friend for several years. Um when I first came over to the U.S., he lived in Orlando, I lived in Boca, and we were similar ages. We competed against each other on the U.S. tour, uh, sometimes on the European tour, certainly in the Ryder Cups and the Majors, and we've we've become friends. And you know, I've stayed at his house in Bahill at the time, and we would hang out together here and there, and uh it was it was such a tragic loss of a life, uh seemed so senseless in a way. You know, how can that happen? Uh but but it does happen, it shows how fleeting life can be. Uh and uh I was just so happy for him that he became a Krishna, a believer in Christ when he won that US Open at Pinehurst, I think it was, and he had that bracelet, What Would Jesus do? Uh and and uh yeah that makes all the difference uh for eternity, but what a tragic loss for his for Tracy and the kids. Yeah, so yeah, that was when I got that phone call, it's very unexpected because there's so many great characters and good people in the game of golf. And uh I was very surprised when Che Monahan called me and said, you know, you received the award. And uh because I as I said, there's so many others that would have deserved it too. Uh, but it's a wonderful thing, and I'm very glad I I got it.

Mike Gonzalez 32:31

Yeah. So as we wrap up your life story, uh uh I wonder if you would uh try to give our listeners a peek on uh uh uh what might come next post-golf. What do you what are you thinking about? Uh how do you think you'll be spending your days once you really wind down uh your playing career?

SPEAKER_00 32:48

You know, I will certainly spend time with my family, my friends, maybe get more involved in uh charities and my local church. Uh would love to have a positive influence on my grandkids. Uh with my kids, it's too late. If I haven't influenced them yet, I'm going to. So hopefully I can leave a legacy with with the grandkids and spend time with them. Um so those are some areas I would still love to be involved in the game of golf in some way, shape, or form, whether that is with some of my sponsors or not sure yet. But uh I I don't think uh Bernard Langer is gonna get bored. Um I you know I'm gonna I have a bunch of great friends. I enjoy snow skiing. Uh hopefully I'm gonna be healthy enough to do some of the things that I want to do, maybe even travel the world as a tourist because I've always traveled as a professional golfer, and we all know that's just from airport to hotel to golf course and back, and you see you're a little bit in between and you get to experience a little bit of the culture, but really sightseeing, I've never done a whole lot of that, and I I would love to. There's so many beautiful spots uh on this planet, and I would love to go and see some of them in person.

Mike Gonzalez 34:23

Well, Bernard, uh you may know, but we always like to wrap up with three final questions, and I always give the T to my senior partner.

Bruce Devlin 34:37

So, Bernard, I look at I look at a fabulous career and all the experience that you had. Reminds me of a question. If you knew what you know now when you first started on the tour, what would you have done differently?

SPEAKER_00 34:54

Yeah, probably a couple of things. I would have uh for one not uh play when I was injured, when I probably did more harm than good, uh as much as I did. Uh secondly, maybe I would practice a little bit less, because I used to hit balls when I was playing badly or not as good as I wanted to, and when I played great, I would go and hit balls thinking, well I'm gonna just screw my swing now that I found it. And I'm not sure that's the best way of uh treating your body. Um so those two things I would probably do a little bit different. Uh certainly maybe I might play a little bit less. I I used to play around the world, travel all over the place to all ends of the world, and you know, over 30 weeks a year with a lot of time changes, and that probably took a bit of a toll as well. So those three areas uh I would probably have a close look at, otherwise, I wouldn't change a great deal.

Mike Gonzalez 36:04

Alright, so the second question, Bernard, and I'm not sure I know the answer to this after all the time we've spent together. I'm not sure I I I would hazard a guess, but we're gonna give you one career mulligan. Where do you take it?

SPEAKER_00 36:19

Yeah, I need more than one, but uh here we go. It would be the 1985 uh open championship at uh down south. I forgot the venue now. Uh I had just won the Masters in April and we played in '85 the open championship. I'm co-leader with David Graham. I missed a three-foot putt on the first screen for par and it kind of shook me up. And then uh I finished whatever it was second to Sandy Lyle. Uh had a had it chip it in on the last hole, which didn't happen. But I think if I had made that three-foot putt, I would have w went on to win the tournament.

Mike Gonzalez 37:11

That was in Sandwich at Royal St. George's, and you probably could have taken Billy Rogers down in 1981 as well.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

No, I think uh I wasn't quite ready in 1981, and and Bill Rogers was playing extremely well, and I I lost by five strokes to him. I was still very, very young, and uh, you know, one of my maybe the first time in contention at a major tournament. Uh, but 85 it was different. You know, I had I had been in contention several times. I was in contention 81, as you said, 84 at San Andrews in the Open Championship, then won the 85 Masters, finished uh fourth in the US Open in 84, I think. So, anyways, in 85 I was a different player, uh uh much better prepared, and and uh that was maybe the one I let slip away.

Mike Gonzalez 38:08

Yeah, that's a good one.

Bruce Devlin 38:09

Alright, Bruce. Tell us how would you like to be remembered?

SPEAKER_00 38:18

Well, that's I I gotta be short on this one. So I I would say as uh as a more so as a man than a great golfer. I'd I'd hope for people to remember me as a man of faith who uh you know touched a lot of people's lives uh by being generous, by spreading the good news of uh our Savior Jesus Christ. And uh family manners, you know, who loved others, cared about them, and then obviously the golf would be next in that order.

Bruce Devlin 38:56

Well, we thank you for your time, Bernhardt. It's been fabulous to listen to your story from when you were a little boy growing up in Germany, and uh a lot of people are gonna get a wonderful listen to your life story. It's been fabulous. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

Thanks, Bruce. Thanks, Michael. Appreciate you having me on.

Mike Gonzalez 39:15

Yep, it's been uh fabulous adding your story to all the golf greats on For the Good of the Game. We really appreciate how generous you've been with your time, Bernard.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

My pleasure. Thank you both as well.

Mike Gonzalez 39:26

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 39:50

It went smack down the fairway. When it started to slice, just smit offline. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My cadets, as long as you're still in the stage, you're okay.