Christian golfer Bernhard Langer retires

Christian golfer Bernhard Langer has retired from playing on the DP World Tour aged 66. The German made his debut on the tour in 1974 and played in his last DP World Tour event at the BMW International Open in Munich, where he also played professionally for the first time.

Langer played in over 500 events during a 50-year career which featured two wins at The Masters, appearances as a player and captain at the Ryder Cup, and 42 tournament wins on the DP World Tour. He became known as one of European golf’s ‘big five’ alongside greats such as Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Sandy Lyle during the 1980s and 1990s.

Langer recently spoke in an interview about how his two major wins at The Masters were crucial in his journey to faith. He said that after his first win at Augusta in 1985, he ‘had an emptiness in my head like never before in my life. I had won the Masters, was world number 1 shortly afterwards, and then this emptiness’.

Nicodemus

Following his victory, he attended a Bible study for the first time, and heard about Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus from John’s Gospel. He said that hearing Jesus tell Nicodemus he had to be ‘born again’, ‘felt like I had been taken by the hand. It was an instruction for life.’

However, his second Masters win in 1993 was what really cemented his faith in God. He said: ‘It was on Easter Sunday, and anyone who is a Christian knows that Christ has risen. I was very grateful.’