|
Langer rallies to win Masters
German ace's torrid back 9 crowns his first major title
By David Barrett
Sports Writer
Augusta, Ga., Monday, April 15, 1985 -- In the end, this strange Masters belonged to Bernhard Langer.
Curtis Strange was poised to complete one of the greatest comebacks in the history of golf when he headed to the back nine at the Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday, but when he finished the 18th hole of the final round he could only talk of what might have been.
The man wearing the green coat and talking about his improbable rally to victory was talking with a German, not a Southern, accent.
Langer, the only world-class golfer to come from Germany, won his first major championship and first tournament in the United States by shooting a three-under-par 33 on the back nine while Strange was stumbling to a 39. The 27-year-old native of Augsburg, West Germany, fired his second consecutive four-under-par 68 to finish four rounds with a six-under-par 282 total.
Strange, with a 71, finished tied for second at 284 with third-round leader Raymond Floyd (72) and two-time Masters champion Seve Ballesteros.
``It would have been a great story, wouldn't it?'' asked a disappointed Strange, who could have become the first Masters champion to win after an opening-round 80. ``It would have been something. I was ready for it, but I don't know if Augusta National was.''
Virginia native Strange, who had followed his 80 with rounds of 65 and 68 to enter the final round one shot out of the lead, looked like a man of destiny when he toured front nine in four-under-par 32 and took a four-shot lead with nine holes to play.
Those nine holes were no ordinary nine, though. They were the last nine at the Masters, a treacherous piece of real estate that has ruined the hopes of many a would-be Masters champion.
``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,'' said Langer.
``When you play in a major, the pressure seems to be a lot bigger than any other tournament. Curtis has never won a major and I hadn't won one either, so I know how he was feeling.''
The tournament was won by Langer and lost by Strange at the 13th and 15th holes, both par-fives that are guarded by water but can be reached in two. Strange found the water on both and made a pair of bogeys. Langer cleared the water with his second shots for a couple of easy birdies.
Strange, who has won twice on the PGA Tour this year, said he had no thoughts of laying up on either 13 or 15.
``It never entered my mind because the shots were so short,'' he said. ``I had 208 yards to the green on 13 and it wasn't a difficult shot with a four-wood. I just hit a bad shot.''
That shot went to the right and ended up in Rae's Creek, resting in about an inch of water. He elected to hit it out instead of taking a penalty stroke, but his shot didn't clear the bank and rolled back down into some grass at the bottom of the ditch. He pitched to eight feet and missed the putt.
``The 13th was not my downfall,'' said Strange. ``Fifteen was the hole I didn't understand. I hit a four-iron perfect. If I were to go out there again and hit the same club, I would hope to hit it as well.
``I guess I just misjudged the shot. Maybe I should have hit a three-iron. I guess the wind just wasn't blowing hard enough for me.''
The four-iron went into the pond in front of the green, setting up another bogey.
Langer, a long hitter despite his small (5-foot-9, 155 pounds) stature, boomed his drives out to where he had only five-irons left to the 13th and 15th. He two-putted for birdies on both.
His performance on those two holes was almost routine. Langer finished the tournament with three birdies and an eagle on the 13th and four birdies on the 15th.
That helped him cover the back nine in eight under during the tournament, including a 32 in the third round and the 33 in the fourth.
``I think I won the tournament on the back nine,'' said Langer.
He took control of the tournament away from Strange with four birdies in a six-hole stretch on Sunday, starting at the dangerous 155-yard par-three 12th.
Langer, trailing by three at the time, hit an eight-iron to 13 feet and made the putt for birdie on No. 12.
``I was happy just to see the ball land on the green,'' he said. ``To walk away with a birdie was great. That's when I thought I really had a chance to be at the top.''
Langer narrowly missed an eagle on the 13th, then two-putted the 14th for a par.
``When I walked off the 14th, people were shouting at me that I was just one behind. I knew I was in there very close.''
Strange's bogey on the 13th had brought Langer within one. Langer, playing a group ahead, gained a tie when he birdied the 15th and went ahead when Strange bogeyed the same hole minutes later.
There still was work to be done. Langer's tee shot on the par-three 16th went over the green and he faced a delicate putt that covered six feet of fringe and a downhill slope to the hole. He knocked it within inches for a tap-in par, then gave himself some insurance by rapping in a 14-foot birdie putt on the par-four 17th.
Playing partner Ballesteros congratulated Langer as they walked to the 18th tee, but Langer couldn't breathe easy for another 30 minutes.
Langer bogeyed the 18th, hitting a four-iron into a bunker and missing a five-foot putt.
Strange, now one shot behind, saved par with a nice chip on the 17 and could have forced a playoff with a birdie on the 18th. But his four-iron approach was short of the green, leaving a very difficult chip from about 45 feet.
Strange eventually missed a 12-foot putt for par and the bogey dropped him into a second-place tie with Ballesteros and Floyd.
Langers's prospects of winning didn't seem much better early Saturday afternoon than Strange's had after the first round. After six holes of the third round, Langer was four over par for the tournament. He proceeded to play his last 24 holes in 10 under par.
``It really turned around yesterday,'' said Langer. ``I was talking with my teacher (German pro Willi Hoffman) and he said my technique was good, I just needed better rhythm.
``The last two days, I was just trying to get my arm speed and leg speed together.''
Langer got off to a bad start Sunday when he dumped a wedge shot into a bunker on the par-five second and bladed his next shot well past the hole to make a bogey.
It was only a temporary setback. He birdied the par-four third from 14 feet and the par-four fifth from 18 feet, while missing several other birdie chances during a 35 on the front nine.
But at the same time, Strange was threatening to leave everyone else far behind.
``If Curtis had played as well on the back nine as he did on the front, he would have run away with the tournament,'' said Langer. ``But that's just the game. You don't know what is going to happen next.
``I enjoyed playing with Seve Ballesteros today because he concentrates better that anybody. I've learned a lot from playing with him in the past. ``I handled myself well today. I just tried to do my best, and then see if it was good enough. That's all you can do.''
Strange played marvelous golf on the front nine, hitting every green in regulation. He birdied the second, fourth, seventh and eighth on putts of four, 20, six and four feet, and also made three nice two-putts from long range while making no bogeys.
``I wasn't thinking about my lead. I did expect somebody to come out of the pack and birdie three or four holes on the back nine,'' said Strange. ``I'm disappointed, especially because I don't feel like I hit many bad shots on the back nine.''
Strange's problems started with a three-putt bogey from 40 feet on the 10th hole, his first bogey in 26 holes. He did get the stroke back with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 12, but that was his last birdie of the day. Floyd, who had the lead at four under going into the last round, dropped back when he hit only three greens on the front nine and shot a 38. He didn't get back into the picture until he holed a 30-foot putt for an eagle on the 15th, but he parred in from there instead of getting the two birdies he would have needed.
Ballesteros came very close to adding to his Masters titles of 1980 and 1983, but could only coax two birdies (No. 2 and 15) out of a large number of chances. He had no bogeys in his round of 70, which included a missed four-footer for birdie on the 13th and a bunker shot on the second that nearly went in the hole for an eagle.
``I tried very hard, but nothing was right for me today,'' said Ballesteros.
Jay Haas closed with a 67 to claim fifth place at 285. Jack Nicklaus shot a 69 and was at 286 along with Gary Hallberg and Bruce Lietzke. Nicklaus missed some birdie putts that could have made him a threat, while first-round leader Hallberg pulled within two shots of the lead before making a double bogey at the 12th.
Neither Tom Watson nor Lee Trevino could mount a charge, both shooting 72s to finish at 287.
| 
