Bernhard Langer's post-50 career not bad either

IF BERNHARD LANGER wins every senior major from now until he's ready to retire, he should still be remembered more for the two Masters he won eight years apart back when senior golf was just getting started. Even if he did wear that hard-to-explain, all-red outfit when he won the first one.

"It was just like a Christmas tree, right?" he recalled.

Those bookend moments were sandwiched, of course, around the delicate, 6-foot putt he couldn't get to fall that would have won the 1991 Ryder Cup for Europe, a putt that Seve Ballesteros later insisted nobody, not even him, could have made given the circumstances.

Forgotten over time is the fact that Langer won his next start, the German Masters, in a playoff. Which might tell you even more about the man. Or the fact that three decades ago, one year after he put on his first green jacket, he was the first No. 1 player in the world rankings. Hey, it might come up in Trivial Pursuit someday.

Anyway, now he's the best 58-year-old golfer in the universe. There must be something to be said for that. Two months ago he was in contention after three rounds at Augusta National, 23 years after his last victory there. He won cq times on the European Tour. He's now won 28 times on what's become known as the PGA Tour Champions. Whatever. Senior golf is still senior golf.

But he has seven post-50 majors, having won his third straight Constellation Senior Players Championship - which nobody's done before - on a windy Sunday afternoon at Flourtown's Philadelphia Cricket Club. Two have come in the last three weeks, five in the last 24 months. One more and he ties Jack Nicklaus for most ever, not that anybody was ever counting his or adding them to the record 18 he piled up before he became eligible to apply for an AARP card.

So in the overall, what does this second life mean or add to Langer's standing in his profession? I mean, does Hale Irwin's record 45 post-50 wins enhance his three U.S. Opens titles? FYI: Irwin was the guy playing Langer in that decisive match in '91 at Kiawah Island.

Maybe the perspective doesn't really matter. We should probably just accept it and appreciate it for what it is, which is seriously good stuff. Historical stuff, only on another stage.

There was a point in his journey when Langer finally found his true inner calling, one week after his first Masters triumph.

"I was in a Bible study at the tournament (in Hilton Head, S.C.) and someone said we needed to be spiritually born again," Langer, who grew up Catholic in Germany, where he attended church daily and served as an alter boy for 10 years, once recounted.

Since then he's given his life to God. When he won his second Masters, on Easter Sunday, he publicly thanked the Lord for allowing him to be at that place.

That might make some if not many at least a bit uncomfortable. But if you watch him do his thing, he looks like the most in-control person out there. Even when the going gets, well, tight. Like when he had to make a 12-foot par putt on the closing hole - which almost missed on the right edge, and was the only thing he made all day - to avoid a three-way playoff. Serenity now. Did we mention he had three bogeys and no birdies in his final round? Nonetheless, the trophy remains in his possession. What else counts? Well, for him just about everything.

"I think (my religious beliefs) factor into it a great deal," Langer acknowledged. "I did what I call my quiet time this morning, where I read the Bible, and I wrote a couple of verses down and put them in my pocket. And when I felt a little stressed out there today, I pulled it out and read a couple of verses and it calms me down and makes me refocus.

"I get tense like everybody does when things don't go well. I read Proverbs and it says I will trust in the Lord with all my heart . . . It gives me peace. Even though it's great to win, life goes on. That has helped me."

He and his wife Vikki have four children. Two sons were with him this week, which doesn't happen that much anymore. That didn't hurt his outlook, either.

"It's very, very special to have them out," he smiled. "Because they all have their own life, they don't want to walk around and watch dad for six days in a row most of the time. It was nice to share some time together. We had a great time watching the USA soccer team (Saturday) night pull off a victory (over Paraguay in South Philly). That was something different. And something we don't get to do every week. Overall, it was . . . phenomenal."

He's in a good place these days, too. Just on another level. Nothing wrong with that.

He still looks almost as fit, even if he is using hybrids where he used to hit long irons.

He's finished in the top 10 in eight of his nine 2016 starts. With three firsts. He turns 59 in late August. So who knows what's left to accomplish.

"It's difficult to compare anything," Langer said. "I mean, I knew I was one of the leading players when I played the European Tour. Never played the PGA Tour full time, really. I played five years when I was in my prime, but never played more than (the minimum) 15 events. Always went back to play in Europe and some other places. At times I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't committed myself (to his home continent). But I did. At the time I felt I wanted to support the European Tour. I was a player who traveled all over the world and enjoyed seeing different places. I made that decision, so I can live with that.

"But I'd like to say I've played some of my best golf the last 10 years out here. I was 49 when I lost in a playoff (at Colonial). That was about three months before I turned 50. Just looking back, I've had a very successful and long career. And I'm very blessed to still be playing at this level at (my) age."

In his case, maybe the numbers are all relative.

@mikekerndn