REBORN
By Bernhard Langer

I was 18 years old when I played in my first tournament on the European Tour. That's where I first developed the "yips." This is a jerky, uncontrolled putting stroke that sends scores soaring. All of my career I've struggled to control the yips.

At one point I was yipping so badly that I four-putted from three feet and actually hit the ball twice. Those were extremely difficult times. I often thought about quitting, but the breakthrough came in 1979.

At the age of 22, I won the World Under-25 Championship by a record 17 strokes, making every putt I looked at.

Two years later in 1981, I led the money list in Europe. No one could have ever thought a golfer from Germany could do that.

My best year ever came in 1985—my first year as a member of the U.S. Tour. Not only did I win the Masters—the biggest event of my career—I also won the Heritage Classic in Hilton Head, the Australian Masters, the Casio World Open in Japan, the Sun City Million Dollar event, and two events in Europe. I won seven tournaments on five different continents and was ranked number one in the world. I had a beautiful wife and had achieved everything I could ever have dreamed of.

But something was missing.

My priorities were golf, golf, and more golf, then myself, and finally a little time with my wife. Every now and then, I prayed. I went to church. But if my golf game was not good, my whole life was miserable, and I made everyone around me miserable.

The week after I won the Masters, I was invited by my friend and fellow touring pro, Bobby Clampett, to come to the PGA Tour Bible study on Wednesday evening.

That night was the first time in my life that I heard I needed to be "reborn." It didn't make any sense to me. Surely, at the age of 28, I could not be born again. So at the end of the study, I asked the teacher, Larry Moody, what he meant by "reborn."

He opened the Bible and showed me John 3:3, which reads: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

I thought I was a "pretty good Christian," but I'd never heard this before. Larry went on to explain what it meant in practical terms. I was amazed to realize that the only way to have eternal life is through Jesus Christ—that He died for our sins. And that it is not through our deeds or good behavior that one receives eternal life, because we can never live up to God's standard. We will always fall short.

After understanding that God loved me so much that He sent His only Son to die for my sins, it was natural for me to ask the Lord into my life.

Since then, I've seen tremendous changes in my life, my marriage, and my whole outlook. My priorities have changed. They're now where they should be: God first, family second, and then my career. I believe when your priorities are in the right place everything is managed better.

Everyday we have to make many decisions, but the most important decision we'll ever make is who we believe Jesus is. We either accept Him or reject Him. Jesus Himself said, "You are either for Me or against Me."

There's no in-between.

This story originally appeared as a scorecard tract.
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