Thirty years ago, Bernhard Langer's Masters win helped launch Scotty Cameron's success

Maybe nobody realized it at the time, but Bernhard Langer's second Masters triumph 30 years ago changed golf forever.

In 1993, the German already had a green jacket in his closet — winning the Masters in 1985 — and had played in every Ryder Cup since 1981. Putting, though, repeatedly plagued his career.

Langer has battled the putting yips four times. The first was early in his career while playing with a conventual grip. Langer once recalled how during the 1976 Hennessy Cup match, opponents, out of courtesy or sympathy, would concede putts inside a foot, because they knew he'd miss.

Through "sheer willpower," Langer alleviated his yips for the first time. In the 1980s he was using a conventional grip for longer putts, but gripped his flatstick left-hand low for short ones. He led the European Tour's putting statistics in 1984 and won the '85 Masters.

But the putting woes returned a few years later, again prompting a change.

"In 1989, I adopted a new grip where I would hold the putter against my left forearm and drop my shoulders to take the wrists out of play," Langer recently told GolfChannel.com via phone.

Therefore, his right hand would not be able to take over during the stroke and his left wrist couldn't break down because the shaft was held tight against his left forearm.

Though with that grip he missed one of the most famous putts in history — a 6-footer at the 1991 Ryder Cup that gave Team USA the win — it served Langer well two years later in notching his second major victory.

On Augusta National's ice-slick putting surfaces, Langer had 109 putts in a four-stroke win — and he did it with a putter that was the first of its kind.

***

Scotty Cameron wasn't always a household name.

Cameron took a peculiar interest in tinkering with clubs during his youth. In 1986, he was hired as a putter designer by Ray Cook, a top putter maker at the time. In the years that followed, he drew up putter blueprints for brands such as Maxfli, Cleveland and Mizuno.

However, in 1992, Cameron and his wife, Kathy, started Cameron Golf International (CGI). For the next year, he and Kathy traveled to PGA Tour events, trying to convince players to use their putters.

And Langer took the leap of faith.

"Somewhere along the line before the ('93) Masters, I ran into Scotty Cameron and asked him if he would make me a putter," Langer said. "One of his putters had the grip that had to be legal, it had to be a certain way and he agreed and when it was handed to me it looked really good and felt good and I put it into practice and then into play and I was very happy with it."

The putter was a pre-Titleist Classic I in black oxide finish with the initials "B.L." etched on the face's toe. Langer had been using a Ping Anser, which the Classic I resembled. Cameron, however, added loft and extended the grip.

Even though that model was a catalyst for Scotty Cameron putters to become world-renowned, Mizuno was given credit for the '93 Masters win — not CGI — as Cameron was still a Mizuno consultant.

Cameron received a lot of recognition for the putter, but he didn't want Mizuno to continue being credited on the Darrell Survey, which tracked manufacturers' clubs being used at each Tour event. So at the 1994 Tournament of Champions, Cameron crossed out the Mizuno stamp on the putter's face with five Xs.

Later that year at The Players Championship, Peter Kostis, a well-known teaching pro, introduced Cameron to Wally Uihlein, the CEO of the Acushnet Company/Titleist. Cameron would sign a 10-year contract with Titleist — and the rest is history.

"Wally saw something back then in a kid with some drive, some talent I guess, and he rolled the dice. He took a risk on a passionate young putter builder," Cameron said in 2020. "From that first meeting and after I signed my contract to join Titleist, I told myself to never let this guy down."

Now, more than 45 major championships have been won by someone using a Scotty Cameron, according to the Cameron website, most famously Tiger Woods. The 15-time major champion used a Newport TeI3 in his 1997 Masters win and has had a Newport 2 GSS in his bag for his other 14 major triumphs.

"You can find other putters," Woods told ESPN in 2017. "You might put it on the side, or in the penalty box for a little bit. But for some reason, (the Newport 2) just keeps coming back."

Recreationally, a Golfer's Choice Survey in 2022 revealed that the majority of +5 to 15 handicaps overwhelmingly use a Scotty Cameron putter.

"[Cameron] told me personally it was a big help," Langer said, "that his putter won the Masters and put him on the map and he went to success to success, probably starting with that win."

***

In 2021, Langer's '93 Masters putter went up for auction.

It sold for $60,000.

"Nowadays, certain people collect certain items and some things are worth more than others," Langer said, "but it's only worth what somebody's willing to pay for it, obviously, that person wanted it real bad."

GolfChannel.com was able to reach the person who purchased the putter, however, they declined to comment for this story.

In 2016, Woods said that his son, Charlie, can touch any one of his father's flatsticks, but the two Scotty Camerons that the Big Cat used in all of his major wins were strictly "off limits."

Unlike Woods, though, Langer felt his putter, which Golden Age Auctions labeled as the "holy grail" of Scotty Cameron putters, was better off in someone else's possession.

"I can't even remember where the ('93 Masters) putter went," Langer said. "I thought I had given it away for charity to raise some money and it ends up in different hands eventually, but that's out of my control."

However, every time Langer held his pre-Titlest Scotty Cameron on the greens of Augusta National 30 years ago with his modified crosshanded grip, he was forever changing golf.

"Hundreds of thousands of victories have been achieved with Scotty Cameron putters since," Langer said.