4 Special Ones

[Glenn Spencer]

There have been a lot of special professional tournament that have been played for one reason or another. The collision of careers, the celebration of events of the past, the golf course and the architecture. What are some of the best amateur tournaments that have been played at special places. Maybe they lengthened the course or Tiger at Pumpkin history or whatever, your favorite won the tournament and so on. What are the 4 tournaments in history that you would like to have been a part of, but only as an amateur?

My four

1. 1985 Walker Cup at Pine Valley

2. 1981 Walker Cup at Cypress Point

3. 1930 US Amateur at Merion

4. 1981 US Amateur at The Olympic Club

[Bill_McBride]

1. 1922 Walker Cup at the National Golf Links.  Bernard Darwin came to report the event and wound up playing as a sub, and winning his match!

2.  1960 US Open at Cherry Hills, playing the part of Jack Nicklaus!  He almost won the tournament as an amateur, a great confluence of Hogan's twilight years, Nicklaus' youth, and Palmer's mature and robust victory.  What a tournament!

3. 1913 US Open at Brookline, who needs say more?

4.  1900 (?) US Open at Newport, edging that nasty bugger CB MacDonald in sudden death!  The accounts of his comportment in tournament play make Monty look like Sister Theresa of the Links!

[Glenn Spencer]

Bill,

How about playing the part of Venturi at the 1956 Masters? Those are some nice picks you made. Is CB Macdonald the Ty Cobb of golf, if so I might have to amend my picks. That is interesting stuff about Darwin.

[JESII]

1958 World Amateur Team Champioship

Would have trumped the rest for me.

[Brad Klein]

Bill, it was 1895 at Newport, so you'll have to set your time machine even further back.

I'd like to have been there 1913, too, but playing/spectating  in a torrential rain is no fun.

Don't quite know about the "as an amateur" part, but here goes anyway:

1960 U.S. Open would have been special.

1986 Masters, for obvious reasons.

I982 U.S. Open was thrilling (and I was there when Watson chipped in, so that was one I got to see.)

1977 British Open with Watson and Nicklaus going nuts

[Glenn Spencer]

'As an amateur part,' I didn 't want it to turn into the greatest 4 tournaments of all time or something like that. Maybe one non-PGA major would be OK, I guess.

JES,

Can you fill the uniformed in about 1958, I don't know that one.

Nobody has any interest in spending August 1981 in the Bay Area and enjoying the Walker Cup at Cypress Point followed up by the Amateur at Olympic? That sounds unbeatable to me.

[Bill_McBride]

Has there been a book about the 1960 US Open?  I imagine Herb Wind did a great piece.  There is just something so intriguing about that tournament, 36 holes on Saturday. Hogan on those dead legs, Nicklaus pitches into the creek on 17, Palmer drives the first and birdies five of six after Bob Drum tells him even with a 65 he's still dead..and shoots 65 to win.....yes, I would love to have been there.  I'll have to check out Wind tonight to see if he did write a story.  Anybody aware of a book about the tournament?

[Dan Kelly]

Anybody aware of a book about the tournament?

Yes. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1556114893/sr=8-1/qid=1151363102/ref=sr_1_1/002-6287269-1348834?ie=UTF8

I have it -- but haven't read it.

[wsmorrison]

Some of Palmer's thoughts on Cherry Hills and the 1960 US Open from my interview of him for the Flynn book:


"Cherry Hills generally is a great golf course and an excellently-designed golf course.  Some of the features on the back nine are particularly outstanding.  I won’t get into all the holes, but I can tell you that the 17th and 18th holes are two of the greatest finishing holes that I have seen in golf."


"My greatest memories of the 1960 Open have been well-documented.  They all revolve around that final round, starting with my annoying luncheon conversation that Saturday between rounds that prodded me toward the 65 that won the tournament.  That was when my golf writer friend Bob Drum belittled my chances of doing so.  After trying and failing all week, I went out and drove the first green.  That touched off the birdies – six on the first seven holes – that put me in position to win when all the other players ahead of me fell back during those last 18 holes."


"The golf course suited my game.  I can recall in the Open that I felt that I played a lot better than the results I got going into the final round.  My putting was the thing that was most disappointing.  So, overall, the golf course suited me very much."


"I just did my best to steer clear of the hazards.  At 17, I played my second shots back so that I had a full wedge into the green.  That was one of the things that helped me most."