[Bob_Huntley]

Bill Moore, a stand-out local player, played Cypress earlier in the week. He birdied #1, he two putted for a birdie on #2, he holed out for a one at #3, he parred #4, he two putted for a birdie on #5, he one putted for an eagle on #6, he birdied #8. He had an eight under 29 on the front. This from the back markers.

On the back the wind was blowing harder than "a gentle zephyr.' He parred #10, birdied #11, bogeyed #12, parred 13 and 14. Took a nine iron at #15, like Lou Duran, flew the green and double-bogeyed. At sixteen, with the wind howling, one of his fellow competitors, Chuck Weil, well known in California golfing circles, laid up with a driver. Moore hit a four iron into the right bunker, up and down for par. With the wind behind, he hit a big drive, it tailed into the ocean. His second drive was just short of the green but resulted in a double
bogey.

He finished 29-40 for a 69 in conditions far from benign. The caddies were awe struck.

[A_Clay_Man]

Delicious.

[TEPaul]

I don't know that I'd call that a massacre---more like the first set to Moore 6 love, second set to CPC 6-3 and the tie breaker goes to CPC. That kind of round sounds like some of the Canadian players I know who were capable of shooting a great nine but could never really focus enough or something like that (they were always trying to hit it too hard) to bring it to the house!

[Kevin_Reilly]

Fun to read about a round like that.

I just finished reading Johnny Miller's new book, which includes a chapter on his 10 favorite courses.  CPC is #9.  He talks about many of the holes, and here is what he says about the oft-maligned 18th:

The 18th hole is indicative of what Cypress is all about.  A challenging little par 4, in calm weather I usually hit a 2-iron off the tee followed by an 8-iron approach.  During the 1974 Bing Crosby, the wind came up and I hit driver off the tee, followed by a full 3-wood, followed by a full 5-iron.  Imagine that!  The weather dictates how hard Cypress plays, and it can be a kitten or a dragon.

Bob/Adam/others...have you ever seen 18 play that way?

[Mike Benham]

... 29-40 for a 69 ...
 

Who massacred who?  Or is it whom?

Mr. Moore can play a little ...

[Bob_Huntley]

Mike,

I did say 'On the front."

Kevin,

I have never seen No.18 play that way, in fact I don't remember the wind blowing in that direction to force three shots such as he described.

TEP,

Moore has one of the most langurous backswings you could imagine and, in his defense, I must admit it was blowing a bit.

[TEPaul]

Bob:

Do you remember how langurous the backswing of Sigel was? He's speeded it up a little since turning pro but not by much. The rest of us used to have the ball airborn in the same amount of time it took Sigel to finish his backswing! And it seemed if he really wanted to hit it hard he'd take more time on the backswing. It sometimes seemed like a catapult going click, click, click. When he wanted more distance it seemed like he just added a few clicks.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Kevin,

I have never seen No.18 play that way, in fact I don't remember the wind blowing in that direction to force three shots such as he described.

I guess you have to take what he says with a grain of salt sometimes.  Earlier in the book he comments on his play against Jack Nicklaus in the Shell's match at Olympic (where he shot 81 compared to Nicklaus's 70 or 71):

From tee to green I outplayed Jack...

I know Tom Huckaby was there that day and maybe can back me up...there is no way that Miller outplayed Jack in any facet of the game that day.

Sorry for the thread diversion.  

[Michael Dugger]

This story reminds me of the one told by Lewis Lapham (I think it was him?) from the back section of Dr. Mackenzie's little green Golf Architecture book.

If you recall, Lapham was a big hitter for the time and was used by Mackenzie to test some of the longer carries during the final stages of construction.

I swear he wrote that he played a match at Cypress where some fella played the last four holes in something ridiculous like 8 or 9 strokes.  

If someone has the book handy (I do not) you can get the exact details.  Imagine that finish to Bill Moore's start???  I think Lapham said he'd eat his hat if anyone ever repeated this feat.

[Michael Dugger]

Speaking of great rounds at Cypress.  Has anyone ever heard the story Ken Venturi tells about playing an 18 hole team match with Hogan, someone I can't recall and I think Byron Nelson.  I can't remember where I read it right this second but it is a great story.  

I recall Venturi said he shot 65, but Hogan 63.  

It is an epic tale.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Harvie Ward was the 4th.

Greatest match ever

[Mike Benham]

Mike,

I did say 'On the front."

Yes, my lack of comprehensive reading ... but the Course did get even on the back ...

And I would note that I would frame that scorecard over my bar even if I was as an accomplished golfer ...

[Rick Shefchik]

Hogan holed a 10-footer for birdie on the final hole to win the match for the Hogan-Nelson team over Venturi-Ward. Venturi says Hogan told him, "I'm not about to lose to a couple of damn amateurs." Then he winked -- again, according to Venturi.

This event almost sounds like something out of Venturi's imgination, but Dodson reports the same story in "Ben Hogan." Of course, he probably got it from Venturi. Ward and Nelson have been silent on the subject, as far as I know.

[Carlyle Rood]

Would 29 be a course record on the front?  Are you allowed to talk to someone shooting 29, or do you treat it like a perfect game in baseball?

Carlyle

[A_Clay_Man]

Bob/Adam/others...have you ever seen 18 play that way?

KR,
While I wish I could boast about my many times seeing the old girl, I have only been honored once.  

But I can speculate about an east or southeast wind but I don't have to speculate on a nor east wind.

The east wind is rare, the southeast rarer, and I can only imagine it whipping down the hill. It would be like hitting up hill, in a wind tunnel, with the wind's direction having a downward vector. I could see these guys having that rare day where it happened the way reported. Not on a day with just your average Santa Ana's, which come from the nor east, like the day we had.

As I know it, the 18th hole and the first go in the same direction. That direction, is the on the exact line of sunrise, on January 6th. S.E.

[Bill_McBride]

From my single experience at CP, I can testify that the 3 wood and 5 iron at #18 may well have been chips out of the trees with the appropriate club!

My question would not be about #18 but how does anybody birdie #11?  A 3 on #11 is an eagle in my book..............of course we played it into Mr. Huntley's "gentle zephyr."

[Tyler Kearns]

Carlyle,

When I was at Pasatiempo, an old gentlemen and I got into a conversation about golf design & Alister Mackenzie. Anyways, he told me that the head pro at Pasa (Shawn McEntee)toured the front at Cypress in a cool 29, ending his match against a fellow PGA Pro on the fourteenth. So, to answer your question, at best it tied a front nine course record. Apparently McEntee has a habit of low numbers, posting a course record 62 at Pasatiempo.

I have never heard of the Hogan match, and his 63 is lower than the published course record (64-Craig Stadler)? Perhaps Stadler's number is the lowest score in competition over the Cypress Point layout.

Tyler Kearns

[Bob_Huntley]

I was a dinner guest of Eddie Lowery's widow, Mary Margaret, at her town house in Pebble Beach during the playing of the 1992 Open. Eddie and Byron Nelson were the best of friends and had won the Crosby Pro-Am many years prior.

I sat next to the great man and shared some wonderful stories about his life in golf. What struck me most was his uncanny ability to remember individual shots from tournaments played sixty years ago.

The match at Cypress came up and he assured me it was at the urging of Lowery. Both Venturi and Ward were on his payroll at his Lincoln dealership in San Francisco and he bet Nelson that his boys could beat him and any player of his choice. Nelson was not a betting man but said "Fine, I'll take Hogan." The score mentioned was correct.

In addition to the 29's shot on the front nine, I should add that John Lotz in one Crosby went a couple better after the 10th. He had a 29 on the front and promptly eagled the tenth to go ten under. Unhappily he shot 41 on the back.

There is a story of some outstanding scoring on 7-8-9 in something like six or seven strokes.... I'll dig it up and come back to it.

[Marty Bonnar]

I swear he wrote that he played a match at Cypress where some fella played the last four holes in something ridiculous like 8 or 9 strokes.  

If someone has the book handy (I do not) you can get the exact details.  Imagine that finish to Bill Moore's start???  I think Lapham said he'd eat his hat if anyone ever repeated this feat.

mdugger et al,
here's the quote from Lewis Lapham..

"And three or four years ago, playing behind Howard Clark, a former president of the US Seniors, I watched him play the last four holes in ten shots. I don't know whether Armour's 29 has been equalled, though, given the quality of today's leading players, I would not fall out of my chair if someone has done so. But if anyone else knocks in his tee shot at number 9 or finishes 2-2-4-2, I will eat the chair."

The 'Little Green Book' is worth buying for LL's contribution alone!

FBD.

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