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David_Tepper

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Jack Fleck, R.I.P.
« on: March 21, 2014, 11:16:47 PM »
Jack Fleck, 1955 US Open winner and a true "Cinderella story," has passed at 92.

http://www.sfgate.com/sports/kroichick/article/Jack-Fleck-course-pro-who-beat-Ben-Hogan-in-5339334.php

noonan

Re: Jack Fleck, R.I.P.
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2014, 11:43:06 PM »
RIP!

Jon Wiggett

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Re: Jack Fleck, R.I.P.
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2014, 05:22:55 AM »
A sad loss. One of the truly great golfing stories.

Jon

Gib_Papazian

Re: Jack Fleck, R.I.P.
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2014, 06:59:31 AM »
Jack made a trip to play Olympic in 1987 and still had an incredibly graceful golf swing. After meeting him, it occurred to me what a humble gentleman he was - almost as if somebody forgot to tell him he's THE Jack Fleck. The fact that he caught Hogan with two late birdies on Sunday is really not a difficult feat at all - every single digit handicap member has played the last four holes in two under numerous times.

The thing that strikes me as incredible is the idea of going to sleep, knowing The Hawk will be waiting on the first tee for you the next morning for all the marbles - with every single person in America expecting the driving range pro from some Iowa cornfield to shoot 80 and slink off to obscurity.

There is something about our golf course that crushes legends. Arnie was never the same after the 1966 Open, the 1987 Open put a nail in Watson's coffin and how Lee Janzen weaseled by Payne Stewart on cruise control in 1998 is still a mystery.

The strangest of all is Nate Crosby winning the 1981 Amateur. We played high school golf together (his caddy and another teammate is a local pro) at Burlingame and though he was a good player at the local level, knocking off all those nationally ranked gunners one after another seems impossible even today.  

    
« Last Edit: March 24, 2014, 07:01:45 AM by Gib Papazian »

cary lichtenstein

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Re: Jack Fleck, R.I.P.
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2014, 11:32:05 AM »
Jack Fleck was our club pro for  many years at Green Acres CC in  Chicago area. Truly a beautiful, graceful, flowing swing.  He was never really comfortable in that role at our club. The membership felt a distance from him, either a shyness or aloof, no one could really tell.,  most thought he just took the job for the money but really his heart was  somewhere else.
Live Jupiter, Fl, was  4 handicap, played top 100 US, top 75 World. Great memories, no longer play, 4 back surgeries. I don't miss a lot of things about golf, life is simpler with out it. I miss my 60 degree wedge shots, don't miss nasty weather, icing, back spasms. Last course I played was Augusta

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