The Nightmare Round | The Historic Round ⛳
Thursday, June 17, 2021 Sign Up
It's U.S. Open week! We've got some extra special coverage for you on this major championship weekend. We spent more than 12 hours on the golf course at Meadow Springs Country Club in Richland, WA to bring you the stories and photos of "Golf's Longest Day" also known as U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying. We give you a taste below but you can read full coverage HERE. Tour Backspin is "adopting" the two qualifiers who punched their ticket to Torrey Pines; amateur Joe Highsmith and journeyman pro Steve Allan from Australia. Joe tees off at 12:41 (PDT) from the 10th tee while Allan tees off at 12:30 from the first tee. Follow us on our social pages for live updates of their rounds.
Congratulations to Robinson Noble, a subscriber to this newsletter (and the leader on the WHII leader board) for winning the WHAT HOLE IS IT? contest from last week. Robinson correctly identified #11 at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver, Canada and then beat out one other correct answer in the random drawing.
We found a way of slowing Rob down this week as we are using his photo as the "Guest Post". Scroll down to test your golf course knowledge with this week's hole. You could win a signed copy of Uncorked, The Life and Times of Champagne Tony Lema. This week is our regular "Guest Post" that we do every month on the third Thursday. Want your picture featured in a "Guest Post"? Send us your pic to larry@9acespublishing.com and if we use your pic, you'll win a prize.
This week's vintage ad features the partnership of Arnie Palmer and United Airlines.The Arnold Palmer golf club travel cover sounds pretty cool. Anybody have one?
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Okay, we're on the tee, let's get going.
Forgotten Yardage Book Leads To a Nightmare Round
Everybody knows about the record-breaking 9-under 63 that Johnny Miller shot in the final round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, but it is the third round 76 that has been forgotten. What happened?
As Miller arrived at the first tee just after 2 pm that day he unzipped a pocket on his golf bag to retrieve his yardage book. It wasn't in that pocket, so he unzipped and checked another pocket and the elusive yardage book was not there. He frantically checked a third pocket and went into full panic mode when it was obvious the yardage book was not in that pocket, either.
He found his wife, Linda and said, "You've got to go, my yardage book must be back at the house. You've got to go back and get it!"
The couple had rented a house twenty minutes from the course for the week and they had their six-month-old daughter, Kelly, with them. As Miller dressed that morning, he thought of playing the third round, after a stellar second round 69 had gotten him within three strokes of the lead set by Gary Player. He was distracted by his daughter's crying and did not notice that his yardage book was in the pocket of the pants he wore the day before.
Linda Miller drove back to the house, retrieved the yardage book and then fought the Pittsburgh area traffic back to the course. She arrived as her husband finished the front nine. And what a front nine it had been.
Miller bogeyed the first and second holes and after pars on the third and fourth he added another bogey at the fifth. Then came a disastrous double bogey on the sixth hole. He was five over par for the round, and it looked like he was going to add another bogey on the seventh hole as he sent his approach into a bunker. He was only able to get the ball within 20-feet of the hole with his explosion from the sand. He rolled in that 20-footer and let out a sigh of relief.
Making that long putt lit a spark in Miller as he hit a wonderful tee shot on the par-three eighth hole and made his first birdie of the day. He followed that up with a second shot approach to the par-five ninth that barely cleared a front bunker before settling 17-feet from the pin. Note that he "barely" cleared the front bunker without the aid of a yardage book.
He rolled in that eagle putt and his roller-coaster front nine added up to a two over par 38. Reunited with his yardage book (and his wife) on the tenth tee, he started the back nine the same way he started his front nine: with two straight bogeys. He managed a birdie on the on the par-five twelfth, but bogeys at the fourteenth and sixteenth holes resulted in a final score of 76.
His round included seven bogeys, one double bogey, two birdies, and an eagle. The yardage book didn't really help his scoring on the back nine as he shot the same score he did on the front nine.
"The round was a nightmare," Miller said.
He was six strokes off the lead shared by Arnold Palmer, Julius Boros, Jerry Heard and John Schlee.
Of course, the next day he would record 10 birdies and one bogey to record his record-breaking final round 63 and win his first major championship. John Schlee finished one stroke back (280), followed by Tom Weiskopf (281), Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus (282).
Check out the bonus story on the U.S. Open below.
We're rockin' with the songs of 1973, a very good year for music. Listen on Spotify.
This week we have a "Guest Post" WHAT HOLE IS IT? Want your golf hole pic featured on WHAT HOLE IS IT? as a "Guest Post"? Send your pictures to larry@9acespublishing.com. If we use your pic for the WHAT HOLE IS IT? contest, you'll win a prize. Every third Thursday of the month is "Guest Post" day. Send us your pics!
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Enjoy!
Larry Baush
Players at the U.S. Open sectional qualifier at Meadow Springs Country Club in Richland, WA were greeted by temperatures in the mid-50s and winds blowing 15 to 20 mph as they prepared for "the longest day in golf". The field of 45 players included PGA tour player Maverick McNealy (#107 on the World Golf Ranking), John Catlin, a three-time winner on the European Tour (#85 on the World Golf Ranking) and 47-year-old journeyman pro Steve Allan from Australia. READ MORE
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WHAT HOLE IS IT?
This week is the "Guest Post" week! Want your picture to be featured in WHAT HOLE IS IT? as a "Guest Post"? Send us your picture of your favorite hole and if we feature it, you win a prize.
Email to larry@9acespublishing.com.
We'll post guest submissions on the third Thursday of the month.
Are you on the leader board?
Do you recognize this clubhouse? Find the answer below.
Eagle | Birdie | Par
We give you some recommendations to check out around the web.
Eagle: Watch the original ABC coverage of the final round of the 1973 U.S. Open. Click HERE to view.
Birdie: Take a drone tour of every hole at Torrey Pines South. Watch HERE.
Par: Think being a tour caddie would be a great job? Maybe read this first. Read HERE.
Bonus Fact
Arnold Palmer showed up for the third round of the 1973 U.S. Open, but his caddie didn't. Palmer was five strokes off the lead set by Gary Player and the pressure was too much for eighteen-year-old Vince Berlinsky, his caddie in rounds one and two.
"Vince was nervous," said a fellow caddie. "It was too much caddying for a prominent player like Palmer."
Joe Stoner, the caddie master at Oakmont found twenty-two-year-old Tom Tihey, who caddied in the first two rounds for Bobby Mitchell, who missed the cut to take over Palmer's bag. Tihey was a scratch golfer and had been caddying at Oakmont since age twelve.
Tihey was both shocked and delighted when he learned that he would be on the bag for Arnold Palmer. He nervously introduced himself to Palmer who noticed that the young man wore glasses. Palmer was struggling at the time with his own eyesight and asked if Tihey was nearsighted or farsighted.
"One of each," Tihey replied. Palmer erupted in laughter.
Out on the course, Palmer posted a 68, his best score in a championship at Oakmont.
Is Joe Stoner perhaps the best all-time name for a caddie master?
Arnold Palmer and Julius Boros during the third round of the 1973 U.S. Open