One of the Greatest Talks About His Best Shot
Gary Player gives Tour Backspin a first hand account of his greatest shot
Congratulations to Jason Day for returning to the winner’s circle at last week’s AT&T Byron Nelson. It was his first victory in 5 years and he held off Si Woo Kim and rookie Austin Eckroat to win by one-stroke. This was a non-designated event, but again, it provided some compelling story lines.
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It’s a major championship week with the playing of the 105th PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course. The course went through a restoration project led by Andrew Green with the intention of returning features that Donald Ross designed. Learn more about the restoration from Golfweek.
We’re going back to the 1972 PGA Championship that was played at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills outside of Detroit. In 1951 Ben Hogan dubbed the course “The Monster” when he won the U.S. Open there. Scroll down to see how a weird divot helped one of the greatest players of all time hit what he termed as his “best shot” at the 16th hole in the final round.
This week’s playlist featuring songs from 1972 takes me right back to walking the halls in high school. Listen HERE.
Sam Snead shows us his swing at 60 years of age in the Swing Like a Pro feature. Scroll down to view.
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We were very fortunate to interview Gary Player in his home in Florida and asked him about the 1972 PGA Championship and the shot he hit at the 16th hole. Be sure to click on the Gary Player video below.
A big thank you to Jason West, senior editor and producer at Atomic Productions, Inc. in Emeryville, CA, for his work on helping us get Mr. Player’s recollections on video. Watch for more projects from Atomic and Tour Backspin in the future.
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Weird Divot Helps Gary Player Hit “Best Shot of my Life”
The August 1972 issue of Golf Digest hit the newsstands and featured a preview of the 54th PGA Championship being held at Oakland Hills, in Bloomfield Hills, a suburb outside of Detroit. What the preview could not predict was how a weird divot helped lead to one of the best shots, under enormous pressure, in a major championship history.
“That’s as good as I ever shot.”
Joe Falls, the writer of one of the preview articles, made comparisons to the 1951 U.S. Open, won by Ben Hogan who famously brought the “monster to its knees” with a final round 67 to win the title. Hogan labeled the round, on a course made brutally hard by Robert Trent Jones who added 66 bunkers to the course, as one of his best.
“That’s as good as I ever shot,” Ben told writers at the 1969 U.S. Open at Champions Golf Club in Houston, TX. “I made more outstanding shots in that one round than I ever had in my life. They just didn’t give you any room to shoot. You had to be almost perfect with every shot and nobody can really make perfect shots.”
Hogan then smiled and said, “But I came pretty close to making ‘em.”
With the rough grown thick and long, it was a test of golf that only yielded two sub-par rounds in the four days of tournament play in 1951.
“I think it’s going to be more fun this time.”
But this was a different Oakland Hills that would be played in the 1972 PGA Championship. 45 of those bunkers that Jones installed had been removed and, while the rough was thick, it was nothing compared to what the players had to hit out of in 1951.
“I think it’s going to be more fun this time,” host pro Mike Souchak stated.
The Golf Digest preview included a scratch sheet for the top 25 pros in the field. Bruce Crampton led the list with odds of 6 to 1 with Nicklaus coming in next at 7 to 1, tied with Tom Weiskopf.
Jack Nicklaus was having quite the year in 1972 having won the Masters and U.S. Open. Lee Trevino dashed his Grand Slam hopes by beating him by one stroke at the Open Championship. Then, Nicklaus had to withdraw from the National Team Championship due to an infected finger that required surgery. Nicklaus’ absence required his partner, Arnold Palmer, to find a replacement in unknown Jack Lewis.
Nicklaus spoke to reporters from his hospital room in Columbus, OH, and said, “The doctors told me that if I had not undergone the operation, I would have been out of action, probably hospitalized for at least two weeks.”
“You just can’t imagine how good I’m hitting the ball.”
His participation in the PGA Championship was in doubt, but he said he had “every hope” that he would be able to compete and defend his title. He then arrived at the course on Monday afternoon and declared himself the underdog. Lee Trevino assumed the role of the favorite.
“You just can’t imagine how good I’m hitting the ball,” Trevino said after posting a practice round of 65.
Another player not to be ruled out was Gary Player who won his 16th PGA TOUR title earlier in the year at the Greater New Orleans Open where he defeated Jack Nicklaus and Dave Eichelberger by one stroke.
“I still think I can win. There’s nothing wrong with me physically. I just can’t seem to make anything happen. But I’ll keep trying.”
Arnold Palmer was looking to add the one major title that had so far eluded him at Oakland Hills. Palmer needed a PGA Championship for the career grand slam. He hadn’t won anything during the current season, and he was playing in his fifth tournament in five weeks, in three different countries. He was weary, but still hopeful.
“I still think I can win,” he declared. “There’s nothing wrong with me physically. I just can’t seem to make anything happen. But I’ll keep trying. As long as I have the ability, you know, the physical ability to make things happen, well I’ll keep on trying to make them happen.”
You could never rule out Billy Casper when it came to major championships and Golf Digest listed him at 12 to 1 odds while Gary Player came in at 10 to 1.
More than an inch and a half of rain drenched the course during Wednesday’s practice round. Officials informed the press that there would be standing water in some places on the course for Thursday’s first round.
Palmer was among the early leaders after he fashioned a scrambling one-under-par 69 on a day that saw brief showers and brisk winds. Palmer had five birdies offset by four bogeys. Some players commented that the rains help soften the greens making chip shots easier and kept putts from excessively rolling out.
Buddy Allin came in early in the day with a 68 that was holding up as the best score as the other players finished their rounds. Allin, a four-time decorated, including a Bronze Star, Vietnam War vet who served as an artillery officer. His only win on the PGA TOUR was in a three-way playoff in the 1971 Greater Greensboro Open, and he had four top ten finishes so far in 1972 including a runner-up at the Milwaukee Open.
Behind Allin, shooting 69, were Jim Jamieson, Raymond Floyd, Jerry Heard, Palmer, and Larry Gilbert. 60-year-old Sam Snead was another stroke back at 70 tied with Dan Sikes.
“I just flaked out.”
Lee Trevino had a disappointing 73 and he blamed pulling the wrong club on numerous occasions for his score.
“I just flaked out,” Trevino admitted to reporters after his round. “I knew I had the wrong club in my hand four times and just wouldn’t change . . . Maybe I was just too lazy to take it back to the bag.”
Gene Sarazen, marking his 50th anniversary in the PGA, carded a 79 while the host pro Souchak shot a 73.
“Men, I am sorry I made you miss your dinners, but I really enjoyed it.”
Just as the press was packing up for the day, with their stories written for the next day’s papers, the last player to come off the course made his way into the pressroom. Unknown Stan Thirsk had equaled Allin’s 68.
“Men, I am sorry I made you miss your dinners,” Thirsk announced to the reporters. Then with a grin he said, “But I really enjoyed it.”
Thirsk birdied three holes on the back nine including two of the last four holes.
“I’m Stan Thirsk and I’m the pro at Kansas City Country Club,” he said as an introduction to the shocked and unfamiliar writers.
With beautiful weather for Friday’s second round helped dry the course that had been soaked from rain earlier in the week. Jerry Heard was able to negotiate the 7,054-yard course shooting an even-par 70 for a total of 139. He was the only player under par and held a one-stroke lead over Floyd, who shot a second round 71, and Hale Irwin who posted a second-round 69.
After his round, Heard told reporters that winning the PGA Championship “would really give my career a shot in the arm.” That could have been the understatement of the week.
Jim Jamieson, Gay Brewer, and Bob Smith were two shots off the pace while a group of four players, Gary Player, Lanny Wadkins, Dan Sikes, and Tommy Aaron were another stroke back at 142. Billy Casper, mired in a slump for most of the 1972 schedule, sat at 143 after a second round of 70.
“I’m going to go out to dinner with some friends, then stay up and watch a late movie. If I’m leading tomorrow, maybe I won’t sleep as well, but I won’t have any problems tonight.”
The first-round leaders did not find the same magic they enjoyed the day before as Allin soared to a 77 while Thirsk skied to an 82. Both players made the cut, however. The tournament now headed into what would promise to be an exciting weekend.
“I’m going to go out to dinner with some friends, then stay up and watch a late movie,” Heard said about his plans for Friday evening. “If I’m leading tomorrow, maybe I won’t sleep as well, but I won’t have any problems tonight.”
Under beautiful sunny skies on Saturday, Gary Player started his round with a hot streak as he opened his round by sinking a 30-foot putt for birdie at the first and then wedged to eight feet and made the birdie putt on the second hole. He saved par from a bunker at the third hole before making another twisting 30-foot putt on the fifth hole for birdie.
His round cooled off for a few holes from there as he bogeyed the ninth hole after failing to get up-and-down from a bunker and then missed four birdie putts in the 10–15-foot range. He continued to give himself good looks at birdies, making two more, before he played the 18th hole.
“A 67 on this course with two bogeys, well, I really did play well. This is the toughest course I’ve ever played in America.”
The 18th was the center of a great deal of criticism from the players as the converted par 5 played very difficult as a par 4. Player arrived at the hole with a one-stroke lead. He hit his tee shot into a fairway bunker and was left with no other alternative than to chip his shot back out into the fairway. From there he hit his next shot onto the green and two-putted for his second bogey of the day. He walked off the green with his shoulders slumped and his head down.
“I really wanted to make at worst par there,” he said later. “A 67 on this course with two bogeys, well, I really did play well. This is the toughest course I’ve ever played in America.”
Jerry Heard would not have to worry about his sleep on Saturday night as he relinquished the lead to Player. He shot a 72 with bogeys on two of the last four holes leaving him two-strokes behind Player. He was tied with Phil Rodgers who shot a third round 68, and Gay Brewer who posted his second straight 70.
Billy Casper used his Friday round of 70 to fuel a charge up the leaderboard with a third round 67 and sat just one shot back of Player. He told reporters that his Friday round “just kind of turned everything around, and it kept getting better today.”
Jim Jamieson added a third round 72 and sat at 213, four strokes off Player’s lead. Sam Snead kept the 60 and over crowd interested with his third round 71 for a total of 215.
“I’m going to play good and if that doesn’t work, I’ll cheat.”
Despite overcast and threatening clouds, a record crowd of 24,100 were ready to watch the action unfold in the final round. The attendance for the week, including practice rounds, was 114,287 and the success of attracting such large crowds helped push the total purse for the event from $200,000 to $225,000.
Jim Jamieson was asked, before he teed off in the final round, what he was going to do to win.
“I’m going to play good and if that doesn’t work, I’ll cheat,” he replied with a chuckle.
The leaderboard was a crowded affair in the final round as there were no fewer than ten players separated by a single stroke at the top at one point in the afternoon. There were many stages in the proceedings where two, three, four and five men were sharing the lead.
The crowded leaderboard was due to Player opening the floodgates with bogeys on the third and fourth holes. At one point or another, Casper, Heard, Brewer, Rodgers, Doug Sanders, Floyd and Jamieson all had a piece of the lead.
All except Jamieson retreated down the leader board as Player got his game back together and carded a string of six consecutive pars. It was the toughness of Oakland Hills that was brought into the spotlight as the final holes were played. Casper, who drew even with Player after the first nine holes, had his driver desert him on the back nine and he fell off the pace finishing with a 74 for a total of 284.
Tommy Aaron played well in the final round shooting a 71 for a 283 total, but it just wasn’t enough. Jim Jamieson was three-under-par for his round after 15 holes, even-par for the tournament and in the lead. But he watched his chances disappear as he bogeyed the last three holes and wound up with a final round 70 and a 283 total.
Player bogeyed the 14th and 15th holes, missing a short putt on 15 to save par after a great bunker shot. As the sky grew dark, things were really getting tight as Player teed off on the 16th hole, a 405-yard, dogleg par-4 that requires a pinpoint iron shot into a two-level green protected by numerous bunkers. Player hit his drive into the wet, heavy, rough on the right and his approach to the green was blocked by a huge willow tree.
“I was really demoralized,” Player admitted. "I’d worked hard, as I always do, for this major championship, and I felt that it was mine to win and here I was this close, but it was slipping away.”
He looked his shot over and then took a walk to the fairway where he could get a better view of the green, as the large willow tree blocked his view from the rough. Then he saw something—a weird divot.
Here's Player describing the shot, and his preparation for it to Tour Backspin recently from his home in Florida (click on image to play video):
A weird looking divot helped Gary Player shoot a final round 72 for a total of 281, one-over-par, to win his sixth major championship. It took one of golf history’s most famous shots for Player to conquer the course Ben Hogan called “The Monster.”
Click HERE to watch Player’s shot at the 16th hole.
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Bonus Story
60-year-old Sam Snead shot a final round 69, tied with George Archer for the low round of the day, in the 1972 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club. He shot up the leader board with his four-round total of 284 that put him three-strokes off Gary Player’s winning total. He tied for fourth place with Raymond Floyd and Billy Casper.
This was the first year in a three-year period where Snead played well in the PGA Championship. In 1973 he tied for ninth at Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, OH, won by Jack Nicklaus. In 1974 he finished tied for third at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, NC, where Lee Trevino won.
In 1977, at 65 years old, he finished in a tie for 54th at Pebble Beach when Lanny Wadkins won and in 1979, at 67 years old, he finished in a tie for 42nd, again at Oakland Hills the year that David Graham won.
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Tour Backspin Quiz | 1960 PGA TOUR Trivia
What year did the PGA Championship go from match play to stroke play? Who won that first stroke play version of the event?
Answer below
Swing Like a Pro
Sam Snead at 60
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Check It Out
It was funny when the Tennessee Titans went out on the street to show random fans a logo and having them guess the team. It was not good. How would fans do with players on the PGA TOUR. Equally bad, so CHECK IT OUT! Read about it here. HERE.
What is Hip
Earth tones and rugged course conditions in 1972.
Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
The PGA Championship was changed to stroke play in 1958 and Dow Finsterwald won beating Billy Casper by one-stroke.
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Final Thoughts
How much fun is it watching Gary Player recall that historic shot at the 16th hole in the 1972 PGA Championship?
Was Jim Jamieson one of the most underrated funny guys on the tour?
I’m blown away by Sam Snead in his 60s.