Stockton vs Arnie's Army

Uses taunts and jeers from Arnie's Army to motivate him and wins the Wanamaker Trophy

May 19, 2022

It’s major week on the PGA TOUR with the PGA Championship being conducted on Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, OK. We have a special treat to commemorate this major championship as we present our interview with Al Geiberger and Dave Stockton. The two talk major championships, the CBS Golf Classic, Spaulding golf equipment and the par 3 tournament at the Masters. Find out why they may have been the reason that the USGA instituted the one ball rule. Listen HERE.

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We’re going to backspin to 1970 when Dave Stockton battled Arnold Palmer, and “Arnie’s Army”, to capture the PGA Championship, also held that year at Southern Hills Country Club.

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A Victory That Brought Tears to the Eye

Photo: Sports Illustrated John D. Hanlon

It’s late in the day on Sunday, August 16th, and it’s hot. Like 100-degrees hot, as it has been all week at Southern Hills Country Club for the PGA Championship. Dave Stockton, dressed in blue slacks, a white Munsingwear polo shirt, white shoes, and a white Amana cap, is crouched down to read a 10-foot putt. He then caught a glimpse of his wife, Cathy, in the gallery and he began to cry. He didn’t think he would be able to putt. His caddie handed him a towel and he wiped his eyes and regained his composure. What had made him so emotional? Let’s backspin to see.

Southern Hills measured 6,962-yards and played to a par of 70 when it hosted the PGA Championship in 1970. The thick Bermuda rough put a premium on hitting fairways, and those fairways were sunbaked.

Jack Nicklaus showed up in Tulsa a new man. He was 10-pounds lighter, he had grown his blonde locks to a mod length and was sporting an updated wardrobe. He shot a first round 68, 2-under, to tie Johnny Miller for the lead. Nicklaus needed a PGA Championship to become the first player in history to have won all four major championships twice.

Arnold Palmer needed a PGA Championship to achieve a career grand slam. He shot a 70 in the first round. Other notable scores included Larry Hinson and Charles Coody, 1-stroke back at 69. Sam Snead shot a 70 and was tied with Dave Stockton. Defending champion Ray Floyd shot a 71, Billy Casper, who won the Masters earlier in the year, was at 72, along with Lee Trevino.

For players with afternoon tee times, there was no relief from the 100-degree temperatures in Friday’s second round. Dave Stockton and Larry Hinson took advantage of their cooler morning tee times and shared the lead at 140. Hinson shot a 71 while Stockton carded a 70.

Nicklaus fell from the lead spectacularly with 77 and sat four strokes off the lead. Mason Rudolph, Hale Irwin and Mike Hill were one shot off the lead while a group that included Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper and Gary Player were at 142. Palmer had a charge building with two birdies on the front nine, but the charge fizzled when he hit into the water on the 12th hole. He rolled up his pants and tried to play his shot while standing in the water and wound up with a double bogey.

See an AP video report on the second round HERE.

The scores were as hot as the weather in Saturday’s third round. Ray Floyd set a new course record shooting a 65 while Dave Stockton shot a 66. Stockton enjoyed a three-shot lead over Floyd and a five-shot lead over Arnold Palmer, who shot a 69 in the third round. Palmer and Stockton would be paired together for the final round.

“Those two guys in front of me will have to shoot pretty good rounds tomorrow,” Palmer warned. “If you’ve got to be five-strokes back, it’s always nicer to be behind just two guys. If there were 10, I’d be more concerned.”

Stockton wasn’t going to be intimidated. “When I’m putting well, it takes a lot of pressure off the rest of my game,” Stockton said. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t be feeling pressure, though. “I’ll be nervous tomorrow, but what the heck. I was nervous this morning.”

In the final round, Palmer had multiple opportunities to put the pressure on Stockton, but each time he came up short. Each time he did, his body language featured shoulders that slumped more, and a head that hung down further. He missed multiple birdie putts while Stockton continued his hot putting.

Raymond Floyd started his fourth round with bogeys on two of his first three holes and fell out of contention. Stockton pulled away on his front nine and built up a six-shot lead. He played one four hole stretch in birdie, eagle, double bogey, birdie. Things got interesting on the back nine, though.

The 13th hole proved to be pivotable as Stockton hooked his second shot into the water. Palmer placed his approach shot to within 25 feet. A birdie by the King and a bogey from Stockton would result in a 2-stroke swing. Stockton calmly hit his pitch shot to within a foot and kept the damage to his lead at just one-stroke.

“I knew I had it then,” Stockton said after the round. “That was the shot.”

“Stockton outputted me,” Palmer admitted. “That’s part of the game.”

Watch Dave Stockton’s putting stroke, via The Welty Collection HERE.

Stockton made long putts at the 16th and 17th holes, one for bogey and one for par, and arrived at the 18th tee with a three-stroke lead. He played the hole cautiously and faced a 10-foot putt for par. He could’ve three-putted for the victory. Even so, he crouched down to read the break, and this is when he caught sight of his wife Kathy and started to cry.

“I suddenly remembered, as I knelt there on the green looking at that 10-foot putt, what all of this was going to mean to my wife and me,” Stockton said. “It’s not just the money, the $40,000 check for first place–it’s everything else that comes after it.”

He stroked his first putt close to the hole and then tapped in for the emotional victory. He finished with a three-over-par 73 and a 72-hole total of 279, one-under-par, two strokes in front of Palmer and Bob Murphy.

Watch an AP final round report HERE.

Some of the other perks coming Stockton’s way with the victory were the 10-year tour exemption from qualifying, he would be playing in the World Series of Golf making a minimum of $5,000, and he would get invitations into the Tournament of Champions, World Cup, Masters and U.S. Open tournaments.

Playing head-to-head against one of the greats in the game, with all of the pressure that comes with playing in a major championship, and in front of the huge crowd that was pulling for Palmer, Stockton fed off the pressure to win the first major of his career. And it was enough to bring tears to his eyes.

Arnold Palmer hits from the water on the 12th hole at Southern Hills Country Club in the second round of the 1970 PGA Championship

Check out the bonus story below about the difficulties that come with playing with Arnold Palmer in the final group at a major championship.

We’re charging through 1970 on this week’s playlist. Listen HERE .

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Bonus Story

Playing with Palmer and dealing with “Arnie’s Army” was always a challenge and Sunday’s final round of the 1970 PGA Championship was no different. Dave Stockton was determined to feed off the distractions from over-zealous Palmer fans.

“Sure, I heard them out there,” Stockton said after his round. “But I didn’t let them get to me. They only fired me up. I was that much more determined to win.”

Stockton heard the taunts of “shank it!” or “bury it in the sand, Davey” while lining up a wedge shot to the 7th hole. He then preceded to hole the short shot for an eagle two.

Finally, Stockton heard a little kid who was on his side. “At the 12th green, a little boy called ‘go, Dave, go!’ and somebody told him to be quiet,” Stockton related after his round. “I said to leave him alone, he’s doing fine.”

At the 13th hole, a hole that had given Stockton troubles all week, he dumped his second shot into the water.

“Yahoo!” one Palmer fan yelled. “Go get him now, Arnie”

“That really burned me up,” Stockton said after his round. “I wanted to sink my chip shot just for spite. I told myself I would take the ball and cram it down that guy’s throat.”

He then hit his chip to within a foot of the hole. He limited the damage that he incurred hitting the into the water to just one stroke and Palmer could not catch him down the stretch.