Zoeller Wins Second Heritage Title
Keeps the excitement of "one for the ages" going
Harbour Town is always a welcomed and relaxed respite from the pressure-packed week that is the Masters. We go back to 1986, one week after Jack Nicklaus won a Masters that was “one for the ages,” to document how Fuzzy Zoeller won his second Sea Pines Heritage Classic. Scroll down to join us on our journey through the past.
Did you know that the call of “one for the ages” was made by Jim Nantz in his rookie year at the Masters? Talk about coming out of the gate fast.
We haven’t seen dominance in the sport of men’s professional golf like what Scottie Scheffler is displaying since Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus. Just as in the prime of those two, the only excitement and drama of Sunday’s final round was centered on who would finish second. After a rough start on Sunday, Scheffler put on a masterclass on the back nine as he pulled away from all challengers. Scroll down for the Clips You Might Have Missed, a few thoughts on the week from me, a recap of the tournament and highlights.
The RBC Heritage has been known by many names since its inception in 1969 as the Heritage Golf Classic. Since the only common denominator in the name has been Heritage, that’s what we’ll refer to it as. If you want more on the Heritage, we wrote about the 1975 event, won by Jack Nicklaus, HERE, and the 1974 event, where Johnny Miller had to ignore naked spectators to capture the victory, HERE.
We want to hear from you in the Tour Backspin Poll, and this week’s Music Clip features music from World Party. It’s not easy finding worthy songs from 1986. We return to the Carl Welty library for Swing Like a Pro and the swing of Greg Norman. Be sure to read Carl’s analysis on why Norman didn’t win more majors in the description to the video. It’s a pretty easy hole for this week’s WHAT HOLE IS IT? and we have some new prizes, so jump on in. Of course, we’ve got some links for you in the Check it Out section and our Vintage Ad is from the USGA, PGA of America and the PGA TOUR. Scroll down to view.
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In last week’s Tour Backspin Poll we asked you if you thought the winning score in the Masters would be over, or under, 279. There were 80% of respondents who went with the under because, you know, these guys are good, while 20% thought the winning score would be over. Scottie Scheffler won at -11 which adds up to 277, for the under.
Jon Martin, in his newsletter, Go Golf, postulates that it was a mistake to lengthen the 13th hole at Augusta National. He thinks it has taken the excitement out of Sunday at the Masters as not many players go for the green on their second shot. He wants to see players who are four strokes back take a chance at the green in hopes of making an eagle. So, what say you? Let us know in this week’s Tour Backspin Poll.
Tour Backspin Poll
Do you know what happened today in golf history? Or which famous golfer has a birthday today? Me, neither. But I do know where to go to find out. Check out the Your Golfer’s Almanac podcast. Host Michael Duranko celebrates birthdays, milestones, and other accomplishments that occurred on this day in golf history. Listen HERE.
We’re playing RBC Heritage Trivia in this week’s Tour Backspin Quiz. Scroll down to play.
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Larry Baush
Zoeller Birdies Final Hole to Capture the Sea Pines Heritage
The players who made the roughly two and a half hour drive from Augusta, GA, to Hilton Head, SC, arrived at the Harbour Town Golf Links still buzzing about what happened on Sunday, April, 13th, 1986. Jack Nicklaus had just won “one for the ages” as described by Jim Nantz, who was working his first Masters tournament, and the players at Hilton Head were still in awe of Jack’s achievement.
“The best thing that could have happened to golf,” Gary Koch said.
“He proved again he’s the greatest player who ever lived,” PGA TOUR Commissioner Deane Beman declared. “A great boost for golf, for all sports.”
“An inspiration to me,” Hal Sutton said of the remarkable and dramatic comeback victory for Nicklaus that earned him his sixth green jacket.
It was a remarkable performance from Nicklaus, one that impressed his fellow tour players, but it was now time for those playing in the Sea Pines Heritage tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, SC, to get back to business. The Heritage featured a purse of $450,000 with the winner taking home $81,000.
“This is one I’d really like to win.”
The pre-tournament favorites included Greg Norman and Tom Kite, who were runners-up to Nicklaus that week in Augusta. The other favorites were Nick Price, who placed 5th at the Masters, Bernhard Langer, the defending champion at Harbour Town, two-time Heritage winners Johnny Miller and Hale Irwin, and the current PGA Champion, Hubert Green, and Lanny Wadkins.
“This is one I’d really like to win,” Wadkins, who went to Wake Forest University in North Carolina as an Arnold Palmer golf scholarship recipient. “The golf course is so good, you’d like to have it on your record.”
But it was the winner from last week that took the first-round lead shooting a five-under-par 66 on a wind-swept, chilly day. No, it wasn’t Nicklaus. It was Dan Halldorson, a Canadian, who had won the alternate event, the Deposit Guarantee Classic in Hattiesburg, MS, that was played opposite of the Masters. He had a final round 66 and beat Paul Azinger by one shot.
“I played well last week, and it’s carrying over.”
The winner of the 1983 Sea Pines Heritage, Fuzzy Zoeller opened with a 68, and eight players, including Curtis Strange, Andy Bean, and Raymond Floyd, were at 69, and another eight players, including Tom Kite and Greg Norman, were at 70.
Halldorson went off early with the 7:15 tee time and started quickly with two birdies and an eagle in the first five holes. It could have been better as he missed five birdie putts of 15-feet, or less.
“I played well last week, and it’s carrying over,” Halldorson told the press after his round.
Halldorson kept his good playing going in the second round with a round of 68, his sixth straight round in the 60s, and maintained a one-stroke lead. The winds that buffeted the course on Thursday subsided a bit but did come up in the afternoon, and there were many challenges that showed that the course still had some bite to it.
“Birdies come one at a time, but to give three away on one hole … that’ll make your chili run a little hot.”
Roger Maltbie, was cruising along in second place until the 11th hole where he torpedoed his round with a triple-bogey seven.
“Heck, otherwise, I played good,” Maltbie told reporters after his 72 that gave him a two-round total of 139, five shots off Halldorson’s lead. “Birdies come one at a time, but to give three away on one hole … that’ll make your chili run a little hot.”
Fuzzy Zoeller ran into similar problems on the windy back nine when he came to the 15th hole, a par-5. He was just two shots off the lead at the time but double-bogeyed the hole, falling four behind. He bounced back with a birdie at the 16th and posted a 69 for a 136 total, two off of the lead.
Don Pooley had a 22-putt day that helped him record a 66 to go with his first round 69 and he sat one shot off the lead at 135. Norman was at 138 after a round of 68 and he was one shot back of Chip Beck who had a second round 67. Curtis Strange, with a 70, and Roger Maltbie, with a 72 were tied at 139, along with Doug Tewell and Mike Sullivan.
The State newspaper out of Columbia, SC, had coverage of the second round, written by Harold Martin, and he detailed the difficulties encountered by Halldorson and Pooley.
That clanging noise you heard Saturday afternoon was the wheels coming off Dan Halldorson and Don Pooley.
“It’s that kind of golf course. Normally double-bogeys will kill you.”
It was Zoeller who was now the fan favorite after shooting a two-under 69 for a three-round total of 205 and a two-stroke lead. He did it despite getting another double-bogey, this time at the 8th hole, using the same 5-iron that got him into trouble that resulted in his double bogey on Friday at the 15th hole.
“It’s that kind of golf course. Normally double-bogeys will kill you,” Zoeller observed. “It’s unusual to be leading after two of them in just two days. But what has saved me so far has been that I haven’t been making many bogeys.”
What really saved him, though, was that his putter got hot on the back nine on Saturday helping him to shoot a 31.
“On a couple of the putts back there,” Zoeller said with a grin, “I looked like Watson in his prime. A couple of those putts were slam dunks. And the funny thing is, I had a feeling I would make them.”
Two players from the Carolinas, Jay Haas, and Chip Beck, were tied with Greg Norman at 207. Norman had a 69 in the third round, Beck had a 70, and Haas had a 66. Bernhard Langer shot the round of the day, a 64, which put him at 210, one shot back of Maltbie who shot a 69 in the third round.
Zoeller, who wisecracked his way around the course to take his mind off his bad back, started the back nine with four straight birdies on holes 11 through 14. He then came home with two pars, a bogey on the 16th hole, and a birdie at the 17th hole after he stuffed an 8-iron tee shot to the wind-swept green. He finished with a par and explained to reporters that the bogey on 16th hole was because “my caddie choked.”
“I may not be playing as well as I was last week, but I still feel good about my game.”
Norman was looking to put the final round from the week before in his rearview mirror. His miss-hit iron approach to the 18th green kept him from a playoff spot against Nicklaus.
“I may not be playing as well as I was last week, but I still feel good about my game,” Norman reflected after his round. “Especially my iron play. The key here is to get the ball in the fairway and then hitting your irons well.”
Halldorson skied to a 76 in the third round and was at 210, tied with Pooley who had a 75 in the third round.
Zoeller started his final round with another double-bogey after he hit his drive off the toe and it went into the trees on the right side of the fairway, and just like that, his lead was gone.
“I just hit six terrible shots. I was never in the game,” Zoeller said.
He then figured out a plan that would keep him in the middle of the fray.
“I thought if I could just keep it around par, this is the type of golf course the guys won’t run away from you on,” Zoeller later told reporters including Terry Bunton of the Hilton Head Island Packet newspaper.
“The 4-iron I hit on 10 was the first time all day that I’d hit the ball solid. I knew something was going to happen after that.”
Zoeller added a bogey at the 4th hole, and it wasn’t until the 10th hole that he hit a shot that gave him a good feeling.
“The 4-iron I hit on 10 was the first time all day that I’d hit the ball solid. I knew something was going to happen after that,” Zoeller said. “I don’t like to lose. I thrive on competition, and I felt I’d be in there if I could hit a long iron solid.”
For most of the day, it looked like Maltbie was the man to catch after he added an eagle at the 5th hole to the birdie he made on the 4th hole. He hit a 1-iron, a shot described by Bunton as “blistered,” from 260-yards out that nearly went in for an albatross and the eagle gave him a two-shot lead. He kept that lead until a wayward drive into the left rough at the 12th hole led to a bogey. He birdied the next hole but with his adrenaline pumping he airmailed the 14th hole resulting in another bogey.
Norman got off to a lackluster start with a bogey on the first hole. He birdied the fifth hole but added another bogey on the ninth hole. He finally found a spark with a birdie on the 13th hole and then attacked the par-5, 15th hole, going for the green in two with a 3-wood. He ended up near the green, chipped up to within six feet and made the putt for another birdie.
He then scrambled for pars on the 16th and 17th hole. Norman was paired with Maltbie in the group in front of the final group of Zoeller and Beck. Norman, Maltbie, and Zoeller were tied at 7-under while Beck was one stroke back.
“I had a feeling that somebody would birdie 18,” Norman said to reporters after the round.
But a birdie would not come from the penultimate group. Maltbie missed a long birdie attempt and then Norman missed from about 18 feet on his birdie attempt. Norman then signed his card and stood by the final green to watch Beck and Zoeller finish.
Both players hit the green in regulation and had similar putts with Zoeller being just inside the length of Beck’s putt. Norman and Zoeller watched Beck roll in his putt and there were now four players tied at 7-under. Zoeller watched Beck’s putt intently as it rolled into the hole.
“Fuzzy looked up at me and had that kind of smirk on his face.”
“I got a very good read on Chip Beck’s putt,” Zoeller later said. “It showed me the putt was definitely going left though I thought it was anyway.”
Zoeller stepped into his putt and confidently stroke it into the hole for a winning birdie. He then leapt into the air, bad back, and all.
Norman knew Zoeller was going to make birdie at 18.
“Fuzzy looked up at me and had that kind of smirk on his face,” Norman said. “He had that look in his eyes though. I thought he would make that putt.”
After the putt dropped, Norman walked up to Zoeller and said, “You did it again to me.” He was referring to when Zoeller beat Norman in an 18-hole playoff in the 1984 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club.
The putt was an historic one for Zoeller who had never won a tournament with a birdie at the final hole. It was also historic for the tournament which had never been decided by a birdie at the final hole. There was no word if anyone had ever won the event with three double-bogeys, though.
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BONUS STORY
Fuzzy Zoeller, an enthusiastic fisherman, also had a good week with the rod and reel in Hilton Head in 1986. He spent the early part of the week fishing in the Hilton Head Lagoon and the Long Cove. He landed about 15 fish, including an 8-pound largemouth bass on Wednesday.
He declined an interview request after being one off the leaders on Thursday because he wanted to get back out on the water looking to land another 8-pounder. He also helped fellow pros by turning Ed Fiore onto a spot in Long Cove where Fiore caught his own 8-pounder. Zoeller then showed Phil Blackmar the same spot resulting in a 7½-pound fish the next day.
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WHAT HOLE IS IT?
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PGA TOUR Wrap-Up | The Masters
The Masters always delivers, even when the winning margin is four strokes. We need to make sure that we acknowledge the historical significance of Scottie Scheffler’s dominance in the game today. He’s won three out of the last four tournaments he played and in the one he didn’t win, he lost by inches. Truly incredible.
The weather conditions during the week were not as bad as forecasted except for the wind on Friday which was brutal. CBS did a great job with drone shots, shot tracers from the fairways, and Verne Lundquist. Still, ratings were down 20% that continues a trend for the year, but the excellent Masters streaming coverage is not included in those numbers. How many of us followed on our phones while playing before settling into our chairs in the lounge to watch the television coverage?
The performance from the LIV golfers was disappointing, except for Bryson DeChambeau. From his 3-D printed irons that were only approved by the USGA on Monday to his “carrying the cross” on Friday, he again proved he can attract attention. Finishing in a tie for sixth also helps attract attention.
As golf fans, we’ve waited to see the best players in the world play against each other and the only place to see that is in the majors. Too bad that many, who have defected to LIV Golf, seemed rusty. And LIV commish, Greg Norman needing to purchase a patron pass, on the secondary market, no less, shows just how much men’s professional golf is divided.
The way that Scheffler dominated on the back nine Sunday reminded me of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus in their heydays. While I was in awe of his performance, the only real exitement was in those playing for second. Still, a great week, with the par-3 competition, the honorary starters, and Tiger Woods setting another Masters record all being highpoints. Did you know that Tiger holds 35 Masters records?
I’ve recommended this newsletter before, but Kyle Porter’s Normal Sport is good. He has some thoughts on the Masters that are worth your time and I loved the questions that went around the press room like, “could you draw a moderately-to-scale map of Augusta National from memory?” Read it HERE.
Read more about Scheffler’s dominance, by Sean Martin at the PGA TOUR HERE.
Here’s a recap from the Masters:
Clips You Might Have Missed
Aerial view of the moment they open the gates to patrons at the Masters. No running!
But I bought it in the golf shop!
Bad week for Speith.
and JT.
I just want to relax before my tee time.
The shot of Scottie putting at the 0:21 mark is incredible.
Thanks, Verne.
Two legends
Classy move.
Scottie’s caddie, Ted Scott has sweet dreams.
And finally, Scottie is just a regular guy. Arriving in his truck, a 2012 GMC Yukon that he drove around the University of Texas campus when he attended there and has 190,000 miles on it. Wearing a go-to hat, not a branded hat he is paid to wear.
Our Masters Sale to upgrade to a premium subscription with the first year of the annual subscription 20% off ends tomorrow (4/19). Get the deets HERE.
Tour Backspin Quiz | RBC Heritage Trivia
Who has won the most RBC Heritage (including all the different names the tournament has been played under) titles?
Scroll down for answer
Swing Like a Pro
From the Carl Welty library, Greg Norman’s swing. Check out the description from Carl.
Blind Shot
Click for something fun. 👀
You can wind up in some squirrely spots on the Harbour Town Golf Links. See some of the squirrelyist from the PGA TOUR on YouTube.
Max Homa had plans after his top 5 finish in the Masters. Read about it from Barstool Sports.
Jared Doerfler of Perfect Putt writes about the question of whether Callaway Golf should sell it’s equipment business or not.
Zach Johnson is not getting along with the fans recently. Who wants to be a Ryder Cup captain? Read about it on Golf.com written by Nick Dimengo.
Barry Svrluga writes in the Washington Post about Scottie Scheffler’s superpower. (Subscriber or paywall)
Tour Backspin Music Clip
This is so 1986.
Uncorked, The Life and Times of Champagne Tony Lema tells the story of one of the tour’s biggest stars in the mid-1960s. A fascinating glimpse into the traveling caravan that was the PGA TOUR during an era where the fields were full of “Mad Men” era personalities. From a hardscrabble youth spent on the “wrong side of the tracks” in the Oakland suburb of San Leandro, to the temptations of Elko, Nevada, to the bright lights of the PGA TOUR, Uncorked tells a story of determination, redemption and, above all else, a love story that documents how Betty, Tony’s new wife, provided the direction and motivation for him to become a top star. Order on Amazon.
WHAT IS HIP?
The styles of 1986. (Photos: Golf Magazine & DiFini/ Image: Tour Backspin)
WE GOT MAIL
Hi Larry,
Great job this week with your recapping past Masters.
I grew up and learned to play golf on a MacKenzie track Green Hill CC in Millbrae Ca. and have always been fascinated with Augusta National and it’s traditions. There are many similarities with Green Hills.
Bruce E.
Send us your thoughts.
Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
Davis Love III won the most RBC Heritage titles winning five times. He won in 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993 (all were known as the MCI Heritage Golf Classic), 1998, and 2003 (both known as the MCI Classic).
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Vintage Ad
Final Thoughts
Pretty cool relationship Scottie Scheffler has with his caddie Ted Scott.
Good thing they have Stadler’s bag leaning against the cot or we wouldn’t know it was him getting the pail of water in the face in this week’s vintage ad.
The television ratings for the PGA TOUR is sure concerning.
What did Bryson DeChambeau do with that sign. Best Masters souvenir ever?