Golf’s Greatest Collapses

By Andrew Podnieks

Golf's Greatest Collapses recounts the agony-and
sometimes humour-of the worst moments of a
golfer's career, the moment when he can't do anything
right. Golfers collapses are borne of the weight of the
moment, the gaze of thousands of fans, the click of
photographers' cameras, the underlying awareness
that millions of people around the world are watching.
Some golfers never recover from a collapse; others
use it to learn, and when the situation recurs, they are
wiser and better able to handle the pressure of the
moment. Collapses can be good in the long run, or they
can be forever devastating.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
• Release date: Mar 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781784281045

Book preview

Introduction

Golf is the most psychologically challenging of sports. Because there are long pauses between every shot, players have the time to drive themselves batty, make an easy shot difficult, make a calm state frantic. Only the golfer who can focus and block out the world around him can hope to win a major championship.

 As in any sport, a golfer can get on a roll and play dominating golf over the course of a round. But just as easily he can lose that edge and collapse as a result of the pres- sures of a situation. Indeed, a golfer’s collapse can come in many shapes and sizes.

In extreme cases, it can represent the entire downward spiral of a career. More common, it can manifest itself in a disastrous round or even a disastrous hole. These latter situations most frequently occur on Sunday, down the stretch, when the pressure is the greatest.

It’s easy to play a great 18 holes when practicing in the comfort of one’s home course; it’s quite another to do it in the final round of a major, with galleries hooting and hollering all around, and millions of fans watching on television. That’s pressure golf.

Collapses in golf are almost by definition psychological. A player makes a ridicu- lously unlikely shot for birdie or to save par, leaving his competitors flustered. Another makes a poor decision or incorrect club selection, doubts himself as he swings, and causes chaos to his score. Another over-analyses a putt until he’s not sure whether to aim left, right, or centre cup.

A nervous player can get distracted by a voice or cheer, some aspect on the course that has nothing to do with his game, yet which creeps into his focus and causes mayhem between the ears. A roar from another hole intimidates; a lip-out shatters the confidence; par to win turns into bogey to lose; an easy par 3 turns into a triple bogey 6.

There is only one way to win a tournament—play smart, solid golf. But, there are a million ways to lose a tournament, and over the hundred and more years of the pro game many golfers great and unheralded have found common and unusual ways to blow a lead or tournament.

This book considers the greatest collapses of all time, from a one-inch putt that Hale Irwin missed, to a score of 23 on a single hole recorded, improbably, by Tommy Armour, to a career that dove into the ground seemingly moments after his greatest triumph, as happened to David Duval after winning the British Open.

Some of the collapses happen early in a career that flourishes later; some are career shattering. Some give the golfer a greater understanding of what it takes to win; some are devastating events from which the golfer never recovers. Each collapse has its own story and its own reason for being a part of golf history. Some you want to laugh at; some cry. But no matter what, they are incredible events that occurred suddenly, without warning, and with significant consequences.

Andrew Podnieks, April 2014

Stories

Bobby Jones’s Rookie Mistake

You cannot possibly know your golf history without a thorough understanding of Bobby Jones’s place in it. One of the superstars of the game, and the greatest amateur ever to play, his contributions to golf are the stuff of legend.

Jones was a lawyer by profession, and by the age of 28 he had given up com- petitive golf altogether. But his star shone so bright in the prime of his career that he remains one of the game’s pillars. In his final year, 1930, he won all four of golf’s majors (open and amateur events in the United States and Great Britain), the only player ever to achieve the feat in the years before the modern four majors were established. In 31 career majors, Jones won 13 and finished in the top ten an incredible 27 times.

After retiring, he helped create Augusta National and the Masters tournament and came out of retirement to play it from 1934 to 1948.

But in 1921, Jones was only 19 years old and had not yet established a world- class reputation. Indeed, the most well-known part of his game was his temper. Be that as it may, he travelled to the Old Course at St. Andrews to compete in the British Open.

Jones was the low amateur through 36 holes of play, but he started the third round by carding a whopping 46 on the front nine. Then, at the par-3, 11th hole, he stuck his tee shot in Hill Bunker, short of the green and, quite literally, couldn’t get out.

After what reports suggested was upwards of 50 shots—but more reliable witnesses said was four—the frustrated teenager picked his ball up and walked off the course in disgust, tearing up his scorecard as he went.

The official result was a DQ, and he later said that that moment was the most inglorious failure of my golfing life.

Jones came off the course talking of how much he hated St. Andrews, and the local press returned the favour by commenting that, Master Jones is just a boy, and an ordinary boy at that.

Time changed feelings, though. Jones won the same tournament at the same course seven years later, and won the British Amateur in 1930 at the Old Course by scoring an albatross (score of two on a par five) on the long fourth hole along the way.

In 1958, Jones became only the second American (after president Benjamin Franklin) to be given Freedom of the City honours by St. Andrews.

Armour So Shaky He Coined It Yips

To the modern golf fan, the name Tommy Armour is best known as a brand of golf clubs, but to the historian, he is the eponymous golfer who had a brilliant career with one major exception.

Born in Edinburgh, Armour suffered injuries during World War I that temporarily took away his eyesight after a mustard gas explosion. He needed a steel plate in both his head and left arm and only after a lengthy recovery was he able to start to take golf seriously.

Armour moved to the United States, turned pro in 1924, and had an illustrious career on golf courses around the country. He won three major championships—the

U.S. Open in 1927, PGA Championship in 1930, and British Open in 1931—as well as the Canadian Open three times (1927, 1930, 1934).

Known for a near-perfect swing, Armour later became a renowned instructor who developed his own line of equipment. But in 1927, at the Shawnee Open, Armour recorded a so-called archaeopteryx (15 over par or more) of mammoth proportions. He carded a single-hole score of 23 on a par 5, the highest recorded score in PGA history, and it came just a week after he had won the U.S. Open.

Many fans of the day thought he could have or should have been an even greater golfer, but he was often overcome by the yips, a term he is credited with coining to describe the nervous, antsy feeling he had while preparing to make easy shots, particularly putts. Once you’ve had them, you’ve got them, he famously said.

Jones Grabs Defeat from the Jaws of Victory, Then Recovers

The 33rd U.S. Open was played at Winged Foot Golf Club over four days, June 27-30, 1929. It was a tournament both dramatic and anti-climactic, all the story revolving around the great Bobby Jones.

An amateur who never turned pro, Jones was nonetheless the finest golfer of the 1920s. By 1929, he was in a class of his own, and in any tournament he entered he was the de facto favourite. The 1929 U.S. Open was no exception, and Jones responded with a tremendous performance—mostly.

Jones opened with a 69 to take the lead, but a 75 in round two compromised his position. His two-day total of 144 was tied or behind three other golfers, notably Gene Sarazen. Jones recovered with a 71 in the third round to regain the lead, by three over Sarazen and four on Al Espinosa.

Sarazen played himself out of contention on the final day by shooting a 78, but Espinosa hung tough, carding a 75 to finish with a 294 total. Jones wasn’t having the best day, but he was comfortably in the lead. As he stood on the 15th tee, he was still four shots ahead of Espinosa with as many holes to play.

It wasn’t enough. Jones took a triple bogey on 15 and a bogey on 16. He parred 17 and then found himself in a heap of trouble on the closing hole. His approach shot landed in the bunker, and he needed all his resolve and will to get onto the green and sink his par putt to force a 36-hole playoff the next day, which he did. In fact, that final putt of Jones’s was perhaps Espinosa’s only hope, but Jones composed himself and rolled a tricky 12-footer into the cup to gain some momentum for the playoff holes.

And as it turned out, the showdown wasn’t close. Jones double-bogeyed the opening hole but settled down to finish with a par 72 in the morning round while Espinosa ballooned to an 84. In the afternoon, Jones went -3 while his adversary had an 80. Ironically, Jones won the tournament by a ridiculous 23 shots after almost losing it on the 72nd hole. Because he was an amateur,