Read Online Chasing Greatness: Johnny Miller, Arnold Palmer, and the Miracle at Oakmont by Adam Lazarus - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Adam Lazarus
Tags: United States, History, Sports & Recreation, Pennsylvania, Sports, Palmer; Arnold;, Golfers, Golf, Golf - General, Oakmont (Allegheny County), Golf courses, 1929-
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Player fortified his reputation as one of the world’s premier players. He edged out both Nicklaus and Trevino in the annual World Series of Golf (the tournament contested by the winners of that year’s majors; there were only three players in 1972 because Nicklaus had won both the Masters and the U.S. Open). Player then won in Brazil that November, and two weeks later he took a third consecutive South African Masters title.
Given Player’s devotion to physical training and his stellar close to the 1972 season, what happened to him at the beginning of 1973 stunned the golf world. In January, doctors urged him to have an emergency operation to remove a blockage between his kidneys and bladder. The team of surgeons also removed a cyst on the back of his left knee. The successful procedure relieved the large family clan, which was about to get larger: His wife, Vivienne, was eight months pregnant.
“Still, the big question that blocked out everything in my mind was: What will this do to my professional golf career ... ? I certainly didn’t know, and at that point neither did anyone else.”
Player remained bedridden for twelve days after the surgery, and doctors forbade him to touch a golf club for an additional six weeks. He lost considerable weight and muscle and was crushed that, for the first time in fifteen years (and the only time between 1959 and 2008), he did not compete in the Masters.
By the end of April, Player’s doctors deemed him sufficiently recovered to return to competitive golf, although he chose to play closer to home in Asia (and spend time with his newborn) before tackling the longer trip to America. He took fifth place at the Chunichi Crown golf tournament in Japan, thanks to a closing-round 65. In May, Player withdrew from the Houston Open, but finally made the trip to America two weeks later for the Atlanta Golf Classic—his first appearance on the PGA tour in more than eight months.
Although he surprised himself by winning the pro-am the day before the tournament, Player got off to a rocky start in Thursday’s opening round. Fortunate to make the cut, he then held his own and tied for nineteenth. Player rested the following week and then, to his chagrin, missed the cut by a single stroke at the Kemper Open in Charlotte. He decided to skip the IVB Classic in Philadelphia and instead headed to Pittsburgh to prepare for the U.S. Open. He also hoped to spend time on and off the course with Arnold and Winnie Palmer.
At Oakmont, Player repeated the same mantra each time reporters and well-wishers asked him about his health.
“I’m fit as a fiddle, laddie. I’m fine now. No aftereffects.”
His golf game, he believed, was still on the mend.
“I’m playing worse than I ever have since I’ve been a professional,” he said days before the Open.
Although his fellow pros considered Player among the most affable men on tour, some felt he regularly embroidered the truth for dramatic effect, and occasionally indulged in gamesmanship. But his recent surgeries, frail physique, and obvious fatigue created sympathy from fans and peers alike, while also dampening expectations that he could seriously contend.
Certainly Oakmont, in the middle of a hot, humid June, did not seem the best place for Player to return to top golfing form. George Blumberg, a South African businessman who followed Player for years, predicted he “cannot yet be mentally strong enough to come back in an event of this toughness.” A London Times reporter reinforced Blumberg’s point when he spied Player yawning on the sixth tee during a practice round.
Player’s memories of Oakmont during the 1962 U.S. Open also did little to put him in a positive frame of mind. Indeed, several of the comments that Player made at the time seemed downright mean, and were considered insults by the club’s devout Fowneseans.
“I still say this is the worst course that the Open has ever been held on,” Player told reporters in 1962. “The
Given Player’s devotion to physical training and his stellar close to the 1972 season, what happened to him at the beginning of 1973 stunned the golf world. In January, doctors urged him to have an emergency operation to remove a blockage between his kidneys and bladder. The team of surgeons also removed a cyst on the back of his left knee. The successful procedure relieved the large family clan, which was about to get larger: His wife, Vivienne, was eight months pregnant.
“Still, the big question that blocked out everything in my mind was: What will this do to my professional golf career ... ? I certainly didn’t know, and at that point neither did anyone else.”
Player remained bedridden for twelve days after the surgery, and doctors forbade him to touch a golf club for an additional six weeks. He lost considerable weight and muscle and was crushed that, for the first time in fifteen years (and the only time between 1959 and 2008), he did not compete in the Masters.
By the end of April, Player’s doctors deemed him sufficiently recovered to return to competitive golf, although he chose to play closer to home in Asia (and spend time with his newborn) before tackling the longer trip to America. He took fifth place at the Chunichi Crown golf tournament in Japan, thanks to a closing-round 65. In May, Player withdrew from the Houston Open, but finally made the trip to America two weeks later for the Atlanta Golf Classic—his first appearance on the PGA tour in more than eight months.
Although he surprised himself by winning the pro-am the day before the tournament, Player got off to a rocky start in Thursday’s opening round. Fortunate to make the cut, he then held his own and tied for nineteenth. Player rested the following week and then, to his chagrin, missed the cut by a single stroke at the Kemper Open in Charlotte. He decided to skip the IVB Classic in Philadelphia and instead headed to Pittsburgh to prepare for the U.S. Open. He also hoped to spend time on and off the course with Arnold and Winnie Palmer.
At Oakmont, Player repeated the same mantra each time reporters and well-wishers asked him about his health.
“I’m fit as a fiddle, laddie. I’m fine now. No aftereffects.”
His golf game, he believed, was still on the mend.
“I’m playing worse than I ever have since I’ve been a professional,” he said days before the Open.
Although his fellow pros considered Player among the most affable men on tour, some felt he regularly embroidered the truth for dramatic effect, and occasionally indulged in gamesmanship. But his recent surgeries, frail physique, and obvious fatigue created sympathy from fans and peers alike, while also dampening expectations that he could seriously contend.
Certainly Oakmont, in the middle of a hot, humid June, did not seem the best place for Player to return to top golfing form. George Blumberg, a South African businessman who followed Player for years, predicted he “cannot yet be mentally strong enough to come back in an event of this toughness.” A London Times reporter reinforced Blumberg’s point when he spied Player yawning on the sixth tee during a practice round.
Player’s memories of Oakmont during the 1962 U.S. Open also did little to put him in a positive frame of mind. Indeed, several of the comments that Player made at the time seemed downright mean, and were considered insults by the club’s devout Fowneseans.
“I still say this is the worst course that the Open has ever been held on,” Player told reporters in 1962. “The
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