Arnold Palmer's Guide to The Majors

majors Arnold Palmer’s Guide to the 2011

Arnold PAlmer: the king calls the shots seve bAllesteros: golf's greatest matador tiger Woods: what does the future hold?

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IF GOLF HAS A HEART, IT BEATS LOUDEST HER E . W HER E THE V ER Y S EED S OF THE GAME WERE PL ANTED AMONG THE FESCUE AND GORSE. AS THE SUN TAKES ITS PL ACE BEHIND THE CLOUDS, YOU STAND IN A LONG LINE OF MEN RE ADY TO MAKE HISTORY.

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Mr. Palmer’s Foreword It is my very great pleasure to welcome golf fans to the first edition of my guide to the majors. This publication was born out of my love and affection for the game’s four major championships, not to mention my long association with them, and I hope it will prove to be an enjoyable read for every golfer who has an interest in the game’s most compelling tournaments.

My first ‘major’ victory came in 1954 in the U.S. Amateur Championship at the Country Club of Detroit.

In those days, in the wake of the late, great Bobby Jones’s exploits, I for one certainly regarded the U.S. Amateur Championship as a ‘major.’ Indeed, had I not won that title I very much doubt whether my career as a professional golfer would have taken off in quite the way it did.

However, the game has moved on somewhat since 1954, and I think it’s fair to say that while winning the amateur championships of either the United States or the British Isles is still an enormous achievement it cannot quite be classified as a ‘major’ triumph any more—not, at least, as it used to be in Mr. Jones’s day.

My friend Bob Drum and I had the idea of a modern Grand Slam comprising the U.S. and British Opens, the Masters and the PGA Championship more than half a century ago. It seemed to me that the season needed some additional shape, structure and, if you like, an ultimate purpose. Without question, these four events, clustered together, represented the best way that that particular ambition could be achieved, and codified.

I am especially proud that my decision to play in the centenary staging of The [British] Open in 1960 seems to have led directly to a continued revival in the fortunes of the oldest championship of them all. I went to play there that year for two reasons—as holder of the Masters and U.S. Open, I could feel something special beginning to happen, but also because ‘Pap,’ my father Deacon Palmer, had always stressed to me the importance of embracing the game of golf on a global basis.

Looking back over the past half-century, I can see that Pap’s vision of the way that golf would develop as a sport was not far wide of the mark. In the last 12 months, all four major winners have originated from either Europe or South Africa and, as I pen these words, we are celebrating a superb victory in the Players Championship by an outstanding golfer from South Korea, K.J. Choi. Let’s not forget, in five years’ time we will see golf being played at the Olympic Games. Golf is now, truly, a global game and if I were to try to claim any legacy for this exciting development, it would be that I might have made a small contribution to the fact that the game is played today all over the world. At the same time, it should be acknowledged what a fantastic contribution to the game’s development has been made by the bodies that run the four majors—Augusta National Golf Club, the USGA, The R&A and The PGA of America. Without them, none of this, including this publication, would have been possible.

My passion for the game burns as brightly within my heart as it ever did, and I commend this guide to everyone who loves golf.

Yours Sincerely,

Arnold PAlmer

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Movers and Shakers Arnold Palmer Q&A Scenesetter Tiger Woods A Golden Era 50 Years Ago A Golden Generation How to Win a Major Masters Review 2010 Majors Charl Schwartzel Graeme McDowell Louis Oosthuizen Martin Kaymer Farewell to Seve Congressional Hole-by-Hole Washington D.C.

How the modern grand slam came into being The King reflects on his experiences as a champion golfer Anticipation mounts in Maryland, England and Georgia He’s no longer world No.1, but is Nicklaus still in his sights?

Were the years between 1958 and 1986 golf’s greatest?

Take a stroll down Memory Lane at the majors of 1961 Golf’s young guns shoot for an exciting future No one said it was easy, but it’s harder for some than others Relive the drama and thrills of one of the great championships How three of last year’s big titles were won and lost Masters winner explains the belief that led to a green jacket Befriend Pebble Beach and become a U.S. Open champion The South African who ran away with the Claret Jug Playoff triumph for Germany’s finest at Whistling Straits A personal tribute to one of golf’s greatest battlers What awaits the competitors at this year’s U.S. Open Thumbnail guide to the capital city and seat of government the majors 2011

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Royal St. George’s Hole-by-Hole London Calling Atlanta Athletic Club Hole-by-Hole Peach of a City Where Else to Play Governing Bodies Championship Playoffs Four to Follow Best of the Rest Always the Bridesmaid Augusta National The Olympic Club Royal Lytham & St. Annes Kiawah Island What’s in the Bag? Honors Board PGA Grand Slam of Golf

Plot your way round the host course for The [British] Open It may be 60 miles from Sandwich, but it’s a great place to visit PGA Championship returns to the Highlands after 10 years What to do and where to go in and around Atlanta Golfers are sure of a welcome near 2011’s major venues The organizations that run the majors, and what else they do Each major has a different way of going into extra time Look out for Messrs. Donald, Mahan, Stricker and Watson Pen pictures of 32 other prominent contenders Who wants to be the best player never to have won a major?

What’s special about the permanent home of the Masters Are you going to San Francisco for the 2012 U.S. Open?

The [British} Open returns to Blackpool’s near neighbor The PGA of America prepares for next year’s trip to the shore Getting to grips with all the latest playing equipment Roll call of all the winners of all the majors ever played A short break in Bermuda for this year’s major champions the majors 2011

Inspiration is what makes you achieve – in business and in your life.

-Arnold Palmer, Golf Legend & Insperity Client

For more than 25 years, Insperity™ has been inspiring business owners like you by helping them get ahead faster, with products and services tailor-made for maximizing opportunities for growth and profitability. Whether you’re ready for our most comprehensive solution – Workforce Optimization – or one of our many HR and business services and products, Insperity’s Business Performance Advisors are ready to guide you toward your ideal vision of success.

To hear Arnold Palmer discuss how inspiration, integrity and hard work helped him successfully achieve his lifelong goals, visit Insperity.com/Arnold-Palmer.

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Arnold Palmer, one of golf’s best.

Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, one of the nation’s best.

For more than twenty years, Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Arnold Palmer have partnered to provide leading-edge care to children and families across the nation. Annual donations from Mr. Palmer’s tournament, the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by MasterCard®, have gone toward building new facilities, purchasing life-saving equipment and, ultimately, transforming our pediatric hospital into what it is today—one of the best.

Congratulations to our Pediatric Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery and Orthopedics programs on being ranked among the best in the nation by U.S.News & World Report for the second consecutive year. We are extremely proud of this designation and would like to thank the man who helped make it possible, Arnold Palmer.

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11ORA101

USGA Foreword Like many of you, I am very excited for this year’s season of major championship golf. To watch the best players in the world compete over some of the greatest courses in the world in the game’s most historic championships is always a thrill for me. 2011 promises to be a truly engaging year, as we watch a host of young talent rise up to challenge the game’s established stars. The game has truly become a global phenomenon in recent years, and this year’s majors will surely showcase the extraordinary talents of players from around the globe.

As you might expect, my focus this year will be on the 111th playing of the United States Open, the premier championship of the United States Golf Association. For the third time in its history, the U.S. Open will be contested on the Blue Course at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD. In 1964, Ken Venturi overcame grueling weather conditions to defeat Tommy Jacobs by four strokes and win his only major championship. In 1997, Ernie Els captured his second U.S. Open title, prevailing by one stroke over Colin Montgomerie.

I can confirm first-hand that Congressional is in superb condition and that it will truly provide an outstanding challenge for the greatest golfers in the world. The Blue Course will play to a par of 71, one stroke higher than in the previous two U.S. Opens at Congressional, and we believe it will provide a complete test of golf. In recent years, we have moved away from penalizing rough just off the fairway to more graduated rough, because we want to showcase shotmaking recovery skills, including the opportunity to either play aggressively or conservatively. Our firm intention is that good shots will be rewarded and bad ones penalized. I cannot think of a purer principle on which to base the setup of a major-championship course.

I extend my most sincere wishes to my colleagues at Augusta National, The R&A and The PGA of America, with hopes that they too will enjoy an outstanding 2011 championship season. I know that they join me in celebrating the great players, the wonderful venues and the memorable moments that will come to define the 2011 major-championship season. We hope that golf fans everywhere will enjoy the very best this game has to offer.

Sincerely,

Mike Davis Executive Director, United States Golf Association

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Editor’s Welcome Each one of the world’s leading sports has its ultimate playground. In football it’s the Super Bowl, in hockey it’s the Stanley Cup, in soccer it’s the World Cup, and in track & field it’s the Olympic Games.

In golf we have four pinnacles, each commanding equal status in the game’s hierarchy—the majors.

This quartet of tournaments captures the imagination of golf fans around the world like no other, starting with the Masters in April, just as spring is bursting out all over, continuing through the height of summer with the Open championships of the United States and the British Isles, and concluding in mid-August with the PGA Championship.

The concept of the majors, or indeed the grand slam, is not new. Back in 1930, Bobby Jones was deemed to have achieved an ‘impregnable quadrilateral’ when he won both the Opens and the amateur championships of the U.S. and British Isles in one season. As the vast majority of the world’s leading players were professionals, even in those days, it was rightly said that such a feat would never be repeated.

While not necessarily dismissing this attitude as defeatism, it did seem throughout the 1940s and 1950s that the great championships operated in a sort of vacuum—of considerable merit in themselves but of no wider significance within the overall context of the game.

It was against this background that Arnold Palmer, his second Masters title in the bag along with a U.S. Open victory at Cherry Hills, traveled to St. Andrews, Scotland in the summer of 1960 to play in the centenary staging of The [British] Open. He got to talking on the flight over to Europe with an old journalist friend Bob Drum and it was during this conversation that the concept of golf’s modern grand slam was hatched. The idea caught on in Britain where the sport had been in a slump since World War II, and eventually it provided the incentive for the leading American players to enter The Open each year.

It is now more than half a century since the majors were grouped together in the public consciousness and only once has anyone come close to achieving the elusive grand slam: In the spring of 2001 when Tiger Woods added the Masters to the three other titles he had annexed the previous year, purists decreed that this was not a grand slam in the strictest sense. But Woods begged to differ, arguing that he had all four trophies on his mantelpiece at the same time.

At the time of writing, a recurring knee injury is clouding Woods’ future and, while it’s hoped he will return as competitive as ever, only time will determine the outcome of this worrying situation.

One thing is certain, though. Golfers everywhere are looking forward to a summer of drama and excitement at the three majors still to come. Recognizing this spirit of eager anticipation, Arnold Palmer is delighted to present the game’s genuine fans with this inaugural edition of his guide to the majors.

Enjoy the read,

PAUL TROW Editor

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Arnold Palmer

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Arnold Palmer pauses for thought after winning the 1962 Masters

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Movers and Shakers 20

the majors 2011

According to the records, the story of the majors began more than a century and a half ago on 17 October 1860 at Prestwick. Fittingly, the first shot in what was destined to become one of sport’s most enthralling sagas was played by the man who designed and maintained the 12-hole course on the west coast of Scotland as well as working as its resident professional.

But the story of how the majors came about goes back many years earlier. ‘Old’ Tom Morris had learned his trade at St. Andrews under his mentor Allan Robertson, who was without peer as a golfer during the mid-19th century. In addition to working as Robertson’s assistant, Morris partnered his boss in foursome matches. However, Morris was summarily fired as Robertson’s employee in 1851, reportedly because he was playing with a ‘guttie’ ball made of gutta percha (liquid rubber) when the cornerstone of his master’s business was the traditional ‘featherie.’

Morris decamped to Prestwick where he set up an alternative golfing base to St. Andrews. But it was the sudden death of Robertson from jaundice, aged 44, in 1859 that prompted him to create a one-day tournament to establish the identity of Robertson’s successor as the ‘Champion Golfer.’ Eight professionals took part and Morris eventually finished second, two shots behind the inaugural winner, Willie Park Sr., who carded a 36-hole total of 174.

The grand slam of golf’s four major championships owes its existence as a concept to three men above all others: ‘Old’ Tom Morris, Bobby Jones and Arnold Palmer. They are rightly revered for their playing achievements; more importantly, though, is the inspiration and leadership each provided at a pivotal point in the game’s evolution Morris went on to win the Moroccan leather Belt that predated the Claret Jug as the main prize a total of four times, and his son, ‘Young’ Tom, was also ‘Champion Golfer’ on four occasions.

Long after ‘Young’ Tom’s untimely passing at just 24, ‘Old’ Tom continued to play in The Open Championship and was still good enough to finish in the top-30 at the age of 67 in 1888.

By 1930, there were four tournaments in the game that stood above all others—The Open, of course, along with the U.S. Open and the amateur championships of both the British Isles and the United States. At that time, the world’s foremost golfer was an amateur—Bobby Jones. That summer, Jones, an attorney, mastered the brief set by four great courses—St. Andrews and Royal Liverpool (for the British Amateur and Open championships), Merion and Interlachen (for the U.S. equivalents)—to claim golf’s first and, to date, only grand slam.

Jones, with no other peaks to conquer as a player, the majors 2011

announced his retirement to concentrate on his law practice, saying, “It [championship golf] is something like a cage. First you are expected to get into it and then you are expected to stay there. But, of course, nobody can stay there.” However, he was far from finished as a force within the game, and it was his dream that led to the creation of Augusta National and what is now the opening major of the season, the Masters.

This, of course, is where Arnold Palmer came in. A whole new world was opening up in 1958 and names like Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando were on everyone’s lips. Then along came their golfing equivalent to win the Masters. Palmer was from a blue-collar background, but his humble origins did not prevent him from challenging an incorrect ruling that would have cost him his first green jacket.

Bobby Jones backed him up and the rest is history.

In 1960, Palmer won his second Masters along with the U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. At that point he decided to enter the centenary staging of The [British] Open at St. Andrews, and it was on the flight over to Europe that the concept that this Guide is honoring was born. Palmer got into conversation with golf journalist Bob Drum from the Pittsburgh Press, “during our extended cocktail hour,” about Jones’s slam and how it could never be repeated. “What would be wrong with a professional grand slam involving The Masters, both Opens and the PGA Championship?” Palmer asked. They stopped off in Ireland so Palmer could team up with Sam Snead at Portmarnock to win the Canada Cup [now known as the WGC-World Cup of Golf], and Drum spread the idea amongst the British journalists in the press tent.

When Palmer arrived in St. Andrews to tackle the third leg of his self-defined ‘slam,’ he was nearly washed away in a tidal wave of public support.

“Everybody picked up on it [the grand slam idea] right away,” he said. On this occasion, though, his trademark final-round charge was not quite enough to dislodge the 54-hole leader, Kel Nagle, and Palmer came up one stroke shy of the Australian.

But his love affair with The [British] Open had permanence and he lifted the Claret Jug at Birkdale the following year and successfully defended it at Troon in 1962. British crowds loved him: the way he hitched his pants, the way his powerful swing ended with a signature flourish and, most of all, the way he played. Palmer, who ended up with seven majors to his name, always went for the pin and fans could identify with that. Suddenly, Arnie’s Army had troops in a foreign field. Even more significantly, the game of golf was on the march.

When the world’s leading players assemble at Congressional, Royal St. George’s and Atlanta Athletic Club this summer, they will be contesting purses totaling more than $10 million. When they get a moment, they should offer up a prayer of thanks to the names of Morris, Jones and Palmer.

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Q: I’ve never heard you express that kind of evident pride in your role in elevating The Open Championship to such illustrious heights.

AP: Hey, they’re the ones who say I did it! I didn’t say it. I went for probably selfish reasons, to do what my father wanted me to do—become an international player—and going to The Open Championship was part of that.

Arnold Palmer Q&A Arnold Palmer may now only be playing golf for fun but he still keeps as keen an eye as ever on the sport at the highest level, not least when staging his own PGA Tour event at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, FL. He was his usual expansive and friendly self when our correspondent, Chris Rodell, met up with him recently at his office at Latrobe Country Club, PA. Q: The four majors are all run by different organizations. What benefits do you think that gives them that might be missing if they were run by the regular tours?

AP: I think it’s an advantage. It gives them an opportunity to be individual in their production of their tournaments. Whether it’s Augusta, one of the greatest productions in the world, or the U.S. Open, that is run very meticulously by the USGA, they all do a very good job. And The Open—I say The Open because that’s the way they refer to it—is run by a group that is very proficient and since 1960 has made continual progress. I see you smiling and know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking I’m

saying that because I started it. Well, I’d like to think I helped contribute to what is now one of the biggest tournaments in the world. The reflection on The Open Championship is now going to be even greater because the British colonies are how golf got spread around the world [in the first place].

With golf now in the Olympics, it’s going to put a greater emphasis on Third World countries because they’re going to think about golf and start building courses so they can compete. That will only reinforce the magnitude of The Open Championship.

It could be a huge worldwide explosion for golf. A lot of those countries didn’t even know about golf— but they will now.

“With golf now in the olympics, it’s going to put a greater emphasis on third World countries because they’re going to start building courses so they can compete. It’s going to be a huge worldwide explosion for golf” 22

the majors 2011

Q: What made you want to link the two Opens with the Masters and the PGA Championship to create the modern grand slam? Why the PGA, say, and not the Western Open which was pretty big at the time?

AP: That’s funny because at one time I thought the Western Open should be considered a major.

It was a very popular event and it certainly had all the aspects of being a major. But the PGA is the national championship of the professional golfers of the United States and it seemed more appropriate to make it the fourth major. When I was naming them, that was a natural thing to do, even though I did think the Western Open should have been one of the majors. In the early days of the Tour, the Western Open had a much more prominent space in professional golf.

Q: Do you think there’s a case for expanding the number of majors to, say, eight tournaments and spreading them across the whole year?

AP: That would dilute it too much. I think history is predicated on the fact that this is something that started a long time ago and if you started naming other tournaments as majors, like the Players Championship, the emphasis will go away from the real majors. I think it should be what it is. You want to keep an international ring to all these majors.

Q: We have identified a golden era spanning your first win in the Masters (1958) and Jack Nicklaus’s last win (1986). Do you feel, as one of the key participants in this era, that it was special? If so, why?

AP: The fact is that it was an unusual situation.

The Masters was still young when I started my run of winning a lot of tournaments. In Jack’s case, it showed that someone as great as he was could still win at an advanced age. Knowing how that feels, that was an outstanding victory for him and a fitting exclamation point for an era of really great golf.

Q: You tied for fifth at Congressional behind Ken Venturi in the 1964 U.S. Open. What are your memories of that event, and the extreme heat that apparently led to the scrapping of a final day consisting of 36 holes?

AP: The weather was unbelievable. It was extremely hot. The temperatures were in the 90s

palmer in victory and defeat: celebrating his win in the british pga championship at royal st. george’s in 1975 and (left) congratulating jack nicklaus on his first masters triumph in 1963

and that was when they gave Venturi a breathing period where he could catch his breath so he could finish. It had a lot to do with how the present [U.S.] Open operates and for a lot of reasons it’s better.

It gives you four days of television and a lot more time to gain publicity. Plus, it falls in line with the other tournaments.

Q: What are your memories of your closing round in the British PGA Championship at Royal St George’s in 1975? What can you remember about the course?

AP: That was one of my best tournaments ever and you’re one of the few people who’s ever brought it up.

That victory was one I thoroughly enjoyed. I haven’t won the [American] PGA, but I’ve won the British PGA and it meant a lot to me. It’s a great championship course and, incidentally, is the scene of The [British] Open this year. The course is famous and has its own deserved renown as a great course. I remember the last round was a cold windy day. For some reason, I played the whole last day in shirt sleeves. No jacket.

No sweater. And it didn’t bother me at all. I can’t say there were a lot of championships that cold and it didn’t bother me at all.

Q: You played in the U.S. Open of 1976 at Atlanta Athletic Club? What were your impressions of the course as a venue for the PGA Championship?

AP: I enjoyed Atlanta Athletic Club and thought they did a great job. It’s a fine venue for a major championship and they’ll prove it again in August.

Q: Tiger Woods’ withdrawal from the Players Championship has golfers everywhere wondering if he’s ever going to win another major. What do you think?

AP: Well, that’s a good question. I don’t know how serious his knee injury is, but if you rely on history and go back into all the books and read about great players and how their careers ceased or stopped, not many players have come back from serious injury to win and play the way they did before it happened. I suppose the one that’s most famous would be [Ben] Hogan and his automobile accident. He came back to win. He wasn’t that recognized as a truly great player until after the accident when he came back and really concentrated and worked on his game and became the famous player we all remember. It made him really work hard on his swing and concentrate. I can’t think of anyone else who did it like Hogan.

Q: It seems like the Tiger window has closed so quickly. It wasn’t that long ago that everyone seemed certain he’d break Jack’s record and now people are wondering if he’ll ever win again.

AP: I think he’ll win again, but whether he will pass Jack’s record, I don’t know. That’s five majors he’ll have to win to pass Jack. That could be very difficult, especially with a serious knee problem. If you said one or two, I could see it. But five majors from age 35 on is going to be tough. His physical strength and stamina has always been one of his great fortes, but now it’s a question mark.

Q: How did you feel when you heard the sad news that Seve Ballesteros had passed away at the age of just 54? And how would you assess his overall standing within the game’s history?

AP: He was just a child—54 is awfully young to pass on. I knew Seve pretty well and enjoyed his company. He was a pretty outgoing and flamboyant person. He was a great tribute to the game of golf and more specifically to the Ryder Cup. He really put a spark into the European golf community and the record there proves itself. He will be missed.

“I don’t know how serious his [tiger Woods’] knee injury is, but not many great players have come back from serious injury to win and play the way they did before. the one that’s most famous would be [Ben] hogan” the majors 2011

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“I was 1-up on seve on the 18th hole and he was in the woods and I was on the front of the green. he pitched in out of the woods for a three and I missed my three and he beat me in a playoff on the first [extra] hole” Q: What recollections do you have of your fantastic match with him in the 1983 World Match Play Championship at Wentworth when he pitched in at the 18th to beat you by one hole?

AP: I had really pretty much wound up my career at regular tournaments and when they asked me to play I thought, ‘well, what the heck.’ I’d won there a few times and decided it would be fun. As it turned out I was 1-up on Seve on the 18th hole and he was in the woods and I was on the front of the green.

He pitched it in out of the woods for a three and I missed my three and he beat me in a playoff on the first [extra] hole. I’ve seen strange things happen on the golf course and that was one of them. But I’ve had the reverse happen a few times in my favor, too!

Q: Did you enjoy yourself at the Masters this year? Was there any news about Gary Player joining you and Jack Nicklaus as an honorary starter in the future?

AP: I can’t predict anything about that. I get the feeling I’ll be asked back and I think Jack will, too.

I don’t know what they’ll do regarding Gary joining us. Right now, I think they like the fact that Jack and I do it and play the par-3 tournament. It’s a pleasure for me to be asked and to participate.

Q: You’ve hit so many nerve-wracking shots.

How does the 1st tee at Augusta rank in terms of nervousness?

AP: As Augusta has been known to do, they do things very, very well. They elaborate on the important things.

I think that makes that tee shot pretty special for both Jack and me. And, yes, I absolutely do get the jitters!

When I don’t get the jitters, I won’t be there.

Q: It wasn’t that long ago they were saying they had to Tiger-proof Augusta and make dramatic changes to the course. What did you make of this year’s Masters—the course setup, the winner, the scoring, etc?

AP: I think they have accomplished exactly what they wanted to accomplish. They have made the golf course difficult and I think they have the ability to make the course as difficult as they want it to be while remaining exciting. They’ve not only made it a great course and tournament, but they set it up so it’s pretty doggone exciting. If they had eliminated the birdies and eagles and come-back play, it wouldn’t have been nearly as exciting as it was this year. That kind of makes Augusta what it is. The fact that a player birdied the last four holes to win is incredible.

Q: Rory McIlroy collapsed spectacularly in the last round of the Masters. What lessons do you think were there for him to learn and how should he handle himself if he gets in the same position again?

AP: I think he’s going to be a very fine player.

He’s an outstanding young man. He’s very mannerly. He’s got all the things you need to be a great player. I was very sorry for his collapse at Augusta. I think everyone was rooting for him to come through with a victory. But if he takes it seriously and goes back and works on it, I don’t think it’ll be a problem for him to come back and win. He’s in a great position golf-wise. He’s young and he’s physically strong. I expect we’ll see great things from Rory.

Q: Which players are you looking out for in this year’s majors? Who do you think will make an impact?

AP: Martin Kaymer is a good-looking golfer and he’s already won a major. I wouldn’t be surprised if he won some more. Lucas Glover’s another. Bubba Watson is certainly one who will come along. He hits it a long way and with some more experience, he will become more acclimated to playing major championships and some of his excesses will become more guarded. Phil Mickelson’s a great player and has done so much for golf, but it becomes more difficult after 40, though I expect he’ll win again.

seve ballesteros (left) snatched an unlikely victory from arnold palmer, then aged 54, in the 1983 world match play championship at wentworth in england

the majors 2011

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palmer lines up a putt during his u.s. open victory at cherry hills in 1960

“If you can concentrate on what you’re doing and have the desire to do the things you have to do to win, you will succeed. [You need] the ability to keep that concentration centered on what you have to do” Q: Phil Mickelson has come second in the U.S. Open five times, and at least twice had an excellent chance of winning. Why do you think he has never been able to win it?

AP: I’ve had some similar experiences. I wonder if I hadn’t won at Cherry Hills—and I’m glad I did— but if I hadn’t I might have won about four others. Once you win, there’s some personal satisfaction that you’ve done it and that may take a little of the sharpness out of the pursuit to win another one. It’s a psychological aspect of golf and I think that’s part of what Phil’s wrestling with. In my case, I had so much personal satisfaction from winning that I think it kept me from winning again.

Q: Of your seven major championship victories, which one do you value the most and have the fondest memories of?

AP: I’d say the one you’re

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not considering a major. That would be the U.S. Amateur [Championship in 1954]. If I were counting, I’d count that one and I’d have to consider the British Amateur also. But the U.S. Amateur’s the one I consider my greatest victory. It meant everything to me, and my career.

Q: What about the ones counted among the seven?

AP: The U.S. Open was very special to me. The other is the Masters in 1964. Having won three, the one thing I wanted to do was walk up 18 with a comfortable lead and a smile on my face. That was a six-stroke margin of victory and it was a wonderful feeling.

Q: Which of the majors that got away do you most regret?

AP: The Open in San Francisco [Olympic, 1966]. It wasn’t a give-away—Billy Casper won it. He played very well and beat me in a playoff. The other would be The Masters in ’61 when I had a one-shot lead at the last hole and made 6, allowing Gary Player to win.

Q: How easy is it to become waylaid by commercial activities and social distractions after winning a major? How did you cope with the increased off-course demands on your time? the majors 2011

AP: You have to just continue to work and play your game. The spotlight is more on you and it becomes difficult. I had a streak of about 20 years when I was in contention in the majors. I didn’t win as many as I should have. You have to weigh it and its impact all by yourself. Nicklaus had the ability to really keep himself together and win the majors, and I’ll bet he’ll say he should have won a lot more too. But the spotlight is on you and that chips away at your concentration and ability sometimes to practice the way you should.

Q: What is the single most important thing to concentrate on when you’re in the thick of a battle for a major?

AP: You said it—keeping your concentration. If you can concentrate on what you’re doing and have the desire to do the things you have to do to win, you will succeed. Sometimes you get a little impatient.

Sometimes you get out of your realm of thinking and the ability to keep that concentration centered on what you have to do. Somewhere along the line you need to secure the ability to hit the shots you need to hit, and you have to [acquire] that kind of confidence long before you find yourself in that position on the last day.

Q: If you aren’t attending, are you glued to your TV set when a major championship is taking place or do you just watch the highlights?

AP: I do whatever’s on the docket for the day. I might hit balls. I don’t play much anymore, but I go hit balls. I enjoy the day by hitting balls, having a little lunch and then settling in to watch the majors.

That’s a great way to spend a day.

royal st. george’s will be hosting the [british] open for the 14th time

Majors W a i t i The 2011 Masters had fans on tenterhooks and the game’s other three grand-slam championships are expected to provide similar drama and entertainment. Paul Trow and Jack Ross look forward to a potentially electrifying summer of golfing brilliance

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It is perhaps premature to hail the advent of a new era in major championship golf, but the signs are propitious. The levels of excitement, anticipation and speculation prior to each of the game’s four annual showcase events have been far greater over the last couple of years, thanks largely to a refreshingly heightened uncertainty about the outcome. Those that believe a changing of the guard has already taken place point to the recent volatility at the top of the world golf rankings after more than a decade of dominance by Tiger Woods.

During the first four months of 2011, the No.1 mantle bounced back and forth, almost like a pingpong rally, between the experienced Englishman Lee Westwood and rising German star Martin Kaymer. Among those waiting to pounce should the others slip up, or their own remarkable talents suddenly hit the jackpot at the appropriate moment, are three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who this year peaked a week early in Houston, the majors 2011

Luke Donald, another Englishman who currently tops the PGA Tour money list, the Northern Irish duo of Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, and the achingly consistent Matt Kuchar and Jim Furyk.

And, of course, let’s not forget Woods himself, hardly a spent force if his front nine in the last round of the Masters in April is anything to go by, although he will clearly need to recover from his latest knee injury if he is to exert much influence over the forthcoming majors.

Since the well-publicised problems of his private life the winter before last, Woods has been remodeling his swing with coach Sean Foley and struggling to recapture his unique and fabled consistency on the greens. To date, this process can best be described as a work in progress. What is certain is that in his absence as the most feared cat in the jungle of tournament golf, the mice sure have been playing.

The last four major champions have all been

Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

in i n g first-time entrants to the game’s most exclusive winners’ circle—McDowell in the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen in the 150th anniversary [British] Open at St. Andrews, Kaymer in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, and Charl Schwartzel, another South African, at the 2011 Masters. Three members of this quartet are still in their 20s and McDowell is only 31.

Indeed, apart from 2010 Masters winner Mickelson, seven of the last eight majors have gone to first-timers with Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink and Y.E. Yang grabbing some unexpected limelight in 2009.

Woods, his career now focused more than ever on steering his tally of majors from 14 past the landmark 18 achieved by Jack Nicklaus, has not won a ‘grand slam’ title since his one-legged march

to the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Despite the recurrence of his knee injury, though, it would be foolish to suggest that, at the age of 35, Woods is finished as far as the majors are concerned. Indeed, he should take heart from the fact that Nicklaus himself spent more than three years in the majors’ wilderness between his 1967 U.S. Open triumph at Baltusrol and his 1970 [British] Open playoff win over Doug Sanders at St. Andrews.

martin Kaymer, winner of the 2010 PGa Championship, has been alternating with Lee Westwood this year for the mantle of world No.1 the majors 2011

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If there is a difference between then and now, though, it is that many more players today seem to have the game to win a major. Among the seasoned professionals still in the queue to break their major duck are Westwood, Donald, Kuchar, Adam Scott, Steve Stricker, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia, but behind them is a voracious gang of young Turks. Headed by McIlroy, this group includes Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Gary Woodland, Ryo Ishikawa, Jason Day, Jhonattan Vegas and Italian Matteo Manassero, just 18 and already twice a winner on the European Tour.

The courses staging the three remaining majors of 2011—Congressional (Blue), Royal St. George’s and Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands)—all require power and creativity in equal measure along with a nerveless putting touch. Woods of old would have been in his element. But can the Woods of today pick up the gauntlet again? All will soon be revealed.

historically, the U.s. open has been characterized by deep rough that usually forces the player who has hit even a slightly wayward tee shot simply to hack his ball back towards the fairway

When Congressional Country Club was conceived in 1921 as a place where members of Congress could relax and mingle with prominent businessmen, few could have anticipated that this challenging layout in the rolling horse country of suburban Maryland would one day provide the backdrop to two of the more dramatic U.S. Opens.

Ken Venturi showed up at Congressional for the 1964 U.S. Open with no expectations of grandeur, having lost his once-flawless swing and almost quit the game in despair. But in a (literally) death-defying display, he defied heat exhaustion during a slow march to victory in humid, 100-degree temperatures. He had plodded through a grueling 36-hole Saturday finale over the longest U.S. Open course ever with the assistance of a doctor who kept supplying him with salt tablets and iced tea. Venturi survived, but the 36-hole Saturday format was thereafter abolished by the USGA. When the U.S. Open returned to Congressional in 1997, throngs of spectators turned out (including President Bill Clinton), eager to discover whether golf’s new phenomenon, Tiger Woods, would repeat his recent dazzling performance at the Masters. On this occasion Woods came up short, but the fans were nevertheless treated to a dramatic denouement. South Africa’s Ernie Els held his nerve admirably and prevailed after Tom Lehman’s approach to the 17th green careened into the surrounding water hazard and Colin

Montgomerie, another long-time Open bridesmaid, missed a 5-foot par putt on the same hole (to the delight of beer-guzzling fans who had heckled the temperamental Scotsman throughout his round).

When the 111th U.S. Open is staged over Congressional’s Blue Course from June 1619, the players will encounter an even more demanding layout that has undergone several major modifications since 1997. The most visible difference is a re-routing of the holes so the round finishes on the former 17th, a mammoth par-4 that could play as long as 523 yards for the Open and will confront players with a nerve-wracking midiron approach shot from a downhill lie to a green perched on a peninsula.

The 18th hole in 1997 was a par-3 which, now reconfigured, serves as the 10th. Rees Jones, who assisted with the design modifications, said: “At a great golf course, it’s really wonderful to have a great finishing hole. We have that now.”

At 7,574 yards, the course will play 361 yards longer than in 1997. Seven new tee boxes have been added. It will also play to a par of 71, rather than a 70, as a consequence of the USGA’s decision to convert the 6th hole into a par-5 that is reachable in two shots but guarded by water in front and to the right of the green.

Mike Davis, the new executive director of the USGA who welcomed the changes to the course, explained: “We wanted it to be a risk-reward

ernie els held his nerve in 1997 to win the u.s. open at congressional

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par-5. We can get aggressive with the hole locations and give the players a choice.”

Davis has been involved in setting up U.S. Open courses since 2005, and in recent years has spearheaded some innovations in the USGA’s philosophy. A selection of teeing grounds enables the USGA to alter the length holes play during the championship, thus presenting players with different challenges each day. “That makes them think more,” noted Rees Jones. “When they think more, I think they play better.”

Historically, the U.S. Open has been characterized by deep rough that usually forces the player who has hit even a slightly wayward tee shot simply to hack his ball back towards the fairway. Since 2005, Davis has advocated a fresh approach: graduated rough that is less punitive for shots that miss the fairway by narrower margins, giving players opportunities to attack the green.

This change might prove significant this year, given that the fairways will be narrowed from their traditional width of 25-27 yards.

Mike Giuffre, the director of green and grounds maintenance at Congressional, explained that the new rough, consisting largely of a variety of tall fescues, is less thick and gnarly than the rye grass it has replaced and should therefore provide more shot-making options.

The boldest modification to the Blue Course

the Blue Course, always one of the toughest tests in golf, might prove to be an even greater challenge this time around

the starter’s hut on the 1st tee at royal st. george’s will become a very familiar sight during the 2011 open

has resulted from the club’s decision to rebuild all the greens in the spring of 2009. Davis admitted that the short time-frame had made him a little nervous, but Giuffre said that the project was necessary to improve drainage and eliminate the poa annua grass which did not hold up well in hot Washington summers. His staff used global positioning technology to replicate the existing contours of the greens.

The new greens, a hybrid bent-grass with a deeper root structure, were opened for play in June 2010 and have matured swiftly. “That was a short window,” said Davis. “Thankfully, they did a superb job of construction.”

Only time will tell whether the 111th U.S. Open at Congressional can replicate the drama and excitement of its predecessors in 1964 and 1997.

But one thing is certain: the Blue Course, always one of the toughest tests in golf, could well prove to be an even greater challenge this time around.

And if the temperature hits 100, don’t forget your salt tablets!

henry cotton playing in the 1934 open

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the majors 2011

Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

When Ben Curtis won The [British] Open Championship at Royal St. George’s eight years ago, there was a disrespectful chorus of ‘Ben Who?’ True, the young Ohioan (pictured right with the Claret Jug) struggled to find his feet after being catapulted so abruptly to the pinnacle of the men’s professional game. But he has since answered his critics with a series of consistent performances that, among other things, earned him a place on the victorious U.S. Ryder Cup team of 2008.

From July 14-17, Royal St. George’s, an unyielding force of nature despite being revered by the doyen of golf writers, Bernard Darwin, as “nearly my idea of heaven,” will host The Open for the 14th time.

Laid out along the coast beside the town of Sandwich in the county of Kent in southeast England, this rugged, dune-clad links is generally treated with the utmost respect by the players. Now measuring 7,211 yards to a par of 70, it is a far cry from the design that Dr. Laidlaw Purves, an eminent Scottish-born surgeon who was a member of the Royal Wimbledon Golf Club in southwest London, had established back in 1887.

Initially it was built to provide London golfers with a weekend retreat but by the turn of the century it had already hosted two Opens—in 1894 and 1899 when the winners were, respectively, J.H. Taylor and Harry Vardon.

Scotland’s Jack White won The Open two years after the club’s ‘Royal’ status had been conferred in 1902, and Vardon was victorious again in 1911. Other subsequent Sandwich champions include Walter Hagen (twice in the 1920s), Sir Henry Cotton in 1934, when his second-round 65 inspired the manufacture of the iconic Dunlop 65 golf ball, Reg Whitcombe (1938), South Africa’s Bobby Locke (1949) and the slim Texan Bill Rogers (1981).

But victories weren’t the whole story. In 1938, when tents were uprooted during that year’s Open and the late, great Henry Longhurst described the storm as the strongest wind he had ever known, the golf-course architect Frank Pennink, no mean player in his own right, incurred no fewer than four penalties for grounding his putter and causing the ball to move on the green.

Then came Harry Bradshaw, who lost The Open here in 1949 by one stroke having played his ball as it lay after it had rolled inside a broken bottle on the 5th hole of his second round. What is less well known, though, is that he had the ‘luck of the Irish’ in the last round when, having topped his ball on the par-5 14th, it hit a stone and leapt over the Suez Canal water hazard that crosses the fairway at around 300 yards from the tee.

Breaking par is no mean feat at Royal St. George’s, even in benign weather. The three finishing holes, especially, test golfers to the limit and have showcased plenty of drama over the years.

The par-3 16th was the scene of the first ever televised hole-in-one when, during the 1967 Dunlop Masters, Tony Jacklin avoided the eight traps surrounding the green to hole his tee shot. Alas, the 163-yard hole does not hold such happy memories for the Danish Ryder Cup player Thomas Bjorn who had his first major title virtually in the bag in 2003 only to take three shots to escape from a right-hand bunker and fall into a tie for second behind Curtis.

The 426-yard 17th causes problems mostly from tee to green although Australia’s Greg Norman did manage to miss from 18 inches for the only bogey of the scorching final-round 64 that lifted him to a two-shot victory over Sir Nick Faldo in 1993. This hole plays into the prevailing wind and those who are too ambitious off the tee will, more often than not, catch one of the severe fairway swales.

Most players during this year’s Open will take a long iron or fairway hybrid from the tee, thus ensuring a second shot of around 200 yards to a raised green where many balls reach the putting surface only to slide off again to leave a tricky uphill chip. the majors 2011

The 18th is one of the toughest holes on the course and it is imperative the approach finds the green on this 459-yard par-4. Scotland’s Sandy Lyle missed on the left in 1985 and found himself in ‘Duncan’s Hollow.’ The dip is so named because, needing a four to tie with Hagen in 1922, George Duncan, another Scottish golfer, went into the hollow and failed to get up and down. Lyle didn’t manage it either, but his five was still good enough to make him the first ‘home’ winner of the Claret Jug in 16 years.

One other notable victory at Royal St. George’s came in 1975 when Arnold Palmer, four months shy of his 46th birthday, lifted the [British] PGA Championship with a miraculous final round of 71.

Not only did he convert a five-stroke deficit into a two-shot victory but he defied icy, gale-force winds that were bending the flagsticks almost horizontally to record the day’s lowest score.

Such brutal inclemency usually sorts the men from the boys at a big tournament, but it is to be hoped—for the spectators’ sakes if not the players’—that the weather is considerably warmer and milder for The 140th Open Championship.

david toms lifted the wanamaker trophy when the pga championship was last held at atlanta athletic club 10 years ago

Don’t expect to see another winning score of 15-under par. thanks to a further rees jones makeover in 2006, this year’s competitors will be confronted by a far more challenging highlands Course As Atlanta Athletic Club prepares for the 93rd PGA Championship from August 11-14, one has to believe that Bobby Jones would be quite pleased with the new look and condition of the Highlands Course, as well as with his old club’s growing prominence as a host of major championships.

Jones, who learned to play golf on the club’s original course at East Lake as a child, wrote a letter to the USGA shortly before his death in 1971 that proved instrumental in bringing the 1976 U.S. Open to the A.A.C., which had moved to Johns Creek, 30 miles north of Atlanta, in 1967. And while Jones did not live long enough to witness Jerry Pate’s astonishing title-clinching 5-iron from the rough on the 72nd hole that swallowed up a flagstick tucked precariously close to the lake guarding the green, he was surely there in spirit.

Much has happened at the A.A.C. since Robert Trent Jones laid out 27 holes in 1966. These ultimately grew into two 18-hole courses—the Highlands and Riverside—when a fourth nine was added by Joe Finger in 1970.

The Highlands’ first big event was the 1981 PGA Championship. Larry Nelson, a soft-spoken native Georgian, compiled a seven-under-par 273 that left the likes of Fuzzy Zoeller, Tom Kite, Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman floundering in his wake.

Later, the Riverside staged the 1990 U.S. Women’s Open, won by Betsy King. After a Rees Jones redesign in 1995, the Highlands again hosted the

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PGA Championship in August 2001. There was no shortage of drama as David Toms made a 12-foot par putt after laying up with his second shot on the daunting 490-yard par-4 18th hole to hold off Phil Mickelson by a stroke and win his first major title with a blistering 15-under-par total of 265.

PGA of America officials were so pleased with the 2001 venue that they announced on the 18th green immediately after the tournament that their flagship championship would return in 2011. A.A.C. will thus expand the elite coterie of clubs to host at least three PGA Championships to five (the others are Southern Hills, Oakland Hills, Oakmont and Firestone).

However, don’t expect to see another winning score of 15 under. Thanks to a further Rees Jones makeover in 2006, this year’s competitors will be confronted by a far more challenging Highlands Course. The folks at A.A.C. apparently don’t understand the concept of resting on their laurels.

In addition to the installation of a new drainage system, several holes have been lengthened so the par-70 layout now stretches to 7,467 yards. Many of the bunkers have been reshaped, deepened and repositioned so they are much tighter to both the fairways and greens than in 2001.

Ken Mangum, A.A.C.’s director of golf courses and grounds, noted that the distance from the tees to the fairway bunkers had been increased to 280-320 yards, up to 50 yards further than in 2001.

In addition, the doglegs have sharper turns, placing the majors 2011

a premium on shaping tee shots to avoid running through the fairway.

The course has also undergone an extensive reseeding program with state-of-the-art grasses.

The common Bermuda in the fairways has been replaced with Diamond Zoysia, a new heatresistant variety that should provide a firmer playing surface and allow tee shots to bounce and roll. Mangum described it as “a fabulous grass” that will put a premium on accuracy from the tee.

The Highlands’ greens now feature Champion Bermuda, a new hot-weather strain. Kerry Haigh, the PGA managing director in charge of the course’s set-up, said the former bent-grass greens were stressed by the intense August heat and required such heavy watering in 2001 that the PGA were prevented from achieving the hard and fast putting surfaces a major championship requires. “Our goal is to make it exciting for the spectators without going over the top,” he explained.

Finally, the rough will feature Tifton Bermuda, a new, slower-growth grass with a deep green color that permits the ball to sit up a bit and provides players with an opportunity to go for the green. “You don’t need penal rough with firmer greens,” Mangum explained.

To add even more excitement, a new tee has been added so the 425-yard 6th hole can also be played from 296 yards, thus tempting players into taking a “risk-reward” decision and trying to drive the water-guarded green.

All in all, competitors can expect a very different and more challenging Highlands Course this time round. “We’ve set a new standard that others are copying,” said Mangum. Bobby Jones would have had it no other way.

Aiming for 36

the majors 2011

1

18 It is now almost three years since Tiger Woods landed the most recent of his 14 major titles. Since his heroic triumph in the 2008 U.S. Open, his assault on Jack Nicklaus’s all-time record has been derailed by injuries and turmoil in his private life.

Bob Harig ponders whether 2011 might be the year the former world No.1 gets his golf game back on track the majors 2011

What once seemed inevitable is now understandably questionable. To some, perhaps, it has even become unlikely.

Whenever doubting Tiger Woods, you do so at your own peril, of course. To write him off would not be wise, but to suggest he will not surpass Jack Nicklaus’s major championship record is a considerably easier bet to make today.

When Woods, 35, tied for fourth at the Masters in April, injuring his left knee again in the process, it was the 11th consecutive major championship he had not won. Yes, two of those were contested without him due to injury, but we are nonetheless approaching the three-year anniversary of his last victory in a grand slam event.

Few would have dreamed that the epic, drama-filled playoff victory over Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines in the 2008 U.S. Open, in which Woods basically competed on one leg, would be his last major championship success to date.

This is the longest stretch of his professional career without holding any major championship hardware, eclipsing two previous 10-major winless streaks. The fallout from his self-imposed golf exile in early 2010 has made an obvious contribution to this dip in form, but even prior to that Woods failed for the first time to convert a 54-hole lead into victory at the 2009 PGA Championship. In addition, he had decent chances at both the Masters and U.S. Open that year and failed to deliver.

Since his return at the 2010 Masters, Woods has chalked up three ties for fourth in majors—the two Masters and the 2010 U.S. Open—but he was not a factor at The [British] Open or PGA Championship last year.

“I’ve said all along, I’m surprised that he has not bounced back by now,’’ Nicklaus said. “I think he’s got a great work ethic, or at least he did. I assume he still does. He’s so determined to do what he wants to do. I’m very surprised that he has not popped back.

“I still think he’ll break my record. But we’ll see.

You can probably ask me that same question at the end of this year and we’ll see what the answer is. It will probably define a lot of what will be the answer.’’

The inference, of course, is that Woods needs to get a major title this year to make the task of

37

nicklaus is still backing woods to break his majors’ record

Woods’ previous lengthy winless streaks occurred during the midst of a swing change—from winning the 1997 masters to the 1999 PGa Championship and from the 2002 U.s. open to the 2005 masters overcoming Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors a little more realistic.

While he has four Masters titles, he has just one victory at Augusta National in the last nine years and has left frustrated in each of the past six years, with no finish worse than a tie for sixth, two runners-up spots but no wins.

This year was no different, as Woods came up short after a spirited final-day run that saw him tie for the lead through nine holes. He finished four back of winner Charl Schwartzel, and can point to six threeputt greens during the week as part of the problem.

And then there was the 2010 season. The majors seemingly set up so brilliantly for him, having won seven of his 14 at Augusta National, Pebble Beach and St. Andrews.

“Last year the majors were played on courses he owned,’’ Nicklaus said. This year, the remaining venues do not offer the same good vibes. The U.S. Open returns to Congressional Country Club, where Woods tied for 19th in 1997. (However, he has won at Congressional, taking the 2009 AT&T National, a PGA Tour event). He tied for fourth at Royal St. George’s, site of The [British] Open, in 2003—another year when he went winless in the majors. And he tied for 29th in 2001 at Atlanta Athletic Club, venue for the PGA Championship.

And the task does not get any easier. Woods is four major titles away from tying Nicklaus’s record

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of 18—or in other words the number of majors that Phil Mickelson has won in his entire career.

“It’s still out there for him,’’ Nicklaus said.

“The longer it goes the tougher it is going to be.

It’s simple mathematics.’’

If he looks at the positives, Woods would say that Ben Hogan (seven), Nicklaus (six), Sam Snead (five) and Gary Player (four) all won at least that many majors after their 35th birthdays.

woods was only 21 years of age when he received his first green jacket from sir nick faldo in 1997

the majors 2011

Then again, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson never won a single major after reaching that age.

“I still think he can [match Nicklaus],’’ said Woods’ friend Mark O’Meara. “It certainly has been a big setback with what’s happened in his life.

And it’s hurt him to be off [for so long].

“But I still think Tiger is the greatest player who’s ever played. He doesn’t have the greatest record, but I just don’t think there has been a better athlete in the game of golf. I still think he can do it.’’

Making the task all the more difficult is the seemingly unending depth in the game. Since Woods’ last major victory, 10 players have won the 11 majors played, with only Padraig Harrington winning more than one—The [British] Open and PGA Championship in 2008, majors Woods missed while recovering from knee surgery. Also in that span, seven players won their first and only major.

Woods is not backing down from the challenge. He does not talk like someone who has seen his better days, who will not win majors again, who will fall short.

Nicklaus’s record is not something he brings up but, when asked, he does not back away either.

“I absolutely want to do it. That’s the benchmark, the gold standard in this sport is 18.’’

He embarked on the third major swing change of his professional career to continue the chase. And it is interesting to note that both of his previous lengthy winless streaks occurred during the midst of a swing change—from winning the 1997 Masters to the 1999 PGA Championship, and from winning the 2002 U.S. Open to capturing the 2005 Masters.

When asked if we’ve seen the best of Tiger Woods, he simply said, “No.’’ Asked to elaborate, he said: “I believe in myself. There’s nothing wrong with believing in myself. That’s the whole idea. That you can always become better.’’

The Big Three and All That

Comparing golfers from different eras is a disingenuous practice. But if any period in the game’s history could be dubbed its Golden Age, especially in terms of the Majors, it had to date from 1958 to 1986. Richard Green showcases the achievements of Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and others during this glittering window in time

“A shot poorly played should be a shot irrevocably lost. Let the clumsy, the spineless, the alibi artist stand aside.” Thus wrote W.C. Fownes Jr., the architect behind the fearsome Oakmont layout, as he described his design philosophy when it came to the innate challenge of major-championship golf.

During the period from 1958 to 1986, when television popularized the game, those sentiments rang true each time the ultimate prizes were contested. The game’s greats always found a way to succeed, the pretenders were usually exposed, and critical moments of golfing history were written on a seemingly annual basis.

The 1960 U.S. Open was a glittering example, with Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and a young amateur named Jack Nicklaus all jostling for starbilling on the leader-board. It was a momentous collision of past, present and future. The Hawk hadn’t won a major for seven years and Nicklaus’s

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entire career still lay ahead of him while Palmer at that time bestrode the golfing world like a colossus.

Having won his second Masters earlier in the year, as well as four other regular Tour events, Palmer was rightly the hot favorite. But things didn’t go entirely to plan at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado and by the end of day three he trailed by seven shots. A spur, if it was ever needed, came from a now-famous conversation with Pittsburgh reporter Bob Drum, during which the press man dismissed Arnie’s chances. An indignant Palmer asserted that a closing 65—for a 280 total—would win the title, and when he teed off in the final round he blasted his way into golfing folklore.

The 1st hole at Cherry Hills measured 346 yards in 1960. Palmer—for all his power —had tried and failed to drive the green in every previous round. But on this day, he summoned the majors 2011

up every ounce of strength and smashed his ball high and straight. There were gasps when it came to rest just 25 feet from the cup. Although his eagle putt slipped by, Palmer had laid down a marker and went on to birdie six of the first seven holes. He went out in 30, came back in 35—the 65 he predicted would win it for him had beaten Nicklaus by two and confirmed his status as the game’s leading player.

More majors followed in quick succession for Palmer. The [British] Open the following year, a third Masters in 1962 and a successful defense of the Claret Jug later that summer. But after that they dried up—a fourth Masters title aside—and Palmer was left stranded on seven, some way short of the tally his talent deserved.

Sandwiched between those wins at Augusta National and Troon was the 1962 U.S. Open at Oakmont which proved to be yet another of

three names in particular dominated leaderboards in the early 1960s

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1962 revisited: palmer putting on the 16th at augusta (left) and congratulating nicklaus on his u.s. open win

those iconic moments where the mythical baton was handed from one generation to the next… reluctantly or otherwise. And just as he had ushered out Hogan a few years earlier, so Palmer found himself joined by a new force in the game: the now-professional Nicklaus.

Arriving as the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, 22-year-old Nicklaus’s impact at Oakmont was as symbolic as that of Tiger Woods at Augusta 35 years later. In scoring terms, the two could not be separated after finishing as the only men under par, but in terms of the game being played the difference was stark. Having routinely out-driven the mighty Palmer by 50 yards and one-putted just once in four days to Palmer’s 11, Nicklaus eased to a three-shot win in the resulting play-off and so began a dynasty that would last almost a quarter of a century.

In addition, 1962 was also significant as the only year when the so-called Big Three—Palmer, Nicklaus and South Africa’s Gary Player—shared the four majors between them. With Palmer casting such a large shadow over the game, the emergence of Player went almost unnoticed. That situation wouldn’t last long.

With his gutsy, tenacious approach, Player excelled on difficult courses and was a prolific winner. Having won the Claret Jug at Muirfield in 1959 and benefited from a final-hole Palmer calamity to claim the 1961 Masters, Player would complete a career Grand Slam by 1965. Nicklaus, meanwhile, was forging ahead at an even speedier rate of knots, needing just four years to complete the set. In the 1965 Masters, he finished nine shots clear of both Palmer and Player, a margin of victory that prompted the great Bobby Jones to state that Jack “plays a game with which I am not familiar.”

a nine-shot win for Nicklaus in the 1965 masters prompted Bobby jones to say: “jack plays a game with which I’m not familiar” If Player backed into his first Green Jacket, his 1968 Open win was encapsulated by the iconic second shot he hit into the 14th hole during the final round. Level with Billy Casper and Bob Charles—and with playing partner Nicklaus lurking only two strokes back—Player unleashed a 3-wood of controlled fury at the 14th hole that tore through the wind, bounded up the green and stopped a foot from the hole for a tap-in eagle-three. It was the decisive blow that propelled him to victory.

Earlier that year, another golfing whirlwind had emerged in the shape of the unique Lee Trevino. He burst onto the scene at Oak Hill where

he won a first major by four strokes from Nicklaus.

He beat Nicklaus again at Merion for a second U.S. Open in 1971 and added the Claret Jug to his growing collection of trophies later that summer.

Then came the 1972 [British] Open at Muirfield.

Nicklaus was halfway to the Grand Slam after wireto-wire wins at the first two majors of the year.

Trevino was the defending champion. Both men also found themselves challenged by England’s Tony Jacklin, who had won The Open in 1969 and the U.S. Open the following season. After three rounds Trevino led, Jacklin was one back, Nicklaus a further five in arrears. On the final day, Nicklaus drew level with the leading pair after 15 holes, but a bogey on the tough par-3 16th stopped him in his tracks, leaving Trevino and Jacklin to fight it out for the title. After both made par on 16, Trevino appeared to have blinked first when he backed off his drive twice on 17 (a photographer and his assistant had run across the fairway) and then

player receives the claret jug after winning the 1959 open at muirfield

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pulled his ball into a bunker. He hacked out, put his third in the rough while Jacklin was 15 feet away in three. What followed was vintage Trevino: having already chipped in twice and holed a bunker shot during the week, he walked straight to his ball, sized up the shot and hit before Jacklin had even marked his ball. It dropped straight in the cup for a par. Jacklin was visibly shaken and ran his birdie attempt by the hole. Worse still, he missed coming back to fall one behind. It was a position from which he would never recover as Tex Mex claimed his fourth major in memorable style.

Majors—particularly those at Oakmont—have largely remained true to Mr. Fownes’ strictures. In more than a century of major championship golf, only 22 rounds of 63 have been recorded, and only once on the last day. So when Johnny Miller chased down a class field to win the 1973 U.S. Open, it was a round for the ages.

Such a stellar display of attacking golf is not the norm for U.S. Opens. The first of Hale Irwin’s three titles the following year became known as the ‘Massacre of Winged Foot’ because of the course’s intense difficulty. Indeed, so tough was the set-up that no subsequent winning total has been higher than his 287 (+7).

Thankfully, the variety of venues and challenges is diverse, and for every Winged Foot there is a Turnberry, which in 1977 was making its Open bow. In the space of four unforgettable days, the Ailsa course attained superstar status, thanks largely to the derring-do of Tom Watson who by this time had taken up the baton from Trevino and Player, having already won the Open and the Masters. Nicklaus, meanwhile, was refusing to go quietly and showed as much class in defeat as in any of the 14 majors he had already claimed by that time. The two friends slugged it out on the bonehard links of the Ayrshire coast in the weekend sunshine, matching each other shot for brilliant shot. In the end there was just a single stroke between them, Watson’s pair of 65s beating the 65-66 of Nicklaus. This ‘Duel in the Sun’ remains the most iconic major of all time and propelled Watson towards an incredible five Claret Jugs.

Thirty-three years later, at the age of 59, he almost charmed his way to a sixth title over the Ailsa, proving, just as Nicklaus had on that fateful 1977 afternoon, that class is permanent.

Around this time a new force was emerging from across the Atlantic—a swashbuckling and charismatic young Spaniard who, like Palmer, was utterly fearless on a golf course. Severiano Ballesteros had already shown his star quality at the 1976 [British] Open at Birkdale where the 19-year-old led after 36 holes and wowed the galleries with an audacious chip between two bunkers on the 72nd hole to seal a tie for second with Nicklaus. It didn’t take long for him to become

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Nicklaus aNd watsoN laid oN the ultimate shoot-out at turNberry iN 1977

the ‘Duel in the sun’ remains the most iconic major of all time and propelled Watson towards an incredible five Claret jugs a major champion—in 1979 at Royal Lytham where he earned the affectionate title of ‘car park champion’ after making an improbable birdiethree at the 69th hole, having hit his second from among the parked cars in the right-hand rough. It was vintage Seve and typified the never-say-die spirit that would earn him a further four majors— including a first Green Jacket for Europe—and a Ryder Cup record few have ever matched.

Watson was also collecting majors at a steady clip, so too the likes of Larry Nelson, Raymond Floyd and Fuzzy Zoeller. Ben Crenshaw was also emerging as a force in the game, winning the Masters in 1984.

But this golden era of majors neatly concludes with a man who won more than any other.

Twenty-five years ago, aged 46 and without a major win since the 1980 PGA Championship, Nicklaus turned back the clock to record an astonishing Masters victory. Major No.18 was as enthralling as it was unexpected, with a back-nine 30 that overhauled a group of players that included Greg Norman, Tom Kite, Ballesteros, Nick Price the majors 2011

and Watson. His eagle-birdie-birdie blitz at 15, 16 and 17 remains the stuff of legend and this win is rightly revered as one of the greatest of all time.

It brought to a close what was unquestionably a golden era of major championship golf. What began with Palmer’s 3-wood at 13 to set up an eagle in 1958 closed with his old friend Nicklaus claiming a sixth green jacket. In between were moments of drama, brilliance, misfortunate and sportsmanship that spanned a group of multiple major winners who each carried on the fine traditions of winning with style.

The names trip readily off the tongue —Peter Thomson, Palmer, Player, Nicklaus, Trevino, Jacklin, Miller, Irwin, Floyd, Nelson, Ballesteros—with Nicklaus again bookending a period of sustained brilliance that showed the world the very best of the game.

As our friend Mr. Fownes famously said to Walter Hagen: “Surely it is not asking too much of a champion to expect him to play every shot?”

Indeed it isn’t.

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In 1961, JFK ascended to the Presidency and Ham the Chimp rocketed into space.

It was 50 years ago today, as the soon-to-be-discovered Beatles once sang. It was also a vintage time for major championship golf, as Art Spander vividly recalls

G o l Ann i v It was the year Arnold Palmer gave away the Masters with a blast out of a bunker and grabbed The [British] Open with a howitzer through a bush.

It was the year a South African in black was draped in a jacket of green; the year a golfer short enough to be a jockey made putts on the closing holes long enough to tie the PGA Championship (which he won the next day in a playoff).

And it was the year a pro nicknamed “The Machine” won the U.S. Open, the only major in a career which others thought would give him many majors.

It was 1961, a time of history, a time of memory, a time when woods—drivers and 3-woods—were made of wood. It was the time when Gary Player became the first non-American to win the Masters, when Gene Littler became the U.S. Open champion at an Oakland Hills course somewhat gentler than the one Hogan 10 years earlier described as “This monster, I brought to its knees.” Littler, who subsequently lost playoffs for

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arnold palmer blasts from the rough during the 1961 british open at birkdale

l d e n versA ry the Masters (1970) and PGA Championship (1977), used to say, “Golf is not a game of great shots; it’s a game of best misses.”

It was in 1961 when Arnie proved U.S. citizens not only belonged on British links but could be successful on them, no matter how inhospitable the conditions, earning both a victory and, from the spot at Royal Birkdale where he drilled a memorable 6 iron-shot, a bronze plaque.

And it was in 1961 when 5-foot-5 ½ Jerry Barber put on arguably the greatest putting show in modern history—and maybe ancient history—holing a 20-footer for a birdie on the 70th hole, a 40-footer for a par on the 71st and then a 60-footer for a birdie on the 72nd to tie Don January in the PGA Championship at Olympia Fields, just south of Chicago.

So much has changed. Woods are no longer made of wood, and also out of fashion is a tarnished hero named Tiger Woods. Yet the rules of the game have not been altered. The golfer with the fewest strokes wins, now as then.

Courses have been altered, lengthened, toughened. Take Augusta National where in 2011 the Masters was held for the 75th time. In perfect symmetry, the title was captured by a South African, Charl Schwartzel, just as it was 50 years earlier in 1961 when the winner was Player, the daddy South African golfer of them all. The course is very different these days, but Amen Corner remains Amen Corner, the fulcrum of which is the 12th hole, the par-3 over Rae’s Creek.

Still, there’s another 500 yards out there

augusta National is very different these days, but amen Corner remains amen Corner, the fulcrum of which is the 12th, the par-3 over rae’s Creek the majors 2011

now and, since 1999, short rough which Masters officials designate as the “second cut.” But, the equipment is better, the golfers are fitter, and tournaments have to compensate.

The revisions are most apparent at Augusta, because it’s easy to compare from April to April. But the other venues utilized in 1961 have not been neglected.

Oakland Hills, in suburban Detroit, hosted the U.S. Open in 1996, a Ryder Cup in 2002 and a PGA Championship in 2008.

Birkdale (now Royal Birkdale) is a fixture on The [British] Open rota, and on the day in 2008 when the Claret Jug was lifted by Padraig Harrington after a gallant performance by then 53-year-old Greg Norman, the wind was reminiscent of 1961, if not quite as strong.

And in 2003, Olympia Fields provided the stage for Jim Furyk to win his lone major, the U.S. Open. As was the case with Barber—who in 1961, at 45 years 3 months 6 days, was then the

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gary player tees off alongside arnold palmer and jack nicklaus during the final round of the 1961 masters

oldest ever to win a major (later, Julius Boros took the 1968 PGA aged 48 and Jack Nicklaus the 1986 Masters at 46)—Furyk was a brilliant putter. Unlike Barber, Furyk was, is, friendly.

“A round with Jerry was like trying to swim the English Channel with a backpack,” Eddie Merrins, pro-emeritus at Bel Air Country Club in Los Angeles, once said. Barber, who died at the age of 78 in 1994, was feisty and antagonistic, but a short-game genius nevertheless. He was also a fitness guru ahead of his time.

By comparison, Palmer was charismatic and heroic. By the time he pitched up at Birkdale, he had won the 1958 Masters, the 1960 Masters and the 1960 U.S. Open. Already he was the game’s superstar. Yet, every golfer makes mistakes. It’s the nature of the game. At the 18th hole of the 1961 Masters, Arnie would make one of his most infamous.

The scheduled Masters final round on Sunday was washed out, but only after play was well under way. Fifty years ago, unless a round was finished all scores were negated. So when the tournament resumed on the Monday, Player still enjoyed the four-shot advantage he held on Saturday evening.

Player double-bogeyed the par-5 13th, the hole Phil Mickelson almost eagled from behind a pine tree in 2010, and by the time Palmer hit his tee shot on 18 in that 1961 Masters he was in front by a shot.

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However, Arnie hit his approach into the bunker right of the green, blasted over the green down the hill, and took three from there for a double-bogey six. Arnold Palmer was shaken and, just like that, Gary Player was the champion.

“I thought,” he would say, “sixes were for other people.” This time the Masters was for another person—Player—while Palmer, undaunted, went on to claim two more green jackets.

If one shot lost the Masters for Arnie, one shot won the British Open for him. He had entered The Open Championship, as it is formally known, for the first time in 1960 and had a chance to win before finishing a shot behind the Australian veteran Kel Nagle at St. Andrews.

The weather that week on the east coast of Scotland was dreadful and it wasn’t much better 12 months later at Birkdale, on the Lancashire coast

“I remember the horror look he gave me when I declined the wedge and reached for the 6-iron,” arnie said. “I reasoned if I could get the clubface on the ball cleanly I could get myself out of trouble” the majors 2011

a few miles north of Liverpool. Heavy rain on day one was followed by winds so strong—blustering at an estimated 50 mph—that the wooden soft drink boxes were blown around.

The third day, when two rounds were scheduled as was then the fashion, rain forced not only a postponement but also brought the threat that the tournament might be canceled entirely.

Somehow, the golfers came back on Saturday and Arnie, his low tee shots boring into the gale that ruined the games of others, built a lead.

On what was then the par-4 15th hole—later, after renovation, the 16th—Palmer’s drive missed the fairway to the right and plunked under a small bush.

His caddy, Tip Anderson, pulled a club from the bag.

“I remember the horror look he gave me,” Arnie recalled, in his autobiography A Golfer’s Life, “when I declined the wedge and reached for the 6-iron. I reasoned if I could get the clubface on the ball cleanly I could get myself out of trouble.”

He did both, coming up 15 feet short of the hole. Arnie missed the putt (just as Mickelson did after his aforementioned miracle shot at the 13th in the 2010 Masters), but that didn’t matter. He didn’t miss the win nor did Birkdale miss a chance to provide a special reward, still anchored in the sandy soil.

“I had my par,” he would point out, “and I had my plaque.”

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the majors 2011

new a g e golf

The latest generation of hungry, young Tour golfers are growing into serious major contenders, as illustrated so vividly at this year’s Masters. Robin Barwick assesses the relative merits and potential of the ‘likely lads’

The vanguard of tournament golf’s youth movement marched menacingly into the limelight at the 2011 Masters, the opening major of the season.

The trio of wunderkinds (left) bestriding the fairways of Augusta National without fear or hesitation on the first two days—annexing the top of the leaderboard along with the galleries’ hearts—were Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, Australian Jason Day and Rickie Fowler of the United States.

The three musketeers, aged 21, 22 and 23 respectively, were taking dead aim and firing freely at one of golf’s most hallowed temples. They seemed like a freshening breeze, a wind of change if you will, but even in the case of these gilded youths there was a limit to what the Green Jackets would accept.

On arriving at his pre-tournament press conference with cap turned backwards—as is Fowler’s custom—the 2010 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year promptly found his headwear re-fashioned to a more conventional position

by Augusta’s press conference mediator.

But it was surely no coincidence that arguably the finest prospects from Europe, the U.S. and Australia were grouped together. They loved it, too—both the golfers and Augusta’s eager patrons. the majors 2011

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This year, you can actually see it.

“It was a lot of fun out there. rickie started quickly and jason got it going too—we were boucing off each other” —Rory McIlroy

at the halfway point of this year’s masters, day and fowler were both well in touch with leader mcilroy

McIlroy led the early charge as he birdied three out of the first four holes en route to a bogeyfree 65, seven under par and a share of the firstround lead with another big-hitting young European, the 28-year-old Spaniard Alvaro Quiros.

McIlroy followed up with a 69 to hold the 36-hole lead outright. Fowler was in the hunt with scores of 70-69, but the Friday belonged to Day, who carded five birdies on the back nine to shoot the low round of the week—a 64 (eight under par)—and position himself just two shots adrift of McIlroy.

“It was a lot of fun out there,” said McIlroy at the halfway point of a tournament that was holding back a piercing sting for him. “Rickie started quickly and Jason got it going too—we were bouncing off each other.”

“It’s fun playing with guys that are playing well and guys who I am good friends with,” said Fowler. “We were chatting down the fairways. I’ve spent some time with Jason off the course, and Rory and I have stayed friends since playing in the Walker Cup against each other in 2007. We’re all good buddies, but we’re trying to beat up each other on the course as much as we can.”

Fowler faded over the weekend to a tie for 38th while Day birded five of his final 11 holes to finish joint runner-up with fellow Australian Adam Scott (almost a veteran at 30), two shots behind the winner Charl Schwartzel, himself only 26 years old.

As for McIlroy, still leading with nine holes to play, his challenge was torpedoed by a disastrously pulled drive off the 10th tee that ricocheted off an over-hanging branch towards cabins set so far back from the 10th fairway that the TV cameras rarely catch even a glimpse of them. The Irishman’s game unraveled from there.

Much has been made of McIlroy’s alleged mental frailties since then, and about the fact that this player of virtually peerless natural ability has only won twice since turning professional in 2007.

But he is just 22, and while the humiliation he suffered in shooting seven-over-par on the decisive back nine at Augusta will no doubt be haunting him next time he finds himself in contention at a major, it could perhaps be the making of him. Indeed, it could, and should, harden his resolve never to let such a golden opportunity slip again. Sergio Garcia, for one, can tell him all about how the frustration of not seizing the moment, regardless of a golfer’s age, can cause potential to wither on the vine.

Challenging Fowler to become the next young American star is a 26-year-old who endured not one but two excruciating major disappointments last year.

Two of Dustin Johnson’s four PGA Tour triumphs have come at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, in 2009 and 2010, and it was at his favorite California the majors 2011

course on the Monterey Peninsula that he led by three shots after 54 holes of the U.S. Open. However, six dropped shots over the opening four holes of his final round stopped him in his tracks. Johnson was back in contention two months later in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, where he thought a bogey five at the 72nd hole was sufficient to earn a play-off berth against Martin Kaymer—aged 25 at the time—and the slightly more seasoned Bubba Watson, who was 31. However, Johnson had grounded his club in an ill-defined, dune-land bunker on the 72nd hole, and on completion of his round was informed that a two-stroke penalty would drop him into a tie for fifth.

“I don’t know if I can describe it,” said Johnson as he struggled to take in the ruling. “It never once crossed my mind I was in a sand trap.”

Such misfortunes ensure that when Johnson next challenges at the business end of a major— and it is hard to image that he will not, sooner rather than later—he will certainly enjoy a strong groundswell of support urging him to succeed.

This is the new breed, sending out signals loud and clear to the 30- and 40-somethings like Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter and Steve Stricker, none of whom has yet won a major. Their days are numbered—even Tiger Woods admitted he could not keep up with

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manassero is the youngest golfer to win a european tour title, finish leading amateur at the [British] open, and make the cut at the masters the distances some of these younger players were achieving off the tees at Augusta this year.

The rise of McIlroy, Johnson, Fowler and company has world No.1 Westwood looking over his shoulder, but also racing over that particular horizon toward him are a couple of even younger players that have been breaking records for fun: 19-year-old Ryo Ishikawa from Japan, and Italy’s Matteo Manassero, who has just turned 18.

Ishikawa became the youngest winner on Japan’s PGA Tour as long ago as 2007—he was then aged just 15 years and eight months, still an amateur and making his Tour debut. Now he is established as his country’s leading player and has for some time been ranked in the world’s top50. Admirably for one so young, he has also vowed to hand over every Yen of prize money he

earns in 2011 to the disaster funds aiding Japan’s recovery from the recent tsunami/earthquake/ nuclear catastrophe.

Emulating Ishikawa, Manassero became the youngest winner on the European Tour when he claimed the Castello Masters in October 2010, aged 17 years and 188 days. Manassero was also the youngest ever winner of the silver medal as the leading amateur in the [British] Open at Turnberry in 2009, and nine months later he became the youngest golfer to make the cut in the Masters. The Italian ended last season as European Rookie of the Year, and he has already chalked up his second Tour title this season at the Malaysian Open.

The future of global golf could well be defined by these two young players. Never mind Westwood, even McIlroy and Fowler had better watch out.

ishikawa was four months short of his 16th birthday when he claimed his first victory on japan’s pga tour back in 2007

HigH flyers The following players in the top-50 of the Official World Golf Ranking (on May 2, 2011) will be under the age of 30 on June 16, the first day of the 2011 U.S. Open Wr 2 6 12 13 19 20 21 24 27 31 33 37 38 39 43 44 46 50

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Name Martin Kaymer (Germany) Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) Dustin Johnson (U.S.A.) Francesco Molinari (Italy) Hunter Mahan (U.S.A.) Martin Laird (Scotland) Jason Day (Australia) Alvaro Quiros (Spain) Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) Matteo Manassero (Italy) Kyung-tae Kim (South Korea) Rickie Fowler (U.S.A.) Ryan Moore (U.S.A.) Anthony Kim (U.S.A.) Ryo Ishikawa (Japan) Gary Woodland (U.S.A.) Bill Haas (U.S.A.)

BorN December 28, 1984 May 4, 1989 August 31, 1984 June 22, 1984 November 8, 1982 May 17, 1982 December 29, 1982 November 12, 1987 January 21, 1983 October 19, 1982 April 19, 1993 September 2, 1986 December 13, 1988 December 5, 1982 June 19, 1985 September 17, 1991 May 21, 1984 May 24, 1982

age oN JuNe 16 26 22 26 26 28 29 28 23 28 28 18 24 22 28 25 19 27 29

the majors 2011

manassero celebrates his maiden tour win in spain last october

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N o t h M i N About MAjors The really big titles in sport are the ultimate confirmation of excellence. Thousands of people have the talent, only a chosen few are made of the right stuff. Dave Shedloski asks what it is that separates the titans from the also-rans

dustin johnson had two catastrophes at majors in 2010, both self-inflicted but very different from each other

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i N g o r disaster struck rory mcilroy at augusta

Leave it to the great Bobby Jones to put a fine point on the different levels of golf. “There is golf, tournament golf and championship golf,” he once said, “and they are not at all the same.”

Leave it to the great golf writer Charles Price to embellish the maestro. “All of them can be likened to walking a tightrope,” Price wrote.

“Ordinary golf… is like walking a tightrope when it’s just off the ground. Tournament golf is when they raise the rope to 60 feet. Championship golf is when they take the net away.”

“I’ve said many times that a good player can win a golf tournament but great players win major championships”—Arnold Palmer the majors 2011

Of course, there is so very little room on the tightrope; the glory can only go to one man. Thus, tumbles are inevitable, and they can be wretchedly painful, especially when the plummet comes from the high wires of major championships.

Examples of crashes ranging from ordinary to colossal are scattered throughout the game’s history, but one need look no further back than this year’s first major. Rory McIlroy, the prodigiously talented 21-year-old from Northern Ireland, was in control of the 75th Masters from the outset, and held a four-stroke lead through 54 holes. He still led by a stroke after 63 holes, but the meltdown he suffered on the final nine holes at Augusta National Golf Club was swift and certain and unsettling. An inward 43 resulted in an 80, and McIlroy became an also-ran as South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel tiptoed the tightrope and won the coveted green jacket that goes to the Masters champion.

McIlroy’s setback continued an unfortunate trend in recent grand slam tournaments. Nick Watney lost a three-shot lead in the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits with a closing 81, while Dustin Johnson’s final-round 82 in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach two months before erased a similar advantage.

It’s difficult to win a major championship, but a quick statistical survey indicates how hard it is to win any tournament. Consider the success rates of the two most dominant players of their respective eras. From first win to last, spanning 25 seasons, Jack Nicklaus won 73 PGA Tour titles in 450 starts, a success rate of just over 16 percent. Entering the 2011 season, Tiger Woods had won 71 of 265 starts, nearly 27 percent. No surprise that they own the two highest major totals, Nicklaus with 18 and Woods 14.

There are only four major championships.

In Jones’s day, they consisted of the Open and Amateur championships of the United States and Great Britain. Arnold Palmer established the modern grand slam in 1960 when he won the Masters and U.S. Open and then ventured to the home of golf, St. Andrews on the east coast of Scotland, for The [British] Open Championship at a time when few American players entered the world’s oldest tournament. He reckoned that the PGA Championship completed the new paradigm.

“I’ve said many times that a good player can win a golf tournament but great players win major championships,” says Palmer, who won seven grand slam events. “When you think of the majors, you think of the greatest tournaments in the world.” Indeed, the greatest championships in the history of the game.

The majors are the genealogical link through the oldest game man has ever devised, the ultimate litmus test that is the only true comparative gauge for players competing in three different centuries.

‘Old’ Tom Morris, Harry Vardon, Jones, Nicklaus and Woods all competed in different times with different equipment and against different

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In other words, to play for history can be an overwhelming burden that is at once welcome and withering. “In most people’s minds, the majors are beyond their comprehension because they mean so much,” Nicklaus says. “That’s why major championships are the toughest to win. In another sense, however, I can honestly say they’re the easiest to win, and by that I mean if a guy can get his act together, he can get a leg up psychologically.”

Therein, perhaps, lies the answer to the riddle: What does it take to win a major? And how is it that golfers without much pedigree have been able to climb the mountain and mingle with the game’s most accomplished players? “There’s something to be said for sort of knowing when it’s your time, when it all comes together for some reason,” says NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller, who won the U.S. Open and [British] Open. “But the reason Jack thought it was easy to win majors was because he understood how it came together, what he had to do to repeat it.”

There’s a considerable collection of shooting stars, men who streaked like comets and won a grand slam tournament without ever winning much else. Think of Jack Fleck, Orville Moody, Tommy

jack nicklaus showed he was still made of the right stuff at the 1986 masters

“I didn’t have much in the bag. But then I went to the range and suddenly something clicked in my swing, and I played very consistently all week. I was at ease and content that week”—Stewart Cink competition. But they shared a common goal, and their careers can be assessed through the common challenge of conquering the most meaningful championships.

“The major championships are the events in which you can compare golfers of yesterday with golfers of today, the only really true measurement,” says Nicklaus, who 25 years ago capped his career with his sixth Masters title. “With the advances in equipment you can’t possibly compare the game I played, or even the one Ben Hogan or Gene Sarazen or Bobby Jones played, with the game that is being played today.

But we always have the majors.”

“The test is there for all golfers, all across time,” says Padraig Harrington, who won his three majors in the span of six starts in 2007-08. “We’ve seen tough golf courses and we’ve played against the best competition in the world. But it’s the enormity of what the result means that puts the majors in another spectrum of importance. It’s what we all want to measure our careers.” the majors 2011

Aaron, Shaun Micheel or Paul Lawrie. Majors ask a lot of players. Sometimes it helps to ignore the questions or not ask a lot of oneself.

“One of the big things for me was that I had zero expectations that week,” says Rich Beem, the surprise 2002 PGA Championship winner, who fought off Woods at Hazeltine National for his only major victory. “There was a point early in the tournament where I could have gone either way, where I was struggling a bit and thought I was going to miss the cut. But then it all turned around, and I just relaxed and played golf. I’ve never had that feeling before or since.”

Stewart Cink, who defeated Tom Watson in a playoff in a dramatic 2009 British Open at Turnberry, in Scotland, recalls similar feelings. “It was a matter of low expectations that week. I was sick as a dog, and I wasn’t really playing all that great up to that point with not a lot of good finishes,” Cink recalls. “I didn’t have much in the bag that week, and I even remember telling [ABC broadcaster] Mike Tirico that I had nothing when I bumped into him. But then I went to the range and suddenly something clicked in my swing, and I played very consistently all week. I was at ease and content that week. I get pretty nervous coming down the stretch. Over there I was at ease. I stuck to my

tiger woods admits that luck sometimes plays its part in winning majors

“majors are supposed to take more to win than other tournaments. they’re supposed to be about many things, more of a total examination on a fair but challenging golf course”—Jack Nicklaus routine. Everything fell into place, and, obviously, that’s a week where you need to have everything working for you.”

That everything might even include fortune.

“You can hit all the shots, but sometimes you have to be a little bit lucky, too,” says Woods, who in his most recent major triumph, the 2008 U.S. Open, survived a playoff against Rocco Mediate despite

suffering painfully from an injured knee.

David Duval, the 2001 [British] Open champion at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, concurs. “There might be something that happens, it might even be on Thursday or Friday, where maybe you get a break and it saves you a shot or even more than one shot,” he says. “The key then is the majors 2011

what you do with those breaks and how you handle little things. I remember coming down the stretch at Royal Lytham, I had parred 10, and as I walked to the tee when someone in the crowd yelled, ‘Don’t worry. Still plenty of time to blow it.’ I thought to myself, ‘Not today.’ There was no way I was going to lose. I was totally at ease. But it wasn’t that different from other tournaments I had won. And I think having played in them, lived it, tried it, I was prepared for it by not mentally making it bigger than it is. Yeah, maybe majors are different, but you can’t let yourself get caught up in making them different, harder or more important. You have to be yourself and see if that isn’t good enough.”

In other words, majors might define a player’s career. But in the end, they really define the player himself. And whether that player is Ben Hogan or Ben Crenshaw, Jack Nicklaus or Jack Fleck, there comes a time when a golfer has to look inside and summon the best he has.

“The majors are supposed to take more to win than other tournaments,” Nicklaus says. “They’re supposed to be about many things, more of a total examination on a fair but challenging golf course.

Not only is it about the driving, but also the iron play, the short game, the putting, the test of your composure, your preparation, your approach and attitude and toughness. It’s about knowing when to back off, knowing when to get aggressive, and knowing that you’re facing all these challenges while playing against the world’s best players, the very best competition.”

You can compare major champions as far back as the game has been played. Majors are what connect golfers of every era, the only truly equitable measurement. And the same will be true 100 years from now. You can win tournaments, and you can win championships.

And history tells us the two are not at all the same.

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One Man’s Masters English golf writer Clive Agran made a long-overdue debut visit to Augusta National in April. Known as ‘Silky,’ more for his writing style than his golf swing it must be said, Agran chronicles one of the more exciting championship weeks of recent times

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the majors 2011

Monday

Night is drawing in when I arrive in Augusta, so there’s no point in sneaking a peek at the course. Instead, I drive up and down Washington Drive a few times in my rental car before demolishing a burger in TGI Friday.

In answer to my question whether any golfers had eaten there, my waitress informs me that, “Martin K-Mart, or something, was in here yesterday.” Could that have been Martin Kaymer, the young German who had just gone to No.1 in the world rankings the week before?

I didn’t have the heart to go back on (TGI) Friday to tell her he’d missed the cut.

Tuesday

After a frighteningly stormy night, the house where I’m renting a room is powerless.

Stepping outside, I’m greeted by broken branches and dangerously dangling cables.

It’s frustrating because the first thing I’d intended doing was sending a global email to everyone I know telling them I’m in Augusta.

Instead, I walk the 400 yards or so to the course, sort out my media accreditation, make myself comfortable in the Press Center, which resembles the United Nations General Assembly inside, and whack off 500 emails.

No matter how many times you’ve seen it on television, admired photos of it, read about it in magazines, or heard others describe it, nothing quite prepares you for the real thing here. The course is 50 times more beautiful than you can imagine and far hillier than it looks on television. Because there’s no rough worthy of the name, only the towering pines, sparkling water features, fabulous flowers and dazzling white bunkers interrupt the verdant lusciousness of the rolling fairways and super-smooth greens. It really is a perfect, massive lawn split into 18 separate sections by strategic features.

A huge crowd is watching the practice round. With passes so hard to come by, for many fans the practice days provide the only opportunity to see this extraordinary place in the flesh.

the majors 2011

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Wednesday

As an intruder from England, I spend the morning desperately seeking a dandelion, daisy or buttercup, but it’s a complete waste of time because Augusta National is a totally weed-free zone. Timed to reach their floral peak as the leaders step on to the 1st tee on Sunday afternoon, the flowers are as well behaved as the spectators (or Patrons, as they are called here). The place is immaculate, almost eerily so, and is kept that way by an army of gardeners, course superintendents, litter collectors and sundry other personnel.

The famous Par-3 competition takes place on a delightful little course to the left of the clubhouse just past the 10th tee. It weaves around two lakes and water comes into play on most of the holes.

This light-hearted event provides a wonderful opportunity to observe the competitors close-up and eavesdrop their banter. As I have a modest wager on Luke Donald to capture the Green Jacket, it’s a blow to see him saddle himself with the mantle of the ‘Par-3 curse’ that ensures no one has ever, or could possibly, win both.

I wonder if his odds have lengthened but can’t find out as access to my regular U.K. internet betting site is not possible from the USA. Instead, I fire off another 100 emails to say I’m in Augusta. luke donald is ‘cursed’ with the par-3 trophy

the green on the par-3 6th has tricky, undulating slopes

Thursday

My alarm-clock goes off at 6.00 a.m., but I’m so excited I’m wide awake long before then. A grizzled veteran of dozens of U.S. and British Opens, I’m surprised that at the age of 62 (and a third) I can still get worked up in advance about a golf tournament.

But this one is rather special and I’m standing by the 1st tee at 7.20 when the starter announces Arnold Palmer’s name. He smiles at his adoring fans and waves before thumping a glorious drive straight down the middle much to the delight of the considerable crowd. Jack Nicklaus then hits another beauty and the 2011 Masters is officially under way.

Walking the course is as easy on the feet as it is pleasing on the eye, thanks to the lush grass and soft pine straw. Because we tend not to see so much of them on the TV coverage, the holes on the front nine are a lot less familiar. Each is named after a plant and Juniper, the Par-3 6th, is my favorite. Plucky spectators sit out of sight beneath the elevated tee and watch the balls thump into a green that has trickier and more undulating slopes than an Alpine ski resort.

It’s so hot I decide to seek refuge in the airconditioned comfort of the Press Center, and save a close examination of the back nine until tomorrow.

End of play: Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Alvaro Quiros of Spain card seven-under-par

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the majors 2011

65s to share the first-round lead, two shots clear of the South Koreans K.J. Choi and Y.E. Yang. For Quiros it was a particularly joyous day because he had never previously broken 75 at Augusta.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson shoots 70 and Tiger Woods is on 71.

Friday

I’m learning to suppress my instinctive enthusiasm to clap or cheer when a ball lands close to the pin as premature applause can be extremely embarrassing. Like everyone else here, I wait patiently until it stops rolling 5, 10, 15 or even 20 seconds later because only retrospective assessments are safe in this treacherous context.

The back nine begins with a dramatic descent.

Both 10 and 11 plunge downhill and whisk you from the highest to the lowest point on the course—and into the heart of Amen Corner. Standing just to the right of the 12th tee, I spent a sublime half-hour soaking up that wonderfully familiar view and communing with the golfing gods. Surveying the frighteningly narrow tee-shot on the 18th, I wonder how many shots I would need to be leading by come Sunday afternoon to feel confident about Mickelson slipping the green jacket across my shoulders. Seven or eight might just be enough.

Then again, perhaps not!

“Guilt at having come all the way across the atlantic only to do what I’d be doing at home—watching on tV—motivates me to get off my backside and join the final pair” augusta national is blessed with an elegant clubhouse

I think I hear my ears pop as I climb steeply uphill to the final green to watch the new kids on the block, the young triumvirate of McIlroy, Jason Day and Rickie Fowler, finish off their second round.

How many Green Jackets might they eventually amass between them? It could well be ten—like Nicklaus, Watson and Ballesteros; or Palmer, Faldo and Player. Then again it could be none as winning majors requires a special sort of talent that goes beyond ball striking.

End of play: McIlroy adds a 69 to his opening effort to lead by two from Day. Tied third on 137 are Choi and Woods, whose thrilling 66 features two hattricks of birdies. Crowd favorite and 1992 champion Fred Couples stays in touch with a 68 for 139.

Saturday

I complete my tour of Augusta National by exploring its elegant clubhouse and admiring its distinctive cupola. One side overlooks the course while the other gazes down the 300-yard, ramrod-straight, tree-lined Magnolia Lane: the official entrance to Augusta National.

During the Masters, everyone (other than VIPs) has to use what appears to be a tradesmen’s entrance around the side. It’s not only perfectly adequate for the task but also delivers a rather subtle message about the relative status of those

the media center is very high-tech

who belong here, as it were, and those who are just visiting for the week.

End of play: A hard-fought 70 gives McIlroy a four-shot lead going into Sunday. The quartet on 208 (eight under) consists of Argentina’s Angel Cabrera (the 2009 champion), Day, Choi and young South African Charl Schwartzel. Woods is seven shots back after a 74 while Mickelson and Couples are a further two adrift.

Sunday

I can’t make up my mind whether to follow one of the final-day pairings, position myself in what is indisputably my favorite spot by the 12th tee, or enjoy the cool sanctuary of the Press Center and watch the action on TV. Quite weary from the previous three days’ exertions and a touch sunburnt, I opt for the Press Center and, like everyone else, am enthralled by the unfolding drama.

Eventually, guilt at having come all the way across the Atlantic only to do what I’d be doing at home—watching the Masters on TV—motivates me to get off my backside and join the final pair, McIlroy and Cabrera, on the 10th tee.

The former, leader of the tournament since day one, promptly snap-hooks his tee shot and appears to be making a premature, though unprofitable, visit to the Butler Cabin. Even if, mathematically, he the majors 2011

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was still in with a chance, it was clear McIlroy’s race was run and that this would be the nearest he got to Augusta National’s inner sanctum and an audience with Jim Nantz.

Unable to watch any more, I trudge back to the Press Center to watch a thrilling denouement during which at least six players—Schwartzel, Woods, Cabrera and the Aussie trio of Day, Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott—were poised to step up to the plate. McIlroy, alas, was toast. But he’s young (he only turned 22 this month, for goodness’ sake) and will certainly be back here; sadly I’m not, and probably won’t.

End of play: McIlroy collapses to an 80 after a poor putting display and that catastrophe on No.10.

Schwartzel finishes with four birdies for a 66 and a two-shot win over Day and fellow Australian Adam Scott. Ogilvy ties for fourth with Woods, who couldn’t sustain the brilliance of the outward 31 that catapulted him into contention, and Luke Donald, who wowed the galleries with a chip-in at the 72nd hole. Consolation for Woods after all he had been through over the previous 18 months was that he finished the leading representative from the United States. Next best American, in a tie for eighth with Choi, was the unlikely figure of Bo Van Pelt. He’ll certainly be back next year, and so, of course, will Couples who tied 15th with, among others, the unfotunate McIlroy.

mcilroy’s challenge ended near the butler cabin

Final ScoreS (U.S. unless stated; Par-72) 274 Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 276 Adam Scott (Australia) Jason Day (Australia) 278 Tiger Woods Luke Donald (England) Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 279 Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 280 K. J. Choi (South Korea) Bo Van Pelt 282 Ryan Palmer 283 Steve Stricker Justin Rose (England) Edoardo Molinari (Italy) Lee Westwood (England) 284 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) Ross Fisher (England) Trevor Immelman (South Africa) Brandt Snedeker Fred Couples 285 Ricky Barnes Ryo Ishikawa (Japan) Martin Laird (Scotland) Y.E. Yang (South Korea) 286 Jim Furyk David Toms Gary Woodland 287 Phil Mickelson

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69 71 68 66 72 70 67 67 72 64 72 68 71 66 74 67 72 68 69 69 69 69 73 67 71 70 67 71 67 70 71 72 73 69 68 70 71 72 69 70 72 70 71 70 73 71 71 68 74 70 69 70 72 67 74 70 65 69 70 80 69 71 71 73 69 73 73 69 69 71 74 70 71 68 72 73 68 71 75 71 71 71 73 70 74 69 69 73 67 72 73 73 72 68 74 72 72 69 73 72 69 73 74 70 70 72 71 74

288 289

290 291 292 293 294

Robert Karlsson (Sweden) Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) {Am} Charley Hoffman Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) Ian Poulter (England) Matt Kuchar Alvaro Quiros (Spain) Sergio Garcia (Spain) Ryan Moore Alex Cejka (Germany) Dustin Johnson Paul Casey (England) Bubba Watson Rickie Fowler Steve Marino Bill Haas Jeff Overton Kyung-Tae Kim (South Korea) Nick Watney Aaron Baddeley (Australia) Ernie Els (South Africa) Camilo Villegas (Colombia)

72 70 74 71 72 73 68 74 74 69 72 72 71 73 70 73 74 69 71 73 68 75 69 75 65 73 75 74 69 71 75 73 70 73 72 73 72 71 75 70 74 68 73 74 70 72 76 71 73 71 67 78 70 69 76 74 74 71 72 73 74 70 74 72 73 72 72 74 70 75 78 68 72 72 75 73 75 70 74 74 75 70 76 72 70 75 73 76

MiSSed the cut

146 Francesco Molinari (Italy) 75 71, Zach Johnson 73 73, Lucas Glover 75 71, Stewart Cink 71 75, Hunter Mahan 75 71, Anthony Kim 73 73, Robert Allenby (Australia), 75 71, Sean O’Hair 70 76, Tim the majors 2011

Clark (South Africa) 73 73 147 Kevin Na 73 74, Jerry Kelly 74 73, Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland) 74 73, Mark Wilson 76 71, Stuart Appleby (Australia) 75 72 148 Retief Goosen (South Africa) 70 78, Heath Slocum 72 76, Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 75 73, David Chung {Am} 72 76, D.A. Points 72 76, Peter Hanson (Sweden) 72 76, Ben Crane 73 75, Yuta Ikeda (Japan) 74 74, Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 75 73, Lion Kim (South Korea) {Am} 76 72, Jhonattan Vegas (Venezuela) 72 76 , Jason Bohn 73 75 149 Peter Uihlein {Am} 72 77, Anders Hansen (Denmark) 72 77, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 77 72, Hiroyuki Fujita (Japan) 70 79, Gregory Havret (France) 70 79, Kevin Streelman 75 74 150 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spain) 73 77, Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 74 76, Mark O’Meara 77 73, Martin Kaymer (Germany) 78 72, Larry Mize 73 77, Jin Jeong (South Korea) {Am} 73 77 151 Arjun Atwal (India) 80 71, Tom Watson 79 72, Craig Stadler 80 71, Jonathan Byrd 73 78 152 Nathan Smith {Am} 75 77, Davis Love III 75 77 153 Sandy Lyle (Scotland) 73 80 154 Vijay Singh (Fiji) 76 78 155 Mike Weir (Canada) 76 79, Ben Crenshaw 78 77, Ian Woosnam (Wales) 78 77 157 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 83 74

Three new major champions competed successfully with the long-time world No.1 for golf’s headlines in 2010, and another youngster joined them in the spotlight during the early part of 2011.

Paul Trow looks back on a pivotal 12 months for men’s professional golf

It is quite probable that golf historians will identify 2010 as the time that witnessed the changing of the guard in the Tiger Woods era.

Certainly the year didn’t start off that way with Phil Mickelson, brilliance undimmed only two months shy of his 40th birthday, coasting to his third Masters’ green jacket at Augusta National. But the trend was plain to see as a new generation of Tour pros increasingly forced their way into contention.

No longer were the pretenders gripped by fear of their elders and once-perceived betters.

The touchstone for this upsurge, of course, was the collapse of Woods’ personal life and carefully-crafted public image at the end of 2009 —an implosion that led to him taking an extended break from playing (his second exeat in less than two years). When Woods returned at the Masters his game looked ragged to say the least. That he tied for fourth, five shots behind Mickelson, was remarkable, especially considering it was his first tournament back after an absence of six months.

By then, though, up-and-coming players like Dustin Johnson, Hunter Mahan, Anthony Kim and Rickie Fowler were hoovering up the dollars at run-of-the-mill events on the PGA Tour. More importantly, they were getting used to being in contention and were no longer fazed by the prospect of requiring pars or birdies down the stretch to win with Tiger or Phil, or even Ernie Els or Vijay Singh, breathing down their necks.

European golf is enjoying a renaissance, thanks largely to the three majors that Padraig Harrington helped himself to in 2007 and 2008. Players like Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter and Justin Rose are clearly coming of age and are no longer intimidated by their cousins across the Pond. Of course, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia have been around a long while without ever quite cashing in on the game’s jackpots, but precocious youngsters like Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer are unquestionably well-equipped to resist any untoward influence that might hold them back.

And the talent coming to fruition across the rest of the world—Australia, South Africa, South America, Japan and the Far East—is also preparing to pounce.

It was against this background that the world’s best players assembled last June for the 92nd U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links on

the Monterey Peninsula, just south of San Francisco.

The Californian coastline at this time of year is truly inspirational, a divine combination of corrugating waves, radiant sunshine and capricious breezes. And the golf course is a sublime and tantalizing fulcrum of risk of disaster on one side and reward on the other.

Johnson, winner of the two previous AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Ams on the PGA Tour, looked to be heading for a truly impressive hat-trick of victories over the great links when he went to bed

Step ASide 68

the majors 2011

graeme mcdowell enjoys his kodak moment when he won the U.s. open at pebble beach

on the Saturday night with a three-shot lead after his third round. But not for the last time in the past 12 months, a commanding 54-hole lead evaporated in the cauldron of pressure that always comes to a boil on the final day of a major championship.

In the end, the spoils of victory went to Northern Ireland’s McDowell, a Florida resident who kept his composure in tough scoring conditions to end a 40-year title drought for Europe at the U.S. Open with a gutsy one-shot victory.

While Johnson ballooned to a closing 82, dropping six shots in the first four holes en route to a disappointing tie for eighth, the 30-year-old from Portrush defied the strengthening ocean breeze to grind out a three-over-par 75 and become the first British (or Irish) golfer to win the U.S. Open since Tony Jacklin finished top of the pile at Hazeltine National back in 1970. “It’s so difficult to win a golf tournament, let alone a major,” McDowell, kissing the silver trophy before cradling it like a baby, said after

e, tiger the majors 2011

two-putting the 18th green. “This thing feels amazing.

I’ve dreamed of this all my life, two putts to win the U.S. Open. A few pints of Guinness will probably go down around now [back in Northern Ireland].”

Frenchman Gregory Havret, who came through 36 holes of sectional qualifying to book his place at Pebble Beach, closed with a 72 to secure a surprise second place in his first U.S. Open. Double U.S. Open champion Els, briefly tied for the lead early on in the final round, was a further stroke back after a 73 while Woods and Mickelson tied for fourth on three over. Woods, who won the title by a record 15 shots when it was last held at Pebble Beach in 2000, said: “I made three mental mistakes and it cost us a chance to win.”

McDowell, who posted the highest final round by a U.S. Open champion since Andy North at Oakland Hills in 1985, said:“I can’t believe how difficult this golf course was. I kept my head down until when I bogeyed 10. I had a little peak at the leader-board to see what was going on and no one was going crazy.

I just tried to stay calm on the back nine.”

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dustin johnson plays from the fateful trap at whistling straits

johnson offered no excuses. the specific rule about every bunker being treated the same had been posted in the locker room all week Winner two weeks earlier of the European Tour’s Wales Open at Celtic Manor (scene of his other great golfing triumph in 2010 at the Ryder Cup), McDowell took advantage of Johnson’s nightmare start to take control of the final round.

For Johnson, who handed in the worst final round by a 54-hole leader since Fred McLeod’s 83 in 1911, it was a case of what might have been. “Playing so poorly, I still had fun today,” he insisted. “[I’ll] get it done next time.” As it turned out, he didn’t, but by the end of 2010 he had won a lot of friends. As far as U.S. Open history is concerned, though, his debacle compared with Gil Morgan’s Sunday collapse in stormy winds at Pebble Beach 19 years ago, Retief Goosen’s 81 at Pinehurst in 2005 and Aaron Baddeley’s 80 at Shinnecock Hills in 2007.

“I felt sorry for him,” McDowell admitted. “We’ve all been there and it’s not a lot of fun.”

The following month, the 150th anniversary of The [British] Open at St. Andrews on the east coast of Scotland was turned into a procession by unheralded South African Louis Oosthuizen who strolled round the Home of Golf on the final day with victory assured and duly crushed the world’s best by seven strokes.

The 27-year-old from Mossel Bay in the southern Cape, who brought the Old Course, and the rest of the field, to its knees with an assured display of ball-striking and holing-out, never looked like being headed after starting Sunday four clear, and finished with a 71 for a 16-under total of 272.

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England’s Lee Westwood emerged from the pack to finish second, a 70 putting him on 279.

Compatriot Paul Casey, who began the day as Oosthuizen’s closest challenger, ended in a tie for third on eight under alongside Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy.

The scene was set for a titanic battle between the final pairing, but when Casey missed a five-foot birdie putt at the 1st and bogeyed the 2nd, it was game over. Standing on the 13th tee, Oosthuizen led by eight shots. “After the 12th hole it became difficult having such a big lead, to keep calm,” he said. “I’m glad I had those [spare] shots on 18 because I cramped a little with the putter.”

Ranked 54th in the world at the beginning of the week, Oosthuizen’s win made a mockery of the form book. Not only had he never made a cut in the Open before but it was only his second professional win outside South Africa; and his previous best finish in a major was 73rd in the 2008 PGA Championship.

Woods had another torrid championship and finished in a tie for 23rd. “You just can’t play and expect to win golf tournaments if you have nine or 10 three-putts in a week,” said Woods, who won the previous two Opens staged over the Old Course.

“No one can win doing that.”

McIlroy opened with a 63, but blew up to an 80 in the high winds of Friday afternoon. Closing 69-68 over the weekend, though, showed how close he might have come had he kept a tighter rein on his the majors 2011

second round. “If I had just sort of stuck in a little bit more on Friday and held it together more, it could have been a different story,” he reflected ruefully.

A month later, there was a dramatic and controversial climax to the year’s final major, the 92nd PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wisconsin. In the end, Martin Kaymer’s name was etched on the Wanamaker Trophy, but a far more compelling image was that of Johnson taking one last sad look at his scorecard on Sunday before turning over his pencil to use the eraser on his final hole. His 5 had turned into a 7.

It kept Johnson out of a three-hole playoff, which the 25-year-old German won against bighitting left-hander Bubba Watson, all because of a patch of sand way right of the 18th fairway— outside the ropes, where thousands of fans had been walking all week. Unaware he was in a hazard, Johnson grounded his 4-iron behind his ball before playing his shot. “It never crossed my mind I was in a sand trap,” Johnson said. The resulting two-stroke penalty turned a thrilling final hour into a finale that will be debated for years.

Johnson offered no excuses. The specific rule about every bunker being treated the same had been posted in the locker room all week. A PGA rules official stopped him walking off the green and said, “We’ve got an issue,” but Johnson’s first reaction when told he might have grounded his club in a bunker was, “what bunker?” He didn’t bother going to the TV truck to study the replay. He knew he’d grounded the club. He just didn’t know he’d been in a bunker, figuring it was grass that had been killed under so much foot traffic. “The only worse thing that could have happened was if I’d made the [7-foot] putt on that last hole,” Johnson said.

After missing that putt on the 18th, Johnson thought he had slipped into a three-man playoff.

Instead, the two-shot penalty turned his 71 into a 73, and instead of gaining redemption from his U.S. Open meltdown, he found himself joint fifth behind his namesake Zach and McIlroy, who tied for third.

Certainly, it was the cruelest end to a major since Roberto de Vicenzo signed for a higher score than he had actually made in the 1968 Masters, which kept him out of a playoff against Bob Goalby.

Earlier, Kaymer holed a 15-foot par putt on the 18th hole in regulation for a two-under-par 70 to join Watson on 277 (11 under). One shot behind in the playoff, Kaymer made another 15-footer for birdie on the par-3 17th, then watched Watson implode with a double-bogey on 18. Lost in the confusion was Nick Watney, who had a three-shot lead going into the final round. He took double-bogey on the opening hole, lost the lead for good with a tee shot on No.7 that bounced into Lake Michigan for a triple-bogey, and closed with an 81, the highest finish by a 54hole leader at the PGA Championship since it went to strokeplay in 1958. Sound familiar?

2010 Roll of HonoR U.s. oPen ChAmPionshiP Pebble Beach Golf Links, June 17-20, 2010 284 Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland) 71 68 71 74 285 Gregory Havret (France) 73 71 69 72 286 Ernie Els (South Africa) 73 68 72 73 287 Phil Mickelson 75 66 73 73 Tiger Woods 74 72 66 75 288 Davis Love III 75 74 68 71 Matt Kuchar 74 72 74 68 289 Dustin Johnson 71 70 66 82 Martin Kaymer (Germany) 74 71 72 72 Brandt Snedeker 75 74 69 71 Alex Cejka (Germany) 70 72 74 73 290 Sean O’Hair 76 71 70 73 Tim Clark (South Africa) 72 72 72 74 291 Justin Leonard 72 73 73 73 Ben Curtis 78 70 75 68 292 Peter Hanson (Sweden) 73 76 74 69 Scott Langley [Amateur] 75 69 77 71 Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 74 71 74 73 Jim Furyk 72 75 74 71 Russell Henley [Amateur] 73 74 72 73 Lee Westwood (England) 74 71 76 71 293 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 73 76 73 71 Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 75 72 74 72 John Mallinger 77 72 70 74 Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 73 73 74 73 Shaun Micheel 69 77 75 72 294 Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 75 72 74 73 Ricky Barnes 72 76 74 72 295 Robert Allenby (Australia) 74 74 73 74 Tom Watson 78 71 70 76 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 77 70 74 74 Stuart Appleby (Australia) 73 76 76 70 296 Ryo Ishikawa (Japan) 70 71 75 80 Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 72 71 75 78 Brendon de Jonge (Zimbabwe) 69 73 77 77 Kenny Perry 72 77 73 74 Jason Dufner 72 73 79 72 David Toms 71 75 76 74 Ryan Moore 75 73 75 73 297 Vijay Singh (Fiji), Seung-Yul Noh (South Korea), Paul Casey (England), Bo Van Pelt, Stewart Cink, Robert Gates, Ross McGowan (England). 298 Chris Stroud, Jason Allred, Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand), K-J. Choi (South Korea), Ian Poulter (England), Luke Donald (England), Jim Herman, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spain), Scott Verplank, Jason Gore, Edoardo Molinari (Italy). 299 Steve Stricker, Retief Goosen (South Africa), Yuta Ikeda (Japan), Lucas Glover, Hiroyuki Fujita (Japan). 300 Jerry Kelly, Steve Marino, Eric Axley, Gareth Maybin (Northern Ireland), Steve Wheatcroft, Toru Taniguchi (Japan). 301 Erick Justesen. 302 David Duval, Camilo Villegas (Colombia), Matt Bettencourt, Fred Funk.

303 Kent Jones, Rhys Davies (Wales). 305 Nick Watney.

306 Zach Johnson, Matthew Richardson (England), Craig Barlow. 307 Mike Weir (Canada), Ty Tryon. 311 Jason Preeo, Pablo Martin (Spain).

U.S.A. players unless stated

The oPen ChAmPionshiP old Course, st. Andrews, July 15-18, 2010 272 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 65 67 69 71 279 Lee Westwood (England) 67 71 71 70 280 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) 63 80 69 68 Paul Casey (England) 69 69 67 75 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 68 74 67 71 281 Retief Goosen (South Africa) 69 70 72 70 282 Nick Watney 67 73 71 71 Robert Rock (England) 68 78 67 69 Sean O’Hair 67 72 72 71 Martin Kaymer (Germany) 69 71 68 74 283 Jeff Overton 73 69 72 69 Luke Donald (England) 73 72 69 69 Alvaro Quiros (Spain) 72 70 74 67 284 Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 71 75 68 70 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 71 71 70 72 Tom Lehman 71 68 75 70 Jin Jeong (South Korea) [Amateur] 68 70 74 72 Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 69 71 72 72 Dustin Johnson 69 72 69 74 J.B. Holmes 70 72 70 72 Ignacio Garrido (Spain) 69 71 73 71 Rickie Fowler 79 67 71 67 285 Tiger Woods 67 73 73 72 Stephen Gallacher (Scotland) 71 73 70 71 Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland) 71 68 76 70 Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 68 74 75 68 286 Adam Scott (Australia) 72 70 72 72 Marcel Siem (Germany) 67 75 74 70 Matt Kuchar 72 74 71 69 Ryo Ishikawa (Japan) 68 73 75 70 Kevin Na 70 74 70 72 Robert Allenby (Australia) 69 75 71 71 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 72 67 74 73 Alejandro Canizares (Spain) 67 71 71 77 Edoardo Molinari (Italy) 69 76 73 68 Bradley Dredge (Wales) 66 76 74 70 287 Peter Hanson (Sweden), Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark), Hunter Mahan, Colm Moriarty (Ireland), Vijay Singh (Fiji), Ross Fisher, Shane Lowry. 288 Ricky Barnes, Bo Van Pelt, Camilo Villegas (Colombia), Darren Clarke (Northern Ireland). 289 Phil Mickelson, John Daly, Lucas Glover, John Senden (Australia), Stewart Cink, Simon Dyson (England), Kyung-Tae Kim (South Korea). 290 Steve Stricker, Steve Marino, Zane Scotland (England), Danny Chia (Malaysia), Simon Khan (England). 291 Marc Leishman (Australia), Ian Poulter (England), Tom Pernice Jnr., Heath Slocum, Peter Senior (Australia), Y-E. Yang (South Korea), Toru Taniguchi (Japan), Jason Day (Australia). 292 Hirofumi Miyase (Japan), Colin Montgomerie (Scotland), Steven Tiley (England), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Sweden). 293 Andrew Coltart (Scotland). 294 Mark Calcavecchia. 295 Thomas Aiken (South Africa), Richard S. Johnson (Sweden).

296 Zach Johnson, Scott Verplank. the majors 2011

PGA ChAmPionshiP straits Course, Whistling straits, August 12-15, 2010 277 Martin Kaymer (Germany) 72 68 67 70 Bubba Watson 68 71 70 68 (Kaymer won after three-hole play-off) 278 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) 71 68 67 72 Zach Johnson 69 70 69 70 279 Jason Dufner 73 66 69 71 Steve Elkington (Australia) 71 70 67 71 Dustin Johnson 71 68 67 73 280 Camilo Villegas (Colombia) 71 71 70 68 Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 72 71 64 73 281 Matt Kuchar 67 69 73 72 Jason Day (Australia) 69 72 66 74 282 Phil Mickelson 73 69 73 67 Paul Casey (England) 72 71 70 69 Bryce Molder 72 67 70 73 Simon Dyson (England) 71 71 68 72 283 D.A. Points 70 72 70 71 Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 71 71 71 70 284 Nick Watney 69 68 66 81 Steve Stricker 72 72 68 72 Stephen Gallacher (Scotland) 71 69 72 72 Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 73 69 72 70 Ernie Els (South Africa) 68 74 69 73 Stewart Cink 77 68 66 73 285 J.B. Holmes 72 66 77 70 Jim Furyk 70 68 70 77 Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 71 70 71 73 Simon Khan (England) 69 70 71 75 286 Seung-Yul Noh (South Korea) 68 71 72 75 Tiger Woods 71 70 72 73 David Horsey (England) 72 71 69 74 Bo Van Pelt 73 67 72 74 Troy Matteson 72 72 70 72 287 Francesco Molinari (Italy) 68 73 71 75 Ryan Palmer 71 68 75 73 David Toms 74 71 67 75 Heath Slocum 73 72 68 74 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 70 73 73 71 Edoardo Molinari (Italy) 71 72 70 74 288 Brian Davis (England), Adam Scott (Australia), Hunter Mahan, Justin Leonard, Ben Crane, Vijay Singh (Fiji), K-J. Choi (South Korea), Tim Clark (South Africa), Brandt Snedeker. 289 Brendon de Jonge (Zimbabwe), Marc Leishman (Australia), Shaun Micheel, Martin Laird (Scotland), Darren Clarke (Northern Ireland), Kyung-Tae Kim (South Korea), Charles Howell III. 290 Retief Goosen (South Africa), Davis Love III, Tom Lehman.

291 Peter Hanson (Sweden), Kevin Na, Gregory Bourdy (France), Rickie Fowler. 292 Chad Campbell, Rhys Davies (Wales), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Sweden). 293 Brian Gay, Ryan Moore.

294 D.J. Trahan. 295 Rob Labritz, Stuart Appleby (Australia). 297 Ross McGowan (England).

298 Jeff Overton.

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the majors 2011

Charl

the

F i r s t The Masters rarely fails to throw up a surprise or two during its four-day excursion through the floribunda of Augusta National, and the 2011 tournament was no exception. Bill Elliott hands out a bouquet to the slow-blooming hardy annual who turned out to be anything but a shrinking violet

whatever else you get from Charl Schwartzel, you never get anything veering vaguely towards the over-inflated.

In an age when celebrity is almost everything and many sports stars huff and puff their way eagerly towards the centre of the biggest spotlight, this 26-year-old South African is more usually to be found towards the back of the class, listening rather than talking, watching rather than performing.

This remained true even when he pulled on Augusta National’s vaunted green jacket. Quiet, understated and considered is the Schwartzel way and will remain so no matter how high he now rises through the game’s elite.

“I don’t like a fuss really,” he says quietly and by way of complete explanation. His coach, Hendrik Buhrmann, put it another way when he said: “Charl’s big talent is in his mind. He was not at all rushed in that final round at Augusta. Even after he won you heard how slowly he spoke.”

It is, of course, easy to misinterpret this reluctance to high-five his way through the day as a kind of dullness, but to do so would be wrong.

Schwartzel is just an understated and considered guy who considers himself lucky to be indulging his passion for a living.

So quiet in fact that even relatively keen students of the world game knew little or nothing about him as he blitzed his way into their consciousness with that vibrant, unforgettable finish to sultry Sunday’s six-under-par round of 66.

“Who is this guy? Where’d he come from?” was the biggest question out on the course and back in the Media Center at Augusta.

Those of us who ply our trade on the other side of the Atlantic, however, know only too well who Charl Schwartzel is, and we also know how good he is.

He started to impress us when he gained his European Tour playing rights at Q-school when he was just 18 years and 81 days, the third youngest ever to pull off this exceptional trick. That was in 2002 and just over two years later he won his first Euro circuit title when he lifted the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek in his native South Africa.

“Watching Louis [oosthuizen] win the open at st. andrews last year... made me realise it was possible for me also to win a major” the majors 2011

Since then he has added a further five European victories to his curriculum vitae, the most recent of which came in January when he retained his Jo’burg Open title at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club. All of these wins, of course, have been stepping stones toward more elevated targets, but now he has his first Major title under his belt he can be said to have sealed his position as a truly outstanding player, a man of talent and determination and, yes, quiet ambition.

“Watching Louis [Oosthuizen] win The Open at St. Andrews last year was a huge inspiration,” he says. “You know, Louis and I grew up together.

We played every single team event and tournament either with or against each other and we represented South Africa as amateurs for so long.

“Basically, we are the best of mates and we play so many practice rounds together. We know so well where our level of golf is and just to see him do it in The Open made me realise that it was possible for me also to win a Major. That is a big barrier to jump over.”

At 5ft 11in and a can of beans over 154lb in weight, this golfer flies in the face of current wisdom that suggests only the biggest can triumph on the most significant of stages. The fact is that while size may matter to some, it is the scale of

75

individual ambition and the depth of a man’s heart that counts most when the heat turns up as it did in Georgia in that pulsating final round.

It also helps more than slightly when your father was a pro golfer himself. George Schwartzel is now a chicken farmer in South Africa but his love for the game that took him for a while into the chorus line at least on the European Tour is not diminished. It is a passion that he swiftly passed on to Charl and his brother Adrian.

“My Dad and my Mum have played such a big role in my life, my Dad especially when it comes to golf,” he says. “I could not have done this without him. He put endless time into teaching us. It was never an effort for him. He taught me my golf swing and he made it simple for me.

“Right from the start—and I played my first nine holes when I was four—Dad taught me the correct grip, the right stance, rhythm, posture and balance. Those were the five key things that we always worked on. I know that if something goes haywire then it is one of those things that has gone wrong. After that you have to learn how to handle pressure. The big thing in an event like the Masters is to remember to breathe because, you know what, sometimes you forget.”

And, of course, it is also important to remember the other people who have helped you stride through the door marked ‘Special’. In Schwartzel’s case this includes Jack Nicklaus, who talked him through all 18 holes at Augusta National before this wide-eyed young man had even walked the course.

schwartzel made his debut in the masters last year and offered the first clue that he could do well when, faithfully following jack Nicklaus’s blueprint for success, he finished in a tie for 30th place

charl schwartzel’s career peaked when he received the green jacket from phil mickelson

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the majors 2011

“I was thinking, ‘this is crazy, here is Mr. Nicklaus telling me how to play Augusta National and I have only ever seen it on television.’ I was in awe.”

Schwartzel made his debut in the Masters last year and offered his first clue that he could do well when, faithfully following Nicklaus’s blueprint for success, he finished in a tie for 30th place. Further evidence of his major progress also came in 2010 when he made the cut in the U.S. Open, [British] Open and PGA Championship, respectively securing ties for 16th, 14th and 18th spots. The evidence was there all along, if anyone had bothered to look.

Even so, this Masters triumph has left him at least a little bemused. Asked if he had expected to pull on that blazer before his hero, mentor and countryman Ernie Els, Charl replied that no, he had not.

“Ahead of Ernie? Not in a million years did I expect that to happen.” He did, naturally, say this very, very quietly indeed.

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Pebble 78

the majors 2011

Graeme McDowell seemed like a breath of fresh air when he breezed to victory in the 2010 U.S. Open on the Monterey Peninsula. But he tells James Corrigan it was hard lessons learned over many years that prepared him to become an overnight sensation

Like most professionals treading nervously towards their first major title, the realization hit Graeme McDowell somewhere between the 16th green and the 17th tee on a Sunday. Except this “Eureka!” moment did not occur on the final afternoon of the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach— this was seven days earlier.

It was the Sunday before the championship and the Northern Irishman was acclimatizing himself to the spectacular Monterey links in the company of his coach, Pete Cowen. Walking to the penultimate hole, they came across a bar with a TV showing the climax of the St. Jude Classic in Memphis.

Lee Westwood, McDowell’s friend and another pupil of Cowen, was on his way to winning his first PGA Tour title in 12 years. “We stood there watching it with a beer,” recalls Cowen. “And when Lee won, Graeme turned to me and said ‘that could be me this

week.’ I’d never seen him like that before. He was very, very confident. It was as if he knew.”

It is fair to say, nobody else outside his immediate circle had the first inkling. Considered a decent player, and a top bloke, in Europe, McDowell was not on the shortlists of the media contingent making the long trek across to the west coast. But now, a year on, McDowell is most definitely part of the conversation. Not only did he bring the world’s best to their knees on the hallowed turf overlooking Stillwater Cove, but he proceeded to make jaws hit mud for a staggering six months thereafter.

It was McDowell who won the point which won the Ryder Cup in the very last singles match at Celtic Manor; and it was McDowell who holed 25-footers on the climactic two holes to beat Tiger Woods in his own tournament at the Chevron World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club. Wherever

mcdowell’s year got even better in the ryder cup

Dasher the majors 2011

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McDowell stepped, so glory beckoned and the majority of observers believe he isn’t done yet.

A fixture in the world’s top 10, McDowell seems at the start of something, not the end.

Yet, as ever when charting a journey, it makes sense to tick off the milestones first. In truth, the 31-year-old has trouble remembering what came before Pebble Beach (and certainly what happened in the celebratory aftermath) but a few incidents do stand out when he is asked to account for his transition into hero status.

“2006 was a tough but very important year for me,” says McDowell. “I’d hurt myself in a car accident, was playing badly and was chasing my tail around the world. When Ken [Comboy, his faithful caddie] took my bag that year, I was in the middle of playing 19 events in 21 weeks. I was spinning. And I was starting to be a man on the golf course I didn’t recognize. I remember breaking a club during a round in Switzerland. I had never broken a club in my life. I didn’t know where I was, who I was. That’s when the penny dropped and I thought: I need to do something.”

What McDowell did was to rip it up.

Everything, that is. “My management team, my coach, my caddie, all kinds of stuff. The hugely important cogs in the whole mechanism,” he says.

“Would I have won the U.S. Open without those changes? Probably not.”

Then there was the little matter of changing himself. McDowell read a few of the “life stories” penned about him in the wake of Pebble Beach and believes them to have been “a little bit harsh” when they hinted at the rich young professional enjoying the high life in a bachelor pad in the lively northern England city of Manchester. The word was that the brilliant amateur—who in his time at the University of Alabama broke American collegiate records set by Woods—had won a few titles and was taking the celebrating a little too seriously.

“I’m not sure about all that,” says McDowell.

“I just made some bad decisions. I went to the States, took up my Tour card there, tried to crack the big time before I was ready, and lost my confidence. At the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club [in Dublin] I ended up commentating for TV and radio and thought to myself: ‘Where did it all go wrong?’”

A few years later it was beginning to go right.

McDowell prevailed at the 2008 Scottish Open at Loch Lomond and a few months later could be seen with his weapon of choice at the Ryder Cup; it was definitely not a microphone. He cut an impressive figure that week in Kentucky, but as far as reaching the elite echelons went, there was plainly still something missing. McDowell was becoming known as one of those perennial first-round leaders, who would grab the major spotlight on Thursday only to have disappeared by Sunday.

“I think I’ve led The Open twice after the first

80

“I thought about guys who won for the first time in the majors.

‘It does happen,’ I thought. ‘this is possible. I can win today. Why not me?’ You’ve got to dream big”

“I found out what Tiger means when he says majors are the easiest tournaments to win,” says this man honed on the unforgiving links of Royal Portrush. “You actually don’t have to do anything special because the courses are so difficult that you don’t have to beat the man, just the course. I thought about guys like Y.E. Yang, Trevor Immelman,

McDowell scaleD his U.s. open everest Despite a closing 75

day,” he says. “And both times turned out pretty horrifically. I’ve had so many rough weekends in majors. At Hoylake in 2006, I was just a beaten man. In first place after round one, 50th after round four. And then the Saturday at Birkdale two years later was as bad as it got. I was in the third from last group and shot an 80. It’s funny, I was talking to Kenny about it and he was telling me how he nearly punched me in that round. I went after every pin.

Mindless. A tough, tough day. But like I say, I learnt.

Things like patience, conserving energy, having conservative targets and really accepting that par is a good score. Or even three-over.”

That was exactly what McDowell fired in the final round at the U.S. Open, his 75 good enough to see off a garlanded pack of pursuers, including Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els. Victory at the Wales Open a fortnight before had afforded him the confidence to delve deep within his talent and competitive instinct, and he suddenly discovered it was all about finishing in guile, not style. the majors 2011

Lucas Glover, guys who have won for the first time in the majors. ‘It does happen,’ I said to myself.

‘This is possible, I can win today. Why not me?’

You’ve got to dream big.”

Life changed immeasurably and irrevocably for McDowell. He walked into the wonderland eyes wide open. “After he won the [2005] U.S. Open, Michael Campbell said no one ever tells you how to get down from the peak of Everest when you have reached the summit. A lot of people die on the way back down.

Just because you’ve achieved great things doesn’t mean you are automatically going to achieve more.

I was, and I am, very aware of the pitfalls.

“We have seen great players come and go as one-time wonders when it comes to the majors.

I don’t want to be one of those guys. All I can take from 2010 is a lot of belief in my game and the confidence that I’m on the right path. You have to keep the game in perspective, keep enjoying it and working hard. But having one major has made me certain I want to taste more.”

U SG A /John Mummer t

1 1 2 t h U. S. O p e n

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Oos a Cle 82

the majors 2011

A South African known as Shrek ‘monstered’ the world’s greatest golfers in the 2010 [British] Open at St. Andrews.

The best part of a year later, Louis Oosthuizen reflects on his unlikely runaway triumph. Paul Mahoney takes up the story

The Claret Jug engraver at St. Andrews had nightmares all weekend. After all, Oosthuizen is not a name that can be chiseled out with your eyes closed.

No doubt he was praying for ‘Casey.’ After all, Paul Casey was the first Englishman to go out in the final group since Sir Nick Faldo in 1993 when Greg Norman won at this year’s venue, Royal St. George’s. In the end, Oosthuizen was as inevitable a champion as Palmer, Nicklaus and Player had been in their day.

Realistically, Louis Oosthuizen made just one mistake during his glorious week at St. Andrews in July 2010. But it had nothing to do with his exotic surname. Rather, he let it slip that his nickname was Shrek. “My friends say I look like Shrek,” he said in his distinctive South African accent. “It’s the gap in the teeth. You can’t choose your friends, so what can I say?” Cue much laughter! “It’s a lot easier saying

Shrek than Oosthuizen. Ach, it’s a nickname since amateur days, so I don’t mind it. I take it on the chin.”

And the teeth! And the sticky-out ears!

Oosthuizen took all this gentle ribbing with grace, charm and self-deprecation. He even wore green for the final round. He was clearly embracing the Shrek joke. Or maybe it was a nod to his country’s rugby and soccer colors. He shot 65, 67, 69, and 71 to finish at 16-under par, five shots clear of Lee Westwood. “Winning at the home of golf was so special. It’s holy ground,” Oosthuizen says.

Thankfully, and unlike the 2010 soccer world cup in South Africa, there were no vuvuzelas blasting their infernal racket across the Old Course.

But whatever happened to St. Andrews specialist Tiger Woods, the 2000 and 2005 [British] Open champion over the Old Course? He finished on three-under par and in a tie for 23rd having

oosthuizen held a five-shot lead when he teed off at the 18th

ever Boy? the majors 2011

83

dabbled, and failed, with two putters. And so Oosthuizen added to his country’s illustrious band of major champions: Bobby Locke, Gary Player, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman. His best pal Charl Schwartzel made it seven by winning the Masters in April.

On the eve of the final round, the English media, desperate for a British winner, threw their support behind Casey, who was four shots adrift when he went out in the final group with Oosthuizen. The more jingoistic tabloid newspapers had a field day. Oosthuizen awoke on Sunday to cinematic headlines. “Shrek 4 [shots clear]. It ain’t ogre till it’s ogre,” shouted one. “Can Prince Charming [that would be Casey] banish Shrek to his swamp?” asked another.

But it was, indeed, all ‘ogre’ by the 12th.

While Oosthuizen was a picture of calmness, Casey drove into a gorse bush. Triple-bogey!

Plenty of time, then, for the engraver to get his spelling correct. The Claret Jug belonged to King Louis—the superbly named Lodewicus Theodorus Oosthuizen, a moniker fit for a Roman Emperor, never mind the champion golfer of the year.

The gods were certainly with Oosthuizen on the Friday. Gusting 41mph winds stopped play for 65 minutes in the afternoon. During the morning calm before the storm, the South African shot 67 to get to 12-under par and seize a lead he would never relinquish. Later that day, poor Rory McIlroy was blown away with an 80 when he was looking to follow up his first-round 63 with something a trifle better.

Oosthuizen spent Sunday night and a large chunk of Monday morning celebrating his victory in the Jigger Inn, the tiny pub next to the 17th green and the Old Course hotel. He is so respectful and in awe of the trophy and its history that he was reluctant to drink anything out of it. “But my friends made me drink champagne,” he says. “It was chaos in there.” Quite what his wife of four years, Nel-Mare, made of it all is not recorded, but the chances are that baby Jana was oblivious to the riot unfolding around her.

Even now, he is extremely nervous carrying the Claret Jug with him as he travels the world. “I’m frightened I might lose it,” he says. “It’s incredible to see my name on there with all the other South Africans and Seve, Faldo, Nicklaus, Palmer, Watson, and all the way back to ‘Old’ Tom Morris. Some of the really old names are engraved in print so small, it’s hard to read them all.”

Life has changed and will never be the same for the humble and softly-spoken farmer’s son from Mossel Bay in the southern Cape. But the 28-year-old is certainly enjoying the privileges of his success. He has taken up his PGA Tour card and can now cherry-pick the best tournaments.

Victories as far afield as Spain, his native South

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oosthuizen is now seeking that career-defining second major victory. “the masters is always in everyone’s mind after the [British] open. It would be nice to get a green jacket. But any of the four majors is big.

It’s what you work for. You don’t really want to put them in any order” the africa open joined the claret jug in oosthuizen’s trophy cabinet in january

Africa and, crucially, St. Andrews have filled Oosthuizen with the confidence that he can win anywhere. “I want to give myself a couple of years in the States to see if I enjoy it,” he says.

“But I also love Europe.”

He’ll be searching for that career-defining second major victory, too. “I think the Masters is always in everyone’s mind after The [British] Open,” he says. “It would be nice to get a green jacket.

“But any of the four majors is so big. It’s what you work for, and I think you don’t really want to put them in any order.”

Oosthuizen hasn’t forgotten his roots and pays tribute to the opportunities that opened up to him via the Ernie Els Golf Foundation in the late 1990s.

“Coming off a farm, where my dad worked the land, and probably struggled a little bit in those days, the Foundation came at a perfect time,” he says. “I was the majors 2011

in it for three years just before I turned pro, and just about everything that the Foundation did golfingwise for me was great for my career. When I was growing up, Ernie was the one that everyone wanted to be like. He is still a big hero in South Africa and around the world. I had goose bumps watching him on TV winning The Open in 2002 [at Muirfield]. I was thinking, ‘wow, I hope that happens to me.’” Wow! His dream did indeed come true.

After victory at St. Andrews, Oosthuizen was asked if he was going to buy a Ferrari or a tractor.

“Oh, definitely a tractor,” he said smiling. “It’s not as fast but it’s stronger.” He was true to his word, too.

There is a new sign at the entrance to his father’s farm. It says: “Home of the Claret Jug.” Oosthuizen plans to keep it that way. “I don’t want to give my Jug back,” he says. “Hopefully, I can get it straight back on Sunday at Royal St. George’s.”

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King of the world is a big title in any walk of life, but more so in golf after the seemingly endless reign of Tiger Woods. Victory in the 2010 PGA Championship was the stepping stone that made it possible for Martin Kaymer to climb to the top of the ladder. Mark Garrod charts his journey from relatively humble origins

It clearly pays not to write off German golfers too early. Back in the mid-1970s, a 16-year-old named Bernhard Langer appeared on the European Tour for the first time and to say he failed to set it alight would be putting it mildly.

On his debut at the Swiss Open, Langer missed the 36-hole cut by six shots. A week later in the German Open, he opened with an 87 and came last.

Things got better in his next two starts the following year—his stroke average improved from 78.8 to 78.4. But when he could not break 80 on either of the first two days of the season-ending Italian Open, one wondered how much more would be heard of the blond-haired bricklayer’s son.

The answer, of course, was quite a lot. When the official world rankings were launched at the 1986 Masters, the golfer looking down on everyone else was Bernhard Langer.

the sweetness of victory has become a familiar taste for kaymer

And when this year’s Masters began and ended, the name at the top, even though he missed the cut at Augusta National for the third time in three starts, was Martin Kaymer. While some may think it has been a meteoric and untroubled rise for the 26-year-old from Dusseldorf—second youngest holder of the sport’s premier position after Tiger Woods— the truth is rather different.

Seven years ago, Kaymer entered the European Tour qualifying school as an amateur, but failed to make it past the first of the three stages. Twelve months later he was there in Spain for the final, make-or-break week and ended up 142nd out of 151.

Even when he did earn a card at the third attempt, having come through the second tier Challenge Tour in 2006, he missed his first five cuts and looked like a fish out of water. “I was on my own and I didn’t know anyone—I just

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Kaiser 87

felt a little bit alone during this time,” he admits.

Yet from that shaky start Kaymer has climbed, like Langer before him, to the very summit of world golf— garnering his first major title, and his first Ryder Cup appearance along the way for good measure.

It surprised no one who has followed him the last few years that, despite his youth, Kaymer was able to handle the pressures of Whistling Straits and Celtic Manor so well last year.

At the PGA Championship, he made a 15-footer on the last to tie with Bubba Watson and then, after the drama of Dustin Johnson’s two-shot penalty for grounding his club in a bunker, he bounced back from Watson’s opening birdie to win the three-hole play-off.

Despite being a rookie in the Ryder Cup, he was asked by skipper Colin Montgomerie to lead off for Europe alongside Lee Westwood, who he succeeded as world No.1. They beat Johnson and Phil Mickelson, and Kaymer finished the contest with 2½ points out of four. If you count that as a victory for the individual as well as the team, it was the third of a remarkable run of four wins in a row (after the PGA Championship, he also won the KLM Open in Holland and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews). At the start of 2011, he claimed his third win in four years in Abu Dhabi in January and ascended to world No.1 by reaching the final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson a month later.

“He’s a fantastic player and he’s got a lot of bottle—you can see why he’s won a major championship already,” said Westwood, the man who ceded the crown to the young German less than three months after taking it off Woods.

Ernie Els was Kaymer’s boyhood hero and the South African has been as impressed as anyone by his rapid progress. “He’s got a great mind. He’s got that cool, very ice-cold demeanor,” said Els. Langer, meanwhile, has long thought the sky was the limit for the player inevitably dubbed his ‘Herr Apparent,’ commenting: “I think he could go wherever he wants. He has got good technique and a wonderful head on his shoulders—he’s much more mature than his age would give away.

“The first I heard about him was when he was playing on mini-tours. He was winning a bunch of tournaments, sometimes two or three in a row, shooting some ridiculously low numbers and winning by a ton.

“As he was German, I got interested. And as he breezed through one tour after another, obviously it looked like there was someone special coming along. Now he’s won a major.”

Golf’s gain is soccer’s loss. His father, the son of a boxer, played for a second division team in Germany and Kaymer showed promise as a youngster. “When I was 14 I had to decide which sport I wanted to play. I chose golf because it’s an individual sport. When you’re playing football you’ve got 10 other guys with you and right now I’m

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“most people think Germans are boring people,” Kaymer says. “I’m not boring, but I’m not like a crazy, crazy guy. I’m very normal”

though, he could not, would not, be denied. His joy at becoming PGA champion was unbounded. “I didn’t realize what happened,” Kaymer said. “I just won my first major. I’ve got goose bumps just talking about it.” As for becoming a full-time PGA Tour member, though, he has put that on hold for the time being.

“I consider the European Tour as my home and

kaymer (left) celebrates europe’s ryder cup victory at celtic manor last fall

my own boss. I can decide whatever I want. I think it’s the best thing you can get.”

He became German amateur champion at 19 and he turned pro after achieving the strokeplay and matchplay double the following season.

Kaymer’s failure at the European Tour qualifying school led to him playing on a mini-tour at first and a round of 59 at one of their events, followed by a 62, gave him one of seven wins during the year.

Had his mother not been dying of cancer in 2008, he might well have made his Ryder Cup debut that year. But Sir Nick Faldo had seen enough of him to know it was just a matter of time and invited him inside the ropes, and inside the team room, at Valhalla. A year later he might well have become the European Tour’s leading money-winner but for breaking three toes in an accident at a gokart circuit close to his base in Scottsdale. In 2010, the majors 2011

that is where I feel comfortable. I think you play against the best players in the world and it didn’t fit for me this year to play on the PGA Tour.”

Faldo’s former caddie Fanny Sunesson, now on the bag of Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, has been a mentor for Kaymer ever since she worked with the German Golf Federation, and she takes huge pride in his remarkable success story.

Kaymer may not be as flamboyant as Ian Poulter or as instantly recognizable as Rory McIlroy, but they would both love to have his results.

Even though he is perhaps the least wellknown No.1 the sport has had, he would like one thing in particular to be known about him. “Most people think Germans are boring people,” he said.

“I’m not boring, but I’m not like a crazy, crazy guy.

I’m very normal. How you see me on the golf course, that’s the way I am in my time off.”

“As a proud Demon Deacon, I’d like to extend a personal thank you to those whose selfless generosity made the dream of Farrell Hall, the future home of the Wake Forest University Schools of Business, a reality.”

– Arnold Palmer (‘51)

mike and mary farrell

Thanks to those individuals who continually put the needs of others before their own, breaking new ground has become an old habit at Wake Forest University.

Founders David and Marijke Dupree Mike and Mary Farrell Don and Robbin Flow Steve and Gail Reinemund

Dave and Sue Wahrhaftig Eric and Susan Wiseman In honor of Bern Beatty Anonymous

Farewell Seve Severiano Ballesteros, one of the greatest sportsmen ever to draw breath, breathed his last in May after a sad but typically feisty battle against the ravages of cancer. Golf writer Bill Elliott, a close friend of the charismatic Spaniard, provides this deeply personal tribute to the man who transformed European golf

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he then offered the only living example of a man being literally beside himself with joy, punching the hot air as he hopped 360 degrees on the 18th green

seve’s influence over olazabal came at a vital time in the younger man’s development as a golfer

There are those who believe a golfer may be defined by statistics. They are, of course, wrong.

Severiano Ballesteros may have won 88 times as a professional (actually, technically, he never was an amateur), lifting five majors in the process, but to reflect on his career and his impact on the old game via the detail of his golfing achievements would be to miss the biggest of points.

His death at home on May 7 this year at the age of 54 robs us not just of a golfer who was one of the most exciting players of our lifetime but, more importantly, it takes away far too early a much-loved and valued human being.

It was his emergence as an irrepressible 19-yearold when he tied for second in the 1976 [British] Open at Royal Birkdale that trumpeted his arrival on the global sporting scene and triggered the growth that the European Tour has enjoyed ever since.

Impossibly handsome with a smile that lit up any room, dynamic and aggressive in the way he played, instinctive in the rapport he enjoyed with galleries, indeed with everyone who passed before his all-seeing eyes—all this helped to forge his reputation and establish a unique relationship with the sporting public all over the world. He touched people in a special way, even those who instinctively view golf as an arcane form of tedium.

That Seve was a truly great player is beyond any doubt but it was his progress through golf’s upper echelons as a man—his bravado, his buckling swash, his instinctive derring-do—that dances deliciously in the memory of those of us fortunate enough to have known him at the peak of his powers.

Put simply… to appreciate Seve, you had to be there. If you were, then you would never forget the experience. Men wanted to be him, women wanted to be with him. Suddenly the staid world of European golf had a genuinely sexy hero.

What Arnold Palmer did for golf in America, Seve did for Europe.

Nowhere was this more apparent than at the moment of his [British] Open victory at St. Andrews in the high summer of 1984.

This was the second of his three Open victories but in so many ways the most glorious.

Sun blitzed the Old Course that week while Seve blitzed the majors 2011

the old girl even more. When Sunday’s play started he was two shots behind Tom Watson and also trailing Bernhard Langer. That day, the American and the German played last, of course, with Seve in full flow immediately in front of them—a small, irresistible tidal wave of passionate Spanish ambition and belief.

Inevitably, as ever at this special place, it all came down to the final two holes. Seve parred the 17th and then conjured up a birdie at the last, his putt from around 12ft hesitating before bending to his intense will and toppling into the hole for a score he immediately knew would win the day.

His reaction was electric. Draped in his favourite blue sweater and trousers, white shirt and deep tan, he then offered the only living example of a man being literally beside himself with joy, punching the hot air as he hopped a full 360 degrees on the moonscape that is the 18th green at this cathedral of the old game.

Behind him on the 17th, Tom Watson heard the commotion, glanced briefly at the scene and then dropped the shot that assured Seve of his win.

Watson was going for his sixth Open title and his third consecutive victory but Seve’s flair broke the spell for the American.

Now the spell is broken for all of us who admired him. His collapse at Madrid Airport with what turned out to be a brain tumor in the fall of 2008 changed everything for him. And, in it’s sad way, for us too.

His determination to survive a series of punishing operations was as typical as so much of his play. No one ever, ever, ever has refused more impressively to concede defeat, whether on a sports field or in the harsher environment of life itself.

His Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2009 BBC Sports Personality broadcast was as emotional as it was deserved. His protege, Ryder Cup pal and lifelong friend Jose-Maria Olazabal did the honours at the Ballesteros home in Pedrena on Spain’s rugged northern coastline.

Olazabal struggled to get through it, his eyes filling with tears. Back at my own home, I cried too.

What the television audience did not see was that when the short ceremony was over, Ollie collapsed on the floor, Seve cradling his friend to comfort him.

Since then, however, Seve struggled, often alone and rather sad, at his home overlooking the sea at his beloved Pedrena.

We first met in a Southport restaurant 48 hours before the 1976 Open began. He spoke little English and was just 19 at the time. I remember we shook hands and argued amiably about whether his beloved Barcelona football team was better than Liverpool. I wished him luck.

Six days later he tied with Jack Nicklaus for second place and Lee Trevino came whooping into the press tent to tell us we had just witnessed

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the next day he sought me out to apologize and offer an embrace.

We ended up laughing together like two schoolboys lost in their own naughtiness, and we never looked back the arrival of a genius. That was kind of Lee but, actually, unnecessary as even a near-blind man could see that fact for himself.

Soon after, Seve and I became friends, riding the world’s tournaments together, laughing together, drinking together, often arguing together. Like all the best relationships, it has been a tempestuously satisfying one. He could be quick-tempered, brusque, occasionally paranoid, obtuse and frustratingly stubborn. He had a fine sense of self and what he was, but he combined this with an instinctive grasp of appropriate humility and, always, his charm and charisma overwhelmed everything else.

Once in Dublin during an Irish Open—he won three of these coveted titles and was happy to be known as an ‘honorary Irishman’—I thought he was going to hit me when I upset him by questioning his attitude to then PGA Tour chief Deane Beman. So, too, did the Irish security guard accompanying him, a

gentleman who kindly stepped aside so Seve could have a better swing at me.

Of course, he resisted the temptation and the next day he sought me out to apologize and offer an embrace. We ended up laughing together like two schoolboys lost in their own naughtiness, and we never looked back. For me, as for all his friends, the last couple of years have been hard to witness even if he told us not to feel sorry for him, that he had “enjoyed a brilliant, fantastic life.”

Typically, my old friend was determined to rage, rage and rage again against the dying of the light. He succeeded in this rage but eventually the cancer was too much even for his spirit, just as his brittle spine prematurely ended his golfing career.

But while he was alive and well and playing brilliantly the world for many of us was, for a time, a better, brighter, more fun-filled place. Vaya con Dios, Seve. Gracias, Amigo.

seve kisses the claret jug on the second of his three british open triumphs

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SEVE FACTFILE

Severiano Ballesteros Sota Born: April 9, 1957; Pedrena, Spain Died: May 7, 2011; Pedrena, Spain Turned Pro: 1974 Best World Ranking: 1st (61 weeks between April 1986 and September 1989) World Golf Hall of Fame (inducted): 1999 European Tour No.1 (Harry Vardon Trophy)—Six times (1976, 1977, 1978, 1986, 1988, 1991) Children: Baldomero (born 1990), Miguel (1992), Carmen (1994) Spouse: Carmen Botin (married 1988, divorced 2004) Major Wins: 5—Masters (1980, 1983), [British] Open (1979, 1984, 1988) PGA Tour Wins: 4—Greater Greensboro Open (1978), Westchester Classic (1983, 1988) USF&G Classic (1985) European Tour Wins: 45—French Open (1977, 1982, 1985, 1986), Dutch Open (1976, 1980, 1986), Swiss Open/European Masters (1977, 1978, 1989), Scandinavian Open (1978, 1981, 1988), Madrid Open (1980, 1982, 1989), Spanish Open (1981, 1985, 1995), Irish Open (1983, 1985, 1986), Trophee Lancome (1983, 1986 (tied), 1988), Open de Baleares (1988, 1990, 1992), German Open (1978, 1988), Martini International (1978, 1980), British PGA Championship (1983, 1991), British Masters (1986, 1991), Uniroyal International (1977), English Golf Classic (1979), Sanyo Open (1985), Monte Carlo Open (1986), Suze Open (1987), Epson Grand Prix (1989), Dubai Desert Classic (1992), Benson & Hedges International Open (1994), German Masters (1994) International and other European Wins: 34— Suntory/Toyota World Match Play Championship (1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1991), Spanish Under-25 Championship (1974, 1975, 1978), Spanish Professional Championship (1987, 1988), Japan Open (1977, 1978), Dunlop Phoenix (Japan—1977, 1981), Million Dollar Challenge (South Africa—1983, 1984), Larios Open (Spain—1987, 1988), Open de Vizcaya (Spain—1974), Trophee Lancome (1976), Donald Swaelens Memorial (Belgium—1976), Cataluna Championship (Spain—1976), Tenerife Championship (Spain—1976), Braun International (Germany—1977), Otago Classic (New Zealand—1977), Kenya Open (1978), El Prat Open (Spain—1979), Australian PGA Championship (1981), San Remo Masters (Italy—1982), Codorniu Championship (Spain—1985), Visa Taiheiyo Masters (Japan—1988), Chunichi Crowns Open (Japan—1991), Fifth Centenary Cup (Argentina—1992), Tournoi Perrier de Paris (with Jose Maria Olazabal—1995) Team Appearances: Ryder Cup (for Europe): Player: 1979, 1983, 1985 (winners), 1987 (winners), 1989 (tied), 1991, 1993, 1995 (winners). Captain: 1997 (winners) World Cup of Golf (for Spain): 1975, 1976 (winners), 1977 (winners), 1991. Alfred Dunhill Cup (for Spain): 1985, 1986, 1988

The Blue Course at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., was designed by Devereux Emmet and opened in 1924. Robert Trent Jones Sr. fashioned a redesign in 1957 and his son, Rees, has since carried out two remodels—in 1989 and 2006. Currently ranked amongst the 100 best courses in the U.S. by Golf Digest, the Blue will be staging its third U.S. Open. Ken Venturi won in 1964 despite suffering heat stroke during the final round, and Ernie Els beat Colin Montgomerie by a shot in 1997. Congressional also hosted the 1976 PGA Championship, won by Dave Stockton, and in 1995 Tom Weiskopf won the U.S. Senior Open there with four rounds in the 60s. words—Tony Dear photos—Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

No.1 Par 4, 402 yards

Knowing the dangers that are to come, everyone will want to make a fast start with a birdie at this relatively simple opening hole. Despite the bunkers on either side of the fairway at carry length (one left, four right), a driver won’t be necessary, so players can focus on putting the ball safely in play for a short-iron approach to a relatively flat green protected at the front by large traps left and right, and a smaller one back right. The putting surface tilts gently from back to front, so putts from beyond the hole will be quicker. Nevertheless, this is a good birdie chance.

No.2 Par-3, 233 yards

How quickly the Blue Course changes its face!

After the relatively gentle start, players are now confronted by an extremely demanding par-3 that played as one of the toughest holes at the 1997 U.S. Open. Six bunkers surround a large green which will be attacked with anything from a 5-iron to a hybrid or 5-wood depending on the wind and hole location. The putting surface slopes from back left to front right and is divided into two by a ridge that runs down the middle. Congressionals’ Director of Golf, John Lyberger, says this could well turn out to be this year’s hardest hole.

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No.3 Par-4, 466 yards

A new tee, back and left of the one used in 1997, has increased the right-to-left angle of this tough two-shotter where competitors are delighted to walk off with par. Trees threaten only really wayward drives on either side of the fairway, but the three bunkers on the right spaced at 280-310 yards off the tee will see a lot of action. Finding the putting surface from one of these with an uphill approach is extremely difficult. The strawberryshaped green is pinched at the front to bring the bunkers left and right into play. The bunker on the right is especially deep and menacing.

No.4 Par-4, 470 yards

This is the No. 1 handicap hole for the members and, like the other six par-4s on the Blue that measure over 460 yards for the U.S. Open, its stroke average will no doubt be well over par. The only saving grace is the absence of fairway bunkers, but because a group of trees encroaches on the right side of the fairway just as it bends right, anyone not finding the left half of the fairway will have only a partial view of the larger than average green. On in two is no guarantee of a par, however, as the green slopes significantly from back to front, leading to some very tricky putts.

No.5 Par-4, 413 yards

One of Congressional’s finest holes, this dogleg left is a relatively short par-4. From a slightly elevated tee, players will opt for a long iron or hybrid to avoid three fairway bunkers on the left and set up a short-iron approach to a green protected on three sides by bunkers. A closely-mown chipping area presents a different kind of hazard to those unable to hold the putting surface. Find the fairway safely, though, and par is the worst anyone should score.

No.6 Par-5, 555 yards

The first of the two par-5s (both on the front nine) isn’t particularly long at 558 yards, but will cause no end of problems for any golfer taking it lightly.

Two large bunkers to the right of the fairway will catch pushed tee shots, while a greenside pond spells doom for any approaches that veer right. If the hole is cut on the far left of the green, players finding the fairway off the tee will have to be wary of two pot bunkers at the front but will lick their chops in anticipation of an eagle putt. A hole location to the right, on the other hand, will need to be treated with the greatest respect. The green is multi-tiered and offers no guarantee of a two-putt birdie from long distance.

No.7 Par-3, 173 yards

The second of the par-3s is a mite less taxing than the 2nd hole, but not without its challenges.

It plays uphill slightly, and the putting surface has two distinct levels with three large bunkers defending the front. On a windless day, the shot should be no more than a crisply-struck 7-iron for most of the field.

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No.8 Par-4, 354 yards

This is a fine short par-4 that curves to the right around a couple of fairway bunkers that will prevent most of the field from taking on the green. Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson and Alvaro Quiros might give it a go, but others will prefer the sanctuary of the fairway with a long iron and leave themselves with a sand wedge to a smallish green that possesses many subtle breaks and is surrounded by five bunkers Lyberger, who considers this the easiest hole on the course, says: “I think this will be one of only two or three holes that play under their par.”

No.9 Par-5, 636 yards

The second of the par-5s, and by far the more demanding of the two despite the fact there’s no water here. For starters, it’s 80 yards longer than the 6th, and this time both sides of the fairway are guarded by bunkers. The second shot will be a lay-up to a position short of the deep hollow in front of the green. Front hole locations will be the trickiest to negotiate as the green falls off sharply into the hollow. Any pitch to the green that backs up too far will tumble down into the valley, leaving a wicked chip back up the hill. “You don’t want to be down in the gully,” says Lyberger.

“Ideally, you want to be left or right of the hole with your third, rather than short or long.”

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No.10 Par-3, 218 yards

Those who watched the 2007-09 AT&T National on television will know that in the last remodel of the course (2006), Rees Jones converted the old 18th into the new par-3 10th hole that plays in the opposite direction. The new hole features a wide, shallow green defended by the lake at the front and bunkers to the right, left and rear. The two bunkers at the back of the green are not the place to be as blasting back toward the lake that divides the green from the tee is fraught with danger. This is particularly pronounced if the hole is on the right side as the front of the green slopes toward the water on that side. This is one of several holes on which competitors will be content to make par!

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No.11 Par-4, 494 yards

The creek that runs down the right side of the old 10th hole didn’t really come into play until Rees Jones shifted the fairway 20 yards to the right.

Now, with the fairway banking slightly from left to right, it poses a significant threat to anyone with a left-to-right ball flight. The pond that feeds the creek sits to the right of the green, and it will further bother players prone to a push. A converted par-5, the 11th was the hardest hole during the 2008 AT&T National, giving up just 27 birdies over the four rounds. More to the point were the 83 bogeys, 23 double bogeys and five ‘others’“It will compete with the 2nd as the tournament’s toughest hole,” says Lyberger. the majors 2011

No.12 Par-4, 471 (401) yards

Just as the 14th at Torrey Pines was played at two very different lengths during the 2008 championship, the 12th at Congressional will likely be set up both as a 470-yarder, requiring a drive and a long iron to reach the green, and also as a much friendlier 401-yard hole where players will try to get as close to the green as possible with their tee shots. The fairway slopes from left to right and the second shot is played slightly downhill towards a green that is well guarded by bunkers front left and front right.

No.13 Par-3, 193 yards

This is one of several holes on the Blue Course at Congressional where the green is very narrow at the entrance but widens the farther back you go. This makes front hole locations extremely difficult to find, especially with three large bunkers protecting the front half of the green, much like at the 7th. A 6-iron shot at most for the field, the 13th can be expected to offer a decent opportunity for a birdie.

No.14 Par-4, 467 yards

The landing area at the 14th is particularly narrow and the fairway slopes to the right, making this one of the toughest drives on the course. That ‘out of bounds’ lurks to the left doesn’t make it any easier.

After a downhill tee shot, the hole rises to a green flanked by three large bunkers on the left and one on the right. The round, two-tiered green slopes from back to front and, says Lyberger, is one of the toughest to read on the course.

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No.15 Par-4, 490 yards

This long, straight par-4 has been lengthened nearly 60 yards since the 2008 AT&T National in order to bring the four bunkers that protect the right side of the landing area into play for the entire field. The second shot is played uphill to a heavily-contoured green set diagonally to the fairway. The putting surface slopes from back to front and from left to right with a distinct ridge running down the middle.

Three bunkers guard the front of the green while one sits waiting for anyone overshooting the green.

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No.18 Par-4, 523 yards

No.16 Par-5, 579 yards

Rees Jones added three new bunkers to the right of the fairway and two to the left five years ago. The approach shot, meanwhile, has to avoid four large bunkers short and right of the green and one as big as those four combined to the left. But for all the sand on this hole, it will probably rank 18th hardest during championship week—just as it did at the 2007 and 2008 AT&T National tournaments.

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No.17 Par-4, 437 yards

The farther a player drives the ball on the 17th, the more he risks running out of fairway and leaving his ball in a 20-yard-wide band of rough that will make controlling the ball on the green next to impossible. The more prudent play might be to lay-up off the tee with a hybrid or long-iron, and leave a mid-iron into a green surrounded by four bunkers left and one right. the majors 2011

At the 1997 U.S. Open, this wonderful hole, ranked among the top 500 holes in the world, played as the 17th. But the members wisely gave Rees Jones the go-ahead to re-route the course, building the new 10th hole where the old par-3 18th had been, and making this monster the Blue Course’s closing hole.

Because the fairway slopes dramatically down to a green which protrudes into a lake, the approach shot should require no more than a mid-iron. But what a thrilling shot it is. Miss the green right and you will be lucky if you find one of four smallish bunkers. Miss it left and, like Tom Lehman on the 71st hole in 1997, you’re swimming.

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760.346.4653

Capital Gains Washington, D.C., the city closest to Congressional Country Club, might rank behind New York City and Los Angeles when it comes to national identity (or stereotype), but it’s ultimately where America comes together. Reade Tilley reports

Perhaps you visited the Lincoln Memorial on a school trip; maybe you took a tour of the White House.

Many of us see visiting our nation’s capital as a patriotic pilgrimage during which we dutifully view our country’s founding documents and national treasures.

But there’s far more to Washington, D.C. than meets the eye. Beyond the shadow of the Washington Monument, that’s where the real DC lives. George Washington himself probably wouldn’t recognize the place, but we’re sure he’d enjoy it.

DC in a nutshell: Founded in 1790 by the man for which it is named (with help from Thomas Jefferson and others); surveyed by an AfricanAmerican astronomer, Benjamin Banneker; designed by a Frenchman, Pierre Charles L’Enfant (eventually fired for micromanaging); revised and completed by an American, Andrew Ellicott.

The original plan envisaged 100 square miles in a diamond shape, including part of what is now Virginia, and called for DC’s daily administration to be under the direct control of Congress. Consequently—and unsurprisingly—the city of Alexandria, VA (and other parts of the new district) was soon in administrative chaos, economic decline and overall disrepair. Thus Virginia took back 31 square miles on the southwest and trimmed DC’s border to the Potomac.

It wasn’t until 1973 that residents of DC got their first elected municipal government, though Congress still retains the right to overturn decisions made by the mayor or city council. Incredibly, 1964 was the first presidential election in which DC residents were permitted to vote, and they still don’t have a voting representative in Congress despite paying the highest federal taxes per capita. This puts them slightly worse off than people living in Guam and Puerto Rico, which also have non-voting representatives in Congress but are exempt from taxation. The irony of living in the nation’s capital while excluded from one of our country’s founding principles led the DC Department of Motor Vehicles to stamp the slogan “Taxation Without Representation” on District license plates. Bill Clinton kept such plates on the presidential limo while in the White House. Displaying a different sense of humor, George ‘Dubya’ removed them upon entering office.

Many of our country’s greatest triumphs and deepest sorrows have emanated from DC. The city dishes up daily helpings of shenanigans and scandals, but it is also the seat of the planet’s most diverse nation. Despite its faults, DC is, ultimately, where it all comes together. And whether you’re on a patriotic pilgrimage or the kids just want to see where the President lives, DC is a must-visit for all.

Getting Around: The Smithsonian and White House are important, but try to schedule some time away from museums. Otherwise, the history becomes overwhelming. The city is divided into quadrants, each with something to offer—from fine dining and luxury accommodations to simply taking in a ballgame.

Northwest/National Mall: If you’re in DC, you’ll visit the National Mall & Memorial Parks—centerpiece to Jefferson’s vision of “an American Paris.” Holding the Washington Monument, the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, and additional memorials to WWII, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and FDR, its borders extend to many areas around DC, including the East and West Potomac Parks. The White House and DC’s other “postcard” spots are located nearby.

Don’t Miss: Golf in East Potomac Park. The 9-hole Red and White courses are fun and the 18-hole Blue, an early 20th century Walter Travis design where you tee off surrounded by many iconic landmarks, is a delight. At near $30 any day of the week, you might even call it a national treasure. golfdc.com Stay: L’Enfant Plaza Hotel. With the Washington Monument visible from your room, this property’s elegant accommodations are complemented by great service and myriad conveniences, including a subway station directly beneath the hotel.

202.484.1000; lenfantplazahotel.com Eat: Bistro Bis. At this contemporary French restaurant, run by celebrated chef Jeffrey Buben, you can keep track of which member of Congress is ordering the most martinis. Excellent quality, though not inexpensive—no wonder it’s favored by politicians. 15 E Street, NW; 202.661.2700; bistrobis.com Southwest/Waterfront: Many historic buildings are here, including the “Wheat Row” townhomes, built in 1793, and Fort McNair, established in 1791. The area fell into disrepair prior to the 1950s urban renewal plan of architect I.M. Pei. Today it’s a showpiece for modern architecture, though still not the most elegant enclave of the city.

Don’t Miss: Smithsonian Museums. The Smithsonian’s offerings include the National Air and Space Museum, Museum of the American Indian, and Holocaust Memorial Museum. Drop by the Freer Gallery (founded by Charles Lang Freer, railroad-car manufacturer) and visit the Peacock Room, an over-the-top London dining room painted by J.A.M. Whistler in 1876-77 in green and gold peacock motifs, and installed after Freer’s death in 1904. si.edu Stay: Mandarin Oriental Washington. This landmark was selected by Institutional Investor as one of the top 100 hotels in the world. Luxury and convenience in abundance! 202.554.8588; mandarinoriental.com/washington Eat: Maine Avenue Fish Market. One of the east coast’s oldest open-air seafood markets (dating to 1805). Vendors offer fresh oysters, catches of the day and wonderful fried everything in a festive atmosphere. Think jeans, T-shirts, beer and crab legs. 1100 Maine Ave SW. the majors 2011

Northeast/Brookland: A housing development built after the Civil War, the Brookland neighborhood is today home to the Catholic University of America and the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Anyone reposing on a beautiful day will enjoy the 446-acre National Arboretum and Franciscan Monastery, but there’s also a thriving arts scene worth exploring.

Don’t Miss: Atlas Performing Arts Center. Set in a renovated Art Deco movie complex, this a non-profit, community-based performing arts center has four theaters, three dance studios and plenty of art space. atlasarts.org Stay: The Brookland Inn. We’re cautious about recommending B&Bs, but the rooms are suites with substantial amenities. The excellent service and true “home” feel make this worth exploring. thebrooklandinn.com Eat: Granville Moore’s Gastropub. Executive chef Teddy Folkman keeps this gastropub straightforward and flavorful. Moules (Mussels) are offered several ways while the hand-cut frites, bison burgers and cut-of-the-day steaks will please any lover of pub fare. One of the Mid-Atlantic’s largest selections of Belgian beers, followed up by great bourbons. While reservations are not required, a taxi might be a good idea. 1238 H Street, NE; 202.399.2546; granvillemoores.com Southeast: The site of Capitol Hill, the Navy Yard and Marine Barracks, several Civil Warera forts and Nationals Park. Frederick Douglas lived here and John Wilkes Booth headed this way after shooting President Lincoln. Today it’s less dramatic, with elegant 19th century architecture and the longstanding Eastern Market—not to mention the Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Folger Shakespeare Library and Union Station.

Don’t Miss: Baseball game at Nationals Park.

Hot dogs, apple pie and watching the capital’s Major League team! Good call, especially as the Nationals are playing well these days. washington.nationals.mlb.com Stay: Maison Orleans B&B. This three-room accommodation near Eastern Market is a delight.

Built in 1902 and furnished with numerous family pieces from the 1930s and ’40s, the inn is run by proprietor Bill Rouchell. A French Quarter-style patio and fountains provide welcome tranquility amidst DC’s politics. 414 5th Street SE; 202.544.2051 Eat: Eastern Market. The city’s oldest food market offers farm-fresh goodies. Burgers, soft-shelled crab and oysters are all in abundance, and the blueberry buckwheat pancakes at Market Lunch keep locals and visitors coming back. easternmarket-dc.org

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Open Sandwich

Set amongst towering sand dunes overlooking Pegwell Bay on the east coast of the English county of Kent, Royal St. George’s was built by Dr. Laidlaw Purves shortly after visiting the town of Sandwich in 1886. Purves, a consultant ophthalmologist at Guy’s Hospital in London, was searching for a stretch of land that would serve as southern England’s answer to St. Andrews in his native Scotland. The links at Royal St. George’s, with two loops of nine holes that are each broadly circular, opened a year after his initial visit.

Seven years later, in 1894, it staged The [British] Open for the first time when J.H. Taylor was the winner.

Since 2003, when Ben Curtis was the surprise champion, an extra 105 yards have been added for the 14th staging of The Open, from 14-17 July, though the par has been reduced from 71 to 70. Measuring 7,211 yards, the course has four new tees—on the 3rd, 7th, 9th and 15th—while the fairways on the 1st, 17th and 18th are wider. Head professional Andrew Brooks, 64, who retires at the end of this year, warns: “The greens fall off on all sides, making up-and-downs very tricky. You have to be very accurate, but this course is one that favors the big hitters.” words—Paul Trow photos—David Cannon / Getty Images

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No.1 444 Yards, Par-4

A difficult opener into the prevailing wind to an undulating, left-to-right fairway. Tiger Woods took an ambitious line with his opening tee shot in 2003 and lost his ball in thick rough to the right. Ideally, the drive should be struck down the left to avoid the ‘Kitchen’ hollow. Fewer than 30 percent of the field hit the fairway in 2003, so the landing area has been widened by 12 yards. This should leave a mid-iron approach over three cross-bunkers to a green that slopes away from front to back. The rough skirting the fairway will be punishing and anyone caught by it must beware the fairway bunker 80 yards short of the green.

No.4 495 Yards, Par-4

Played as a par-5 in 2003, this iconic hole is now designed to ask Open contenders significant questions.

Depending on where the tee is positioned, the drive might need to carry 260 yards simply to clear the huge, sleepered ‘Himalayas’ bunker guarding the mid-right of the fairway which then doglegs about 30 degrees to the left. Find the right side of the fairway (the Elysian Fields as it’s known to the members) and you’ll face an uphill second shot with a long-iron or fairway-wood to a slightly raised green with out-of-bounds (and a row of houses) at the back. Anything left off the tee will flirt with a bunker at driver range and, possibly for the likes of Bubba Watson or Dustin Johnson, another bunker around 50 yards short of the green.

No.2 417 Yards, Par-4

The tee shot can be played either with a safe long-iron to the right side of the fairway, avoiding the two bunkers on the corner of the right-to-left dogleg, or with a driver over the top of the bunkers in an attempt to take the angle out of the hole.

Whichever, it will be imperative to hit the fairway as the rough is likely to be bordering knee-high for anything off line. The approach shot—to an undulating green that tilts from back to front and is protected by hollows on both sides—is best played from the flatter ground on the right side of the fairway.

No.3 240 Yards, Par-3

An elevated tee looks across a valley to a long, narrow, two-tiered green protected by tall mounds on both sides, but no bunkers (even though the hole’s named Sahara). The second tier, toward the back of the green (where the pin could be placed three out of the four days), is on eye-level with the tee. Anything short will leave a long putt and anything long will leave a tight chip. Since 2003, a new back tee has been built, lengthening the hole by 30 yards. But Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A, promised: “If we do get a strong headwind, we have the facility to move up to the old tee.” Don’t be surprised to see players take a driver here.

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No.5 419 Yards, Par-4

The popular line at this right-to-left dogleg is toward a plateau just short of a belt of rough crossing the fairway in front of the Maiden dune. This offers a full view of a flat green unprotected by sand. Another option is to take an iron down the left, flirting with five bunkers, but several dunes obscure the green from the approach. A longer hitter with a strong wind behind will try to clear all the obstacles (a carry of over 300 yards) and perhaps even reach the green, as John Daly did in 1993. Noting that players tried to carry the dunes to leave a flat chip to the green in 2003, Dawson says: “We’ve put in some contouring to make that a more challenging shot. The only other change is that we’ve made a bunker on the left in the drive zone more visible from the tee.”

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No.6 178 Yards, Par-3

The tee shot funnels into an amphitheater, at the heart of which is a gently undulating green that is diagonally angled from front left to back right and surrounded by four deep bunkers. The towering dunes sheltering the putting surface on three sides can make club selection especially difficult at this picturesque par-3. Generally, the ball will need to be held up in the prevailing right-to-left wind. The problem, though, is that any miscalculation usually leads the golfer astray into sand or some awkward, choppy rough. The tee has been widened for the 2011 Open.

No.7 564 Yards, Par-5

This is a birdie opportunity despite becoming the longest hole on the course due to a new tee that has added 32 yards. The drive must be threaded through the gap between two prominent dunes— the best part of 285 yards from the tee—to a fairway below that doglegs gently left along mildly rolling terrain toward a flattish green. Brooks says: “If you’re teeing off into the wind, you’ll have to drive your ball 290 yards to ensure it doesn’t roll back down the hill, which would make it out of reach in two. It’ll be a great hole to watch but no fun for the players.” Other problems are caused by five strategically-placed pot bunkers flanking the fairway at various intervals. Two more eat into the front right of the green and another one lurks to the back left to catch long, hooking approach shots.

No.8 453 Yards, Par-4

Many competitors will elect to play an iron from the tee in order to leave a full shot with a mid-iron through the breeze to a long, awkward green sitting in a dell amid sand hills. With two new bunkers down the right, it is essential the tee shot finds the fairway which snakes from left to right through a narrow valley clad with mounds and banks. From the safety of the cut grass, the next shot goes uphill over scrubland to a green that is almost Augusta-like in the severity of its slopes. Two “sucker” bunkers guard a narrow front entrance.

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No.9 412 Yards, Par-4

Unless there’s a fierce wind against, most players will hit a long iron short of the three bunkers that sit across the middle-right of a valley-like fairway.

A new championship tee has been built to the left of the old one, providing a clearer view but also adding 24 yards in length. An accurate shot down the left is ideal because it will be impossible to find the green from the traps. A short-iron should then be played to a small, raised green guarded by four bunkers at the front, a knoll biting into its left side and a run-off over the back. A well-struck approach should gather in towards the flag.

No.10 415 Yards, Par-4

This hole heads uphill through another valley-shaped fairway. The line is down the left, though the repositioned tee has brought the lone bunker on that side dangerously into play while tee shots leaking right could end up in the foothills of a steep mound.

The approach is aimed at a plateau green that looks like an upturned pudding basin. Anything offline will bounce sharply away and there will be little chance of recovery. In the final round in 1985, Tom Kite’s double-bogey cost him a lead he never regained.

No.11 243 Yards, Par-3

The longest par-3 on the course but a hole without any distinctive features. Any tee shot landing short or left of center tends to collect into one of three small pot bunkers. Anything drifting right may catch one of two other bunkers protecting the front of the green. In 1993, Daly walloped his 3-iron 50 yards over the green into deep rough. An exquisite chip and 20-foot putt later, he walked off with what playing partner David Feherty described as a “routine par-3.”

No.13 459 Yards, Par-4

The start of one of The [British] Open’s longest and toughest finishes—a slight right-to-left dogleg which requires two outstanding shots to deliver even the sniff of a birdie. The drive, lined on the old Prince’s clubhouse (now at last being redeveloped), should finish in the right half of the fairway, avoiding the two bunkers which lie in wait down that side. The second shot is played to a narrow green guarded by bunkers on either side at the front and with a ridge running down its spine that tends to throw the ball away from the flag.

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No. 12 381 Yards, Par-4

This short, left-to-right dogleg offers an excellent birdie chance. To achieve this, though, the tee shot must avoid three deep bunkers on the angle of the dog-leg and thick rough to the left. Unless the players have a strong wind against, most will try to carry the sand in order to find the oasis of flat fairway which then offers a simple pitch to a slightly raised green guarded by a nest of five pot bunkers at the front and one more off the back.

Tiger Woods four-putted here in 2003.

No.14 547 Yards, Par-5

Out-of-bounds is a threat in a left-to-right wind.

The ‘Suez Canal’ crossing the fairway at 333 yards from the tee can prove a headache if players have misdirected their drives and are struggling to get in range for their third shots. The drive should finish a few yards inside the out-of-bounds running down the right of the hole, but the temptation is to aim left toward the thickest rough on the course. Two midfairway bunkers 70 yards short need to be avoided, as do two more traps on the front left of the green. Still, this hole should yield sub-par figures on a calm day.

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No.15 496 Yards, Par-4

Playing into the prevailing wind, this long, straight hole is 21 yards further than in 2003 due to a new back tee. The driving zone is dangerously pinched by five bunkers—three down the left and two to the right. Any errant or badly-struck tee shot will then bring the three cross-bunkers 20 yards short of the green into play. For good measure, the green is long, narrow and slightly saucer shaped, and will thus deflect approaches that are only slightly off-line. “I think the stats will show many bogey-5s on this hole,” predicts Brooks.

No.16 163 Yards, Par-3

Tony Jacklin recorded a televised hole-in-one here in 1967, a feat repeated three times during the 1981 Open. Greg Norman sealed victory in 1993 with a bold birdie while David Graham and Bernhard Langer both bogeyed from sand to fall off the pace in 1985.

Its most dramatic victim, though, was Thomas Bjorn on the final day in 2003. The Dane’s double-bogey, including three attempts to escape from a right-hand bunker, led to him plunging from a three-shot lead into an eventual tie for second. Protected by six other traps (two left and four at the front), the exposed green slopes uphill from front to back.

No.17 426 Yards, Par-4

The narrow landing area for the drive has been widened by six yards because two-thirds of the field missed it in 2003. With bunkers on either side of a fairway that has numerous bumps and folds, players looking to protect a score will tee off with a long-iron or utility club. This will lead to a second shot that looks shorter than it is—there’s a lot of dead ground caused by a dip in the fairway—to a wide, slightly raised but shallow green. Anything off-line will kick toward the two bunkers left of the green or the two to the right. The safest approach is to be slightly long as the back is shielded by a mound.

No.18 459 Yards, Par-4

A great finishing hole that appears to dogleg left to right but is actually fairly straight. The drive should fly over the mound jutting into the right side of the fairway and the approach, often off a downhill lie, should carry the deep bunker tight to the front right of the green. A ridge runs down the left side of the green and anything drifting that way will gather into ‘Duncan’s Hollow’, a small swale so named because George Duncan, needing a four to tie Walter Hagen in 1922, took three to get down and lost by one. Sandy Lyle did the same thing in 1985 but still won by a shot. “This hole has perhaps been remodeled more than any other,” says Dawson. “We’ve moved the fairway to the right and there are new bunkers in the drive zone.” The number of cross bunkers at around 340 yards has been reduced from three to two and the bunker on the left of the green has been brought in closer to the putting surface.

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96 HOURS, 72 HOLES, 1 CHAMPION

CHAMPIONS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE DO BATTLE. The Open Championship returns to England’s south east, just a good drive and a five iron from London. Experience the world’s best golfers as they compete for the Claret Jug just outside the nation’s capital. Tickets are available at the gate.

All Four Rounds Live, July 14-17 on & THE OPEN. IT’S ON YOUR DOORSTEP. www.opengolf.com

London CaLLing Forget the exchange rate, cash-guzzling black cabs and even pricier restaurants, now is the time to visit Europe’s largest and most diverse city as it prepares for its greatest ever show— the 2012 Olympic Games. Paul Trow is your guide

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The southeast corner of the county of Kent has many urban settlements—from Canterbury, see of the Archbishop who heads up the Church of England, to the ports of Dover, Folkestone and Ramsgate.

More recently, Ashford has become a power in the land thanks to the Channel Tunnel rail-link. All are within a short drive of Sandwich, venue for the 140th [British] Open in July, and all are worth a visit in their own right, though accommodation during the third week in July looks certain to be in short supply. However, some 60 miles or so north lies one of the world’s great cities, the ideal base from which to launch a visit or two, preferably by train, in order to watch the golf at Royal St. George’s.

The Heart of London With apologies to Charles Dickens, it is the best of towns and the worst of towns. It towers over Europe like a colossus and has become a meltingpot for every culture and race on the planet.

Welcome to London, where the streets echo with a thousand years of tradition while reverberating to the trends of tomorrow. Most visitors know about such landmark sights as Westminster Abbey (setting for a recent high-profile wedding) along with the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Marble Arch and Royal Albert Hall. These institutions are cultural icons as well as symbols of the advance of western civilization, yet they only scratch the surface of this remarkable metropolis.

The West End and the City are the twin magnets that draw much of the world’s wealth to London, the former via tourism, shopping and commerce, the latter via banking, insurance and fund management. Between them is a buffer zone, known to local realtors as Mid-Town, which for centuries has absorbed immigrants, Huguenots, non-conformists, refugees, bohemians and students. The City, or Square Mile as it’s known to the financial community, dates back to medieval times with its livery halls and pageantry, and Mid-Town is not far behind in terms of longevity.

The West End, though, is much younger, shaped by architecture and parks dating back mainly to the 17th and 18th centuries and defined by the stamp of Victorian approval. Ironically, it is in the City where most of the striking new buildings changing the face of London’s skyline can be found.

All three precincts line the northern bank of the River Thames, along with the office developments to the east of the City in the reclaimed docklands. South of the river, many sights of architectural significance also line the waterfront—from modern constructions like the London Eye at Waterloo, the soon-to-be completed Shard beside London Bridge station and the o2 Arena, formerly known as the Millennium Dome, to restorations like the Tate Modern gallery

and Globe Theatre, to the historic grandeur of the park and observatory at Greenwich.

Throughout this mesmerizing kaleidoscope of human endeavor is a jigsaw of quaint conduits and mews, ancient structures and monuments, teeming pubs and restaurants. Unique talents like Dickens and Shakespeare, Marx and Lenin, Caxton and Wren, Hogarth and Turner, flourished here in centuries gone by. No wonder Dr. Samuel Johnson, the great lexicographer, proclaimed that “he who is tired of London is tired of life.”

Medieval Paradise At the heart of Mid-Town are four Inns of Court of which all barristers (attorneys who present cases in court) must be members in order to practice law.

Gray’s Inn and Lincoln’s Inn are close to each other, either side of the High Holborn thoroughfare, while the Middle and Inner Temples are further south, closer to the Thames. The Inns of Court date back to the 13th century when Edward I established them to stamp out corruption amongst judges. The most successful barristers ply their trade either in the High Court in The Strand or at the Central Criminal Court, otherwise known as the Old Bailey. In the Middle Ages, the law and the church went hand in hand. And central London has many of the world’s oldest and most beautiful churches, most notably Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece—St. Paul’s Cathedral. Two other, less heralded, churches are both located in the thin sliver of land between Fleet Street, the extension east of The Strand where all the major newspapers were once produced, and the Thames. The Temple was built in the late 12th century for the Knights Templar and is used today by the Inner Temple and Middle Temple. This church’s grand external structure is matched by the haunting marble effigies of medieval knights to be found within. St. Bride’s, dating back to the 6th century, has strong U.S. connections—indeed, the first American child of English descent was baptized there in 1585.

Gallery of Delights This part of London is blessed with many galleries and museums, with pride of place going to the British Museum in Bloomsbury. At the south side of the pedestrian-only Millennium Bridge across the Thames at Blackfriars is the Tate Modern, on the site of a former power station. The building itself is as aesthetic as much of the modern and contemporary art displayed on its walls—works by Matisse, Picasso, Rothko, etc. Nearby is the Clink prison museum, halfway between London Bridge and Southwark Bridge. Dating back to the 12th century, this macabre establishment gave its name to the slang term ‘in the clink.’ Within its dark cellar are torture devices and restraints while a skeleton hangs outside in a cage above the entrance. Next the majors 2011

door to the Tate Modern is the Globe Theatre, first established by William Shakespeare in 1599, then rebuilt in 1613 following a fire only to be torn down in 1644 to make room for tenements. The modern Globe, built according to the original plan, was the brainchild of American actor and director Sam Wanamaker, who instigated its resurrection a quarter of a century ago.

Wining and Dining London offers fine dining and refreshments to suit all palates. These include Bleeding Heart (bleedingheart.co.uk ) just off Hatton Garden in the heart of the jewelry quarter near Farringdon metro station, and Rule’s in Maiden Lane (rules.co.uk), a stone’s throw from the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, the vibrant area north of The Strand.

El Vino’s (elvino.co.uk), a wine bar in Fleet Street which opened in 1870, is traditionally a haunt for journalists, though it’s now a regular watering hole for legal eagles thanks to an impressive wine list.

Meanwhile, Dickens used to visit Simpson’s in The Strand (simpsonsinthestrand.co.uk) to talk politics, play chess, sip coffee and smoke cigars.

In 1848, the eponymous caterer John Simpson established the practice of carving large joints of meat at the table. His original trolley, almost 160 years old, is still in use.

Time Gentlemen Please!

There’s much debate over whether London has more churches or pubs. Whatever the answer, there are thousands of both. Ye Olde Mitre Tavern, built in 1546, is hidden down an alley between 8 and 9 Hatton Garden, and most people who work in the area are unaware it exists. The Citie of Yorke on High Holborn is another authentic ancient English pub with three distinct bars behind a mockTudor façade. The bar to the rear is popular with lawyers and has a high-pitched roof and large oak wine vats near the entrance.

Where to stay?

The Russell Hotel (londonrussellhotel.co.uk) is one of London’s most impressive red-brick edifices.

Built in 1898, it is within walking distance of Covent Garden, Oxford Street and The Strand. For those in pursuit of the ultimate in hospitality, the Fairmont-managed Savoy Hotel (fairmont.com/ savoy), a luxury icon since 1889 that seamlessly blends Edwardian and Art Deco interiors, sparkles with timeless elegance and glamour. Located between The Strand and the Thames, the Savoy is a must-visit for all Americans in London.

And getting to The [British] Open?

Non-stop high-speed trains will run to Sandwich each morning from St. Pancras station followed by a shuttle to the course. Total journey time: 95 minutes.

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Highlands’ Highs & Lows

The Highlands Course at Atlanta Athletic Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones and Joe Finger, opened in 1967, shortly before the club moved from its downtown location at East Lake (the course where Bobby Jones grew up) to a new site at Johns Creek, 23 miles north of Atlanta. The Highlands hosted the U.S. Open in 1976 (when Jerry Pate won his only major) and the PGA Championships of 1981 and 2001 (won respectively by Larry Nelson and David Toms).

Its sister course, the Riverside, also designed by Robert Trent Jones, was used for the 1990 U.S. Women’s Open. Trent Jones’ son, Rees, carried out an extensive remodel of the Highlands in 2006 in preparation for this year’s PGA Championship. words—Tony Dear photos—Bob Maynard / PGA of America

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No.1 Par-4, 454 yards

This relatively straightforward opener offers a realistic chance of a birdie even though a new back tee has added 25 yards to the hole.

A gentle dogleg left, the 1st doesn’t require a full-blooded drive, more a slight draw with a 3-wood or even a hybrid to avoid the bunkers on the right and set up a shortish iron to a green surrounded right, left, and long by three substantial bunkers. The toughest hole locations, says PGA Master Professional and Director of golf Rick Anderson, are back right and front left.

No.2 Par-4, 512 yards

A par-5 for the members, the 2nd has always been converted to a par-4 for major championships. Again, the ideal tee shot is a soft draw, curving left off the bunkers on the right from 256-344 yards out. Players will want to hit a lofted approach into this shallow, well-bunkered green as they’ll have a hard time stopping a longiron. This green was reconfigured in 2006, adding a new back-right hole location. The toughest pin will be front right, however, which is guarded by a deep bunker.

No.3 Par-4, 475 yards

This demanding two-shotter was the fourth hardest hole at the 2001 PGA Championship, averaging 4.204. Even though it is 37 yards shorter than the 2nd, it will mostly play every inch as long because of the prevailing wind blowing in the players’ faces. The right side of the fairway is hampered by bunkers from 269-343 yards, so competitors will need to aim as close as they dare to the trees on the left as reaching the green from sand will be all but impossible. A good drive should leave a mid-iron to a large green with a lightning fast surface from back to front. The toughest hole location is back left.

No.5 Par-5, 565 yards

By far the easiest hole at the PGA Championship in 2001 when the field averaging just 4.599 shots (it yielded seven eagles, 196 birdies and only 23 bogeys). Numerous changes have been made since then, including a 25-yard increase in length, in order to turn the hole into a harder-earned par. A power fade off the tee is desirable as the hole bends from left to right. “That does bring a cluster of bunkers at the elbow of the dogleg into play, however, so players will need to be careful,” Anderson says.

Cross bunkers have been added about 100 yards short of the green, creating a conundrum over how far to hit the second shot. And the green is one of the smallest on the course, and heavily defended by menacing bunkers.

No.4 Par-3, 219 yards

This gorgeous but potentially lethal par-3 plays over a lake that wraps around the left side of the green. A new tee has added 15 yards since 2001 although the hole will play nearer 230 yards when the pin is back left. With the water so close, that particular hole location will throw up as many bogeys as pars, no doubt helping the 4th to finish the week inside the hardest half-dozen holes (it ranked fifth toughest in 2001, averaging 3.193).

A large bunker cut into a mound right of the green means those baling out on that side may face a frightening explosion shot toward the lake.

Most players will aim to hit a long iron to the middle of the green, make par and flee.

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No.6 Par-4, 425 yards

Players who fail to birdie the previous hole will look to make amends on this relatively simple par-4. It should require no more than a 3-wood and 9-iron, even when the tee is all the way back, but the hole is not without its challenges. Bunkers protect the right side from 270-340 yards off the tee, the fairway will be only 22 yards wide and a pond lurks short and left of the green. If a forward tee is used, knocking 120 yards off the hole’s length, the water will be very much in play for players who want to give themselves an eagle putt. Those attempting to drive the green, though, will risk toppling down the tightly-mown Diamond Zoysia grass bank and into the hazard.

No.7 Par-3, 184 yards

The easiest of the short holes in 2001 (2.898 average), the 7th didn’t undergo any significant changes during Rees Jones’s 2006 redesign so should once again give up its share of birdies.

However, the green does have some undulations and players will need to be wary of the large, steep-faced bunker short of the green. The pond short and left of the green really shouldn’t come into play.

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No.8 Par-4, 467 yards

No.10 Par-4, 442 yards

No.9 Par-4, 426 yards

No.11 Par-4, 457 yards

A new back tee asks players to carry 280 yards over water to find the ideal landing area. The fairway bends left round the same lake that fronts the 4th green and is best played with a big draw to leave a manageable second shot. Without any drawspin, the ball will likely go through the fairway into one of four deep bunkers on the elbow of the dogleg.

The approach is uphill to a long, narrow green bordered by more deep bunkers on each side. Long is no good either as the green slopes from back to front, so chips from the back will slip down the lightning fast surface toward the front of the green.

The front nine finishes with what most competitors will regard as a birdie chance. The key is to keep the ball on the elevated fairway—out of the traps on each side and, ideally, left of center. From here, players will get a better look at the pin and avoid having to come in over two very deep front bunkers.

The green slopes slightly from front to back, making front left hole locations potentially problematic, but with the fearsome back nine looming players will want to end the front side on a happy note.

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If the PGA elects to use the very back tee, which forms part of the 1st tee, the 10th would extend to 442 yards as it did in 2001. Two bunkers guard the left side of the fairway from 260-310 yards but the perfect tee shot heads straight for them before fading back into the center of the fairway.

The approach will most likely be a short iron to a green so deep there may be three clubs’ difference between front and back hole locations. A huge bunker to the left eats into that side of the green and Anderson says balls going long will have little future. So if you’re going to miss, miss right!

A dogleg left where a draw from the center line will probably work best. Some players may elect to take on the carry over the bunkers left, but falling short will surely result in a dropped shot. Go too long and the ball will run out of fairway and into a bunker on the right side 310 yards off the tee. From the fairway, the approach is slightly downhill to a picturesque green flanked by bunkers on the left and a pond to the right. The 11th is seductive and tempting but disaster awaits poor strategy or ball-striking.

No. 12 Par-5, 551 yards

The second easiest hole in 2001, the 12th will play a little longer this year but still offers a chance to go red. As on the previous hole, the perfect drive turns over from right to left a little and sets up a long iron or hybrid to a small, shallow green defended short and right by a pond and a long bunker to the left. Players might think twice about going for the pin if it is tucked away on the right side, instead preferring to lay up to the left and fly a wedge up the length of the green. But if the hole is cut in the center or to the left, they will be greedily eyeing an eagle three.

No.13 Par-4, 372 yards

Stately pines line the fairway of the shortest and tightest par-4 on the course. This hole is all about accuracy and control rather than length, and will require a fade with a long iron or hybrid off the tee to leave a short-iron approach over some extensive bunkering to a shallow, slightly elevated, heavilycontoured green. When the wind blows, it will be in the player’s face and this will make club selection all the more critical. Pinpoint precision is essential with the approach in order to leave an uphill putt.

No.14 Par-4, 468 yards

The start of an extremely tough closing stretch. Eighth hardest in 2001, the 14th now borders on monster status—not necessarily in terms of length (a 300-310-yard drive will leave only a short iron, after all), but due to the proliferation of large bunkers on both sides of the fairway and around the green, and a tricky putting surface. “The 14th green has the most undulations of any on the course and possesses some very difficult hole locations,” says Anderson. Only well-struck shots will work on this hole.

No.15 Par-3, 260 yards

Water is a considerable threat down the right of this hole where David Toms recorded his hole-in-one in the third round in 2001, which was the longest ace in a PGA Championship and ultimately made him the first PGA Champion to use an ace on the way to victory. In 2001, there were 111 bogeys, 33 double bogeys, one more than the total birdies, and four “others” that week, making it the second most difficult hole. It is likely the 15th will play to 260 yards only once this August, while the 242-yard tee may get some weekend action as well. The back right hole location is the toughest, but regardless of where the hole is cut or, which tee is used, players will aim for the fat of the green and hope to exit stage right with a three. “The tee shot at 15 will be the shot players dread most,” says Anderson. “No question.”

Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

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No.16 Par-4, 476 yards

As if one long par-3 fortified by water isn’t enough for the relentless grind home, the 15th is joined by its shorter yet tougher sibling here at the penultimate hole. The water at 17 is right, left and center, and will almost certainly catch anything not struck perfectly. Go long or well to the right of the green to ensure staying dry but risk finding a back bunker and facing a fiendishly difficult downhill splash back towards the hole. It was the third hardest hole ten years ago.

No.18 Par-4, 507 yards

The brutal closing stretch closes with the hole Anderson has little doubt will prove the toughest on the course over the four days. “With water all the way down the left side, in front of the green and on the right, 18 is the hardest hole on the Highlands Course,” he says. This is where Jerry Pate hit a brilliant 5-iron to within two feet of the cup on the 72nd hole of the 1976 U.S. Open and where David Toms holed a 12-footer for par to win the 2001 PGA Championship having laid up in front of the water with his second. A par-5 for the members, the 18th could play as long as 528 yards and require a long, running draw off the tee. The fairway is one of the widest at 30 yards, but that is little consolation to the player who sees all that water and eight sizeable bunkers down the right side of the fairway and behind the green. Pity anyone who needs a birdie to tie!

Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

This narrow, uphill par-4 might offer a little breather coming down the stretch, even though it was stretched by 35 yards in the 2006 redesign.

A group of large bunkers right of the fairway from 315-360 yards off the tee will cause players to favor the left side. Yet that could mean running out of fairway and being blocked by trees to a left hole location. Thus the ideal tee shot is a fade starting down the left half of the fairway and curving back to the middle to leave a 7-iron or so to a plateau green fronted by a massive bunker on the left.

Players need to carry the sand but leave the ball short of the hole as the green slopes ominously from back to front.

No.17 Par-3, 207 yards

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Peach of a city It has the world’s busiest airport but still swears by lazy Southern afternoons. And whether you’re visiting for business or pleasure, writes Reade Tilley, Atlanta, host city of the 2011 PGA Championship, is the belle of any traveler’s ball

The American Indian name for the settlement was “Standing Peachtree,” and it was beautiful.

Founded amongst a thick forest of dogwoods, magnolias, oaks and Southern pines, its setting atop a ridge just south of the mighty Chattahoochee River helped it catch the cool breezes from the north, easing the worst of the hot, humid summers and setting the scene for a tradition of long, Southern afternoons on the porch.

Those breezes still blow, the river still flows and the trees still rustle, though the natives who first settled the area would hardly recognize Atlanta today.

This year, the city’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest in the world for the 13th year in a row, having funneled nearly 90 million passengers through its extensive hallways in 2010. The traffic is evidence of Atlanta’s status as a business hub, with many major companies calling the city home. These include Delta Airlines, The Home Depot, CNN and Coca-Cola. The latter has been a longtime friend and partner to Atlanta, and the iconic red and white logo is obvious all over town. Downtown’s Peachtree Street is still the main drag and that’s where you’ll find many of Atlanta’s top hotels, while the city’s best shopping is kept for the Buckhead neighborhood. As modern as it is, Atlanta wears its past on its sleeve, especially its Civil War days. People here haven’t forgotten that General Sherman commenced his infamous “March to the Sea” here, burning most of Atlanta to the ground before heading on a milewide trail of destruction. He did spare most private residences, churches and hospitals, some of which are still visible today. Whether you’re looking for a little history or you’re just in town for some sweet tea and pecan pie, here are a few suggestions to make sure Georgia’s capital city stays on your mind.

TO DO If You Only See One Thing: Georgia Aquarium.

You’ve likely been to an aquarium before, but not like this one. A city landmark from the day it opened in 2005, the Georgia Aquarium draws such crowds that advance reservations are required—and weekends can be difficult to book. A monument to corporate sponsorship as much as it is to sea life, the aquarium is divided into different temperate zones. GeorgiaPacific Cold Water Quest, featuring Beluga whales, penguins and sea otters, is just around the corner from Tropical Diver presented by AirTran, which appropriately showcases living corals, jellyfish and a colorful array of warm-water creatures. AT&T Dolphin Tales provides the requisite porpoise show, enhanced by special effects and “dramatic costuming,” and the Southern Company’s River Scout contribution offers a look at just about everything that inhabits unidirectional waterways, including Amazonian Piranha, Asian small-clawed otters and even good ol’ American alligators. The highlight of

the aquarium, though, is the 6.3-million-gallon Ocean Voyager Built by Home Depot—the world’s largest aquarium exhibit, with North America’s largest viewing window, putting the thousands of different animals inside (including whale sharks) closer than you’d normally care to come. georgiaaquarium.org Other Options Atlanta Motor Speedway Catch a race—day or night—or get on this storied track yourself; there are several “driving experience” programs here that offer the chance to drive (or be driven) around the 1.54-mile oval at speeds over 150mph. atlantamotorspeedway.com World of Coca-Cola Across the street from the Georgia Aquarium—and ubiquitously visible throughout the city—Coca-Cola makes its public home in the sparkling World of Coca-Cola attraction. This Willy Wonka-esque compound showcases everything that goes into making, bottling and sharing the world’s most popular soft drink. worldofcoca-cola.com Shopping in Buckhead Robb Report likes Buckhead for “some of the best shopping and finest restaurants in southeastern United States,” and no wonder! With more than 1,400 retail units and a wide number of top dining options, this upscale district is tailor-made for those looking to shop till they drop.

EAT If You Only Eat One Meal: Restaurant Eugene.

There are “foodie” restaurants in every city (and Atlanta has more than you’d think), but we like Restaurant Eugene because it’s more detailoriented than we are. A fantastic array of farmfresh ingredients goes into every dish—and condiment. The house hand-makes its own ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, hot pepper sauce and more—downright meticulous for a popular kitchen!

It’s easy to find, sitting on the main drag (Peachtree Road), it’s stocked with produce and offerings from local farmers and artisans, and it’s family run: Linton and Gina Hopkins are the executive chef and director of operations, respectively. We’d go with the tasting menu, but feel free to indulge with such menu items as “seared Sonoma duck foie gras with sunchoke puree, pickled sunchoke gastrique and potlikker consommé” or “day boat black grouper with sapelo island clams, creamed salsify, melted leeks and kohlrabi greens.” Produce fans will enjoy plates piled high with the likes of roasted baby red beets and goat cheese, horseradish cream kohlrabi, baby Vidalia & fennel, wild mushrooms and cope’s corn dumplings, and even more, while meat lovers might go for the “South Carolina rabbit loin & leg, roasted baby Vidalia onions, parsnip puree, turnip the majors 2011

greens, Satsuma jam and rabbit jus.” Entrees are loaded with the best of God’s green earth, and the desserts are sinful. restauranteugene.com Other Options Bar Krog This charming rustic-modern Spanish-style eatery sits across the parking lot from its big sister restaurant, Rathbun’s. Both are the under the watchful eye of Kevin Rathbun, a former Iron Chef America winner, but we really like Bar Krog’s warm wood interior and fine menu.

Yellowtail Crudo, Brie-stuffed Piquillo Peppers, and finger sandwiches join Paprika Cured Pork Loin, Bresaola and a fine wine list to create a fantastic place to meet with friends or to just sit alone. krogbar.com South City Kitchen Fried Green Tomatoes, Shrimp and Grits, Buttermilk Fried Chicken, Cornmeal Crusted Catfish and Pecan Pie. Any need to elaborate? southcitykitchen.com STAY If You Only Have One Night: Stonehurst Place.

As a major business hub, Atlanta has its share of the big names: Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, Grand Hyatt and so on, and many of them are absolutely amazing. But if you’re after a modern, Southern, distinctly Atlanta accommodation, Stonehurst Place is where you’ll want to rest your head. Built in 1896 as a family estate, Stonehurst is now a luxury B&B with only five suites—each of them a work of art. The Master Suite, for example, is a proper luxury apartment (minus the kitchen), featuring a sizeable office, sitting room and large master bed and bath. Heated floors are a nice touch, as are the excellent breakfasts and in-room accoutrements.

Furnishings offer a few surprises, mixing pieces like original works by Andy Warhol and an authentic Eames lounger with crisp, contemporary seating and lighting to create an environment that is as much modern Atlanta as it is Old South. Convenient to the best of Atlanta, eco-friendly, impeccably accoutered and serviced, it’s as near perfect as an accommodation can get. stonehurstplaceinn.com Other Options Ellis Hotel Art Deco hints everywhere and a top restaurant make this downtown boutique hotel a favorite. It feels like a small property, but in fact there’s plenty of room. Voted Atlanta’s No.1 business hotel by TripAdvisor. ellishotel.com Mansion on Peachtree Located in Buckhead, the Mansion on Peachtree offers a great spa on property, great service inside and rooms that are everything expected of a luxury hotel. A great place to relax or do business. rwmansiononpeachtree.com

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watch & Words: Tony Dear and Andy Farrell Marveling at the skills of the world’s best golfers will rightly be a priority for visitors from out of town to the three remaining majors of the year, but there’s also nothing more guaranteed to stimulate that atavistic desire to get out there and have a game yourself The week of a major championship traditionally coincides with a dramatic upturn in rounds played at courses near to the action.

But this is no coincidence. After all, what could be better on the Saturday or Sunday of a major than to play in the morning a few miles from the host course and then hotfoot it to the main event just as the leaders are preparing to tee off?

The problem is, with so much demand for tee times at neighboring clubs, plans to cater for that spontaneous urge to play must be laid weeks if not months in advance.

The next three ports of call for the major champioship bandwagon in chronological order are: Congressional Country Club, just outside Washington D.C., for the 111th U.S. Open; Royal

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St. George’s, in the county of Kent in southeast England, for the 140th [British] Open; and Atlanta Athletic Club, in Johns Creek, Georgia, for the 93rd PGA Championship.

Each of these gems is to be found in a traditional golf location that is replete with a variety of nearby courses to suit most tastes, and with the warmest of welcomes to match.

play Where else to play near Congressional?

John Lyberger, director of golf at Congressional Country Club, reckons visitors to this year’s U.S. Open may have a hard time finding a tee time inside the Capital Beltway, especially at private clubs and high-end daily-fee courses.

But Lyberger says Bretton Woods (bwrc. org) in Germantown, a bucolic parkland course designed by Ed Ault (in 1968) about eight miles along River Road from Congressional, will be welcoming guests. “Bretton Woods is in a lovely part of Maryland and is a wonderfully peaceful course on the north bank of the Potomac,” says Lyberger. “The pro has actually encouraged me to inform golfers they will be very much open for play during U.S. Open week.”

Trump National DC (trumpnationaldc.com), a private club with two and a half miles of river frontage on the other side of the Potomac, has two courses—the Championship and River, designed respectively by Tom Fazio and Arthur Hills. “It’s a really nice place,” says Lyberger. “Trump has done a good job turning the old Lowes Island layout into something much grander. But that’s Trump isn’t it?

That’s what he does.”

As for public-access courses, Lyberger recommends Falls Road (montgomerycountygolf. com) in the village of Potomac just a few miles north of Congressional. Opened in 1961 and designed by Ault, the course was renovated by superintendent Bryan Bupp in 2003 when new green complexes were built, fairways were

reshaped and tall fescue grass was introduced to add visual appeal and definition. It is now rated among the best publically-owned courses in the Washington area. “They do a great job at Falls Road,” says Lyberger. “It may not be championship caliber, but it’s ideal for anyone looking for a fun, affordable round.”

Forty miles north of the Capitol in the unincorporated community of Ijamsville is Whiskey Creek (whiskeycreekgolf.com), designed

by J. Michael Poellot with input from Ernie Els, U.S. Open champion at Congressional in 1997. This 7,010-yard course is built on a site where illicit distilleries once produced moonshine to send down nearby Bush Creek in barrels to the city.

Robust but fair, Whiskey Creek has a riskreward flavor, most typically on the par-5 18th where the fairway is split in two by the ruins of an 1830s farmhouse. “It’s a course that offers a traditional feel,” says Els. Also recommended is Worthington Manor (worthingtonmanor.com) on the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Highway about five miles from Whiskey Creek. This undulating, six-time U.S. Open qualifying venue was designed by Brian Ault (son of Ed) and Tom Clark in 1998.

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Where else to play near Royal St. George’s?

Nowhere are three [British] Open courses in closer proximity than the trio of famous links on the Kent coast. Prince’s (princesgolfclub.co.uk) lies to the north of the 14th fairway on Royal St. George’s while to the south, just the other side of the Sandwich Bay Estate, is Royal Cinque Ports at Deal (royalcinqueports.com). Fly into or out of Manston Airport (also known as Kent International) and you are treated to a bird’s eye view of this string of golfing gems.

Cinque Ports, founded in 1892, was described by golf writer Bernard Darwin as a “truly great course, most testing and severe of all championship courses.” J.H. Taylor won The Open here in 1909 and George Duncan in 1920, but further scheduled Opens were relocated due to extensive winter flooding. A sea wall now protects the course, which has been wonderfully reconditioned in recent years.

Prince’s was the longest course to host The Open in 1932 when Gene Sarazen triumphed.

Wartime damage necessitated a complete remodeling and there are now 27 holes.

Round the coast near the Romney Marshes is Littlestone (littlestonegolfclub.org.uk), another superb links. Dating from 1888, the club once had the Prime Minister (Herbert Asquith) and Leader of the Opposition (J.H. Balfour) as captain and president respectively.

Prince’s

Two cliff-top courses worth a visit are Walmer & Kingsdown (kingsdowngolf.co.uk) and North Foreland (northforeland.co.uk). The former, between Deal and Dover, was designed by James Braid and offers sweeping views across the English Channel while the latter is an Open qualifying course beside the town of Broadstairs. The current layout dates from 1912 and was set on land owned by Alfred Harmsworth, the 1st Viscount Northcliffe.

At least four inland layouts are recommended.

Broome Park (broomepark.co.uk), originally designed by Donald Steel in 1981, is set on a delightful 268-acre private estate at Barham, between Folkestone and Canterbury.

Canterbury Golf Club (canterburygolfclub.co.uk) is just a few miles from the famous cathedral.

This Harry Colt gem was opened in 1927 and even though the trees have grown up over the years, gorse and broom have been reintroduced.

Just north of Canterbury is Chestfield (chestfield-golfclub.co.uk), believed to have the world’s oldest clubhouse building, dating from the 15th century. The course, opened in 1924, was designed jointly by James Braid and Abe Mitchell, and remodeled by Steel in 2000.

Ashford (ashfordgolfclub.co.uk) dates from 1903, but moved to its present parkland setting in 1927 where it is easily accessed from the M20 freeway.

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Where else to play near Atlanta Athletic Club?

Robert Trent Jones Sr. was involved in the design or remodel of over 500 courses but saved some of his best work for the Deep South.

In addition to designing or co-designing both courses at Atlanta Athletic Club (AAC), he is rightly renowned for the Stonemont (stonemountainpark. com) course he laid out in 1969 in Stone Mountain Park 16 miles east of downtown.

Perhaps the most beguiling of his southern charms, though, is Peachtree, located midway between downtown and the AAC. Peachtree was founded in the late 1940s by another Robert T. Jones, the amateur who achieved the Grand Slam almost two decades earlier. To design the course, Jones the golfer selected Jones the architect who was making a name for himself in New York and neighboring states after graduating from Cornell University. Together, the two Joneses found a beautiful parcel in North Atlanta that had previously been used as a nursery—not unlike a certain other Georgia course Jones also co-founded.

Like its cousin Augusta National, Peachtree is exclusively private and it will be difficult to arrange a game if you’re not on good terms with a member. If you have an ‘in,’ then expect to sample the elements for which Trent Jones is famous— huge greens and runway tees long enough to

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provide both the pro and high-handicapper plenty of challenge and entertainment.

If you don’t have the necessary connection here or at East Lake (eastlakegolfclub.com), the Tom Bendelow design reworked by Donald Ross where Bobby Jones grew up playing, then you’ll likely need a public-access course.

However, no problem! There are close to 100 in the metro area that anyone can play, many of them top notch.

The aforementioned Stonemountain Park is home to another course—the John LaFoy-designed Lakemont that dates from 1988 and provides amazing views of both Stone Mountain and the Confederate Memorial carving.

Chateau Elan (chateauelan.com), 20 miles from AAC off I-85, is another venue that usually gets an honorable mention. The resort has three 18-hole courses designed by Denis Griffiths between 1989 and 1996. The Legends is private but the other two, the Chateau and Woodland, are both public facilities.

Bear’s Best Atlanta (clubcorp.com), just five miles from Johns Creek, possesses 18 versions of Jack Nicklaus’s finest holes, while two more options, about an hour’s drive away, are Cobblestone (cobblestonegolf.com), a municipal course in Acworth, and The Frog (golfthefrog.com), a Tom Fazio design in Villa Rica.

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augusta national founder BoBBy Jones, accompanied By His friend o.B. Keeler (rigHt), poses witH tHe four tropHies tHat made up His grand slam in 1930: tHe [BritisH] open, tHe u.s. amateur, tHe BritisH amateur and tHe u.s. open

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So what are the majors and who runs them? And while we’re at it, what contributions do the governing bodies behind them make to the game as a whole? Paul Trow attempts to answer these questions, along with a few more

One of the curiosities of golf’s four major championships is that none of them is organized or administered by the PGA Tour or any of its counterparts around the world.

In a way, this emphasizes the historical nature of the majors—predating, as they do, the modern Tours that exist primarily to provide the players with a rolling program of events in which to compete throughout the year.

It is easy to run away with the idea that between them the PGA Tour and the European Tour operate the professional side of the game internationally, simply because of the number of tournaments and regions that come under their respective umbrellas during the course of the year.

Indeed, all four majors are officially part of both Tours and carry huge weight in determining the outcome of the season-long pursuit of a high finish on the order of merit. But even if the Tours had never existed, the majors would still enjoy highlight status on the sporting calendar in their own right.

So how did the majors come about in the first place, and who runs them?

As is now traditional, we should go in reverse order and begin with the youngest of the four majors—the Masters, which dates back only to 1934 but seems as though it has been around for ever. Unlike the other three majors, it always takes place at the same location—Augusta National Golf Club, the course that Bobby Jones built in Georgia on the site of a former nursery.

Jones retired from playing in the big championships at the preposterously premature age of 28 because, having completed the grand slam of the Open and amateur championships of the United States and the British Isles in one season in 1930, he felt there were no further peaks for him to conquer as a competitor.

Over the subsequent few years he devoted himself to a project he had long harbored, creating a superior club somewhere near his home in Atlanta where he could play with his golfing friends.

Once the course was completed, Jones initiated an Annual Invitational Tournament as a

way of signing off the professionals’ winter tour of California and the desert states. All the leading players of the time, including amateurs, were invited and within a couple of years the tournament was known as the Masters. Even though Jones was uncomfortable with the name, he bowed to pressure in the end and it has enjoyed the title officially ever since.

To this day, the Masters is run by Augusta National Golf Club, an exclusive and private organization that needs answer to no one in terms of its position in the world of golf. Its members, drawn in general from the highest echelons of business and the professions, are marked out by the green jackets they are entitled to wear. The only other people allowed to don a green jacket, of course, are the men who have won the Masters.

The arrival of television coverage in the late 1950s, coinciding with the emergence of Arnold Palmer as the most charismatic player the game had ever seen, catapulted the Masters into the public consciousness. In those days, all TV sets were black and white, so only the imagination could appreciate the bright colors and gorgeous greenery that epitomized Augusta National. Of course, when color sets came on to the market a decade or so later there was no stopping the Masters and the television revenues did the rest in terms of underwriting prize-money and funding course improvements.

Along the way there have been a few compromises, though not many. The Masters remains an invitational event, but now with specifically codified, Tour-approved criteria that have eliminated the anomalies that occasionally cropped up previously.

In addition, gradually the front nine of Augusta National has been opened up to live TV coverage and even light rough—singularly absent until recent years—can now be found on the course.

So the verdict on the Masters is: It was probably the arrival of this newest kid on the block that injected some structure and context into the three older majors.

The next youngest major is the PGa ChaMPiOnshiP, first staged in October

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industry leader that seeks to exert an influence over every aspect of the game, particularly those that relate to its potential growth.

A whole raft of initiatives is linked to this.

These include: Play Golf america An umbrella marketing campaign to bring more people into the sport. Getting more women and girls into the game is a priority. At present only 22 percent of players are female.

Get Golf ready Consisting of five lessons teaching you everything you need to know before stepping with confidence on to a golf course for the first time.

PGa Performancetrak The largest single source of ‘rounds played per month’ data in the industry. It helps clubs to see how they’re performing.

We are Golf Changing perceptions about golf. Most people in America don’t play and don’t understand the benefits courses bring to the local community, from jobs and taxes to recreation and tourism.

“today, golf is a multi-billion-dollar retail industry. PGa professionals still retain the core skills and fit people with the proper equipment. [But] as retailing has evolved over the years, so has golf”—Joe Steranka 1916. Six months earlier, on 10 April 1916, The PGA of America grew from a meeting held in the boardroom of the Radisson Martinique on Broadway in New York City where 35 charter members and 78 professionals were elected to membership.

Of course, what those founding fathers formed at that select meeting has today turned into the world’s largest working organization in sport. The PGA of America now has more than 27,000 members and apprentices, male and female, working at more than 15,000 golf centers across the country. The PGA Championship, along with the Ryder Cup whenever it is played in the U.S., are its flagship events, but its core business relates to the day-to-day running of clubs, resorts and ranges— wherever, in fact, PGA professionals ply their trade and leadership skills.

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Joe Steranka, chief executive officer of The PGA of America, says: “Golf’s gone from a boutique service business where gentlemen and ladies came to the club and asked the professional for services—from lessons to helping choose a new driver. Today golf is a multi-billion-dollar retail industry. PGA professionals still retain the core skills and fit people with the proper equipment but they’re also being asked to understand human resources, management techniques, accounting practices, computer programming, email marketing and club design technology so we can vastly expand our customer base. All that while not losing the personal touch.

“As retailing of absolutely everything has evolved over the years, so has golf.”

But The PGA of America is not just a trade union operating solely for its members—it’s an the majors 2011

In addition, The PGA of America also stages the two PGA Merchandise Shows that take place each year, in January (in Orlando, FL.) and in August (in Las Vegas, NV.), so professionals and retailers can place their orders with manufacturers for the forthcoming season.

But the decks are always cleared for the PGA Championship, and Steranka jealously guards his employers’ involvement. “We see the major events in golf as being very successful largely because they’re run independently of the Tours,” he says. “The business of running tournament golf week in, week out is very consuming, but when it comes to events like the Ryder Cup and PGA Championship, staged on a much bigger scale than regular tournaments, you require a lot more people with specific skill sets to deal with things like international TV negotiations.”

So who are these people with special skill sets? And what else do they do? “We have 200 staff working in perhaps 13 different departments of golf administration and services,” says Steranka.

“Their day-to-day life is looking after the interests of 27,000 professionals.”

The UniTed STaTeS Golf aSSociaTion (USGA) is an organization that looks after the

The Professional Golfers’ Association of America

World PGa alliance Ensuring that PGA pros who work in developing golf territories operate to identical standards in terms of playing, teaching, and overall work experience.

‘old’ tom morris (above) organized the first british open at prestwick in 1860. mike davis (left) is organizing the 2011 U.s. open at congressional

interests of up to 28 million golfers—men and women, juniors and seniors, amateurs and professionals. Mike Davis, who recently succeeded David Fay as executive director, explains that creating proper national championships, including the U.S. Open, was the original impetus for the USGA’s formation.

“We were founded in 1894 [a year before the first U.S. Open] for no other reason than to stage national championships,” he says. “Quickly thereafter we became the governing body for writing and interpreting the Rules of Golf, regulating equipment, amateur status and the handicapping code.

“We do govern jointly with The R&A [more about them later] worldwide while the U.S. and Mexico is our working jurisdiction. Between us, we have the world’s number of golfers divided in half, but as far as amateur status, rules and equipment standards are concerned we control the whole world with The R&A. At the same time, the USGA’s Handicapping and Course Rating systems are used on six continents in more than 50 countries.

“Through all my years at the USGA and particularly since I took up the reins, I have seen

just how strong the relationship between the USGA and The R&A has become. Really, it’s a wonderful system of checks and balances.”

Davis started with the USGA 21 years ago and has worked mainly in the Championships and Rules of Golf departments. “I’ve been senior director of rules and competitions since 2005 and U.S. Open championship director since 1997,” he adds. “Part of my arrangement for this job is that I will carry on setting up the U.S. Open courses.

“On an annual basis we run somewhere around 700 qualifiers for our 13 national championships [including the Opens for women, juniors and seniors] for which we end up having 35,000 players representing more than 80 countries. Most of the qualifying is handled by regional golf associations across the country who have their own teams of employees and volunteers.

We at the USGA have around 1,400 volunteers and between 320 and 350 staff, though that number adjusts seasonally.

“We have a world-class museum and library at Far Hills, NJ, as well as a state-of-the-art center for testing golf balls and equipment for conformance to the Rules of Golf. the majors 2011

“But of course, one of the aspects of our operation of which we are most proud is the USGA’s Green Section. Established in 1920, the Green Section is a global leader in supporting sustainable golf course management practices.

Through our Turf Advisory Service, the USGA provides support to golf courses around the country and around the world for developing healthy turfgrass, as well as improving the critical relationship between golf and the environment.

In recent years, led by our current president Jim Hyler, the USGA has been a strong advocate for reducing the amount of water used by golf courses.

Water consumption is one of the most critical issues facing the game today, and we strongly advocate reducing irrigation to create firm and fast conditions that bring back traditional elements of skill as well as fun to the game.”

The USGA is undoubtedly a force for good in terms of how it promotes golf across the United States and beyond. And the role played by The R&A (the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, to give it its original title) throughout the rest of the world, quite apart from running The [British] Open, is very similar.

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Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

the r&a clubhouse overlooks the 1st tee and 18th green on the old course at st. andrews

It is, however, something of an irony that The [British] Open, first organized by ‘Old’ Tom Morris and Prestwick Golf Club in 1860, only came under the sole jurisdiction of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 1919—after the USGA and The PGA of America got their act together with their respective championships. Back in 1872, the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers contributed to [the cost of] the Claret Jug for The Open Championship, along with Prestwick Golf Club and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. The Honorable Company continued to be involved until 1919, but it was only then that the running of The [British] Open was handed over to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in its entirety. In theory, it could even be asserted that The Open’s current parentage is only traceable back to 2004 when the Royal and Ancient, which was founded as a golf club in 1754, decided to separate its club activities, as the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, from its commercial commitments, as The R&A. As a result of turning The [British] Open into one of the world’s great sporting events and an outstanding commercial success, The R&A is able to invest in grass-roots development projects around the world. Particular emphasis is placed on the encouragement of junior golf, on nurturing the game in emerging golf nations, on coaching and on the provision of open-to-all courses and practice facilities. The R&A also provides bestpractice guidance on all aspects of golf-course management, with specific reference to ecological and conservation issues, to help the growth of the game in a commercially and environmentally sustainable way.

Steve Isaac, The R&A’s director of golf course management, summarizes the problems facing courses by saying: “Our website, bestcourseforgolf.org, contains a lot of information about planning and development, construction, grass selection and post-construction management

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Majors in Waiting

The following dates and venues have been confirmed for major championships up to and including 2016 Year

Major

Dates

Venue

2011

U.S. Open The [British] Open PGA Championship

June 16-19 July 14-17 August 9-12

Blue Course, Congressional CC, Bethesda, MD Royal St. George’s GC, Kent, England Highlands Course, Atlanta Athletic Club, Johns Creek, GA

2012

Masters Tournament U.S. Open The [British] Open PGA Championship

April 5-8 June 14-17 July 19-22 August 9-12

Augusta National GC, GA Lake Course, The Olympic Club, San Francisco, CA Royal Lytham & St. Annes GC, Lancashire, England Ocean Course, Kiawah Island Golf Resort, SC

2013

Masters Tournament U.S. Open The [British] Open PGA Championship

April 11-14 June 13-16 July 18-21 To be decided

Augusta National GC, GA Merion GC, Ardmore, PA Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland East Course, Oak Hill CC, Pittsford, NY

2014

Masters Tournament U.S. Open The [British] Open PGA Championship

April 10-13 June 12-15 July 18-21 To be decided

Augusta National GC, GA Course No.2, Pinehurst Resort, NC Royal Liverpool GC, Merseyside, England Valhalla GC, Louisville, KY

2015

Masters Tournament U.S. Open PGA Championship

April 9-12 June 18-21 To be decided

Augusta National GC, GA Chambers Bay Golf Course, Tacoma, WA Straits Course, Whistling Straits, Kohler, WI

2016

Masters Tournament U.S. Open PGA Championship

To be decided June 16-19 To be decided

Augusta National GC, GA Oakmont CC, Pittsburgh, PA Lower Course, Baltusrol GC, Springfield, NJ

which should be of assistance to architects. Many developments are built to a high specification, with associated high costs, but the developer does not appreciate the ongoing high cost of maintenance on such courses once the architect has delivered the course and departed the scene. Poorly conceived and poorly built courses can damage landscapes, erode topsoil and harm biodiversity.”

If Isaac and his colleagues have a buzzword, the majors 2011

it has to be ‘sustainability,’ which The R&A defines as: “Optimizing the playing quality of the course, in harmony with the conservation of its natural environment under economically sound and socially responsible management.”

Like the USGA, PGA of America and Augusta National Golf Club, The R&A operates selflessly for the good of the game. And the players and the fans are the principal beneficiaries.

HIS NAME IS ON THE COURSE, AS WELL AS HIS SIGNATURE.

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Gene Sarazen and CraiG Wood CheCk SCoreCardS durinG the 1935 MaSterS at auGuSta national

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the majors 2011

ouimet, conqueror of vardon and ray in that 1913 playoff, scaled another peak before the 1926 walker cup match when he posed on the roof of the savoy hotel

Play it Again Some of the most memorable moments in major championships have been created in the white-knuckle drama of a playoff. Ross Biddiscombe charts the history of this singular way of deciding the destiny of a title Extra innings, overtime, tie-breaks, penalty shoot-outs—sport would be a lot less dramatic if they didn’t exist, and golf’s major championships definitely wouldn’t be the same without playoffs.

Even though the playoff systems for the four majors are all different, each one can boast a rich canon of remarkable contests and fascinating stories.

And there is scarcely a great player in the game’s pantheon who is not part of playoff folklore— sometimes successfully, but just as likely not.

The first playoff in a major took place in 1883

over the Musselburgh links on the east coast of Scotland where Willie Fernie won a 36-hole ‘rematch’ against Bob Ferguson. In fact, this story would have begun seven years earlier at St. Andrews had David Strath agreed to play off against eventual Open champion Bob Martin. The two Scots tied in regulation, but Strath refused to turn out the next day in protest against a rules decision.

The first high-profile playoff in a major came in 1913 when 20-year-old amateur Francis Ouimet outgunned Harry Vardon and Ted Ray over 18 holes the majors 2011

for the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. The self-taught Ouimet, playing in his first major, was only able to enter after being granted time off from his job at a sporting goods store. But he lived over the road from the 17th hole and put his local knowledge to deadly use to become an overnight American sporting hero.

The Masters was decided by a playoff in only its second year, 1935. Gene Sarazen’s “shot heard round the world” (he holed his 4-wood second shot from 235 yards on the par-5 15th in the final round) put him level with Craig Wood and he won the 36hole playoff by five shots.

Wood, a New Yorker who eventually won two majors in 1941, had a particularly poor playoff record. Between 1933 and 1939, he became the first golfer to lose a playoff in all four majors (though the PGA Championship final was a matchplay event in those days). Greg Norman later

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Larry Mize ceLebrates after his reMarkabLe chip-in on the 11th green to thwart greg norMan in the 1987 Masters

jack Nicklaus won two of his three playoffs, most memorably in 1970 at st. andrews when a missed short putt on the 18th green by Doug sanders, who never did win a major, took the open into an extra day

van de veLde’s bid for the 1999 open at carnoustie drowned in a sea of errors

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became the other player to suffer this indignity.

Norman, it must be said, did not enjoy the best of fortune in his major playoffs. His most bizarre defeat came at the hands of Augusta-born Larry Mize in the 1987 Masters. The charismatic Australian was on the fringe of the 11th green, the second playoff hole, in two shots (and with one arm already seemingly inside the Green Jacket) when Mize holed a 45-yard chip to snatch the unlikeliest of victories from the jaws of the Great White Shark.

Mize is not the only surprise playoff winner over the past quarter of a century. The [British] Open has crowned two similarly unheralded champions in recent years—at Royal Troon in 2004 when American underdog Todd Hamilton beat Ernie Els (himself a playoff winner of the Claret Jug two years earlier), and at Carnoustie in 1999 when Scotland’s Paul Lawrie saw off 1997 winner Justin Leonard and the hapless Jean Van de Velde.

Of course, the 1999 playoff is one of many that should never have happened. With the luxury of requiring no worse than a double-bogey on his 72nd hole to become the second Frenchman to win the title, Van de Velde struck a stanchion in the grandstand, tangled with thick rough and paddled in a burn before stumbling to a closing triple-bogey seven.

Even great players like Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer the majors 2011

and Tom Watson have suffered their share of playoff heartache. Hogan, in his prime, was downed by littleknown Jack Fleck at the 1955 U.S. Open while Palmer lost three U.S. Open playoffs in the space of five seasons between 1962 and 1966. Watson, however, was robbed of what would have been the greatest major triumph of all in 2009 when, six weeks prior to his 60th birthday, his quixotic [British] Open tilt at Turnberry was foiled by Stewart Cink.

Jack Nicklaus, on the other hand, won two of his three major playoffs, most memorably in 1970 when a missed short putt on the 72nd hole at St. Andrews by the flamboyant Doug Sanders took the championship to an extra day. And Sir Nick Faldo is the only man to have won the same major via a playoff two years in succession—the 1989 and 1990 Masters.

Another great player with positive playoff experiences is Tiger Woods. Of his three playoff wins in the majors (and no losses), the most extraordinary was in the 2008 U.S. Open when he defied a serious knee injury to overcome gritty veteran Rocco Mediate. The pair remained deadlocked after the 18-hole playoff and the hobbling Woods needed to dig deep just to continue but made par for a suddendeath victory at the first extra hole—the 91st of the tournament—to claim a heroic victory.

If playoff losers seem hard done by, spare a

thought for Roberto de Vicenzo, who was denied a Masters playoff in 1968 because he’d signed for one more shot than he actually took at the 17th (71st) hole. As recently as last year’s PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, Dustin Johnson missed out on extra holes due to a catastrophic misunderstanding of the rules. He walked off the 72nd green believing he was heading for a playoff, only to be handed a two-shot penalty. He had grounded his club in sand off the final fairway, not realizing he was actually in a bunker, and was left to suffer on the sidelines as Martin Kaymer shaded Bubba Watson in a three-hole playoff.

Kenny Perry has also had more than his share of bad breaks when it comes to playoffs. In 1996, he bogeyed the last hole of the PGA Championship at Valhalla in his home state of Kentucky, but rather than keeping himself loose on the range he instead visited a TV commentary booth. When he eventually teed off in sudden-death against Mark Brooks, Perry, not surprisingly, fell at the first hurdle.

The flipside to this sorry tale concerns Fuzzy Zoeller. A Masters rookie in 1979, he had posted a decent 72-hole total of 280 (eight under par), but at the time Ed Sneed seemed to be cruising to victory.

Thinking his race was run, Zoeller was chilling out as he watched Sneed bogey the last three holes—a collapse that led to the Masters’ first sudden-death playoff. Despite the presence of Tom Watson in the playoff as well as Sneed, Zoeller was, of course, a shoo-in for his one and only Green Jacket.

But playoffs in general are far from predictable—or easy for that matter.

Major Differences Despite not being the oldest major championship, the U.S. Open has witnessed the most playoffs.

Since it began in 1895, 33 have taken place and each has gone to at least 18 holes. Originally, if there was still no winner, a further 18 holes would be played, something that last happened in 1946 when Lloyd Mangrum edged out Vic Ghezzi and Byron Nelson. In 1953, sudden-death was introduced as the deciding factor if the combatants remain tied after 90 holes.

The [British] Open, the oldest major, has only staged 19 playoffs (or 20 if you include the 1876 playoff from which Davie Strath withdrew) with the first nine completed taking place over 36 holes.

The 1970 playoff between Jack Nicklaus and Doug Sanders was the first reduced to 18 holes, while in 1989 Mark Calcavecchia prevailed against Greg Norman and fellow Australian Wayne Grady at Royal Troon in the first to be contested over four holes— the current format.

The first of the Masters’ 14 playoffs (Sarazen vs. Wood) was originally staged over 36 holes, but by 1942 this had been reduced first to 18 holes and then in 1976 the decision was taken to change to sudden-death. The PGA (a match-play event until 1958) has witnessed only 12 playoffs, the first in 1961 when Jerry Barber beat Don January over 18 holes. When Lanny Wadkins won in 1977, sudden-death was in operation, but by the time Tiger Woods won in 2000 against fellow Californian Bob May, the format was three holes of stroke-play, as it is today.

fuzzy zoeller is buzzing in 1979 while ed sneed is sad

woods was brought to his knees before winning the 2008 u.s. open

“tom, this could have been you.” “it was me, stewart, five times”

the majors 2011

131

4

Form is sometimes an accurate guide to how a leading golfer will perform at a major championship, but so is class. Whilst a run of useful results tends to shrink a contender’s odds at routine Tour events, some players, like the quartet featured over the next few pages, simply cannot be overlooked when the game’s really big titles are up for grabs.

Since Tiger Woods became a mere mortal, playing fields have never been more level nor the competition more open. Almost anyone in the top100 is capable of winning even the most glittering of prizes these days while, conversely, no 54-hole lead seems safe in anyone’s hands, no matter how well they seem to be playing.

At the time of writing, Lee Westwood is world No.1, a position he strengthened in April with successive victories in the Far East. He is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with each time he tees up, but he has proved strangely fallible when opportunities have come his way in majors.

Phil Mickelson, with four majors and a 2011 PGA Tour win at Houston under his belt, has the pedigree to take any tournament by the scruff of its neck and leave his challengers eating dirt. Five times he has finished second in the U.S. Open—a record of blemished excellence that not even Sam Snead or Colin Montgomerie have matched. Now he is in his 40s, one suspects that if he is ever to win his national championship it had better be soon.

One side effect of this evenly-matched landscape is an increase in the number of singletons, with seven of the last eight majors being claimed by first-time winners.

Many more genuine aspirants, like Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy, who have already come painfully close, are clearly knocking on the door. However, the following four players may be the men holding the key to imminent major glory. Adam Hathaway reports

to follow

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the majors 2011

Luke DonaLD England

Born: December 7, 1977 Turned Pro: 2001 Best Major Finishes: 3rd—Masters (2005); PGA Championship (2006) Professional Wins: 8

This mild-mannered Englishman became one of the dominant figures in college sport after taking up a golf scholarship to study art at Northwestern, winning the NCAA men’s title in 1999 when he beat the scoring record previously held by Tiger Woods. That year he emulated Woods, David Duval and Justin Leonard by receiving the Haskins Award as the best collegiate golfer. Donald, a member of two winning GB & Ireland Walker Cup teams before turning pro, has been earmarked for greatness ever since but is still to win a major. His biggest win to date came in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in February when he beat Martin Kaymer 3&2 in the final. Sandwiched between ties for fourth at the Masters in April and the Players Championship in May, Donald came close to winning The Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links, SC. He held the lead for most of the tournament and would have become world No.1 had he not lost at the third extra hole in a thrilling playoff against Brandt Snedeker. Less than a month later, he was runner-up again in the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain. In 2002, Donald won more than $1m dollars in his debut season on the PGA Tour, helped by a win in the Southern Farm Bureau Classic. In 2004, he was victorious in the Omega European Masters and the Scandinavian Masters on the European Tour, and won the World Cup for England in harness with Paul Casey. Successes at the Target World Challenge (2005) and Honda Classic (2006) followed, but the titles then dried up until he claimed the 2010 Madrid Masters. Not the longest hitter on Tour, Donald, a member of three victorious European Ryder Cup teams, has four top-5 finishes in majors to date but he is currently the player to beat, thanks largely to a masterful putting touch.

the majors 2011

133

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Hunter MaHan U.S.A.

Born: May 17, 1982 Turned Pro: 2003 Best Major Finishes: 6th—[British] Open (2007); U.S. Open (2009) Professional Wins: 4

Born in Orange, California, but raised in Texas, Mahan headed to this year’s Masters on the back of five top-10 finishes in his first nine events of the season only to miss the cut. It was the eighth time Mahan had failed to make the weekend in 21 outings at majors, but most of those missed cuts came much earlier in his professional career. Encouragingly for his chances at Congressional, he has three top-20 finishes in the U.S. Open, including a sixth place at Bethpage Park two years ago. Prior to the Masters, he finished second in the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach when a closing 66 shot him up the leader-board and hoisted him to 18th in the world rankings. A former U.S. Junior Amateur champion and Haskins Award winner, Mahan won his PGA Tour card the year he turned pro and at 21 he was the second youngest player on the circuit. Following victories in the 2007 Travelers Championship and the 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open, he claimed the biggest title of his career last August when he shot a closing 64, six-under par with a front nine of 30, at Firestone Country Club, Akron, OH, to claim the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Not surprisingly, 2010 was his best year on Tour and he finished 10th on the money list. However, in October he shed a few tears at Celtic Manor after his fluffed chip on the 17th handed Graeme McDowell a crucial advantage in the deciding singles of the Ryder Cup—an experience that may prove the making of him in the long run. He had a happier time during the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla when he was a key figure in the crushing U.S. win over Europe, contributed 3½ points from his five matches.

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135

Steve Stricker U.S.A.

Born: February 23, 1967 Turned Pro: 1990 Best Major Finish: 2nd—PGA Championship (1998) Professional Wins: 16

Dubbed ‘Mr September’ because of his habit of playing well later in the season, Stricker has one of the most reliable short games on the PGA Tour and is long overdue a victory in one of the four major championships. The popular Stricker has got better with age and this just may be his year. True, his form nose-dived in 2003 when he finished 188th on the money list as he struggled with his driver, but as he neared 40 he got the big stick under control and in 2006 had seven top-10 finishes to earn $1.8million and the first of two successive Comeback Player of the Year titles. In 2009 he won three times, including the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston, and in 2010 he bagged two more titles— one of which was a successful defense of the John Deere Classic where he signed for a record-breaking 26-under par total of 258. Stricker has been as high as No.2 in the world rankings but, like Lee Westwood, he needs a major championship on his CV to seal his reputation. His best effort so far was a second-placed finish behind Vijay Singh in the 1998 PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club, WA. More recently, Stricker has had a spate of top-10s in the majors, including sixth in 2009 at Augusta where he was 11th this year. That was the seventh time he had made the cut in seven attempts and his best finish was fourth in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Resort, HI, after being in a tie for the lead after three rounds. A captain’s pick at the 2008 Ryder Cup, Stricker qualified easily for the U.S. team in 2010, scoring three points out of four and beating Westwood in the singles.

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the majors 2011

BuBBa Watson U.S.A.

Born: November 5, 1978 Turned Pro: 2003 Best Major Finish: 2nd—PGA Championship (2010) Professional Wins: 5

Gerry ‘Bubba’ Watson, one of the game’s most popular players, nearly broke his major duck in last year’s PGA Championship at Whistling Straits before losing out to Martin Kaymer in a three-hole play-off.

Watson, a big-hitting left-hander who once unleashed a 416-yard drive at a tournament, played on the Nationwide Tour until the end of 2005 when he qualified for the PGA Tour. He was 90th on the money list in his first year on Tour (2006), but his maiden win didn’t come until the 2010 Travelers Championship in Cromwell, CT, when he beat Corey Pavin and Scott Verplank in a playoff. Watson dedicated that win to his father, Gerry, a Green Beret and Vietnam veteran who was battling cancer at the time and died a few months later. Watson started 2011 in style by winning the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines by a shot from fellow ‘lefty’ Phil Mickelson, then made it three victories in nine months when he beat Webb Simpson in a playoff to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Apart from his near-miss at Whistling Straits, Watson tied fifth in the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont when he was in the final group on Saturday, but he has missed the cut both times he has contested The [British] Open. Married to Angie, a former professional basketball player, Watson was a big hit with the galleries at last year’s Ryder Cup in Wales for his massive driving and the enthusiasm with which he embraced the event despite winning only one point out of four. But it’s not just the huge distances he hits the ball that mark him out as a serious major contender, he has an exquisite short game as well. Remarkably, he keeps improving despite never having a golf lesson in his life.

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the majors 2011

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Best of the Rest

The standard of play on the leading professional Tours is now so high that more players than ever before have a realistic chance of winning one of this year’s remaining three majors. Prominent among these are four-time major champion Phil Mickelson and current world No.1 Lee Westwood. Over the next few pages, we profile the careers to date of this pair and several other potential contenders

the majors 2011

Camilo Villegas Colombia

Born: 7 january 1982 Turned Pro: 2004 Best Major Finish: 4th—PGa Championship (2008) Professional Wins: 9

This snappy dresser claimed his third PGA Tour title when winning the Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens last year. Then the Colombian won by five shots from Anthony Kim and followed up by making the cut in all four majors with the highlight coming in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits where he tied for 8th place. He has not missed a cut in the majors since the 2008 Masters. Villegas earned his PGA Tour card in 2006 and in his rookie season was runnerup twice and third in The Players’ Championship. He had to wait until September 2008 for his first PGA Tour win when he took the BMW Championship in St. Louis, MO, and he followed that up three weeks later by winning the Tour Championship in Atlanta, GA. In majors, he has had three top-10 finishes with fourth place at the 2008 PGA Championship his best effort to date.

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AAron BAddeley Australia

JonAthAn Byrd U.S.A.

Angel CABrerA Argentina

PAul CASey England

Born in New Hampshire but moved Down Under when he was two. Won the 1999 Australian Open as an 18-year-old amateur and claimed his first PGA Tour title when he took the Verizon Heritage in 2006. Added the FBR Open the following season and then led the U.S. Open going into the final round at Oakmont, only to blow up with a closing 80. His game then went into the doldrums but he bounced back this year by winning the Northern Trust Open at Riviera.

Born: 27 january 1978 Turned Pro: 2000 Best Major Finish: 8th—masters (2003) Professional Wins: 6

Won the Buick Challenge and named PGA Tour rookie of the year in 2002. Further titles came at the B.C. Open and John Deere Classic, but he hit the jackpot toward the end of last season when he won in Las Vegas in sudden-death with a hole-in-one. Teed off 2011 with another playoff win in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, but came up short in a third playoff in May against fellow Clemson teammate Lucas Glover in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow.

Born: 12 september 1969 Turned Pro: 1989 Major Wins: 2—U.s. open (2007), masters (2009) Professional Wins: 47

Broke through in 2007 by holding his nerve down the stretch to win the U.S. Open at Oakmont and become Argentina’s second major champion after Roberto de Vicenzo.

Followed that with a playoff victory over Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell in the 2009 Masters, and was a serious contender for this year’s green jacket prior to finishing seventh.

Mentored and funded as a young player in Cordoba by Champions Tour star Eduardo Romero, Cabrera has nine top-10s in majors.

This three-time Ryder Cup player enjoyed a stellar 2009 with two European Tour wins and victory in the Shell Houston Open, his only PGA Tour title. After a barren 2010, the highlight of which was finishing runner-up in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona, the longhitting Englishman won the Volvo Golf Champions tournament in Bahrain in January. But his recent form has been patchy and time is running out if he is to fulfill his promise and become a major champion.

K.J. Choi South Korea

StewArt CinK U.S.A.

John dAly U.S.A.

JASon dAy Australia

One of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour though not a prolific winner. This Georgia Tech graduate’s last win came at the 2009 [British] Open when he gate-crashed 59-yearold Tom Watson’s swansong by holing a tramliner on the 72nd green and then beating the five-time champion in a four-hole playoff. A veteran of five Ryder Cup matches, Cink has a dependable long-game and is one of the best putters in the world. Is probably the most popular golfer on Twitter, where he has more than a million followers.

The long-hitting Wild Thing burst onto the scene by winning the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick, IN, after driving through the night to take up his place in the field as ninth alternate. Won The [British] Open at St. Andrews four years later in a playoff, but well-publicized personal problems have probably prevented him from fulfilling his prodigious talent. At 45 and perhaps past his best, he is still box-office—and instantly recognizable in multi-colored pants despite his new, slimline figure.

Born in Queensland to an Australian father and Filipino mother, Day’s victory in the Legend Financial Group Classic on the Nationwide Tour in July 2007 meant he became the youngest man to win on any of the PGA Tour’s three tours. In May 2010, he became the youngest Australian to claim a PGA Tour title when he won the Byron Nelson Championship in Texas. And in April this year, he underlined his majors’ potential by exploiting his prodigious length to tie for second in the Masters.

Born: 17 march 1981 Turned Pro: 2000 Best Major Finish: 13th—U.s. open (2007), PGa Championship (2008) Professional Wins: 7

Born: 19 may 1970 Turned Pro: 1994 Best Major Finish: 3rd—masters (2004) Professional Wins: 18

Chalked up his eighth PGA Tour victory in May when he beat David Toms in a playoff for the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Won the Memorial Tournament and AT&T National, hosted respectively by Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, in 2007, his best year to date on the PGA Tour.

A former powerlifter, the rythmicalswinging Korean has a distinctively thick grip on his putter. The most recent of his six top-10 major finishes came when he tied for 8th in the 2011 Masters.

Born: 21 may 1973 Turned Pro: 1995 Major Win: British open (2009) Professional Wins: 13

Born: 28 april 1966 Turned Pro: 1987 Major Wins: 2—PGa Championship (1991), British open (1995) Professional Wins: 19

the majors 2011

Born: 21 july 1977 Turned Pro: 2000 Best Major Finish: 3rd—British open (2010) Professional Wins: 12

Born: 12 November 1987 Turned Pro: 2006 Best Major Finish: 2nd—masters (2011) Professional Wins: 2

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ErniE Els South Africa

Born: 17 october 1969 Turned Pro: 1989 Major Wins: 3—U.s. open (1994, 1997), British open (2002) Professional Wins: 66

Time is running out for the sweetswinging South African to add to his three major titles. A cold putter has led to a dramatic dip in form in 2011 for the ‘Big Easy’ following four victories in 2010—two on the PGA Tour’s Florida swing, the Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda and his native South African Open last December.

18 of his wins have been achieved on the PGA Tour where he now bases himself. Won two of his majors in playoffs, but lost a third to Todd Hamilton at the 2004 [British] Open.

rickiE FowlEr U.S.A.

JiM Furyk U.S.A.

After representing the U.S. twice in the Walker Cup, this Oklahoma State graduate has been a breath of fresh air on the PGA Tour over the past 18 months. Already known for wearing his alma mater’s trademark orange colors on the final day of a tournament, Fowler, quarter Japanese and quarter Navajo, likes to ride motorbikes in his spare time. Still seeking his first PGA Tour win, he distinguished himself as a Ryder Cup rookie last year after receiving a captain’s pick.

Three victories in 2010 ended an improbable three-year PGA Tour title drought and proved that the man with the apparently eccentric, looping swing is still a force. The highlight of his career came in 2003 when he won the U.S. Open at Olympia Fields, but the $10 million FedEx jackpot he scooped for winning the Tour Championship at the end of last season can’t have been far behind. An everpresent on the U.S. Ryder Cup team since 1997, Furyk has had 18 top-10s in majors.

Wasn’t high on anyone’s list of likely winners before the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Park, but as the various contenders eliminated themselves one by one the long hitter from South Carolina came into his own. He suffered a dramatic loss of form in 2010, dropping from 9th to 57th on the money list, but he appeared to have turned the corner in May this year when he beat Jonathan Byrd in a playoff to win the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. To date, he has won only three times on the PGA Tour.

Dustin Johnson U.S.A.

zAch Johnson U.S.A.

Multi-talented winner of two AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Ams, the 2008 Turning Stone Resort Championship and last September’s BMW Championship. Johnson has played in only 10 majors, but already has three top-10s. Led last year’s U.S. Open after 54 holes only to balloon to a closing 82 and a tie for eighth; then led the PGA Championship by one shot on the 72nd hole only to ground his club in a bunker. The mistake cost him a two-shot penalty and a place in the playoff.

Caused an upset by holding off Tiger Woods in the 2007 Masters, which he won despite never going for any of the par-5s in two. Graciously paid tribute to his Iowa origins after receiving his green jacket. The most recent of his seven PGA Tour wins came in last year’s Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial and he went on to earn a captain’s pick from Corey Pavin for his second Ryder Cup appearance at Celtic Manor in Wales.

His only other significant result in a major came at the 2010 PGA Championship when he tied for third.

Born: 13 December 1988 Turned Pro: 2009 Best Major Finish: 14th—British open (2010) Professional Wins: 0

Born: 12 may 1970 Turned Pro: 1992 Major Win: U.s. open (2003) Professional Wins: 26

PADrAig hArrington

MiguEl AngEl JiMEnEz

Ireland

Spain

Born: 31 august 1971 Turned Pro: 1995 Major Wins: 3—British open (2007, 2008); PGa Championship (2008) Professional Wins: 26

Born: 5 january 1964 Turned Pro: 1982 Best Major Finish: 2nd—U.s. open (2000) Professional Wins: 21

One of only a handful of multiple major champions throughout the modern era, this genial and articulate Irishman appears to have lost his way a little since the giddy heights of his three major wins in just over 12 months in 2007-08. The reason for this has been obsessive tinkering with his technique, suggesting that his renowned work ethic has actually counted against him over the past two years. But at the age of 39, he is not a player that can be easily written off.

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Like one of his favorite Rioja red wines, this red-haired, pony-tailed, cigarsmoking, espresso-drinking Spaniard from Malaga has been steadily improving with age. An advanced vintage at 47, he will surely add to the 18 European Tour titles he has garnered over a two-decade career.

Known as the Mechanic because of his love of Ferraris, Jimenez won a Ryder Cup singles match at long last at Celtic Manor in 2010 when he saw off Bubba Watson 4&3.

Born: 22 june 1984 Turned Pro: 2007 Best Major Finish: 5th—PGa Championship (2010) Professional Wins: 6

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lucAs glovEr U.S.A.

Born: 12 November 1979 Turned Pro: 2001 Major Win: U.s. open (2009) Professional Wins: 6

Born: 24 February 1976 Turned Pro: 1998 Major Win: masters (2007) Professional Wins: 20

Matt kuchaR U.S.A.

Born: 21 june 1978 Turned Pro: 2000 Best Major Finish: 6th—U.s. open (2010) Professional Wins: 4

MaRtIn laIRd Scotland

RoRy McIlRoy N. Ireland

An amateur star who finished in the top-20 of the 1998 U.S. Open at Olympic as a teenager, Kuchar took his time to reach fruition after turning pro. He first won in 2002 at the Honda Classic, but did not return to the podium until 2009 when he finished top of the pile at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. In 2010, he claimed his third PGA Tour title by winning a playoff for The Barclays and went on to lift the Arnold Palmer Award for topping the money list. Has clocked up six top-10s and no missed cuts in 12 starts this season.

Born: 29 December 1982 Turned Pro: 2004 Best Major Finish: 20th—masters (2011) Professional Wins: 5

After taking up a golf scholarship at Colorado State University, the long-hitting Glaswegian spent a few years on the Nationwide Tour before graduating to the PGA Tour. In 2008, he holed an 8ft putt on the 72nd green of the final tournament of the season, the Children’s Miracle Network Classic, to retain his playing privileges. Since then, he has had two victories, the most recent in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard in March, and two playoff defeats.

Born: 4 may 1989 Turned Pro: 2007 Best Major Finish: 3rd—British open (2010), PGa Championship (2009, 2010) Professional Wins: 2

Geoff oGIlvy Australia

Ian PoulteR England

JustIn Rose England

This latter-day Beau Brummell moved into the game’s highest echelons in 2004 when he won the Volvo Masters at Valderrama. After finishing runnerup in The [British] Open at Lytham in 2008 and the Players Championship a year later, he won the WGCAccenture Match Play Championship in 2010 and went on to enjoy a successful Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor.

Underlined his liking for matchplay by beating compatriot Luke Donald in the Volvo championship at Finca Cortesin in southern Spain in May.

Pitched in from 50 yards as a 17-year-old amateur to tie fourth in The [British] Open at Birkdale in 1998. Turned pro straight away but missed 21 cuts before winning four times in 2002. Topped Europe’s order of merit in 2007 when he recorded four top-12 finishes in the majors, won the Volvo Masters and came second at the BMW PGA Championship. Has won twice on the PGA Tour—at the Memorial Tournament and AT&T National— both in 2010.

Born: 11 june 1977 Turned Pro: 1998 Best Major Finish: U.s. open (2006) Professional Wins: 10

The likeable, smooth-swinging Australian recorded his first top-10 major finish in almost three years when he tied for fourth at the Masters in April. Has twice finished in the top-10 of the PGA Tour money list—in 2006, when he won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot and the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, and in 2009, when he won the Accenture title for a second time plus the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship. Also won the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral in 2008.

Born: 10 january 1976 Turned Pro: 1994 Best Major Finish: 2nd—British open (2008) Professional Wins: 14

One of golf’s outstanding talents, McIlroy has already claimed three third-places at majors. His wire-towire victory at the 2009 Dubai Desert Classic moved him into the world top-20 before his 20th birthday, but his form then dipped until last year’s Quail Hollow Championship where he carded 128 shots on the weekend to move from the cut mark to a four-shot victory. Alas, he blew a four-shot lead during the final round of the 2011 Masters and could only tie for 15th.

Born: 30 july 1980 Turned Pro: 1998 Best Major Finish: 4th—British open (1998) Professional Wins: 9

the majors 2011

PhIl MIckelson U.S.A.

Born: 16 june 1970 Turned Pro: 1992 Major Wins: 4—masters (2004, 2006, 2010); PGa Championship (2005) Professional Wins: 47

“Lefty,” as he is known to all and sundry, has had a modest start to 2011, though he did win the Shell Houston Open, his 39th PGA Tour title, the week before the Masters, suggesting he was poised to pounce for his fourth green jacket.

Unfortunately, he failed to deliver at Augusta and the jury is now out over whether he has the desire or the concentration to add to his tally of four majors, especially as wife Amy has been battling breast cancer over the past few years.

RoRy sabbatInI South Africa

Born: 2 april 1976 Turned Pro: 1998 Best Major Finish: 2nd—masters (2007) Professional Wins: 7

Perhaps the most controversial player in golf, Sabbatini appears not to worry about offending officials or fellow competitors.

Has been outspoken about slow play in arguments with Ben Crane and Sir Nick Faldo, but has also been involved in a further two embarrassing incidents this year—at Riviera where he berated a teenage volunteer and at TPC Louisiana where he had a row with playing partner Sean O’Hair. In between, he sealed his sixth PGA Tour title in the Honda Classic at PGA National.

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adam Scott Australia

Born: 16 july 1980 Turned Pro: 2000 Best Major Finish: 2nd—masters (2011) Professional Wins: 18

This engaging Australian once reached third place in the world rankings but also has a habit of disappearing for lengthy periods from the top of the game’s leaderboards. After four top-10 finishes in majors, culminating in a tie for third behind Tiger Woods in the 2006 PGA Championship, he had a low profile for the next three seasons. He burst back to form in April, though, when his final-round charge at Augusta led to his best major result—a tie for second in the Masters.

Brandt Snedeker U.S.A.

Born: 8 December 1980 Turned Pro: 2004 Best Major Finish: 3rd—masters (2008) Professional Wins: 4

Blond-haired dasher from Nashville, TN, who seemed destined to win a major when he was named rookie of the year on the PGA Tour in 2007 following his maiden victory at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, NC. Stepped up a notch the following April when he tied for third in the Masters and finished joint ninth in the U.S. Open a couple of months later. Claimed his second PGA Tour title in The Heritage at Harbour Town in April following a three-hole playoff against Luke Donald.

Lee WeStWood England

Born: 11 june 1973 Turned Pro: 1993 Best Major Finish: 2nd—masters (2010), British open (2010) Professional Wins: 35

The current world No.1 finished one shot outside the playoff between Stewart Cink and Tom Watson at Turnberry in 2009 after three-putting the 72nd green.

Followed that with another tie for third in the PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, and then runners-up spots in 2010 in both the Masters and [British] Open at St. Andrews. Has twice finished No.1 in Europe—in 2000, when he won seven times, and in 2009, when he won the Dubai World Championship by six shots. Has won twice on the PGA Tour, despite never having been a member—in New Orleans, LA in 1998 and Memphis, TN last year following a playoff against fellow European Robert Karlsson. Succeeded Tiger Woods as world No.1 towards the end of last year but briefly ceded the crown to Martin Kaymer for a few weeks around the Masters. One of the highest points’ scorers ever in the Ryder Cup (he has made seven appearances), an event in which he invariably putts inspirationally. Westwood would surely have won a major by now had his touch on championship greens while representing himself rather than his team been more assured.

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david tomS U.S.A.

Born: 4 january 1967 Turned Pro: 1989 Major Win: PGa Championship (2001) Professional Wins: 17

nick WatneY U.S.A.

Born: 25 april 1981 Turned Pro: 2003 Best Major Finish: 7th—masters (2010) Professional Wins: 6

Ten years after he won the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, Toms will return as one of this year’s form players. Now aged 44, he seemed to be treading water while waiting to qualify for the Champions Tour after his 2006 Sony Open win in Hawaii. But he burst spectacularly back to life in the Players Championship in May, which he only lost in a suddendeath playoff to K.J. Choi. He then recovered to win the following week in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, his 13th PGA Tour title.

This tall, long-hitting Californian has made steady progress since qualifying for the PGA Tour in 2005.

Won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in 2007 but another two years elapsed before he claimed his second title—the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines. Suffered a major setback in 2010 after holding a threeshot lead going into the final round of the PGA Championship only to slump to an 81 and fall back into a tie for 18th place. Recovered impressively by winning the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral in March.

mark WiLSon U.S.A.

Y.e. Yang South Korea

This tidy professional established himself on the PGA Tour after several years of endeavor when he won the 2007 Honda Classic following a four-man playoff involving José Cóceres, Camilo Villegas and Boo Weekley. From that point onwards, it was clear Wilson belonged amongst the game’s elite and he added another title in 2009 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

However, it appears that 2011 is his annus mirabilis following victories in the Sony Open in Hawaii and Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Even though he only took up the game at the age of 19, he will forever be remembered as the first Asian golfer to claim a major championship when he overcame a two-shot deficit in the final round of the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National to eclipse Tiger Woods. At the time, Woods had never been overhauled when holding a 54-hole lead in a major.

Five months earlier, Yang had shown what he was capable of by winning the Honda Classic at PGA National, another very difficult course.

Born: 31 october 1974 Turned Pro: 1997 Best Major Finish: missed Cut Professional Wins: 8

the majors 2011

Born: 15 january 1972 Turned Pro: 1996 Major Win: PGa Championship (2009) Professional Wins: 11

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sergio garcia has had more than his share of major disappointments

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the majors 2011

Yes, We Have No Majors Proof that golf is an unpredictable, sometimes fickle game comes when scanning the roll call of major champions. In amongst the names of Nicklaus, Palmer, Hogan and Woods are several players that even sporting statisticians would struggle to recall. Paul Mahoney looks back on the careers of some famous ‘losers’ and how they felt about not stepping up to the plate

Phil Mickelson went 0 and 46 in the major championships before he star-jumped to victory on the 18th green at Augusta National to win the 2004 Masters. He had become prickly having to carry around that most unwanted of monikers—‘Best Player Never To Have Won A Major.’ So, sitting resplendent in his green jacket at his champion’s press conference, the first question he was asked was: “How does it feel?”

“At least I won’t have to be asked ever again about never winning a major,” Mickelson said flashing that goofy grin of his. Second question: “How does it feel to be the Best Player Never To Have Won Two Majors?” He laughed. Just. He’s now won four.

It’s not easy to win a major. Just ask Rory McIlroy, Nick Watney and Dustin Johnson. They all went out in the lead at three of the last four majors with a chance to herald the beginning of the glory days for their generation. The 20-somethings all shot in the 80s. Even Jack Nicklaus came second (19 times) more often than he won (18 times). the majors 2011

Lee Westwood, who has taken to sharing the No.1 spot in the world rankings with Martin Kaymer since the end of Tiger Woods’ reign at the top, just can’t get over the finishing line first in the majors. Despite reaching the summit of the game and winning 35 times around the world, he is 0 and 52 at the majors—and getting prickly like Mickelson used to be, about having to constantly justify being No.1 and therefore the current holder of that poisoned acronym—BPNTHWAM. “The only thing that gets to me about answering that question is the amount of times I have to answer it,” he snapped recently. “It gets on my nerves. This might be the very last time I answer that question—it could become ‘no comment’ after this.”

The pressure is constant. The fire burns deep.

He really wants one. Mickelson feels sympathy for Westwood’s plight and said so at this year’s Masters, remembering, too, how he used to feel. “That was seven years ago. You need to let that go,” he said laughing. “I understand where Lee is at and I think

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Macdonald SMith had a fine Swing but no MajorS

“I’m not losing sleep over it. Now don’t get me wrong, I’d like to win a major. I wouldn’t give one back! there should be a lot of emphasis. But I wouldn’t swap any of my order of merits for one major”—Colin Montgomerie his game is at such a high level right now that I just think it’s a matter of time before he wins a major.”

That’s the classy reply one expects from Mickelson but it doesn’t make the winning of a major any easier. Colin Montgomerie dominated the European tour for eight years in the 1990s and remains undefeated in singles play at the Ryder Cup. Yet he is 0 and 71 in the majors having lost playoffs to Ernie Els at the 1994 U.S. Open and Steve Elkington at the 1995 PGA Championship. Surely the 47-year-old Scot’s last stand came with a 7-iron in his hand in the middle of the fairway at the 72nd hole of the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Missed green right. Double-bogey. Heartache. Again.

Monty clings to some homespun perspective.

“There are players who have only one major that will be remembered for winning one. But I would rather have my career and sustain it for 15 years than have one major along the line somewhere. I am bound to say that,” Monty said. “But I’m not losing sleep over it. Now don’t get me wrong, I’d like to win a major. I wouldn’t give one back! It’s inevitable that the media makes too much of the majors. But there should be a lot of emphasis. It’s like the Grand Slams in tennis. But I wouldn’t swap any of my order of merits for one major.”

The media does indeed have much to answer for. The Masters has only been up and running since

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winged foot thwarted Monty at the 2006 u.S. open

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1934 but The [British] Open Championship, the oldest major, will take place for the 140th time in July at Royal St. George’s. But when Willie Park Jr. held off ‘Old’ Tom Morris and just six other competitors over three rounds of the 12-hole course at Prestwick in 1860 at the very first Open, do you really think they felt that extra buzz knowing they were tussling for golf’s first major? Maybe they did. Maybe that’s why they put on their Sunday best suits.

Even in the 1950s, the amateur championships of Britain and the United States were considered two of the grandest tournaments and ranked alongside their professional counterparts, The Open and U.S. Open. This is why Bobby Jones’ Grand Slam in 1930 is so revered, as he is still the only player to achieve it. It took another 30 years for Arnold Palmer, with the help of golf writer Bob Drum, to invent the modern day Grand Slam. Palmer won the Masters and U.S. Open in 1960 and must have hoped that he could resurrect the Grand Slam by winning The Open and the PGA Championship that year. But he came second to Australian Kel Nagle at Royal Birkdale, and that was that.

So excuses can be made for those that weren’t even really playing to win majors. Harry Cooper won 31 times on the PGA Tour—the most for any player who has not won a major. Which is an unfair epitaph because he played in only one [British] Open, and there was no Masters tournament until Cooper was in his thirties (although he did finish

2nd, 4th and 2nd from 1936 to 1938). He was nicknamed ‘Lighthorse’ for his speedy play and ended up being a club pro in Hollywood giving lessons to Bob Hope and other celebrities.

Many believed Macdonald Smith had the finest swing of the early 20th Century. He won 24 times on the PGA Tour and finished in the Top 10 in 17 majors. But he never won one. If that wasn’t already hard to live with, his brothers Willie and Alex both won U.S. Opens. Macdonald even lost a playoff to Alex in 1910.

Wales’ Dai Rees was one of Britain’s finest golfers either side of the Second World War and won 39 tournaments in Europe. But he never once played in any of the three U.S.-based majors. He was runner-up three times in The [British] Open, most notably to Palmer at Royal Birkdale in 1961.

It was here that Palmer is credited with saving the oldest major from falling into decline.

Doug Sanders had 13 top-10 finishes in the majors and was runner-up four times, most infamously in The 1970 [British] Open. He missed a three-foot putt to win at St Andrews before losing the playoff to Jack Nicklaus. Still, the Peacock of the Fairways, as he was called, can console himself with the knowledge that Esquire named him one of America’s 10 Best Dressed Sportsmen in 1973.

Bruce Crampton was another who broke into a cold sweat at the mere sight of Nicklaus.

Crampton won 14 times on the PGA Tour but will be

WestWooD finisheD RunneR-up at the 2010 masteRs

remembered for the four occasions he finished second in major championships—all of them to Nicklaus.

England’s Peter Oosterhuis was the leading player in Europe from 1971 to 1975 and won the Canadian Open on the PGA Tour in 1981. He is now an analyst for CBS casting his views on those

vying to be Best Player Never To Have Won A Major. Oosterhuis knows just how they feel. He was runner-up at The [British] Open in 1974 and 1982 and led the Masters after three rounds in 1973 before finishing third. Jumbo Ozaki won 94 tournaments on the Japanese Tour but rarely ventured West. His best

“sometimes I definitely feel I am unlucky. [But] I’m not going to change my whole life to win a major. It isn’t worth it. I love my life” —Sergio Garcia Dai Rees Was seconD in the bRitish open foR the thiRD anD final time in 1961 at biRkDale

the majors 2011

finish in a major was 6th at the 1989 U.S. Open.

He remains merely big in Japan.

In the year he turned 22, Sergio Garcia finished in the top 10 at all four majors. He is now 31 and has 15 top-10 finishes and zero wins. His putt to win The 2007 Open at Carnoustie lipped out and he lost the playoff to Padraig Harrington.

“Sometimes I definitely feel I am unlucky,” Garcia said. “But you can’t live your life thinking, ‘if only.’”

Unlike Mickelson—who modified his aggressive style to break through at the 2004 Masters— Garcia is not for turning. “I am not going to change my whole life to win a major,” Garcia said. “It isn’t worth it. I love my life. Nobody is telling me that, if I change, I’m going to win 10 majors. I would rather win 30, 40 or 50 tournaments and no majors than win one major and that’s it.” That’s bold talk.

Still, there is hope for Garcia and all those trying not to become forever burdened with the label Best Player Never To Have Won A Major.

Please be upstanding for Bruce Lietzke: 12 PGA Tour wins, seven on the Champions Tour, best finish in a major: 2nd at the 1991 PGA Championship behind John Daly. He was the only member of the famed U.S. Ryder Cup team of 1981 never to have scaled one of professional golf’s four peaks. For those grasping at straws, Lietzke did win the 2003 U.S. Seniors Open. Does that count?

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Me & Mr. Jones

The love affair between the game of golf and Augusta National, home of the Masters Tournament, is now 77 years young.

As Andy Farrell confirms, it’s still goin’ on and strong

When the greatest golfer of the time—even if retired for four years—invited a few friends to play in a little tournament at his newly created course, it was hardly surprising that all the best players accepted the challenge. They have been doing so ever since.

From seemingly humble origins, the Masters is now established as one of the most significant sporting events of the year, a rite of spring, and the first major championship of the golfing season. All because of Bobby Jones.

He would have hated the enduring fuss about honoring his memory. But no one would have enjoyed more the spectacle of the world’s finest golfers dueling over a green jacket every April.

To some, Jones remains the greatest player there has ever been. Between 1923 and 1930 he won the U.S. Open four times and the [British] Open Championship thrice—as an amateur. He also won the U.S. Amateur Championship five times and the [British] Amateur Championship once. In 1930, he won each of those titles to complete a grand slam—or ‘impregnable quadrilateral’ for those with polysyllabic tastes—that has never been accomplished before or since.

Jones then promptly retired. A lawyer by profession, he had become increasingly weary of the attention and pressure that came to bear each time he teed up in a championship. He could not even have a casual game with friends without thousands of people turning up, keen to watch one of the most famous men of the era. the majors 2011

A notion had persisted at the back of his mind that he would like to create his own personal golf club, a dream course but also somewhere he could find peace. It was an idea taken up by his friend Clifford Roberts, who was a Wall Street financier. The pair had mutual connections in Augusta, Georgia. As a resident of Atlanta, Jones had visited the city often, especially in the winter when it was too cold for golf in his home town. Augusta is 150 miles east of Atlanta on the Savannah River, which marks the Georgia-South Carolina border. Named after Princess Augusta, the mother of King George III, it was founded in 1735 and was initially an inland port and then a mill town.

Long before airplanes started to transport moneyed snowbirds from the north to Florida, Augusta was established as a winter retreat.

It had two fine golf courses, including Augusta Country Club and the Donald Ross-designed layout at the Forrest Hills-Ricker Hotel where Jones won the 1930 Southeastern Open. Adjoining Augusta Country Club was an old fruit nursery created by a Belgian baron, Louis Berckmans, with a fine, old manor house atop the hill overlooking the plot.

Jones visited the disused site in 1931 with Roberts and a few of their local friends, and he knew instantly this was where he wanted to build his club. He wrote later: “The long lane of magnolias through which we approached was beautiful. The old manor house with its cupola and walls of masonry two feet thick was charming. The rare trees and shrubs of the old nursery were

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bobby jones (seated, right) congratulates arnold palmer on his 1960 masters win

gene sarazen put the fledgling tournament on the map by playing the “shot heard round the world” in 1935 and winning the playoff enchanting. But when I walked out on the grass terrace under the big trees behind the house and looked down over the property, the experience was unforgettable. It seemed that this land had been lying here for years waiting for someone to lay a golf course upon it. The broad expanse of the main body of the property lay at my feet then just as it does now. It looked as though it were already a golf course.”

the 13th hole at augusta national is a classic risk-reward par-5

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Jones knew the man he wanted to help him create his vision. Despite being knocked out in the first round of the 1929 U.S. Amateur Championship at Pebble Beach—a huge shock at the time—Jones remained on the Monterey Peninsula for the rest of the week. He played at the yet-to-be fully-opened Cypress Point and came to know the architect, Dr. Alister Mackenzie. Having studied the Old Course at St. Andrews, which he had hated on first playing but had then come to love, Jones realized he shared the same design philosophy as Mackenzie.

“Our overall aim at Augusta National was to provide a golf course of considerable natural beauty, enjoyable for the average golfer and at the same time testing for the expert player striving to better par,” Jones wrote. “We want to make

Evan Schiller / golfshots.com

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the bogeys easy, if frankly sought, pars readily obtainable by standard good play, and birdies, except on par-5s, dearly bought.”

The fairways would be wide and the rough light, so as not to spoil the members’ fun, but during a tournament the greens would be fast and the hole locations extremely tricky in order to test the best players. Both Mackenzie and Jones were interested in the strategy of the game and Jones hit hundreds of balls to specific locations as the course evolved. Despite the Great Depression, the course was ready by December 1932 and the club—named Augusta National because Jones wanted to attract members from around the country and, indeed, from overseas—officially opened the following month.

In 1934, invitations went out for the First Annual Invitational Tournament. Roberts wanted to call it the “Tournament of Masters” but Jones, who never wished to stage anything as grand as a championship, hated the name. But the media picked up the name and in a few years the club officially adopted the title. Horton Smith was the first winner, but the following year Gene Sarazen really put the event on the map by winning his playoff with the help of an albatross 2 on the 15th hole, the “shot heard round the world.”

The reputation for drama remains to this day.

Arnold Palmer, the most thrilling golfer at the time television started covering the game, won four green jackets in his dashing way to boost further the tournament’s popularity. In his slipstream came Jack Nicklaus, who Jones said played a “game with which I am not familiar” and won six times, the last time a quarter of a century ago at the age of 46. More recently, Tiger Woods announced himself with a 12-stroke victory in 1997 and has won three times since.

Roberts held a firm hand on the tiller even as Jones’ health succumbed to the long, degenerative illness that finally ended his life in 1971. A few years later, Roberts himself discovered he was terminally ill and shot himself on the Par-3 course.

Over the years, the Masters has innovated many of the features of tournament golf we now take for granted. It was the first event to play four rounds over four separate days, the first to colorcode the scoreboard, the first to offer an item of apparel to the winner—the famous green jacket that all the members wear.

More recently, the club has embraced highdefinition and 3D telecasts of the tournament.

Naturally, the golf course has evolved in response to technological advances while last year the club unveiled a new, state-of-the-art practice facility.

Current chairman Billy Payne, who masterminded the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, has personally made a life-long study of the club’s founder.

Needless to say, the game and Mr. Jones are as enamored as ever.

GoinG for Gold The U.S. Open will be hosted by California’s oldest athletic organization for the fifth time next year. Lewine Mair salutes the glittering quality of The Olympic Club, and its enduring ability to surprise

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Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

It was perhaps due to Olympic Club member Mark Twain that the legendary San Francisco sporting institution did not add golf to its roll call of athletic activities until 58 years after it was founded in 1860.

The great novelist’s legendary description of golf as “a good walk spoiled” was said to have been expressed within the confines of the original clubhouse, but it was almost certainly not Twain’s opinion alone.

Yet when the Royal and Ancient game was finally introduced, it made quite an entrance.

Having acquired the nearby Lakeside Golf Club from its struggling owners in 1918, The Olympic Club hierarchy promptly purchased additional land and replaced the original course with two 18-hole lay-outs, the Lake and the Ocean. Both were up and running by 1924.

Willie Watson, a Scot, was the designer, though it goes without saying that the two courses have since been updated on a regular basis. Where the Ocean has fought a fierce and on-going battle with coastal erosion—in the 1990s it had to give up on several of its lower holes—the Lake has had to strengthen its defenses against modern technology. Course architect Bill Love added new

In 1966, no one gave Billy Casper the ghost of a chance against arnold Palmer. With nine holes to play, Palmer was seven strokes ahead of Casper and cruising tees to as many as eight holes on the Lake prior to the 2007 U.S. Amateur Championship, though with next year’s U.S. Open very much in mind.

The 7th and 8th are new holes, having only opened for play in May 2009, while the testing 18th green, which played so hard during the 1998 U.S. Open that it prompted complaint, has twice been under the knife. Firstly it was flattened to facilitate an easier pin position on the far left, then a new slope was introduced by the club’s committee who worried lest the hole had lost too much of its original character.

Three U.S. Amateur Championships have been staged on the Lake Course, with Charles Coe, Nathaniel Crosby (son of Bing) and Colt Knost the winners in, respectively, 1958, 1981 and 2007. the majors 2011

Meanwhile, it was in 1955 that the club turned out the first of its four somewhat unexpected U.S. Open champions.

In the last round, the little-known Jack Fleck pulled off the shot of a lifetime from the rough at the 18th to pave the way for a closing birdie and the 67 which left him tied with Ben Hogan on 287. Nothing was expected of him in the 18-hole playoff but he was one ahead mounting the 18th tee and finished three clear as Hogan, to all-round astonishment, carded a closing six.

In 1966, no one gave Billy Casper the ghost of a chance against Arnold Palmer. With nine holes to play, Palmer was seven strokes ahead of Casper and seemingly cruising to his second U.S. Open.

But as he strove to improve on Hogan’s 72-hole record of 276 (set in 1948), Palmer suffered a series of mishaps before finding himself involved in a most unexpected playoff. Though out in 33 and two ahead over the 18 extra holes, he dropped four shots between the 10th and 14th to allow Casper to complete his remarkable comeback.

In 1987, everyone was waiting for Scott Simpson to give way to Tom Watson, but the

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billy casper, in the tan sweater, shakes hands with arnold palmer after the U.s. open playoff in 1966. below, lee janzen celebrates his 1998 triUmph

collapse never happened as he won by a single stroke. And most recently, in 1998, Payne Stewart was the leader through each of the first three rounds only to finish a shot behind Lee Janzen.

Most had written Janzen off when he set out on the Sunday with two bogeys in his first three holes to trail Stewart by seven. But from that point he could do no wrong, notching four birdies and 11 pars over the remaining holes for a 68 which, on the day, was one of only three sub-par rounds.

Stewart, for his part, closed with a 74.

“You’ve got to give Janzen all the credit in the world,” said Stewart, the most affable and sporting of professionals. “He was the only one among those in contention to shoot under par so he deserves to be the champion.”

And when Stewart was pressed further as to why he had not come out on top, he put it thus: “I hit six fairways in regulation, Lee hit 14. Bingo!

That’s why I didn’t win.”

To miss a fairway on the Lake Course is no minor mishap, and was especially so in 1998.

The rough had been a talking point all week with Watson describing it in his pre-tournament interview as “the toughest ever” and comparing its severity to a Muirfield bunker. “When you get into a Muirfield bunker,” he said, “the best you can hope for is to advance the ball by 20 yards. Here, it’s the same. You have to accept that your mistake is going to cost you a shot.”

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“When you get into a bunker in muirfield, the best you can hope for is to advance the ball by 20 yards. here, it’s the same”

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For the first round, it actually exceeded Watson’s worst fears in that it was wet and heavy with nothing in the way of sun to put things to rights.

All of which spoke volumes for Stewart’s opening 66.

Away from Janzen’s win, the U.S. Open of ’98 will be remembered for the gallant way in which Casey Martin, a victim of Klippel Trenaunay syndrome, finished in the top 25 after he had won the right to play in a motorized buggy. Having opened with a 74, Martin followed up with scores of 71, 74 and 72—a tally which left him just one shot behind Tiger Woods, his erstwhile Stanford University team-mate.

Lee Westwood remembers the first day of the 1998 U.S. Open for an exchange he had with Woods as the pair met in the car park prior to playing together over the opening rounds.

“Good play,” said Woods, in a reference to a recent Westwood win in Europe. “In fact,” continued Woods, “good play every week. You’re having a great season.”

The unassuming Westwood, very much a member of the supporting cast in majors at the time, was hugely tickled that Woods would have noticed. Today it’s a different story for the Englishman who supplanted the 14-times major champion as world No.1 at the end of 2010.

Like all four U.S. Open results at Olympic, such a turn of events was unthinkable before it actually happened. But if you keep walking the walk, it can never be spoiled.

from the tee, the 18th hole at lytham looks like a maze of sand traps

The SandS of Time Two hundred bunkers in Blackpool, Lancashire. With apologies to the Beatles, this is in fact a snapshot of what competitors in the 2012 [British] Open can expect. Colin Callander looks back on the fabled history of the links at Royal Lytham & St. Annes 160

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Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

It is nearly 85 years since Bobby Jones won the first Open Championship to be staged over the rugged links at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. However, as we await the eleventh Open at the Lancashire course in northwest England, from July 19-22 next summer, the great American amateur’s victory has lost none of its luster.

The reigning U.S. Open champion at the time and the winner of the U.S. Amateur title in both 1924 and 1925, Jones warmed up for that 1926 Open with a superb 12&11 victory over Cyril Tolley in the Walker Cup at St. Andrews.

Then he traveled south from Scotland to Sunningdale Golf Club, a few miles west of London, to take part in The Open qualifying tournament, but that arduous 500-mile journey was clearly no encumbrance as he promptly shot 66-68 to finish seven shots clear of the field.

News of Jones’ spectacular performance spread north like wildfire and, against the backdrop of the General Strike, which at one stage threatened to prevent the event taking place, he recorded rounds of 72, 72, 73 and 74 to claim a two-shot victory over compatriot Al Watrous,

Lytham’s reputation for producing fine champions was reinforced in 1969 when tony jacklin became the first home-winner in 18 years highlighted by the glorious 175-yard mashie niblick shot he hit out of a bunker over scrubland to the 71st green. It was a master stroke which broke the resistance of his nearest challenger and is commemorated by a plaque close to the spot whence it was played.

Jones won two more Opens to go with one British Amateur, four U.S. Opens and five U.S. Amateurs, but his victory at Lytham was nearly thwarted by an overzealous official during the short break between the last two rounds.

After the third round and holding a two-shot lead, Jones retired to a nearby hotel for lunch but forgot to take his player’s badge with him. When he returned, the security guard didn’t recognize him and refused to let him in. Consequently, the the majors 2011

American had to queue at the spectators’ entrance to buy a ticket, thus becoming the only player in Open history forced to pay the admission charge in order to watch himself win.

Strangely, Jones was not the only Lytham champion to suffer an off-course scare during the latter stages of his march to victory. Twenty-six years later, South Africa’s Bobby Locke also had to think on his feet before carding final rounds of 74 and 73 to pip Australia’s Peter Thomson by a single shot.

Locke, arguably the finest putter the game has ever seen, takes up the story. “Two rounds to play on the final day and my tee-off was 8.50a.m.,” he recalled. “After an early breakfast at my Blackpool hotel, I walked the 100 yards to the garage where my car was parked with the clubs secure in the boot [trunk]. The garage door was locked and there was nobody about. Everything was closed. I found a milk delivery man, enquired where the garage owner was, and was told he wouldn’t be arriving until 9.00 and that he lived 15 minutes away. I gave the man 10 shillings, scrambled among the milk bottles and after a bumpy ride got to the owner’s house. He was still in bed, so I dragged him out and we arrived

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Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

the 1st hole at royal lytham & st. annes is a par-3, unusual for a major venue

back at the garage at 8.20. I got my car, raced to the course and, with no time even for a few looseningup swings, I walked straight to the 1st tee.”

Thankfully, neither Thomson, the 1958 winner, nor the 1963 champion, left-handed New Zealander Bob Charles, suffered similar inconveniences. Thereafter, Lytham’s burgeoning reputation for producing fine champions was further reinforced in 1969 when Tony Jacklin became the first home-grown winner in 18 years, and again in 1974 when Gary Player, never out of the lead, defeated England’s Peter Oosterhuis by four shots to complete a hat-trick of Open victories over three decades.

The late Seve Ballesteros then won twice at Lytham, as a 22 year-old in the ‘car park’ Open of 1979 and nine years later with a phenomenal closing 65, before Americans Tom Lehman and David Duval also lifted the Claret Jug, in 1996 and 2001 respectively.

Several theories attempt to explain Lytham’s tendency to produce true champions, but the most compelling is that like all great links it is a tough but fair test of golf. Bernard Darwin, the doyen of British golf writers, once said that Lytham was “a beast but a just beast,” and that remains an apt description.

“Hit it in the right place and the way to the hole is open to you,” he explained.”But hit your ball in the wrong place and every kind of punishment, whether immediate or ultimate, will ensue.”

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Bound by houses on three sides and with not even a glimpse of the sea, Lytham lacks the haunting beauty of turnberry or the rugged charm of Birkdale, but it more than makes up for those deficiencies with the challenge it provides. It is in essence a thinking man’s golf course Lytham cannot claim to be the most attractive course on The [British] Open rota. Bound by houses on three sides and with not even a glimpse of the sea, it lacks the haunting beauty of Turnberry or the rugged charm of near neighbor Birkdale.

Nevertheless, it more than makes up for those deficiencies with the challenge it provides. It is in essence a thinking man’s golf course, first laid out

by George Lowe in 1887 and later remodeled in turn by Harry Colt, Herbert Fowler, C.K. Cotton and, most recently, Mackenzie & Ebert.

The 1st is unusual in that it is the only par-3 opening hole in modern major-championship golf.

It is followed by a stretch of six par-4s and par-5s which normally play downwind and where most good scores have to be made. Both the par-4 2nd and 3rd will feature new tees for the 2012 Open but the biggest change of all is a new green on the par-5 7th which sits to the right and about 30 yards behind the previous putting surface.

The front nine closes with a fine 165-yard short hole but the course doesn’t usually show its teeth until the second nine which plays back the majors 2011

towards the clubhouse and features a closing stretch almost as intimidating as Carnoustie’s.

Lytham has over 200 bunkers and a whole host of new ones—on the 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 14th, 16th and 18th—have been added for next year’s Open. Indeed, there are 18 alone on 17 and almost as many abutting the driving area at the final hole. Indeed, the 18th features one of golf’s most daunting tee shots and requires the prospective champion to thread his ball through a sea of sand in order to reach the sanctuary of the fairway.

The view from the tee prompted Pat WardThomas, another fine English writer from a bygone age, to suggest that “it’s not much of a target for a driver when the ambition of a lifetime is in sight.”

Henry Longhurst, the ‘old school’ BBC commentator who became a familiar voice to American TV audiences toward the end of his life, put it more succinctly. Watching Jacklin split the fairway with his final drive in 1969, he uttered three simple words, but words that said it all.

“What a corker,” he proclaimed. He could just as easily have been referring to the course itself.

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Back on the Shore The PGA Championship will be staged for the first time next year over the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island—the scene two decades ago of one of the most famous and hotly-contested Ryder Cups of them all. Jon Steinbreder pays homage to this historic stretch of South Carolina coastline

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Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

Located a mere 21 miles from the city of Charleston, Kiawah Island stretches along ten miles of South Carolina beach fronting the Atlantic Ocean. It is a quiet, isolated spot, 10,000 acres in size with rugged dunes and salt marshes, satinwhite egrets and loggerhead turtles, alligators with ominous airs, and an almost ever-present wind.

Indians once lived on Kiawah, and they hunted and fished the bountiful barrier isle and the waters that surrounded it. A pirate named George Raynor made his residence there for a while in the early 18th century, and the property eventually came to be owned by General Arnoldus Vanderhorst, a Revolutionary War hero and former mayor of Charleston.

While no actual battles were fought on Kiawah during that conflict, the island began a long connection with the military upon the General’s arrival.

Soldiers retreated there for rest and recreation during the Revolutionary War, and members of the American army were stationed on the island during the War of 1812 to help protect Charleston. The first shots of the Civil War, fired on April 2, 1861 at nearby Fort Sumter, could be heard on Kiawah.

the course swiftly became revered as the stage on which an electrifyingly intense confrontation was played out The Vanderhorsts abandoned the sea-island cotton plantation they had established there when the War Between the States began to rage. They only came back once the fighting was over, finding graffiti scribbled by Union soldiers on the walls of the family mansion. Decades later, during World War II, members of the U.S. armed forces were once again patrolling Kiawah, this time going up and down its beaches on horseback and in Jeeps, making sure no foreign troops were coming ashore.

Even with all that military presence, no battles were ever fought on Kiawah Island. But a war of sorts did break out there in the fall of 1991. The combatants were not soldiers, though. Rather, they were professional golfers, competing for the coveted Ryder Cup on the Pete Dye-designed Ocean Course the majors 2011

in an atmosphere so pressure-packed it actually felt like life and death to the players involved.

One warrior, American Mark Calcavecchia, convulsed in sobs on a Kiawah beach having halved his singles match with Scotsman Colin Montgomerie after being 4-up with four holes to play. And the image of Germany’s Bernhard Langer, standing in utter exasperation after missing a 6-foot putt on the 18th green to hand the Cup back to the American squad, is one of the indelible photographs in the annals of golf. It is a powerful portrait of an athlete in deep despair as a partisan American audience bursts into sheer joy behind him.

It was quite a fight at that Ryder Cup. And while no one was killed, the so-called ‘War by the Shore’ did serve to immortalize Kiawah as one of the preeminent battlefield sites in the game of golf—as well as being the venue for one of the most memorable Ryder Cups ever played. The course swiftly became revered as the stage on which an electrifyingly intense confrontation was played out, and as a location that people wanted to visit so they could walk the battlefield for themselves and get a sense of what actually happened there on the shore back in 1991.

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Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

The Ocean cOurse Offers sweeping views acrOss salT marshes and weTlands

Kiawah Island truly is a great place. Founded in 1974, it has been “thoughtfully developed,” as residents like to say, with tremendous care taken to minimize the impact of humankind’s intrusion on its extremely fragile eco-system. The resort boasts five championship golf courses as well as a 255-room hotel called the Sanctuary and 600 villas and homes that are available for rent. It also has tennis facilities, a spa, and a trio of swimming pools. Then, there is the Low Country ambience of a place that has retained its quiet, seaside charm even as it has grown into one of the country’s most popular golf resorts.

Make no mistake: Kiawah is first and foremost about golf. It all begins with the Ocean Course.

Designed by Dye, with plenty of assistance from his wife, Alice, and built specifically—and in only two years—for the ’91 Ryder Cup, it is laid out on the eastern end of the island. Ten holes are routed right along the Atlantic, and the other eight run parallel to them. Not surprisingly, it is a scenic spot, with ocean views on one side and sweeping vistas of salt marshes and additional wetlands on the other.

Turf makes up only 55 acres of the course, giving it a natural feel along with the beguiling sense that you are truly playing in the wild.

To be sure, the Ocean Course is not a true links and it doesn’t really play like one, as golfers must get the ball up in the air to score. However, it certainly evokes the feel of an Old World seaside

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the ryder Cup put the ocean Course on the map as far as recreational golfers are concerned, and it made Kiawah Island one of the most popular golf destinations in america track, especially when the water winds come up, as they so often do.

The par-72 layout measures a brawny 7,356 yards from the tips, and it is as renowned for its overall quality (No.26 on Golf Digest’s list of “America’s 100 Greatest Courses”) as it is for its general toughness. In addition to the Ryder Cup, two World Cups have been played there (in 1997 and 2003) as well as the 2007 Senior PGA Championship.

It is also the reason why The PGA of America is bringing its 2012 Championship to the Ocean Course, giving South Carolina its first opportunity at long last to host one of golf’s four majors in the process.

To be fair, the course then will be quite different from the one that served as the site for the 1991 Ryder Cup. Dye has returned to Kiawah several times over the years—to resurface the tees and greens on the Ocean Course with a saltresistant strain of turf grass and to re-shape several bunkers. He also moved the 18th green 40 yards toward the ocean and reworked six other holes in an effort to make them a little less penal and more receptive to run-up approaches. the majors 2011

The Ryder Cup put the Ocean Course on the map as far as recreational golfers are concerned, and it made Kiawah Island one of the most popular golf destinations in America. At the same time, it put a spotlight on the resort’s four other courses.

One of those tracks is Turtle Point, a highly regarded layout designed by Jack Nicklaus and the venue for several regional amateur championships. Another is a formidable Tom Fazio creation called Osprey Point, and then there is Cougar Point, which Gary Player redesigned in the mid-1990s. The Kiawah quintet is rounded out by a Clyde Johnston course called Oak Point, and a recent renovation by the architect on that former indigo plantation has golfers singing its praises vociferously.

But the layout at Kiawah for which they sing loudest is the revered Ocean Course. And late in the summer of 2012, it will once again enjoy an opportunity to show the game’s greatest players—not to mention recreational golfers all over the world—exactly what it is all about.

without doubt arnold palmer’s finest links course in europe ‘Voted among the World’s Top 10 Ocean courses’ the golf channel

‘I may have designed the first 9, but surely God designed the back’ arnold palmer

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What’s in the Bag From bright white drivers to exotic materials and elaborate insert putters, a new wave of equipment technology has taken Tour golf by storm in 2011. Dominic Pedler presents a selection of clubs and balls hitting the headlines this season

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For all the cutting edge technology on show in the latest crop of golf equipment, it’s ironic that the biggest talking point so far this season has been the cool cosmetics on some rather distinctive metal woods.

In a bold backlash against the jet-black PVD craze dominating the market, TaylorMade’s latest drivers, fairways and hybrids sport eye-catching matt white crowns that are claimed to improve clubhead contrast against grass—and hence alignment at address.

The fancy finish has been very much in evidence at every event this season—including the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill where five of the top-10 played the white driver, including winner Martin Laird whose Burner SuperFast 2.0 driver, R11 17-degree 4-wood and Rossa Daytona Ghost putteR 1 all featured the trendy albino look.

Cobra claim they started the craze—not just with Ian Poulter’s ZL driver with which he won in Hong Kong in late 2010, but with the famously paleheaded, kevlar Ultramid big stick with which John Daly won the PGA Championship way back in 1991.

But beyond the fashion factor, the R11 metals include a sophisticated soleplate system offering independent adjustment of the face angle, along with Flight Control and Moveable Weight Technologies that vary both the club’s loft and center of gravity.

Luke Donald gave the R11 DRiveR its first PGA Tour victory at the WGC Accenture Match Play, followed closely by Rory Sabbatini (Honda Classic).

Raphael Jacquelin notched the European Tour’s first white-crown win at the Sicily Open in March, while Jason Day and K.J. Choi kept white in the limelight at Augusta.

Elsewhere, R&D teams have been busy developing some revolutionary new materials— most notably Callaway who, following a formal tie-up with Italian car giants Lamborghini, have ditched conventional graphite in their clubheads in favor of Forged Composite derived from a more complex form of carbon fiber.

The new material is one-third the density of titanium (which remains the chosen face material) and has a much higher strength-to-weight ratio, designed to promote a significantly greater transfer of power at impact while being more malleable and efficient for concentrating weight.

It certainly worked for Phil Mickelson who drove to victory at the Shell Houston Open with a Callaway RaZR hawk DRiveR in which forged composite debuts; and Thomas Bjorn claimed “an extra 10 yards” when winning the Qatar Masters in January with the same club.

Other forged composite fans include Ernie Els, who won with the same material in the Callaway

Diablo Octane Tour driver before switching to the RAZR Hawk that’s also the favored weapon of bighitting Dubai Desert Classic winner, Alvaro Quiros, who regularly averages over 320 yards off the tee.

Another notable trend is the greater range in overall club weights being played on tour this season, a club-fitting feature encouraged by Cleveland Golf whose Launcher Ultralite drivers come in three different weight options—each considerably lighter than their typical 330g rivals.

With Graeme McDowell testing the Ultralite 310g version, and Vijay Singh and Boo Weekley already playing the 290g and superlight 270g versions, respectively, it goes to show that everybody has their own take on Einstein’s ‘Mass x Swingspeed = Distance’ formula.

Among the most visual new technologies is the thin channel drilled alarmingly out of the head in the aDams Golf f11 faiRway wooDs .

This Velocity Slot Technology is part of Adams’ novel attempts to bring the COR levels of fairway woods up to that of drivers by making both the crown and the sole of the head much more flexible, thereby promoting a ‘spring-like effect’ off the face for faster ball speed.

[Note: it’s only illegal when you reach the limit, which most smaller-headed metals are nowhere near.]

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5 8 9 6

7 Unfazed by the radical aesthetics, Tom Watson and Ryan Moore are just two of the top names to have already put the F11 in the bag.

In the iron market, it is the time-honored ‘cast versus forged’ debate that continues to dominate even at the highest level. In the cast corner, Ping came out with all guns blazing with early victories for their cavity-backed i10 model (two wins from Mark Wilson) and the slightly sleeker S59 with its rear weight bar designed for a more penetrating flight (another two wins, this time for Bubba Watson).

But the cleaner-cut forged blades—albeit with contemporary stylings—aren’t easily upstaged and there have been notable victories for the Callaway X-Forged 5 (Phil Mickelson), Wilson FG59 (Paul Lawrie) and TaylorMade Tour Preferred MB as played by world No. 1 Martin Kaymer.

Part of an impressive trio of models for 2011, TaylorMade’s no-frills Muscle Back is indeed a genuine forging fashioned from 1025 carbon steel—the first in several years from a company normally noted for its castings.

Meanwhile, master Japanese forgers Mizuno

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and Yonex, also weigh in with some stylish new irons. Mizuno’s MP-53 and MP-63 7 models are even designed with Harmonic Impact Technology that improves feel as manifested by impact sound frequencies that are consonant to the ear. Meanwhile, the all-new Yonex eZone range focuses on setting the center of gravity to new levels of precision within every model and every club (Japanese whizz-kid Ryo Ishikawa plays the eZone MB blade).

Tiger Woods tends to stick closely to his triedand-trusted equipment, so any change is especially scrutinized. Most interesting has been his dalliance with Nike Method putters which first burst onto the scene in 2009 with major victories from Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink, and further wins from Paul Casey.

The main Method concept is the ‘polymetal groove technology’ visible in the distinctive face markings claimed to reduce significantly the unwanted backspin at impact and promote a truer roll sooner after impact.

Tiger’s switch to the heel-shafted Method 001 Model 8 in The [British] Open at St. Andrews the majors 2011

last summer may have only lasted three rounds but he was back at this year’s Masters with the 003 Mid Mallet model—a rear flange design noted with more pronounced ‘toe hang’.

But going one better in every sense was Charl Schwartzel who putted spectacularly to victory at Augusta with a nike Method 004 PrototyPe 9 . Incidentally, the same groove concept is now available in a new Method Core line at a much lower price point thanks to an alternative insert arrangement that’s far less costly to manufacture.

Ironically, Tiger’s previous putter, the legendary newPort 2 CraFted by sCotty CaMeron For titleist , was back in the winners’ circle recently when Aaron Baddeley took the Northern Trust Open with the classic head precision milled from 303 stainless steel. There’s a new 2.5 Model for 2011 with a slightly shorter ‘flare’ neck and offering what Titleist calls a bit more ‘toe-flow’.

Also in the same Studio Select series (which boasts interchangeable sole weights for fine tuning) is the Fastback model with which

12

Michael Bradley won in Puerto Rico on the same day that Nick Watney took the WGC-Cadillac Championship with a 350g-weighted signature Cameron Tour putter.

But there’s stiff competition from a number of highly desirable hand-crafted premium flat sticks from top-end putter specialists, ranging from market leaders Odyssey, with their intricate D.A.R.T. alignment visuals, to rising ‘boutique’ brands like Yamada with their luscious handmilled designs.

Special mention is also due for cult brand Never Compromise whose sumptuous Gambler series is a limited edition steel forging available in four classic heads, each with stylish playing card graphics etched onto the sole. Steve Marino and David Toms were among those playing for high stakes, in every sense, at Bay Hill.

Having notched over 1,500 worldwide professional wins since Mickelson’s famously public endorsement at the 2000 Tour Championship, the TiTleisT Pro V1 series is the world’s most successful and best-selling ball. Now in

its fifth generation, the 2011 version sees an important upgrade benefiting from a new core ‘baking’ process and an advanced ‘spherically-tiled tetrahedral’ dimple pattern.

As well as greater manufacturing consistency, there’s now also a clearer distinction between the two models. In a nutshell: “Pro V1 spins more, while Pro V1x flies higher and is longer off the tee,” according to Titleist’s chief ball guru, Bill Morgan, who adds that the former is also slightly softer in feel due to a lower compression.

Tour pros have embraced the changes whole-heartedly since Padraig Harrington won with a prototype of the Pro V1x in Singapore last year, while Bubba Watson’s victory at the Farmers Insurance Open in January neatly coincided with the colorful commercial launch at the 2011 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando.

But the ball rivals are looking to close the gap with the help of some equally big name stars.

Fedex Cup winner Jim Furyk may be currently without a club contract but he approached TaylorMade purely to play their Penta TP ball the majors 2011

which is already a winner on Tour this season (Rory Sabbatini among others). U.S. Open Champion Graeme McDowell is one of many now playing the highly acclaimed new series of Srixon Z-Star balls, while Nike continues to score success—not least with the One Tour D, the ball that won the Masters with Charl Schwartzel.

Still with balls, Bridgestone hit the headlines as Nick Price fired a Champions Tour record 11-under-par 60 at the Toshiba Classic with the impressive Tour B330, a four-piece, dual mantle design also played by Fred Couples, Davis Love III and Matt Kuchar.

Indeed, our favorite piece of techie trivia on Tour so far this season was 71-year-old Lee Trevino ‘breaking his age’ for the first time in his career when shooting 70 at the Toshiba with the RX threepiece version of the same Bridgestone ball that’s commercially targeted at amateurs with swing speeds of less than 105mph.

Reassurance, perhaps, that while advances in equipment technology aren’t the only secret to golfing longevity, they’re surely a factor.

171

suddeN-deatH playoff

ROLL OF HONOR

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

ian Woosnam (Wales) fred Couples bernhard langer (germany) Jose Maria olazabal (spain) ben Crenshaw sir Nick faldo (england) tiger Woods Mark o’Meara Jose Maria olazabal (spain) vijay singh (fiji) tiger Woods tiger Woods Mike Weir (Canada)

277 275 277 279 274 276 270 279 279 278 272 276 281

Weir beat leN MattiaCe after oNe Hole of a suddeNdeatH playoff

2004 2005

played every year at augusta NatioNal golf Club, georgia

1963 1964 1965 1966

Year Winner (u.s.a. unless stated)

NiCKlaus (70) beat toMMy JaCobs (72) aNd gay breWer Jr. (78) iN a playoff over 18 Holes

MASTERS TOURNAMENT

1934 1935

Score

Horton smith gene sarazen

284 282

sarazeN (144) beat Craig Wood (149) iN a playoff over 36 Holes

1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942

Horton smith byron Nelson Henry picard ralph guldahl Jimmy demaret Craig Wood byron Nelson

285 283 285 279 280 280 280

NelsoN (69) beat beN HogaN (70) iN a playoff over 18 Holes

1943-45 No CHaMpioNsHip (second World War) 1946 Herman Keiser 282 1947 Jimmy demaret 281 1948 Claude Harmon 279 1949 sam snead 282 1950 Jimmy demaret 283 1951 ben Hogan 280 1952 sam snead 286 1953 ben Hogan 275 1954 sam snead 289 sNead (70) beat beN HogaN (71) iN a playoff over 18 Holes

1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962

Cary Middlecoff Jack burke Jr. doug ford arnold palmer art Wall Jr. arnold palmer gary player (south africa) arnold palmer

palMer (68) beat gary player (soutH afriCa) (71) aNd doW fiNsterWald (77) iN a playoff over 18 Holes

172

279 289 283 284 284 282 280 280

1967 1968 1969 1970

Jack Nicklaus arnold palmer Jack Nicklaus Jack Nicklaus gay brewer Jr. bob goalby george archer billy Casper

286 276 271 288 280 277 281 279

Charles Coody Jack Nicklaus tommy aaron gary player (south africa) Jack Nicklaus raymond floyd tom Watson gary player (south africa) fuzzy zoeller

279 286 283 278 276 271 276 277 280

zoeller beat ed sNeed aNd toM WatsoN after tWo Holes of a suddeN-deatH playoff

1980 1981 1982

seve ballesteros (spain) tom Watson Craig stadler

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

1983 1984 1985 1986 1987

seve ballesteros (spain) ben Crenshaw bernhard langer (germany) Jack Nicklaus larry Mize

280 277 282 279 285

Mize beat greg NorMaN (australia) aNd seve ballesteros (spaiN) after tWo Holes of a suddeN-deatH playoff

1988 1989

sandy lyle (scotland) sir Nick faldo (england)

281 283

faldo beat sCott HoCH after tWo Holes of a suddeNdeatH playoff

1990

sir Nick faldo (england)

faldo beat rayMoNd floyd after tWo Holes of a

the majors 2011

278

281 289 280 276

phil Mickelson Charl schwartzel (south africa)

272 274

U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP Year Winner (u.s.a. unless stated) courSe 1895 1896

1898 1899

stadler beat daN poHl after oNe Hole of a suddeNdeatH playoff

phil Mickelson zach Johnson trevor immelman (south africa) angel Cabrera (argentina)

Cabrera beat CHad CaMpbell aNd KeNNy perry after tWo Holes of a suddeN-deatH playoff

1897 275 280 284

279 276

Woods beat CHris diMarCo after oNe Hole of a suddeNdeatH playoff

Casper (69) beat geNe littler (74) iN a playoff over 18 Holes

1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

phil Mickelson tiger Woods

1900 1901

Score

Horace rawlins (england) 173 Newport golf Club, ri James foulis (scotland) 152 shinnecock Hills golf Club, long island, Ny Joe lloyd (england) 162 Chicago golf Club, il fred Herd (scotland) 328 Myopia Hunt Club, south Hamilton, Ma Willie smith (scotland) 315 baltimore Country Club (east), Md Harry vardon (Jersey) 313 Chicago golf Club, il Willie anderson (scotland) 331 Myopia Hunt Club, south Hamilton, Ma

aNdersoN (85) beat alex sMitH (sCotlaNd) (86) iN a playoff over 18 Holes

1902 1903

laurie auchterlonie (scotland) garden City golf Club, Ny Willie anderson (scotland) baltusrol golf Club, springfield, NJ

307 307

aNdersoN (82) beat david broWN (sCotlaNd) (84) iN a playoff over 18Holes

1904

Willie anderson (scotland)

303

1905 1906 1907 1908

Glen View Club, Cook County, IL Willie Anderson (Scotland) 314 Myopia Hunt Club, South Hamilton, MA Alex Smith (Scotland) 295 Onwentsia Club, Lake Forest, IL Alex Ross (Scotland) 302 Philadelphia Cricket Club (St. Martin’s), PA Fred McLeod (Scotland) 322 Myopia Hunt Club, South Hamilton, MA

MCLeOd (77) beAt WILLIe SMItH (SCOtLAnd) (83) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

1909 1910

1913

John Mcdermott Country Club of buffalo, ny Francis Ouimet {Am} the Country Club, brookline, MA

Johnny Farrell 294 Olympia Fields Country Club, Matteson, IL

1954

1929

1955

1931

bobby Jones {Am} Winged Foot Golf Club (West), Mamaroneck, ny

294

1932

1934 294 1935 304 1936

Walter Hagen 290 Midlothian Country Club, blue Island, IL 1915 Jerome travers {Am} 297 baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield, nJ 1916 Charles ‘Chick’ evans {Am} 286 Minikahda Club, Minneapolis, Mn 1917-18 nO CHAMPIOnSHIP (First World War) 1919 Walter Hagen 301 brae burn Country Club (Main), West newton, MA

1937

1914

1938 1939

bobby Jones {Am} 287 Interlachen Country Club, Minneapolis, Mn billy burke 292 Inverness Club, toledo, OH Gene Sarazen 286 Fresh Meadow Country Club, Flushing, ny Johnny Goodman {Am} 287 north Shore Country Club, Glen View, IL Olin dutra 293 Merion Cricket Club (east), Ardmore, PA Sam Parks Jr. 299 Oakmont Country Club, Pittsburgh, PA tony Manero 282 baltusrol Golf Club (upper), Springfield, nJ Ralph Guldahl 281 Oakland Hills Country Club (South), birmingham, MI Ralph Guldahl 284 Cherry Hills Country Club, denver, CO byron nelson 284 Philadelphia Country Club, PA

neLSOn (68, 70) beAt CRAIG WOOd (68, 73) And denny SHute (76) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 36 HOLeS

1940

Lawson Little Canterbury Golf Club, Cleveland, OH

1920

1941

1922 1923

Craig Wood 284 Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, tX 1942-45 nO CHAMPIOnSHIP (Second World War) 1946 Lloyd Mangrum 284 Canterbury Golf Club, Cleveland, OH MAnGRuM (144) beAt VIC GHezzI (145) And byROn neLSOn (145) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 36 HOLeS

1947

Lew Worsham St. Louis Country Club, MO

1924

1948

1925

297

1949 291

MACFARLAne (147) beAt bObby JOneS {AM} (148) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 36 HOLeS

1926 1927

bobby Jones {Am} 293 Scioto Country Club, Columbus, OH tommy Armour 301 Oakmont Country Club, Pittsburgh, PA

1950

1958 1959 1960 1961 1962

ben Hogan 276 Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, CA Cary Middlecoff 286 Medinah Country Club (no.3), Chicago, IL ben Hogan 287 Merion Golf Club (east), Ardmore, PA

tommy bolt Southern Hills Country Club, tulsa, Ok billy Casper Winged Foot Golf Club (West), Mamaroneck, ny Arnold Palmer Cherry Hills Country Club, denver, CO Gene Littler Oakland Hills Country Club (South), birmingham, MI Jack nicklaus Oakmont Country Club, Ardmore, PA

283 282 280 281 283

nICkLAuS (71) beAt ARnOLd PALMeR (74) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

1963

Julius boros 293 the Country Club (Composite), brookline, MA

bOROS (70) beAt JACky CuPIt (73) And ARnOLd PALMeR (76) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

1964

ken Venturi 278 Congressional Country Club (blue), bethesda, Md Gary Player (South Africa) 282 bellerive Country Club, St. Louis, MO

PLAyeR (71) beAt keL nAGLe (AuStRALIA) (74) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

1966

billy Casper 278 Olympic Club (Lake), San Francisco, CA

CASPeR (69) beAt ARnOLd PALMeR (73) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

1967 1968

WORSHAM (69) beAt SAM SneAd (70) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

Cary Middlecoff 281 Oak Hill Country Club (east), Rochester, ny dick Mayer 282 Inverness Club, toledo, OH

MAyeR (72) beAt CARy MIddLeCOFF (79) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

282

JOneS (76) beAt bObby CRuICkSHAnk (78) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

Cyril Walker (england) Oakland Hills Country Club (South), birmingham, MI Willie MacFarlane (Scotland) Worcester Country Club, MS

1957

1965

LIttLe (70) beAt Gene SARAzen (73) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

1921

1956

287

HAGen (77) beAt MIke bRAdy (78) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

ted Ray (Jersey) 295 Inverness Club, toledo, OH Jim barnes 289 Columbia Country Club, Chevy Chase, Md Gene Sarazen 288 Skokie Country Club, Glencoe, IL bobby Jones {Am} 296 Inwood Country Club, ny

Julius boros 281 northwood Club, dallas tX ben Hogan 283 Oakmont Country Club, Pittsburgh, PA ed Furgol 284 baltusrol Golf Club (Lower), Springfield, nJ Jack Fleck 287 Olympic Club (Lake), San Francisco, CA

FLeCk (69) beAt ben HOGAn (72) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

buRke (297) beAt GeORGe VOn eLM (298) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 72 HOLeS

1933

OuIMet (72) beAt HARRy VARdOn (JeRSey) (77) And ted RAy (enGLAnd) (78) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

1953

FARReLL (143) beAt bObby JOneS {AM} (144) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 36 HOLeS

307

MCdeRMOtt (80) beAt MIke bRAdy (82) And GeORGe SIMPSOn (SCOtLAnd) (86) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

1912

1928

1930

George Sargent (england) 290 englewood Golf Club, nJ Alex Smith (Scotland) 298 Philadelphia Cricket Club (St. Martin’s), PA John Mcdermott Chicago Golf Club, IL

OVeR 18 HOLeS

JOneS (141) beAt AL eSPInOSA (164) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

SMItH (71) beAt JOHn MCdeRMOtt (75) And MACdOnALd SMItH (SCOtLAnd) (77) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

1911

1952

ARMOuR (76) beAt HARRy COOPeR (78) In A PLAyOFF

1969 1970 1971

Jack nicklaus 275 baltusrol Golf Club (Lower), Springfield, nJ Lee trevino 275 Oak Hill Country Club (east), Rochester, ny Orville Moody 281 Champions Golf Club (Cypress Creek), Houston, tX tony Jacklin (england) 281 Hazeltine national Golf Club, Chaska, Mn Lee trevino 280 Merion Golf Club (east), Ardmore, PA

HOGAn (69) beAt LLOyd MAnGRuM (73) And GeORGe FAzIO (75) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

tReVInO (68) beAt JACk nICkLAuS (71) In A PLAyOFF OVeR 18 HOLeS

1951

1972

ben Hogan Oakland Hills Country Club (South), birmingham, MI the majors 2011

287

Jack nicklaus Pebble beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula, CA

290

173

1973 1974 1975

Johnny Miller 279 Oakmont Country Club, Ardmore, PA Hale Irwin 287 Winged Foot Golf Club (West), Mamaroneck, NY Lou Graham 287 Medinah Country Club (No.3), Chicago, IL

GrAHAM (71) beAt JOHN MAHAFFeY (73) IN A PLAYOFF Over 18 HOLes

1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984

Jerry Pate 277 Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands), Duluth, GA Hubert Green 278 southern Hills Country Club, tulsa, OK Andy North 285 Cherry Hills Country Club, Denver, CO Hale Irwin 284 Inverness Club, toledo, OH Jack Nicklaus 272 baltusrol Golf Club (Lower), springfield, NJ David Graham (Australia) 273 Merion Golf Club (east), Ardmore, PA tom Watson 282 Pebble beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula, CA Larry Nelson 280 Oakmont Country Club, Ardmore, PA Fuzzy Zoeller 276 Winged Foot Golf Club (West), Mamaroneck, NY

ZOeLLer (67) beAt GreG NOrMAN (AustrALIA) (75) IN A PLAYOFF Over 18 HOLes

1985 1986 1987 1988

Andy North 279 Oakland Hills Country Club (south), birmingham, MI raymond Floyd 279 shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Long Island, NY scott simpson 277 Olympic Club (Lake), san Francisco, CA Curtis strange 278 the Country Club (Composite), brookline, MA

strANGe (71) beAt sIr NICK FALDO (eNGLAND) (75) IN A PLAYOFF Over 18 HOLes

1989 1990

(sCOtLAND) (78) AFter tWO HOLes OF A suDDeN-DeAtH PLAYOFF FOLLOWING A PLAYOFF Over 18 HOLes

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

GOOseN (70) beAt MArK brOOKs (72) IN A PLAYOFF Over 18 HOLes

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

2009 2010

Curtis strange 278 Oak Hill Country Club (east), rochester, NY Hale Irwin 280 Medinah Country Club (No.3), Chicago, IL Payne stewart 282 Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, MN

steWArt (75) beAt sCOtt sIMPsON (77) IN A PLAYOFF Over 18 HOLes

1992 1993 1994

tom Kite 285 Pebble beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula,CA Lee Janzen 272 baltusrol Golf Club (Lower), springfield, NJ ernie els (south Africa) 279 Oakmont Country Club, Ardmore, PA

eLs (74) beAt LOreN rOberts (74) AND COLIN MONtGOMerIe

174

tiger Woods 277 bethpage state Park (black), Long Island, NY Jim Furyk 272 Olympia Fields Country Club (North), Matteson, IL retief Goosen (south Africa) 276 shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Long Island, NY Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 280 Pinehurst resort (No.2), NC Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 285 Winged Foot Golf Club (West), Mamaroneck, NY Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 285 Oakmont Country Club, Ardmore, PA tiger Woods 283 torrey Pines Golf Course (south), san Diego, CA

WOODs (71) beAt rOCCO MeDIAte (71) AFter ONe HOLe OF A suDDeN-DeAtH PLAYOFF FOLLOWING A PLAYOFF Over 18 HOLes

Lucas Glover 276 bethpage state Park (black), Long Island, NY Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland) 284 Pebble beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula, CA

[BRITISH] OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP Year Winner (u.s.A. unless stated) courSe

1872

Willie Park sr. (scotland) tom Morris sr. (scotland) tom Morris sr. (scotland) Willie Park sr. (scotland) tom Morris sr. (scotland) Andrew strath (scotland) Willie Park sr. (scotland) the majors 2011

tom Morris Jr. (scotland) 166 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, scotland

1873 1874 1875 1876

tom Kidd (scotland) 179 st. Andrews (Old), Fife, scotland Mungo Park (scotland) 159 Musselburgh Links, Midlothian, scotland Willie Park sr. (scotland) 166 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, scotland bob Martin (scotland) 176 st. Andrews (Old), Fife, scotland

DAvID strAtH (sCOtLAND) tIeD WItH MArtIN but reFuseD tO PLAY OFF

1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883

Jamie Anderson (scotland) 160 Musselburgh Links, Midlothian, scotland Jamie Anderson (scotland) 157 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, scotland Jamie Anderson (scotland) 169 st. Andrews (Old), Fife, scotland bob Ferguson (scotland) 162 Musselburgh Links, Midlothian, scotland bob Ferguson (scotland) 170 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, scotland bob Ferguson (scotland) 171 st. Andrews (Old), Fife, scotland Willie Fernie (scotland) 158 Musselburgh Links, Midlothian, scotland

FerNIe (158) beAt bOb FerGusON (sCOtLAND) (159) IN A PLAYOFF Over 36 HOLes

1884 1885 1886

1889

Jack simpson (scotland) 160 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, scotland bob Martin (scotland) 171 st. Andrews (Old), Fife, scotland David brown (scotland) 157 Musselburgh Links, Midlothian, scotland Willie Park Jr. (scotland) 161 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, scotland Jack burns (scotland) 171 st. Andrews (Old), Fife, scotland Willie Park Jr. (scotland) 155 Musselburgh Links, Midlothian, scotland

PArK (158) beAt ANDreW KIrKALDY (sCOtLAND) (163) IN A PLAYOFF Over 36 HOLes

1890

(1860-1870 PrestWICK GOLF CLub, AYrsHIre, sCOtLAND)

1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866

170 154 157 149

tHe CLAret JuG WAs AWArDeD FOr tHe FIrst tIMe IN 1873

1888 Score

tom Morris sr. (scotland) tom Morris Jr. (scotland) tom Morris Jr. (scotland) tom Morris Jr. (scotland)

tHe beLt, CONtesteD FrOM 1860-70, WAs tHrICe WON bY tOM MOrrIs Jr. AND tHeNCe beCAMe HIs PrOPertY. tHere WAs NO COMPetItION IN 1871 AND A MeDAL WAs AWArDeD FOr tHe ONLY tIMe IN 1872

1887

IrWIN (74) beAt MIKe DONALD (74) AFter ONe HOLe OF A suDDeN-DeAtH PLAYOFF FOLLOWING A PLAYOFF Over 18 HOLes

1991

Corey Pavin 280 shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Long Island, NY steve Jones 278 Oakland Hills Country Club (south), birmingham, MI ernie els (south Africa) 276 Congressional Country Club (blue), bethesda, MD Lee Janzen 280 Olympic Club (Lake), san Francisco, CA Payne stewart 279 Pinehurst resort (No.2), NC tiger Woods 272 Pebble beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula, CA retief Goosen (south Africa) 276 southern Hills Country Club, tulsa, OK

1867 1868 1869 1870

174 163 163 168 167 162 169

1891

John ball Jr. (england) {Am} 164 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, scotland Hugh Kirkaldy (scotland) 166 st. Andrews (Old), Fife, scotland

AFter 1891, tHe OPeN CHAMPIONsHIP WAs exteNDeD tO 72 HOLes AND eNtrY MONeY WAs CHArGeD

1892

Harold Hilton (england) {Am} 305 Muirfield Golf Course, east Lothian, scotland

1893 1894 1895 1896

Willie Auchterlonie (Scotland) 322 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland J. H. Taylor (England) 326 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England J .H. Taylor (England) 322 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland Harry Vardon (Jersey) 316 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

VARdOn (157) bEAT J.H. TAyLOR (EnGLAnd) (161) in A PLAyOFF OVER 36 HOLES

1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911

Harold Hilton (England) {Am} 314 Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England Harry Vardon (Jersey) 307 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland Harry Vardon (Jersey) 310 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England J. H. Taylor (England) 309 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland James braid (Scotland) 309 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland Sandy Herd (Scotland) 307 Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England Harry Vardon (Jersey) 300 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland Jack White (Scotland) 296 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England James braid (Scotland) 318 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland James braid (Scotland) 300 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland Arnaud Massy (France) 312 Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England James braid (Scotland) 291 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland J. H. Taylor (England) 295 Cinque Ports, deal, Kent, England James braid (Scotland) 299 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland Harry Vardon (Jersey) 303 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

in A PLAyOFF OVER 36 HOLES, ARnAud MASSy (FRAnCE) COnCEdEd dEFEAT AT THE 35TH HOLE WiTH VARdOn AHEAd

by FiVE STROKES

1912

Ted Ray (Jersey) 295 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland 1913 J. H. Taylor (England) 304 Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England 1914 Harry Vardon (England) 306 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland 1915-19 nO CHAMPiOnSHiP (First World War) 1920 George duncan (Scotland) 303

1921

Royal Cinque Ports, deal, Kent, England Jock Hutchison 296 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

HuTCHiSOn (150) bEAT ROGER WETHEREd (EnGLAnd) {AM} (159) in A PLAyOFF OVER 36 HOLES

1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933

Walter Hagen 300 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England Arthur Havers (England) 295 Troon Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland Walter Hagen 301 Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England Jim barnes 300 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland bobby Jones {Am} 291 Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England bobby Jones {Am} 285 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland Walter Hagen 292 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England Walter Hagen 292 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland bobby Jones {Am} 291 Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England Tommy Armour 296 Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland Gene Sarazen 283 Prince’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England denny Shute 292 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1949

LOCKE (135) bEAT HARRy bRAdSHAW (iRELAnd) (147) in A PLAyOFF OVER 36 HOLES

1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958

Sir Henry Cotton (England) 283 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England 1935 Alf Perry (England) 283 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland 1936 Alf Padgham (England) 287 Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England 1937 Sir Henry Cotton (England) 290 Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland 1938 Reg Whitcombe (England) 295 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England 1939 Richard burton (England) 290 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland 1940-45 nO CHAMPiOnSHiP (Second World War) 1946 Sam Snead 290 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland 1947 Fred daly (northern ireland) 293 Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England 1948 Sir Henry Cotton (England) 284 the majors 2011

bobby Locke (South Africa) 279 Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland Max Faulkner (England) 285 Royal Portrush Golf Club, Co. Antrim, northern ireland bobby Locke (South Africa) 287 Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England ben Hogan 282 Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland Peter Thomson (Australia) 283 birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England Peter Thomson (Australia) 281 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland Peter Thomson (Australia) 286 Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England bobby Locke (South Africa) 279 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland Peter Thomson (Australia) 278 Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England

THOMSOn (139) bEAT dAVE THOMAS (WALES (143) in A PLAyOFF OVER 36 HOLES

1959 1960

SHuTE (149) bEAT CRAiG WOOd (154) in A PLAyOFF OVER 36 HOLES

1934

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland bobby Locke (South Africa) 283 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

1961 1962 1963

Gary Player (South Africa) 284 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland Kel nagle (Australia) 278 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland Arnold Palmer 284 birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England Arnold Palmer 276 Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland bob Charles (new Zealand) 277 Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England

CHARLES (140) bEAT PHiL ROdGERS (148) in A PLAyOFF OVER 36 HOLES

1964 1965 1966 1967 1968

Tony Lema 279 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland Peter Thomson (Australia) 285 Royal birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England Jack nicklaus 282 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland Roberto de Vicenzo (Argentina) 278 Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England Gary Player (South Africa) 289 Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland

175

1969 1970

Tony Jacklin (England) 280 Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England Jack Nicklaus 283 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

NiCkLAuS (72) bEAT DOuG SANDERS (73) iN A pLAyOFF OvER 18 hOLES

1971 1972 1973 1974 1975

Lee Trevino 278 Royal birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England Lee Trevino 278 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland Tom Weiskopf 276 Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland Gary player (South Africa) 282 Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England Tom Watson 279 Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland

1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

Johnny Miller 279 Royal birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England Tom Watson 268 Turnberry Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland Jack Nicklaus 281 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland Seve ballesteros (Spain) 283 Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England Tom Watson 271 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland bill Rogers 276 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, kent, England Tom Watson 284 Royal Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland Tom Watson 275 Royal birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England Seve ballesteros (Spain) 276 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland Sandy Lyle (Scotland) 282 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, kent, England Greg Norman (Australia) 280 Turnberry Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland Sir Nick Faldo (England) 279 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland Seve ballesteros (Spain) 273 Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England Mark Calcavecchia 275 Royal Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland

CALCAvECChiA bEAT GREG NORMAN (AuSTRALiA) AND WAyNE GRADy (AuSTRALiA) iN A pLAyOFF OvER FOuR hOLES

1990

176

Sir Nick Faldo (England)

1992 1993 1994 1995

270

St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland ian baker-Finch (Australia) 272 Royal birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England Sir Nick Faldo (England) 272 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland Greg Norman (Australia) 267 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, kent, England Nick price (Zimbabwe) 268 Turnberry Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland John Daly 282 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

DALy bEAT COSTANTiNO ROCCA (iTALy) iN A pLAyOFF OvER FOuR hOLES

1996 1997 1998

WATSON (71) bEAT JACk NEWTON (AuSTRALiA) (72) iN A pLAyOFF OvER 18 hOLES

1976

1991

Tom Lehman 271 Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England Justin Leonard 272 Royal Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland Mark O’Meara 280 Royal birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England

O’MEARA bEAT bRiAN WATTS iN A pLAyOFF OvER FOuR hOLES

1999

paul Lawrie (Scotland) 290 Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland

LAWRiE bEAT JuSTiN LEONARD AND JEAN vAN DE vELDE (FRANCE) iN A pLAyOFF OvER FOuR hOLES

2000 2001 2002

Tiger Woods 269 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland David Duval 274 Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England Ernie Els (South Africa) 278 Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

ELS bEAT ThOMAS LEvET (FRANCE), STEvE ELkiNGTON (AuSTRALiA) AND STuART AppLEby (AuSTRALiA) iN A pLAyOFF OvER FOuR hOLES

2003 2004

ben Curtis 283 Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, kent, England Todd hamilton 274 Royal Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland

hAMiLTON bEAT ERNiE ELS (SOuTh AFRiCA) iN A pLAyOFF OvER FOuR hOLES

2005 2006 2007

Tiger Woods 274 St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland Tiger Woods 270 Royal Liverpool Golf Club, hoylake, Merseyside, England padraig harrington (ireland) 277 Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland

hARRiNGTON bEAT SERGiO GARCiA (SpAiN) iN A pLAyOFF OvER FOuR hOLES

2008

padraig harrington (ireland) Royal birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England the majors 2011

283

2009

Stewart Cink 278 Turnberry Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

CiNk bEAT TOM WATSON iN A pLAyOFF OvER FOuR hOLES

2010

Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) St. Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

272

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP FROM 1916-57, ThE LATTER STAGES OF ThE pGA ChAMpiONShip WERE CONTESTED iN A MATChpLAy FORMAT

Year result of 36-hole final (u.S.A. unless stated) course 1916

score

Jim barnes beat Jock hutchison 1 hole Siwanoy Country Club, bronxville, Ny 1917-18 NO ChAMpiONShip (First World War) 1919 Jim barnes beat Fred McLeod (Scotland) 6&5 Engineers Country Club, Long island, Ny 1920 Jock hutchison beat J. Douglas Edgar 1 hole Flossmoor Country Club, Chicago, iL 1921 Walter hagen beat Jim barnes 3&2 inwood Country Club, New Rockaway, Ny 1922 Gene Sarazen beat Emmett French 4&3 Oakmont Country Club, pittsburgh, pA 1923 Gene Sarazen beat Walter hagen At 38th pelham Country Club, pelham Manor, Ny 1924 Walter hagen beat Jim barnes 2 holes French Lick Springs Resort (hill), iN 1925 Walter hagen beat bill Mehlhorn 6&5 Olympia Fields Country Club, Matteson, iL 1926 Walter hagen beat Leo Diegel 5&3 Salisbury Golf Club (Red), Long island, Ny 1927 Walter hagen beat Joe Turnesa 1 hole Cedar Crest Country Club, Dallas, TX 1928 Leo Diegel beat Al ispinosa 6&5 Five Farms Country Club, baltimore, MD 1929 Leo Diegel beat Johnny Farrell 6&4 hillcrest Country Club, Los Angeles, CA 1930 Tommy Armour beat Gene Sarazen 1 hole Fresh Meadow Country Club, Flushing, Ny 1931 Tom Creavy beat Denny Shute 2&1 Wannamoisett Country Club, Rumford, Ri 1932 Olin Dutra beat Frank Walsh 4&3 keller Golf Club, St. paul, MN 1933 Gene Sarazen beat Willie Goggin 5&4 blue Mound G&CC, Milwaukee, Wi 1934 paul Runyan beat Craig Wood At 38th park Club of buffalo, Williamsville, Ny 1935 Johnny Revolta beat Tommy Armour 5&4 Twin hills G&CC, Oklahoma City, Ok 1936 Denny Shute beat Jimmy Thomson 3&2 pinehurst Resort (No.2), NC 1937 Denny Shute beat harold McSpaden At 37th pittsburgh Field Club, Aspinwall, pA 1938 paul Runyan beat Sam Snead 8&7 Shawnee Country Club, Shawnee on

1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957

Delaware, PA Henry Picard beat Byron Nelson At 37th Pomonock Country Club, Flushing, NY Byron Nelson beat Sam Snead 1 Hole Hershey Country Club (West), PA Vic Ghezzi beat Byron Nelson At 38th Cherry Hills Country Club, Denver, CO Sam Snead beat Jim Turnesa 2&1 Sea View Country Club Atlantic City, NJ NO CHAMPIONSHIP (Second World War) Bob Hamilton beat Byron Nelson 1 Hole Manito G&CC, Spokane, WA Byron Nelson beat Sam Byrd 4&3 Moraine Country Club, Dayton, OH Ben Hogan beat Ed Oliver 6&4 Portland Golf Club, OR Jim Ferrier beat Chick Harbert 5&4 Plum Hollow Country Club, Detroit, MI Ben Hogan beat Mike Turnesa 7&6 Northwood Hills Country Club, St. Louis, MO Sam Snead beat Johnny Palmer 3&2 Hermitage Country Club, Richmond, VA Chandler Harper beat Henry Williams Jr. 3&2 Scioto Country Club, Columbus, OH Sam Snead beat Walter Burkemo 7&6 Oakmont Country Club, Pittsburgh, PA Jim Turnesa beat Chick Harbert 1 Hole Big Spring Country Club, Louisville, KY Walter Burkemo beat Felice Torza 2&1 Birmingham Country Club, MI Chick Harbert beat Walter Burkemo 4&3 Keller Golf Club, St. Paul, MN Doug Ford beat Cary Middlecoff 4&3 Meadowbrook Country Club, Northville, MI Jack Burke Jr. beat Ted Kroll 3&2 Blue Hill Country Club, Canton, MA Lionel Hebert beat Dow Finsterwald 3&1 Miami Valley Golf Club, Dayton, OH

1967

Don January Columbine Country Club, Denver, CO

1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

Julius Boros 281 Pecan Valley Golf Club, San Antonio, TX Raymond Floyd 276 National Cash Registers Country Club (South), Dayton, OH Dave Stockton 279 Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, OK Jack Nicklaus 281 PGA National Golf Club, Palm Beach Gardens, FL Gary Player (South Africa) 281 Oakland Hills Country Club (South), Birmingham, MI Jack Nicklaus 277 Canterbury Golf Club, Cleveland, OH Lee Trevino 276 Tanglewood Park (Championship), Clemons, NC Jack Nicklaus 276 Firestone Country Club (South), Akron, OH Dave Stockton 281 Congressional Country Club (Blue), Bethesda, MD Lanny Wadkins 282 Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula, CA

WADKINS BEAT GENE LITTLER AFTER THREE HOLES OF A SuDDEN-DEATH PLAYOFF

1978

1984

1964 1965 1966

1993

AZINGER BEAT GREG NORMAN (AuSTRALIA) AFTER TWO HOLES OF A SuDDEN-DEATH PLAYOFF

1994 1995

Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 269 Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, OK Steve Elkington (Australia) 267 Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, CA

ELKINGTON BEAT COLIN MONTGOMERIE (SCOTLAND) AFTER ONE HOLE OF A SuDDEN-DEATH PLAYOFF

1996

Mark Brooks Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, KY

1981 1982 1983

1985 1986 1987

272

Jack Nicklaus 274 Oak Hill Country Club (East), Rochester, NY Larry Nelson 273 Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands), Duluth, GA Raymond Floyd 275 Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, OK Hal Sutton 274 Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, CA Lee Trevino 273 Shoal Creek Golf & Country Club, Birmingham, AL Hubert Green 278 Cherry Hills Country Club, Denver, CO Bob Tway 276 Inverness Club, Toledo, OH Larry Nelson 287 PGA National Golf Club, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

NELSON BEAT LANNY WADKINS AFTER ONE HOLE OF A

the majors 2011

277

BROOKS BEAT KENNY PERRY AFTER ONE HOLE OF A SuDDENDEATH PLAYOFF

1997 1998

2000

Davis Love III 269 Winged Foot Golf Club (West), Mamaroneck, NY Vijay Singh (Fiji) 271 Sahalee Country Club, Sammamish, WA Tiger Woods 277 Medinah Country Club (No.3), Chicago, IL Tiger Woods 270 Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, KY

2001

BARBER (67) BEAT DON JANuARY (68) IN A PLAYOFF OVER 18 HOLES

1963

1992

WOODS BEAT BOB MAY IN A PLAYOFF OVER THREE HOLES

David Graham (Australia) Oakland Hills Country Club (South), Birmingham, MI

1980

Gary Player (South Africa) 278 Aronimink Golf Club, Newtown Square, PA Jack Nicklaus 279 Dallas Athletic Club (Blue), TX Bobby Nichols 271 Columbus Country Club, OH Dave Marr 280 Laurel Valley Golf Club, Ligonier, PA Al Geiberger 280 Firestone Country Club (South), Akron, OH

1991

1979

Dow Finsterwald 276 Llanerch Country Club, Havertown, PA Bob Rosburg 277 Minneapolis Golf Club, MN Jay Hebert 281 Firestone Country Club (South), Akron, OH Jerry Barber 277 Olympia Fields Country Club, Matteson, IL

1962

1990

Jeff Sluman 272 Oak Tree Golf Club, Edmond, OK Payne Stewart 276 Kemper Lakes Golf Club, Hawthorn Woods, IL Wayne Grady (Australia) 282 Shoal Creek Golf & Country Club, Birmingham, AL John Daly 276 Crooked Stick Golf Club, Carmel, IN Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 278 Bellerive Golf Club, St. Louis, MO Paul Azinger 272 Inverness Club, Toledo, OH

MAHAFFEY BEAT JERRY PATE AND TOM WATSON AFTER TWO HOLES OF A SuDDEN-DEATH PLAYOFF

1958

1961

1989

1999

John Mahaffey 276 Oakmont Country Club, Pittsburgh, PA

GRAHAM BEAT BEN CRENSHAW AFTER THREE HOLES OF A SuDDEN-DEATH PLAYOFF

1960

SuDDEN-DEATH PLAYOFF

1988

JANuARY (69) BEAT DON MASSINGALE (71) IN A PLAYOFF OVER 18 HOLES

After 1957, the PGA ChAmPionshiP wAs Converted to 72 holes of strokePlAy

1959

281

2002 2003 2004

David Toms 265 Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands), Duluth, GA Rich Beem 278 Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, MN Shaun Micheel 276 Oak Hill Country Club (East), Rochester, NY Vijay Singh (Fiji) 280 Whistling Straits (Straits), Kohler, WI

SINGH BEAT CHRIS DIMARCO AND JuSTIN LEONARD IN A PLAYOFF OVER THREE HOLES

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Phil Mickelson 276 Baltusrol Golf Club (Lower), Springfield, NJ Tiger Woods 270 Medinah Country Club (No.3), Chicago, IL Tiger Woods 272 Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, OK Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 277 Oakland Hills Country Club (South), Birmingham, MI Y.E. Yang (South Korea) 280 Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, MN Whistling Straits (Straits), Kohler, WI Martin Kaymer (Germany) 277

KAYMER BEAT BuBBA WATSON IN A PLAYOFF OVER THREE HOLES

177

Slam Dunk

ernie els won the 201o grand slam of golf without winning a major

And what’s the cherry on the icing for this year’s major winners?

Why, a chance to play each other to become champion of champions The 29th PGA Grand Slam of Golf, to be contested on October 18-19, will be the first to grant its defending champion first-alternate status in the event of there being a multiple major winner in 2011 or a qualifying player being unable to compete.

In 2010, Ernie Els captured this flagship PGA of America title, which is traditionally contested by the winners of the four major championships during the calendar year. And the 41-year-old South African, a three-time major champion in his own right, will be eligible to play if a place opens up for him in the four-man field.

Ironically, the Big Easy did not qualify for the 2010 event by dint of winning one of last year’s majors; rather he earned his place by finishing amongst the leaders on the organizers’ Major

178

Champions Points List. “The PGA Grand Slam of Golf is a special reward to a major champion, and an event that few players in the game have experienced,” said PGA of America president Allen Wronowski.

“We are pleased to give our champion of champions the opportunity, should [it] arise, to defend his title in the season’s premier foursome.”

Wronowski also confirmed that Bermuda’s Port Royal course, designed by the late Robert Trent Jones Sr., would host the event in 2012 as well as this year. Port Royal, a public layout, first opened for play in 1970, but has recently undergone a $13.7 million renovation that was completed in 2009 and extended the par-71 layout to 6,842 yards.

Established in 1979, the PGA Grand Slam of the majors 2011

Golf has grown from an 18-hole, single-day charity event to a 36-hole annual showdown that results in the winner receiving a signature pink jacket as well as a $600,000 check. Its previous venues include Kemper Lakes, Hawthorn Woods, IL; PGA West, La Quinta, CA; and Poipu Bay, Kauai, HI. The total purse for the 2011 event is $1.35 million—the runner-up receives $300,000 while third place is worth $250,000 and fourth place $200,000.

TNT’s prime-time broadcast of the event reached a worldwide audience of 88.9 million homes.

Apart from Els, past PGA Grand Slam of Golf champions include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Angel Cabrera, Tom Lehman, Curtis Strange, Ben Crenshaw, Greg Norman, Nick Price, Lanny Wadkins and Lee Trevino.

WHO WILL BE THIS YEAR’S “CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS”?

Come witness golf’s major champions compete in a setting of unequaled beauty. For Travel Packages to Bermuda and the PGA Grand Slam of Golf visit www.PGA.com/grandslam

29TH PGA GRAND SLAM OF GOLF OCTOBER 17 - 19, 2011 PORT ROYAL GOLF COURSE | BERMUDA

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