No Jacket Acquired: The Agonies of Augusta

Winning The Masters can make a career. Losing it can make for a good story. By Kaye W. Kessler

EDITOR'S NOTE: BELOW KAYE W. KESSLER REFLECTS ON PAST AGONIES AT AUGUSTA. WHAT WOULD YOU ADD TO THE LIST FROM THIS YEAR'S MASTERS TOURNAMENT? THE ILLEGAL DROP HEARD 'ROUND THE WORLD? BUBBA CARDING A 10 ON THE PAR-3 12TH? LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENT BOX AFTER THE ARTICLE.

No other sport discards second-placers more punitively than golf does. And no event magnifies this cruelty with greater intensity than The Masters. So as the 77th tournament approaches, with pundits forecasting their choice for the Green Jacket, let’s take the measure of a few ill-fated shag bags who got skewered at Augusta.

Major Disappointments. Yes, there are major winners among the also-rans.

Johnny Miller and Tom Weiskopf felt the pain of close-but-no-Jacket seven times, with Weiskopf matching Jack Nicklaus’ Masters record of four seconds and Miller tying the three of Greg Norman, whose losses in 1986 (Nicklaus’ Sunday charge) and ’87 (Larry Mize’s playoff chip-in) seemed like bad luck compared to ’96, when he choked away a six-shot lead in the last round, carding a 78 to finish six back of Nick Faldo.

Then there’s Arnold Palmer. In between winning his second and third Jackets, in 1961 he approached the 72nd green with a one-stroke lead on playing companion Gary Player. Thinking his second shot was safely on the green for a two-putt victory, the popular Palmer went to the ropes to shake hands with a friend only to discover both he and Player were greenside bunkered. Arnie flew the green into the opposite bunker and scored a disastrous double bogey; Player got up and down for a winning par.

Countless times since then, Palmer has lamented that handshake: “I lost my concentration… and the tournament.”

Tainted Victories

The ’61 Masters is remembered more as the one Palmer let get away rather than the first Player won. A similarly wrenching scenario befell the 1968 event.

It has tormented a trio for 45 years, making a rueful runner-up of the self-deprecating Roberto DeVicenzo; a baffled, if not bitter, winner of Bob Goalby; and a scarred scorekeeper of Tommy Aaron.

DeVicenzo, the stylish Argentine, shot a final round 65 that would have put him into a playoff for The Jacket with Goalby, who closed with a 66. But Aaron, DeVicenzo’s playing partner and scorer, recorded a par 4 on the 17th hole, on which Roberto had a birdie 3. In the scorer’s tent Roberto signed his card for a 66 that included the incorrect par 4.

“What a stupid I am,” he famously lamented.

Forty-five years later, the stains remain. Roberto forever blamed himself, not Aaron—though too many did. It’s woefully different for Goalby, who returns to Augusta every year, the right of champions, but remains justifiably hacked that 1968 is more notable for DeVicenzo’s loss than his triumph.

“You’re damned right I’m still upset about it,” the feisty former Illinois quarterback told me again at the last Masters. “I’m certainly not mad at Roberto, a great guy, but I’m mad as hell at everybody today who still seem to think I was given that championship. I played my butt off to get a 66 that last round, and even if Roberto was credited with the birdie at 17 and a 65, we’d still have tied and gone into a playoff.”

Ironically, at the ’73 Masters, Aaron would benefit from catching a last round scorecard error. Playing partner Johnny Miller gave him a par 5 on 13 instead of a birdie 4 and a 69 total instead of 68. Tommy caught the mistake before signing his card and won the Masters by a shot over J.C. Snead.

The only comparable shot in the foot caused by a player’s rules hiccup actually cost Dow Finsterwald a playoff with Arnold Palmer in 1960. Arnie beat him by two strokes—the exact penalty Finsterwald received in the first round for taking a practice putt at the fifth green after missing 2-foot par putt. It was a Masters rule, not a USGA rule.

Rhymes with Disasters: Through the years, Masters patrons have witnessed feats both heavenly and heartbreaking—often simultaneously.

• CRAIG WOOD, 1935.
Wood felt the first shockwave in the second Masters when, in the clubhouse with a three-shot lead, he was spooned by Gene Sarazen’s 235-yard double eagle 2 on no. 15. His name already on the $1,500 winner’s check, Wood instead had to face Sarazen in a 36-hole playoff, which he would lose by five strokes. He did eventually win The Masters—and U.S. Open—in 1941.

• KEN VENTURI, 1956 & ’60
As an amateur, he led by nine into final round, shot 80, and lost by one to Jackie Burke. Four years later, he was sitting pretty until Palmer birdied 17 and 18, clipping him by one.

• HUBERT GREEN, 1978.
Hubie took a 7-stroke lead into the last round only to get stung by Player, who birdied seven of the last 10 holes for a 64 to nip him by a stroke.

• ED SNEED, 1979.
Six up going into the last round, he missed a 6-foot putt at 18 for a third straight bogey and fell into a three- way playoff with Tom Watson and eventual champion Fuzzy Zoeller.

• TOM KITE, 1986.
Two years after blowing a two-shot lead to Texas rival Ben Crenshaw, Kite fell victim to Nickalus’ epic charge—and to missed birdie putts on 17 and 18 that came painfully close to dropping. Either would have earned him a playoff.

• MARK CALCAVECCHIA, 1988.
The victim of Sandy Lyle’s remarkable 7-iron from the fairway bunker and 10-foot downhill birdie winner, Calc wasn’t the only one to suffer. At the following year’s Champions Dinner, Lyle served haggis.

• SCOTT HOCH, 1989.
The outspoken former Demon Deacon missed a winning two-footer on the first playoff hole then bowed to Faldo’s 25-foot birdie at 11.

• DAVIS LOVE III, 1995.
His closing-round 66—the best of the day—became forgotten window dressing as Ben Crenshaw birdied 16 and 17, then canned a key par putt to close.

• LEN MATTIACE, 2003.
Nine back after two rounds, he shot 68-65 to catch Mike Weir, then doubled the first playoff hole to lose to Weir’s only bogey of the day.

• LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN, 2012.
During last year’s playoff, the South African felt the sting of Bubba Watson’s blind, looping 135-yard twister from the trees that led to victory. To think, only a few hours earlier Louie had hit the shot of the young century, canning a 243-yard 4-iron on the par-5 second hole. It was his first double eagle and only the fourth in Masters history.

But who remembers?

Contributing Editor and Colorado Golf Hall of Fame member Kaye W. Kessler will be covering his 50th Masters this April.

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