A Look Back: The Day Arnie Threw Down

Arnold Palmer hat toss 1960 U.S. Open Cherry Hills Colorado
Arnold Palmer reenacts his famous 1960 U.S. Open win (and celebration) at Cherry Hills Country Club. The visor is an exact replica, made by Imperial Headwear, of the one he famously tossed after firing a final-round 65 to overcome a 7-shot deficit to win. Photograph by Britt Runion for Colorado AvidGolfer at Bay Hill in 2010.

[box]The late Arnold Palmer left an indelible mark on the history of golf when he triumphed in the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills Country Club. In 2010, on the occasion of that event’s 50th anniversary, we asked  Mr. Palmer to appear with a replica of the visor he famously tossed that steamy Saturday. He obliged–as did veteran sportswriter Kaye Kessler, whose account of what many believe to be the greatest U.S. Open ever reappears here in tribute to the man who would be called the King. —  Jon Rizzi, Editor[/box]

“Do I remember? I really was pissed off back then …and pretty damn tired hearing everybody say I couldn’t come back in that last round to win just because I was seven off the lead and behind 14 other pretty impressive guys.  I knew this, I was winning a lot of tournaments coming from way behind and I honestly felt I would win this one.”

Arnold Palmer, 80, as fiery and feisty as he was 50 years ago, still had the cutting edge in his voice when I turned his crank for recollections of that steamy Saturday afternoon in 1960 at Denver’s roiling, boiling Cherry Hills Country Club.

That was the spectacular stage for Arnie’s majestic, Houdini-like escape from his three-round, two-over par befuddlement, when he became twice as hot as the 95-degree weather and concocted a record final-round 65 to horse-collar his one and only U.S.Open Championship to the delight and astonishment of the golf world.

“They were the most astonishing four hours in golf since Mary, Queen of Scots, found out what dormie meant and invented the back nine,” Dan Jenkins opined. “To put it mildly,” wrote Herbert Warren Wind, “it was the wildest Open ever…a hurly-burly all afternoon long. Four unbroken hours…So many contenders performing such fantastic things.”

Arnold Palmer holds photograph of 1960 US Open
Arnold Palmer holds a photograph of his famous 1960 U.S. Open win (and celebration) at Cherry Hills Country Club. Photograph by Britt Runion for Colorado AvidGolfer at Bay Hill in 2010.

Cutting to the chase, this was Palmer’s tournament, his certification as king and general of Arnie’s Army—when he invented television golf. It was when Jack Nicklaus invented Jack Nicklaus for the world to idolize, when the legendary Ben Hogan had his last great gasp at claiming a fifth Open title. In reality, the final curtain shook down to, as Jenkins put it so dead-solid-perfectly, “Just a routine collision of three decades at one historical intersection.”

It was a four-act, 12 scene drama. But Arnie didn’t show up until the final act. That’s when the high drama hinged thrillingly and chillingly on whether Kid Nicklaus or aging icon Hogan could thwart him as they performed excruciatingly theatrical rises and falls up ahead of him.

Sifting through the embers of that epic, however, you uncover stirring subplots— comedic and catastrophic sideshows by notable special extras with honest-to-glory title shots. Taking it from the last dozen holes in the frenzied Saturday finale, challengers charged and fell back like the British Redcoats in the Revolutionary War.

The first of those was the man in first place at the beginning of the final round—Mike Souchak, the burly 33-year-old former Duke football star who came to the tournament as a hot item and led it for 63 holes before faltering to a four-over-par 75 for 283, a six-way knot for third. Hogan, Nicklaus, Dutch Harrison and Julius Boros all kicked up exciting commotion in front of Palmer and his very quiet playmate Paul Harney. Firing more bombs than blanks behind him were Arnie’s pal Finsterwald, a rejuvenated Jack Fleck, Jerry Barber, Ted Kroll, newcomer Johnny Pott and professional crooner and only other amateur making the cut, hot-shot Don Cherry.

Was Palmer excited? Worried? Watching scoreboards?

Arnold Palmer 1960 US Open Cherry Hills
After going out in 30, Palmer, shown here watching playing partner Paul Harney tee off on 10,
had closed to within two shots of the leader, an amateur named Nicklaus. Photograph by David Snyder/Courtesy of Cherry Hills Country Club

“Looking back, that was a helluva collection of great golfers ahead of me, but to be honest, I wasn’t thinking about the 13 other guys ahead of me,” Arnie said. “I was worried about Souchak being seven shots up on me. And the fact that he was a darned good player. I think overcoming all that is what makes me still today get pretty darned excited about Cherry Hills. Whether the drive (of the green on the 346-yard first) was my greatest I don’t know, but I do know talking to everybody about it brings it all back to life for me. It’s fun to remember.”

“You brought something up that I actually had forgotten and that is how much and how well I had played coming to Denver—winning five tournaments, birdieing the last two holes to come from behind and win the Masters, coming from behind in two others…..geez, I’d forgotten I had played 17 tournaments before the Open and finished in the top 15 in 16 of them.”

“I didn’t tell anybody, but that’s why I thought that Open was so important to me. I had won two Masters and I really felt I could win this Open. In the first three rounds (72-71-72), two over par, I was very disappointed. I didn’t play like I intended and it was very shocking to me. Then all of a sudden, that fourth round…”

Hogan and Nicklaus

Interestingly, Palmer’s blistering final round 65, like a high-and-in 100-mph fastball, may have put a quiver of shiver in the liver of many of the leaders still trying to digest their lunch. Not so for the two players—the 48-year-old icon Hogan and the 20-year-old phenom Nicklaus—two holes ahead who eventually wound up with the best chance of spoiling Arnie’s party.

The first-ever Hogan-Nicklaus pairing was pure theater. They matched morning 69s and were virtually stroke-for-stroke in the afternoon until Hogan’s Horror at 17. Jack closed with par 71— the ONLY player in the entire field par or better all four rounds – second alone. Ben’s four-over flounder the last two holes for 73 plunged him to ninth.

They assessed each other succinctly.

Ben Hogan hits out of the water, 17th hole Cherry Hills
Ben Hogan hits out of the water on the 17th at Cherry Hills. Photograph by David Snyder, courtesy of Cherry Hills Country Club.

Said Hogan: “I played with a kid today, who, if I had been thinking for him, would have won by 10 strokes.”

Nicklaus countered: “I played with a gentleman, who, if I had been putting for him, would have won by 10.”

Hogan came to Denver a sentimental favorite looking for that fifth Open trophy. Playing with Finterwald the first two rounds, he opened disastrously with a 75. His second round 67, however, was what Dow deemed the “finest ball-striking round of golf I think I’ve ever seen.”

Saturday Hogan was semi-pure and awesome. Driving superbly, he hit the first 34 greens in regulation. Not a miss. Until he putted. Thirty four greens, four birdies, 64 putts. In the middle of the 17th fairway needing birdie, par to win, he cards bogey, triple bogey.

Hogan actually hit 35 straight greens in regulation. Trouble is, after a layup second, his wedge to the pin barely on the front of the 17th green drew back into the moat.

Boros and Player were in the fairway watching the high drama, Palmer and Harney behind them also enthralled witnesses. Hogan waded in the water, out of the water, back in finally splashed his fourth shot on, then missed the par putt. Sick at heart (he confessed later) he cut a drive too tight on 18 into the drink and settled for the triple-bogey 7 – his last legitimate run at that fifth Open title drowned. Twice.

“Stupidly,” is the way Hogan later described his play at 17, though he insisted “I thought it was a good shot. But I missed by two feet. I should have played it long.”

In 1983 he told Ken Venturi “I find myself waking up at night thinking about that shot at 17 – it’s been 23 years and there isn’t a month that goes by that it doesn’t cut my guts out.”

Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer 1960 U.S. Open
At the victor’s podium, Palmer, USGA President John Cook, low amateur Jack Nicklaus and his dad, Charlie, savor the moment. Photograph by Bill Mark, courtesy of Cherry Hills Country Club.

Nicklaus? He stood on 17 fairway needing birdie-birdie to win and finished par-bogey to finish second—one of his 19 bridesmaid finishes in majors.

“I knew exactly where I stood on every hole and then I come to 18 and I’m on the fringe in two,” Nicklaus told me. “I knock it up about three feet from the cup and quit thinking. Absolutely did not think. I missed it. Had I made it, Arnold coming to 18 would have had considerably more pressure to make par.

“I can tell you every club I hit on that back nine. It’s etched in my mind what I learned from that. What I learned about myself. What I learned about others. It was one of the best learning experiences of my life. Playing with Ben Hogan for the first time, I learned so very much it was amazing. It was wonderful. I learned then I could play with the big guys.”

“I re-calculated the mistakes I made – the 3 putts. I shot 39 on the back nine that last round after a 32 on the front nine. I three-putted 13 and 14 – it was ridiculous. I had a 12-ft birdie putt at 13 and there was a fresh ball mark between my ball and the hole, Here I was a young kid too nervous to ask Ben if I could repair the mark when I knew I could. So then I knock it 18 inches past the hole and missed it coming back.”

Enter Arnie

But this was Arnie’s stage. He had been smoldering for three acts and nine scenes, virtually ignored, irked because nobody would listen to him—especially his newspaper buddy Bob Drum from the Pittsburgh Press.

“Well, I’ve got to admit, he did piss me off when we talked between rounds at noon,” Palmer confessed. “I was very serious when I talked to him in the locker room before that last round when I said to him if I could shoot 65 do you think I could win the Open?”

Cherry Hills plaque Arnold Palmer
A plaque on the first hole at Cherry Hills commemorates Arnold Palmer’s incredible drive. Says Palmer, “Whether the drive (of the green on the 346-yard first) was my greatest I don’t know, but I do know talking to everybody about it brings it all back to life for me. It’s fun to remember.” Photograph by Josh Duplechian/Rich Clarkson & Associates.

He said, “`You gotta be kidding, not a chance. Go away and let me finish my hamburger.’ `Well, hell, Bob, 280 usually wins the Open,’ I said, and he said, ‘Right, but you won’t shoot it.’ Then Dan Jenkins said, ‘280 wins—when Hogan shoots it.’

“Now I’m really hot and steamed, go out to hit a couple of shots before going to the first tee,” It was there he would ignite maybe the round of his life with a wallop to within 20 feet of the pin. “I wasn’t thinking eagle, I just didn’t want to 3-putt from 20 feet after hitting the green, so I got it inside two feet and made the birdie,” Palmer said. Bingo. Birdie off to a 30-35, 65 and the throne room.

Palmer’s gallery, which had “barely been 30 in the morning round,” according to Cherry Hills member Jim Stadler, suddenly grew by droves and roars were deafening. Stadler added that “Palmer’s drives were in the rough all morning, and he bunkered it twice on 10 and had to make a 20-foot putt for a bogey.”

“I can remember every shot that last round, well, I’m a little hazy about 15,” Arnie recalled. “I went through them last summer when I was driving around Cherry Hills at the Palmer Cup.”

“The crowd started growing and growing and it got pretty awesome,” he continued. He birdied the second after driving the rough, pitching short and popping in a 35-footer from the fringe; wedged to a foot to birdie the tricky third; 3-wood and wedge to 18 feet to birdie four; settled for par at the par five fifth driving into the rough then a bunker, only to bounce back; birdie six, 7 –iron to 25 foot sidehiller; birdied seven with a wedge to 6 feet.

Arnie again: “On that par 3 eighth (233). That’s when the press corps showed up, led by The Drummer. I had just driven a 2-iron into the left bunker and I looked up at Drum, still hot, and said `what are you doing way out here?’ I didn’t even wait, just said to hell with him and walked away. And, damn him, I messed up the hole—I came out of the trap to three feet, but missed. Made a good par at the tough ninth and had the30,

“I figured if I was under par on the back I had a chance,” he continued. “I  two-putted 10 after a drive and wedge to 24 feet; hit the par five 11th (563) in two, two-putted from 25 feet for my only birdie; 2-iron  to 12 feet and missed a birdie at 12; drive and wedge to 13 feet and missed birdie at 13; missed another birdie on that long par four 14th (where he got a break hitting it OB earlier) after a drive and 6-iron to 18 feet; but I’m still vague at 15, (6-iron to bunker, blast to 18 inches for par save), then missed a birdie going right to the hole at 16 that galled me after a 2-iron and 8-iron to about 16 feet..

Arnold Palmer actual ball, 1960 US Open
The ball Palmer used to finish the round now sits behind glass at Cherry Hills. Photograph by Josh Duplechian/Rich Clarkson & Associates.

“I watched Hogan playing out of the moat on 17 (548) and said to myself on that third shot, ‘make sure you’re long!’ I hit it about 20 feet past the pin, two-putted for par, and now 18, the only hole I got nervous on.
.
“I hit a good, safe drive with a one-iron, pulled a 4-iron to the deep rough left of the green, pitched about four-feet short. When I holed it, that’s when I threw the visor into the sky.”

And that’s how somebody besides Hogan shoots 65 the last round to come from seven shots back and pass 14 of the game’s giants to win a U.S. Open—this one maybe the greatest of all.

Contributing Editor Kaye W. Kessler holds the PGA of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. On June 13 Cherry Hills Country Club will host Palmer and several others for a 50th anniversary celebration of The Greatest Open ever.  

The Supporting Cast

The late, lovable Tommy Bolt was great out of the gate with a front nine par 35, but watered it at 12 for a double, came to 18 five over and promptly plunked two tee shots and then his driver into the lake, nearly skulling playing partner Claude Harmon. He turned in his card with an eight on 18, no score on 12 where his partners gave him a six, totaled 35-45, making him sick enough to withdraw and receive a $100 fine.

Fabled Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes, who didn’t know a birdie from an elephant, was at a Boulder coaching clinic when he discovered Jack Nicklaus—in the newspapers. Noticing no Columbus sportswriters covering the event, he phoned this reporter, who was pouting back in Ohio. “The next great golfer is from Columbus playing great—why in hell aren’t you here?” he railed. Hearing that our penny-pinching paper had no Sunday edition, Hayes chugged to Cherry Hills, walked the last 36 holes with Charlie Nicklaus and did a Stevie Williams to chastise fans for heckling Jack and his dad. He also took copious notes on Jack and Hogan and phoned his story to my competitor, who had a Sunday paper.

Arnold Palmer magazine cover
This story originally appeared in the June 2010 issue of Colorado AvidGolfer. Photograph by Britt Runion at Bay Hill in 2010. Click for larger version.

Dow Finsterwald’s caddie got hacked at him because Dow didn’t heed his advice, threw the bag down on 14 during the morning round and marched off. A spectator toted the last four holes for Dow, who picked up at new looper for the afternoon.

Young Cherry Hills member Bob Warren, whose dad was tournament press chairman, signed on to caddie for Sports Illustrated photog John Zimmerman. “He told me to stand behind Souchak teeing off on 11 and cough at the top of his backswings,” Warren remembers. “I said, `What!’ I can‘t believe that.’ And he said, ‘dogs bark, planes fly over, cars honk. Players don’t complain at any natural sounds. Coughs cover my clicks.’ We did, Sheesh.” (Ominiously, on the 54th hole, the click of a spectator’s camera—not Zimmerman’s—so rattled Souchak that he pushed his tee shot out of bounds, leading to a double-bogey that foretold trouble in the afternoon round.) Warren now is chairman of the 50th celebration of this Open that will draw Palmer and many others back to Cherry Hills June 13.

Jim English, Denver golf Hall of Famer and low amateur in the 1959 Open at Winged Foot, headed a field a group of Coloradoans who qualified for the Open, unfortunately with an agonizing result. After a first round 74, he was in good shape until he plugged his tee shot on the eight under the lip of a bunker. “I flailed at that so often I lost count and so did the fans watching in dead silence. It was so awful my poor pregnant wife almost had a miscarriage.”

Another Hall of Fame member, Denver’s Dan Hogan, qualified but shot a 151, a few too many to play on Saturday. But he stuck around, chasing quotes for Denver Post scribe Ralph Moore and phoned reports to local TV Ch2. “I think my TV career was abbreviated,” he recalled, “after I called at noon Saturday and reported that Palmer had ‘NO CHANCE’ in the last round.”

Palmer Memorabilia

The Arnold Palmer Memorabilia Display in the hallway outside the grille room at Cherry Hills is a classic collection of his clubs, golf ball, visor, scorecards, Red Jacket and epistles. But it begs the question why the Heritage Committee hasn’t named the road leading from University Avenue to the clubhouse “Palmer’s Drive.”  It’s not quite 346 yards, but you could stretch the loop around the arcade at the clubhouse entrance about like the corkscrew finish to Arnie’s whirlwind follow through.

The Arnold Palmer case at the Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver, Colorado.
The Arnold Palmer case at the Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver, Colorado. Photograph by Josh Duplechian/Rich Clarkson & Associates.

The red visor Palmer heaved to the heavens when he holed out at 18? Joe Paine recovered it, later gave it to Palmer to place in the Palmer display in the USGA’s Golf House. A white visor rests in the Palmer display at Cherry Hills. The autographed No. 1 Wilson ball Arnie holed out on then 72d hole wound up with member Rick Collier and is in the trophy case with the Wilson driver he used to drive No. 1. Except that Arnie re-tooled the driver and put his sig on it.

Arnie’s cherished Red Jacket is one of only five ever presented. The first went to President Dwight D. Eisenhower for his great contribution to golf and to Cherry Hills, which has dedicated a grand parlor for his art, writings and memorabilia. The second jacket was presented to the Pro Emeritus Warren Smith, the third to Palmer, fourth to 1983 U.S. Mid Amateur champion Jay Sigel and the fifth to recently retired Pro Clayton Cole.

More photos of Arnold Palmer (All by Britt Runion for Colorado AvidGolfer at Bay Hill in 2010):

arnold-palmer-remembering-1960-us-open-cherry-hills

Arnold Palmer holds a golf club with his famous grip at Bay Hill

Arnold Palmer farewell, 2016
Farewell, Mr. Palmer.

[box]ALSO SEE:

Jack Nicklaus, President Obama, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Jordan Spieth and more react to the passing of Arnold Palmer.

Why the 2016 Masters was all about Arnold.

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Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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