A Classic Amateur Beneath the Rockies
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By A CLASSIC AMATEUR JOHN P. ENGLISH BENEATH THE ROCKIES • he final had the ingredients of classic Wild horses could not have torn the T drama. gallery away from this one, although, of On one side was Charlie Coe, of Okla- course, the initial velocity could hardly homa City, Okla., the defending cham- be maintained. pion, already a winner on two previous Coe did, however, complete the morning occasions, captain of the Walker Cup round in 69, two under par, and enjoyed Team and a man who melded great na- a two-hole lead as he took his iced tea, tive skill with the experience of 35 years. heavily sugared, at noontime. Or to put On the other was Jack Nicklaus, of it another way, Nicklaus had played the Columbus, Ohio, a boy wonder in his round in par 71 and was 2 down. early 'teens, the baby of last spring's Wal- Errors on two of the first three holes ker Cup Team, a strong contender-but in the aftenoon cost Coe his entire hard- still a boy of 19. earned lead. He pulled his drive into the It might not have been hard to choose woods on the first hole, and he failed to between them. Crowds almost invariably get home in two to match Nicklaus' birdie are susceptible to the appeal of a young at the third. athlete challenging an entrenched veteran. Although Coe drew ahead again by This time it was hard, though. holing a five footer for a birdie 3 at the Charlie Coe is one of the most gentle- sixth, he erred seriously once more on the manly and popular golfers in the dis- 220-yard twelfth, where he hit the green tinguished history of American amateur and then three-putted from twenty-five golf-and here he was, seeking his third feet, allowing Nicklaus to win with a chip victory. If he succeeded, he would be the and a putt and square the match a second first since Bob Jones to win so many. time. Nicklaus was playing at a one-un- (Jones and Jerry Travers won four times der-par clip to this point and allowing no each, Walter J. Travers won three times.) leeway for such mistakes. Jack Nicklaus has the same gentleman- It was still even, after one more ex- liness and sportsmanship, plus the attrac- change, as they came to the final hole, a tion which challenging youth always 430-yard monster with a fairway which generates. slopes to the right and a pond which can One could only cheer for both and hope catch a careless, long tee shot. it would be a good match. It was just that Both played straight down the fairway, and 3,500 saw the classic at Broadmoor safely short of the pond. GOlf Club in Colorado Springs, Colo. Coe played the odd with a No.8 iron. Coe, fired to a high pitch, started the His ball flew true but a little low. While final by rolling in a slippery, downhill 35 it landed only a third of the way onto the footer for a birdie 3 on the first green. green, it skidded all the way over and Nicklaus countered by holing a 15 trickled down into the rough in a de- footer for a birdie 3 on the second, and pression behind the green. Coe put a 14 footer in on top of it for the Nicklaus then played a No.9 iron-and half, to remain 1 up. masterfully. His ball hit and came to an Both easily carried the pond in front abrupt stop about eight feet short of the of the third green and made 4s for an- hole, dead on the target. other half in birdies. Coe faced a difficult chip from long At this point, while the dew was still grass, up over a banking to a green heavy on the fairways, Coe had started which sloped away from him. It had to be birdie-birdie-birdie and was only 1 up. Or a perfect shot-and it was. to put it another way, Nicklaus had The ball lofted lightly out of the grass, started par-birdie-birdie and was 1 down. landed just on the green and trickled 10 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: NOVEMBER, 1959 Runner-up and former Champion Charles R. Coe, rIght, congratulates the 1959 Ama- teur Champion Jack Nicklaus. slowly but ever so surely toward the cen- ship, rather than for a tie and extra holes. ter of the hole. While the gallery hushed, he looked the The gallery instinctively drew in its line over with great care, tested his breath and prepared to let out a roar. It stroke several times and then knocked seemed, almost surely, that the old mas- his ball squarely into the hole to become, ter had holed his chip for a birdie 3, at 19 years and 8 months, the second stretching Nicklaus' putt into one of the youngest Amateur Champion, by a mar- longest eight footers in history for a half gin of 1 up. Nicklaus' score for the after- to keep the match alive. noon round was a two-under-par 69, But the roar never came. As abruptly matching Coe's morning round. Coe faded as if someone had slammed on brakes, the to a 73. ball stopped on the very brink of the The youngest winner, incidentally, was hole, looking down into it but not falling. the late Robert A. Gardner, of Chicago, Both players stepped up to see whether who won in 1909 at the age of 19 years there was any chance that it might be 5 months while a student at Yale. Nick- moving almost imperceptibly. After only laus is a pharm~cy sophomore at Ohio a quick look, Coe made the decision that State. The only other 19-year-old winner it was not. was the -late Louis N. James, who won So it became Nicklaus' turn to putt, and in 1902 at the age of 19 years 10 months. his putt now was a somewhat easier one For sheer excitement and drama, the for a win and the Amateur Champion- match reminded old hands of the 1936 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: NOVEMBER, 1959 11 final when young Joh!ljlY-Fisct1erl1Ilish- three-putted, and a six-foot putt for a 2 ed with three successive birdies at the won the sixteenth. At the eighteenth tee, Garden City ~:Y") Golf Club to beat Coe was only 1 up and holding on for his Jack M n, of Scotland, on the 37th life. hol f course, there was nothing dull Neither hit the right drive off the out Gene Littler's victory over Dale eighteenth tee, and both were in the Morey in 1953 at the Oklahoma City Golf rough. Hyndman's ball nestled at the bot- and Country Club. Leading 2 up with tom of a thick, tangled clump of wet three holes to play, Littler lost the next grass which gave him little chance to two holes to birdies and then made a bring off his shot, and his mighty effort twenty footer for a birdie of his own on only knocked his ball into the pond guard- the last green to win the title, 1 up. ing the green. Coe, from a more fortunate Veterans at the Broadmoor had some lie, played safely onto the green, whence difficulty in recognizing the course as he had two putts for a 68, and that was set up for the first Amateur Champion- the match. ship in Colorado. Broadmoor prides itself Nicklaus' semi-final victory over Gene on its long, tangled rough and icy fast, Andrews, of Los Angeles, Cal., the 46- undulating greens. Normally, fairways year-old veteran who spends the practice are generous, but he who leaves them days compiling notes on the course and does so at a real peril and the key to suc- then plays out of his notebook, was an- cess is everlastingly to place one's ap- other of the great give-and-take matches proaches so the ball stops below the hole. of the week. Nicklaus went 3 up by doing However, for the Amateur the rough was the course in 70 in the morning, but An- cut back to the traditional four inches, drews won four of a run of six holes to with borders shorter, and the mowers pull even at the ninth tee in the after- were raised a trifle to slow a couple of noon. Nicklaus won the ninth with a con- the more sloping greens. ceded eagle 3, but Andrews came back This changed the character of the with a birdie and a par to win the tenth course and confounded some of those who and eleventh and go ahead by a hole. figured to have an advantage in local Nicklaus then made birdie 3s on the knowledge. But it didn't appear to make thirteenth and fourteenth to regain the it any easier. Par golf would still get a one-hole lead which he held to the end. fellow a long way. His score for the afternoon round was 76. Coe and Nicklaus may have benefited Coe had a less hectic semi-final with particularly from the editing of the rough young Dudley Wysong, 20, of Dallas, who since they do not always rank among the was in the process of transferring from world's straightest drivers. the University of Houston to North Texas Coe, as a westerner who has vacationed State. Wysong had a muscle hemorrhage and played at the Broadmoor many times behind his right shoulder and when he over the years, showed the advantages of did settle down it was too late to get back familarity with greens, although he is in- in the match.