Down Memory Lane

Last night I was roaming the net to find some U.S. History to help me to write the following article. Although I was reminded of great moments that truly stuck out in my mind like the great final round posted by Johnny Miller in 1973 when he shot a 63 and came from behind to beat Weiskopf and Nicklaus. I was sitting in the club house of De La Viega in Santa Cruz just after an early morning round; or that 45 foot putt that Greg Norman sunk in 1984 on the final hole to tie Fuzzy Zoeller only to lose in a play off the next day; Scott Simpson making those three consecutive birdies on the final nine to beat Tom Watson head-to-head; Palmer making 6 birdies on the first 7 holes in 1960 to come from behind for his first U.S. Open victory; that great 4-iron on the final hole in 1995 to secure victory for Corey Pavin; and that wonderful victory par sunk by Payne Stewart in 1999; I noticed a couple of interesting facts .

In both 2000 and 2002 both won by Tiger Woods, Miguel Angel Jimenez tied for second place; the U.S. Open didn’t adopt a 4-day, 18 hole format till 1965;Orville Moody captured the 1969 Open after having to go through sectional qualifying; the U.S. Open was first televised in 1954; then on a personal note, in 1982, Bill Rogers a winner of the British Open in 1981 and Player of the Year placed tied for 3’d and unbeknownst to me, I was to hire the caddy that carried Bill’s bag when he won the 1981 British Open the following year to work for a printing company in Southern California. Rogers played on the tour from 1975 to 1988 and won six tournaments, including 4 in 1981. After a final victory in 1983, Bill Rogers faded away and all I remember was that for a while he was a spokesman/endorser for a new line of soft-spike shoes. Chris (the caddie) continued for a few years to take his vacation and travel with Bill to the British Isles to the scene of their victory but soon Rogers took a Director of Golf position at the San Antonio Country Club where he worked for 11 years before joining the Champions tour in 2001.