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Georgia's Aaron hits high mark with Masters victory
By Robert Eubanks
Chronicle Sports Editor
Augusta, Ga., Tuesday, April 10, 1973 -- Tommy Aaron, who has found victory but not money elusive in 13 years on the pro golf tour, Monday hit the ultimate for a golfing native of Georgia in the 37th Masters Tournament.
Aaron put on a charge of his own and refused to falter under threats by J.C. Snead, Peter Oosterhuis and Jack Nicklaus in firing a final round 68 for a winning total of 283. Snead had a double-bogey five on No. 12 and a round of 70 for 284 and Nicklaus a 66 for 285. Oosterhuis, who had a three-shot lead going into the last day, dropped to a 74 and tied Nicklaus and Jim Jamieson (71).
``I have had few tournament victories and will take any of them,'' the 36-year-old native of Gainesville said in the ceremony on the practice putting green. ``This one makes up for a lot of those I didn't win. I dreamed about winning this tournament as a boy. ``It's really difficult to describe the feeling. My wife, my family, my friends have stood by me through so many failures this is a way of paying them back.''
Ironically, both Aaron's official tournament victories have come in his home state. He won the 1970 Atlanta Classic at Atlanta Country Club, 35 miles from Gainesville, and now the Masters at the Augusta National, which is 140 miles from home.
He actually had taken the Canadian Open in 1969, before that tournament's winnings were made official by the PGA. Last year, he went victory-less but earned $118,924 for his highest finish (ninth) on the money list and had $628,143 in career earnings coming into 1973.
HOWEVER, AARON had not played much due to his wife's serious illness and had won only $10,220 this year. ``I probably felt less like winning than any other year here,'' he said. ``But this is a crazy game; you never known when it will turn around.''
Ironically, had Aaron not checked his card completely, he might have duplicated the incorrect scorecard trick pulled by Robert de Vicenzo of Argentin in 1968. Aaron gave Roberto a four instead of the three he made on the 17th hole. De Vicenzo failed to catch it, signed the card and had to take the higher score, which kept him from tying Bob Goalby. Monday, Johnny Miller put down a five instead of a four on 13.
``I made a four but I caught it when I checked my card,'' Aaron said. ``It's not all that unusual. It happens all the time on the tour. He (Miller) said that's right and we changed the card. That's what you check your scorecard for.''
Aaron's victory came in gutty fashion as he ignored a challenge by Nicklaus.
Tommy actually said he didn't notice that Nicklaus was three under until the Golden Bear finished 18. Nicklaus holed out a 36-foot birdie putt while Aaron was playing 15. Aaron was only four under at that point, but chipped to 18 inches and tapped in the birdie putt that won it in the end.
HE MANAGED TO par in, twice making nerve-testing little putts of two to three feet and just missing a bird on the final hole. But he still had to endure the nail-biting anxiety of the closing bid of Snead, the raw-boned 31-year-old nephew of Sam Snead, and lanky, freckle-faced Oosterhuis.
Both were four under par and were three holes back of Aaron. The 6-foot-4 Oosterhuis lost his last chance when he took six on the 15th, missing the green in three, chipping poorly and then falling to his knees in something approaching agony when a 10-foot par-saving putt refused to drop.
And Snead could do no better than par on the hole that yielded literally dozens of birdies in this tournament that was postponed for one full day when Saturday's scheduled third round was washed out by a 2.6-inch rain.
SNEAD, A FORMER professional baseball player, still was very much within range, however, at one stroke back. He parred the 17th after finding a yawning sand trap, then put his approach some 30 feet above the cup on the 18th hole.
He walked around it for what must have seemed like hours to Aaron, who flashed a nervous smile, a weak grin, then nervous apprehension as he watched and waited. Finally, Jesse Carlyle stroked the putt that could force a playoff. It just slid by and Aaron was a winner. They were the only ones in the final field of 57 able to break par on the picturesque 6,980-yard layout that was the brainchild of the late Bobby Jones.
Miller tied with 1968 champion Bob Goalby when he incurred a two-stroke penalty on the final hole for 73 and 288. His approach shot hit a paper cup, he was allowed to place the ball but after placing it, touched his finger to it to make sure it wouldn't move.
ARNOLD PALMER, Lee Trevino and Australian Bruce Crampton - high among the pre-tourney favorites - never really got into it. The 43-year-old Palmer, like Nicklaus a four-time winner here, had a final round 70, his best day of the tournament, for 295. Trevino, the current British Open titleholder and leading money winner, went to a 75 on the course he still insists he cannot play and was tied with Crampton far back in the field at 299. Crampton, a two-time winner this season and considered the No. 1 foreign threat in the absence of Gary Player, closed with a 74. Player is still recuperating from surgery at his ranch home near Johannesburg, South Africa. He missed the Masters for the first time in almost two decades.
``I gave it my best shot,'' said Nicklaus, who needed a victory to establish a hat-full of records. He's tied with Palmer for most Masters victories, with Jones for most major triumphs and with Walter Hagen for the most major professional decisions.
``I GUESS I WAS just too far back,'' Nicklaus said.
``I know I had the game to do it, but I was just so far back,'' he continued. ``I felt all day - I felt all week - that I was going to win it. But I just got too far behind.''
Aaron, too, was well back. He had to make up four strokes on Oosterhuis and got away in blazing fashion. The man from Calloway Gardens, Ga., birdied the first three holes played, then picked off another on the 530-yard, par-five eighth. He made the turn in 32, four under par, and had a share of the lead with Snead while Oosterhuis was one back. At the same time, however, Nicklaus was making his move, a move that has served as an intimidated, confidence-destroying factor on more players than one.
Aaron faltered briefly. He bogeyed the 10th and 11th, but got back into the thick of it with his bird on the 420-yard 14th. The little chip on the 15th set up the winner.
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