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Aging star regained shine with comeback win in '78
Posted: Saturday April 05, 2003 10:29 PM
Updated: Sunday April 06, 2003 1:48 AM
By John Boyette
The Augusta Chronicle
If you could have found odds on Gary Player winning the Masters Tournament in 1978, chances are they would have been stacked heavily against him.
The diminutive South African had done nothing to suggest he was ready to make a run at winning a major championship.
He was four years removed from his last PGA Tour victory, and at age 42 he was considered "over the hill" by almost everyone.
Everyone, that is, except Player himself.
Through three rounds, Player produced steady golf. Rounds of 72, 72 and 69 left him in 10th place, seven strokes behind Hubert Green with an earlier tee time Sunday than he preferred.
Player set out knowing he would need a miracle round. Through nine holes he had produced three birdies against one bogey for 2-under-par 34. Good, but not good enough to win the Masters.
On No. 10, Player began his charge with a 25-footer for birdie, then made a 15-foot putt for birdie on No. 12. When he two-putted both of the par-5s on the back nine for birdies, Player had drawn closer to the leaders.
With three holes to play, the tournament was up for grabs. Player promptly gained another shot with a birdie on No. 16, then made par on the 17th.
Walking up the 18th, Player needed a birdie to shoot 30 on the back nine and match the existing course record of 64. He stuck his 6-iron approach about 15 feet above the hole, then anxiously watched as his putt found the hole. He punched the air with his fist, putting an exclamation point on one of the most exciting finishes in the history of championship golf.
Then, as Player later said, the "sheer agony" of waiting began.
With three men still able to beat him - Green, defending champion Tom Watson and little-known pro Rod Funseth - Player had to watch them try to beat his 11-under total of 277.
Watson was first to blink, making bogey on No. 18 after driving into the woods.
Funseth, who had a putt similar to the one Player made on No. 18, just barely missed.
Finally, Green, who had three-putted the 16th to fall out of a tie for the lead, hit a brilliant approach to No. 18, leaving him just three feet away. A conversion would have set up the first sudden-death playoff in Masters history.
But Green was tentative with his stroke, pushing it to the right and squandering his shot at history.
After nearly an hour of waiting and sweating out the action in front of a television set, Player became the oldest man at the time to win the Masters.
"One of the things I am is an eternal optimist," Player said after his round. "I was playing excellent golf, and I hadn't made any putts. But you have to keep on aiming at them."
Player's back nine total could have been even lower. He hit the cup three times and the ball didn't drop. Still, the 64 matched the course record held by Lloyd Mangrum, Jack Nicklaus, Maurice Bembridge and Hale Irwin.
Green, meanwhile, went back to the 18th hole after the gallery had left and attempted the putt that had eluded him. He made the putt several times, but it was too late.
"It didn't go in the hole, it definitely was a bad putt," Green said. "I guess I pushed it or something."
Player proved the victory was no fluke. He followed it with a win at the Tournament of Champions the next week, then completed a hat trick with a victory at the Houston Open for his third win in as many weeks.
He is the last player to win in three consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour, a feat not even Tiger Woods can claim.
After getting the ceremonial green jacket from Masters Chairman Bill Lane, Player had the final word for those who doubted him.
"That is a tremendous thrill," Player said, "particularly because some people have wrote of me as a fading star."
Reach John Boyette at jboyette@augustachronicle.com.
Copyright 2003 The Augusta Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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