The New Life Of Bob Goalby

So there he was. Hook lie. Fade shot. A cannon away. And his best chance ever for a major title. What exactly was he saying to himself then?

"I was mad at myself," he says. "All golfers get mad. And sometimes you play better when you're mad or at least fired up. I'm one of those. Yeah, I was talking to myself. I was saying, 'You no good gutless wonder, what are you gonna do now? Are you gonna just go ahead and hook it? Are you gonna kick it away?' Then I said, 'Just give yourself a chance. Just hit the shot you know how to hit. Just have some guts and swing at it right.' "

In all of that pressure Goalby faded his two-iron perfectly from that hook lie and put it on the green 30 feet from the hole. He two-putted for his par and thought he had tied for the Masters. And he was fairly proud of himself. He should have been. It was a remarkable shot. Not a hole-out, not a lucky putt traveling over bumps and cleat marks and being drawn into the cup by the fates, and not a fortunate bounce over a bunker or across a lake. It was a golf shot. A golf shot that did what it was supposed to do, struck by a pro under the most unbearable of circumstances. This was the stroke that really won the tournament.

The people who have been aching to see Goalby and De Vicenzo play a round of golf together since then, some of whom have been promoters talking about fantastic guarantees for a television show, have probably forgotten that the two men were paired together at Augusta on Saturday in the third round. They played head to head, keeping each other's score correctly—yes, they did. And there were a few spectators around the scorer's table that day who probably witnessed something and thought nothing of it. When Bob Goalby sat down to attest his card he mopped his forehead, picked up a pencil and glanced at the score on the 1st hole, taking his time. Before Goalby got to the 2nd hole Roberto had signed his card and disappeared. Just for the slightest, most inconsequential, fleeting instant of time, it made Bob Goalby think that the carefree Latin had been a trifle too carefree.

But it was not an incident that the Masters champion ever ever—ever—thought he would remember.