Jump Shot

THE SITUATION

Nick Price, who had come achingly close to winning the 1982 and '88 Opens, was trailing Jesper Parnevik (in the group ahead) by two strokes in the final round at Turnberry in '94. Then Price reached the par-5 17th hole in two, leaving himself 50 feet for eagle.

I was simply trying to two-putt for birdie. You don't expect to make those, but in the back of your mind you hope to. The putt had maybe 30 feet on the top level, then 20 feet below. I could see right away that it was tracking. I remember rolling it right over a spot about two feet short of where the slope took over. As it went over that spot and started breaking, that's when I knew it had a chance. If you have a look at the video, you see that I started running when the ball was two feet from the hole. If you look close, the ball hits a spike mark about six inches from the hole and kicks to the right. It sort of ducked in the right edge of the cup. It was center cut before it hit that mark. Then I jumped in the air. That was instinctive, pure reaction, the most I've ever reacted to a shot. There was a lot of pent-up frustration in that leap. Squeak [caddie Jeff (Squeaky) Medlin] came over and hugged me and said Jesper had bogeyed the 18th. I had been chasing and chasing and chasing, and suddenly I'd gone from two behind to one ahead.