Two Masters
There he was, sitting all alone. The man who hit the greatest shot in the history of the Masters, maybe in all of golf.
Well into his nineties, his hands were wrinkled and spotted. As I approached him in his golf cart, those hands were extended slightly forward. He was examining them, almost as if he was recollecting how he once put them to use gripping a golf club. Like some gentlemen of age, he wore a cardigan sweater buttoned to the top, as was his shirt. It was 80 degrees.
The occasion was the grand opening of the fabulous Legends West Course at Diablo Grande, a Jack Nicklaus design. Jack was conducting a ‘walk and describe’ clinic for the festive occasion. His collaborator on the design, Gene Sarazen, was being chauffeured around the course. His driver had left momentarily to watch Jack lecture the gathered media and guests on the nuances of the third green and the windmill that guards the dogleg. I made my move.
Trying to think of something really clever to say as an opener I came up with, “Hello Mr. Sarazen. How are you?” Brilliant, eh?
As I shook one of those regal hands Mr. Sarazen replied that he was fine, asked my name, and why I was there. After explaining, he asked if I would like to sit in the cart with him. Boy, did I.
I’m guessing we chatted for about three minutes, but it seemed like more. During our repartee I asked how he liked working on the design of the course. He said, “Oh, I really didn’t do any of the design work. It was all Jack. Just my name is on it.” He then told me how proud he was of the life-size statue of him that sits near the practice putting green, a statue that reveals the diminutive physical nature of one of only five players to have won all four major championships.
He was proud of the fact that the statue would be there a long time. I offered that so would the memory of his double eagle two at the Masters in 1935. When I asked him about the shot he simply replied, “I hit that pretty good”.
As his driver approached and the throng of reporters began to move to the next hole, I asked Mr. Sarazen for an autograph. His hand moved slowly. The signature, while completely legible (unlike the scribbling of modern day athletes) showed the signs of an unsteady hand.
As we parted, he said it was nice talking with me. I returned the compliment with an accelerated heart rate.
Later that day, I had the occasion to ask Nicklaus if he would plop his John Hancock next to Mr. Sarazen’s. As he always does, Nicklaus graciously obliged.
Two Masters champions signatures, side by side. I did pretty good…………………
