by Ed Nelson
I managed to par the course on my first round. In the afternoon we went around again, and I only picked up one stroke.
I could only hope this course played this hard for everyone. According to John who had reviewed all the past tournaments, it would.
He also let me know that the two articles he was going to present had been sent off. The public one to Golfweek, the other to the Chairman of Augusta.
I was received politely by the people at Oakmont but nothing over the top. It was more like we’re glad you are here, along with all the other luminaries of the golfing world.
In a way, it was nice not to be picked out.
Friday's rounds weren’t much better. The first round was two under and I thought I was getting the hang of it. I followed up with a one-over-par. It was going to be an interesting tournament.
Friday evening, we flew to Boston, we stayed at a hotel downtown. Saturday morning John went sightseeing while I took a limo to Hyannis Port.
I was let into the Kennedy compound without any trouble. Outside of the compound, there was a permanent camp of TV and radio broadcast trucks.
The windows on my limo were darkened so that people outside couldn’t see in or take pictures.
While it hadn’t been mentioned. I had guessed right as to what to wear at the compound. My California casual was perfect.
RFK and JFK were both waiting for me on the back veranda. There were a whole bunch of kids running around and having a good time playing touch football.
I was offered a lemonade as we watched the kids play. Once we were done, I was invited inside to an office.
The President had a stack of file folders over a foot high on his desk.
“Rick, we didn’t know who we were dealing with. I asked the FBI to send over what they had. They sent this but told me there was more that they didn’t have access to. I couldn’t believe that someone would deny them information until they told me it was the KGB and East German Stasi.”
“You have had an interesting time in the last several years. Starting with the Russian encroachment on the DEW line to your involvement with the Chinese.”
“By the FBI’s best estimate you have killed five men and probably several more. They still are trying to figure out why your name was inside a bowling bag found in the trash from the Russian Embassy, one that was bloodstained.”
“They suspect it is connected to some headless bodies found in a boxcar.”
“Bobby and I knew you are a film actor and sometimes singer, but we knew nothing about your inventions.”
“That explains how you were able to fend off the takeover attempt aimed at Jackson Enterprises. My god, man, you must be the richest person in the world right now.”
“Then there are your high-level connections. Ike and the Queen we understand, they are an accident of your birth. Ex-President Hoover and the new Empress of China are both surprises to us. All we know is that we have approached you all wrong.’
Bobby spoke up, “I thought you were a kid who could be bullied, you aren’t. If anything, you could do the bullying.”
He continued, “Is it possible to start over with you?”
“Yes, it is, I’m not even sure what started us out on the wrong foot, but I would like a good relationship with both of you and the US Government.”
“Is it too late to ask you to keep all your operations in the US?’
“Yes, it is, too many commitments have been made. At this point, if you tried to force the company to stay US-based you would have problems with Great Britain, West Germany, and the Empire of China.”
“Speaking of China can you tell us where it is heading.”
“I don’t know, but I can tell you this, do not bet against Empress Ping.”
Chapter 48
I spent the rest of the afternoon with the Kennedys. Mostly they wanted to hear more about my adventures. Bobby wanted to hear about the life-endangering moments, like riding a bull or jumping into a raging river.
John wanted to know about Bridget Bardot, Anna Romanov, and all the other women I had been seen with. The one name he didn’t mention was Nina. He even wanted to know if Sharon Bronson, now Sharon Downing was happy in her marriage. There were rumors about him, and I began to believe them.
After what was a surprisingly pleasant afternoon, I returned to Boston to fly back to Pennsylvania. It was Saturday and the US Open started on Monday, so there was no sense in returning to California.
My parents had rented a house for our use during the week so that was taken care of. The flight crew would unload the Bentley for me, so I had my ride for the week.
By the time we got to Pittsbrgh, unloaded, and got to the rental house it was time for bed.
In the morning Harold had set out my workout clothes as he knew I wouldn’t skip my run.
I didn’t know the area, so I stuck to the main roads. Not that they were divided highways. It was still early enough that the traffic was light.
The cars all had their headlights on, which didn’t help as one driver swerved as they came up to me. I don’t think they were trying to hit me, but I had to jump for my life.
Fortunately, my jump cleared a small ditch, and I was able to roll when I landed with no injuries. The car sped on down the road. I doubt if they even knew I was there.
Blue lights came on the vehicle behind the one that swerved. The Pennsylvania State Police pulled the driver over. They briefly talked to the driver of the car then backed the tenth of a mile or so back to me.
The officer wanted to know if I was okay or needed a ride to the hospital to be checked out. I told him that I was fine and that I had enough adrenalin to run to the hospital if needed.
He barked laughter at that and returned to the vehicle he had pulled over. As I ran past them, he was performing a field sobriety test on the driver. He had him place a finger on his nose and try to walk a straight line.
It wasn’t going to happen. Six o’clock in the morning and this guy was drunk as a skunk. I was lucky to be alive.
I returned to the house and cleaned up for breakfast. The rest of the family wasn’t due until later today. I had dispatched my plane to bring them from California.
My parents were still in line for a 707, but they kept selling their place in line. By this time, they would be getting the plane for free. Why should they buy a plane when they could borrow mine whenever they wanted?
It wasn’t as though they flew that much. Most of their trips were short day trips on light aircraft. I thought they should investigate that Grumman Gulfstream G1 I had chartered to fly to Augusta.
The course wasn’t open for practice rounds today. Those would start tomorrow. Today was for members only. I checked but I had nothing that reciprocated with them.
That left me at loose ends.
I was invited to a cookout for lunch at one of the member's houses, having nothing better to do I accepted. The food was okay, I would have had a good time if I hadn’t had to spend it fending off his wife.
She was a second wife, what they called a trophy wife. I think she was looking to trade up. I left as soon as I could.
I had driven over, so I had the Bentley. I drove aimlessly around the area. There was a city park, so I pulled in and went for a walk. It was a circle trail and there were two cute girls I kept meeting up with as they walked the other direction from me.
First, we smiled at each other. Then we said, “Hi.”
The third time around I asked if I could join them. They were fine with that. We introduced ourselves as Rick, Janet, and Barbara.
They had just graduated from High School and were both planning on attending Pennsylvania State. They wanted to know what grade I was in or was in college.
Not wanting to lie I told them I was taking some time off from Uni. They wanted to know what school, so I told them Oxford. I think they thought Oxford, Ohio. They told me I should think of attending a bigger school as I would have more opportunities.
When asked I told them I was a junior. I finally
got them talking about themselves. Both were working crowd control at the big tournament. They thought it would be fun.
When Barbara mentioned she was looking forward to seeing Ricky Jackson play, Janet stopped dead and looked at me.
“You’re him aren’t you.”
“Guilty as charged.”
“You dirty rat, you went to school in England at Oxford, not Oxford, Ohio,”
“You jumped to that conclusion I didn’t tell you that.”
“No, but you didn’t correct me.”
“No, I didn’t, it was enjoyable just being a guy for a little while.”
That led to a long talk about the pitfalls of fame and fortune. I told them about the cookout I had been to earlier and how the wife kept hitting on me.
Janet whooped, “That was my evil step-mother! I can’t wait to let her know that I know. Dad would drop her like a hot potato if he found out.”
“Won’t you tell him?”
“No, he is a jerk, he dropped my mother for a younger woman, so he deserves what he gets. I will blackmail mommy dearest for all I can get.”
Barbara kept nodding her head.
“I bet you could take her for a T-Bird convertible.”
I suddenly wanted to be anywhere these two were not. Since we were near the parking lot, I told them I had to go get ready for a dinner engagement. Both pouted a little, but I made my escape.
I did have a dinner engagement of sorts. My family was unloading from two limos when I got back to the rental house. We had no specific plans other than eating out.
Dad managed to get a reservation at Hoffstot’s Café Monaco which had been recommended by some local people. He had to use my name as a past Champion in the US Open to get us it, but it worked.
I had to pay for the seating by having a picture taken with the owner, but it wasn’t a big deal. I was used to this part of my life.
The table talk revolved around the flight out. It seemed Mum and Dad took a long nap on the flight and left the kids to their own devices. I wasn’t about to question them on their nap.
The boys got a tour of the cockpit. Mary went through the entire aircraft accompanied by the Head Stewardess. They had a serious discussion on what changes Mary would have made when she got her airplane.
No one doubted for a moment that she would get an aircraft of her own. She was using her clothing company’s jet, but she wanted one for herself. She could afford it now, but Mum thought that she should graduate from a sixteen-inch bike to a twenty-four-inch first.
By the time she did that, I figured the bar would be raised to getting her driver's license. After that, she was on her own. Of course, in Mary’s estimation that would make her too old to fly.
I was asked about my day. I let it all out, almost killed in the morning, hit on by a second wife, and meeting two avaricious girls.
As Dad said, “A normal day then.”
That stopped me for a moment, “Yeah, pretty much.”
People waited until we had finished eating and were getting up to leave before they approached us for autographs. The whole family was asked to sign various items. I had learned never to sign a t-shirt.
Mary always signed them and couldn’t understand why I didn’t. I was tempted to mention puppies, but with Mum standing there I didn’t have a death wish; besides, I love my innocent, going on thirty Mary.
Eddie was the most exciting about signing. I think most people wanted the complete family, so they asked him. It didn’t matter as it was his first time.
Let him enjoy it. Writer’s cramp would catch up with him sooner or later.
We returned to the rental house for a good night's sleep. Well, that is until our security guards made a racket capturing a couple of papa-rats-eyes trying to sneak into the house.
Mum and I were all for shooting them, but Dad just had them hauled to jail.
Chapter 49
Monday was the official start of the practice rounds. I had already been around the course multiple times, but this was one course you needed every edge you could get.
John had spent hours talking to every caddy he could about the course. He wanted to know things like whether there was a dangerous time of day for any winds. What was the grass like in the morning when wet, how did it dry out, how long did it take to dry out?
He was trying to get ten years of experience on the course in three days. The more he could get the better. He was also cross-checking every piece of information. Just because someone told him that, it didn’t make it so.
While he talked to people, I spent my time on the putting green. I did use the driving range to loosen up, but as they say, drive for show, putt for dough.
When describing Oakmont, on the surface you would think that it was an easy golf course designed for the weekend warrior. No water, no sharp doglegs.
Then when you added that it had over 175 deep bunkers, and oh yes, narrow fairways that weren’t continuous to the green, and fast greens that slope away from the player you have as nasty a golf course you could imagine.
The greens were so steep and fast that Sam Snead was quoted as saying, “When I mark my ball the coin even slides downhill.”
This course was designed for a person who could hit a long ball accurately. That described my game.
I’m a strong hitter but John’s talking to people paid off. At the time of day I would probably be playing as a past champion there was a good chance there would be a light breeze in my face. That would take twenty to thirty yards off my drive.
So, we decided that I would play it safe no matter what the breeze appeared to be when I got to the tee. Mother Nature is not always your friend and she could kick up a puff of air just as you completed your swing. I learned that one the hard way.
We also decided to make pars when possible by following Billy Casper's strategy in 1959 by laying up. This was not a course to challenge, if I could break even, I would be happy.
By laying up I had a better chance of having the ball stick when it landed on the back sloping fast greens.
Being able to see where the pin is and landing safely was worth the trade-off. Many a player would take extra strokes here. I would only go for it if I were behind and desperate.
The fairways were not a smooth continuous flow to the green. From the tees, you might have to carry two hundred yards of low rough. Then have a small landing fairway, followed by more rough grass.
At least you could hit out of the rough between the fairways. The rough at the side of the fairways was ankle deep and you could lose your ball if it rolled off more than two feet. Hitting it if you found it was a challenge.
This course demanded accuracy on its small narrow fairways.
Between the 4th and 5th fairways was the signature bunker named the Church Pews bunker. If your shot on either of those fairways drifted, you would end up in it.
There was the normal sand, but the sand was interrupted in the center by a row of grassed humps. There was half a dozen or so of these. Since they were lined up parallel to each other they looked like a row of church pews.
That was the type of deviltry built into this course.
All that thought and planning and I ended up one over for my Monday round. I had a bird on two, a bogey on five, and a bogey on sixteen.
That evening we had a small get-together at the rental house of Dad’s business associates. I had to do the glad hand thing, but it was low-key, and I didn’t get buttonholed by any men wanting a loan or investment, or any woman wanting me, for me, read wanting my money.
Tuesday's round was worse than Monday's. I ended up two over. I had done the same on everything but 16 where I had a double bogey. Not fun at all. By the muttering, I heard from everyone else I wasn’t alone. This course lived up to its reputation of being the most difficult course in North America.
Mum, Dad, and I went to an official event where I was introduced as a past champion. I made the usual, “Ah shucks.” speech and left as soon as I could. My parents and I had driv
en separately for this very reason. They wanted to stay to schmooze a little.
Wednesday my golf looked up. I ended up two under. I managed to Birdie 2, 11, and 18, with a Par on 16. The only hole that gave me a problem was a bogey on 5. If I played like that in the tournament I would be on top of the leaderboard.
The night before the tournament I didn’t go to any parties. I knew most of the players would be out, many of the amateurs having the time of their lives. The pros would be more circumspect but even some of those were known to get carried away, and I mean that literally.
On Thursday Round 1 started. I felt rather good about not disgracing myself. I also felt that I had a good chance to win. First, the only pressure I had was self-generated. I didn’t need the money and I had proved that I could play golf.
With that attitude I was relaxed, that is until I came to the first tee then every butterfly I ever had decided to get up and fly around my stomach.
I did manage to hit the ball straight and far out. How I don’t know. Once I walked off the tee box things settled down. So much for cool, calm, and relaxed. I had to win this sucker for my self-respect.
I was one-under for the day, one stroke behind Gene Littler. There was no drama in my play. I hit the fairways where needed and stuck the ball on the green. My putting held up on the lightning-fast greens.
The Stimpmeter had this course in mind when it was developed in the 1930s. It measured the speed of greens. This course was normally groomed to be a 14.0 on normal play. For tournament play, the greens were groomed to be a 13.5 or even a 13.0. This was killer fast.
Round 2 on Friday saw me tied at three-under with Bobby Nichols and Arnold Palmer. We were followed by Billy Maxwell at one-under. My nerves were settling down as I got more familiar with the course. As John put it, stay out of the rough and bunkers and two-putt everything. It will be a cinch. Sure.
On Saturday we were scheduled for two rounds, so it would be a long day. I was glad I said no to any events while the tournament was on.
I ended the first round two-under for the course and first place in the tournament. I had a one-stroke lead over second-place ties Booby Nichols and Arnold Palmer. I noticed Jack Nicklaus was now tied for fifth place. The Golden Bear was coming on strong.