by Adam Lazarus
3 “a bit of fuzz”—Golf World, June 8, 2007, Ron Whitten, “Putting the ‘Oh’ in Oakmont.”
4 “Fownes’ Folly” —Frederick News, September 7, 1938, Art Krenz, “Good-man and Yates Seek Double in U.S. Amateur.”
4 “some strange species”—Trevor, “Oakmont Terrain.”
4 “skating rinks”—Whitten, “Putting the ‘Oh.’”
4 “the first course”—Trevor, “Oakmont Terrain.”
4 “The virility”—Whitten, “Putting the ‘Oh.’”
4 “a sporting chance”—Trevor, “Oakmont Terrain.”
5 “If they want”—Golf World, June 10, 1995, Geoff Russell, “U.S. Open.”
5 “true to the ultimate”—New York Tribune, August 15, 1919, Grantland Rice, “Marston Leads Stars in Trial Round with 77.”
7 “changing the whole”—U.S. Open Championship Program, 1973 Edition, “Oakmont’s Championship Course,” p. 66.
CHAPTER 1
The King Never Left
11 “I think my first”—United States Golf Association, 1994 U.S. Open: Who Els? New York: Trans World International, 1994.
12 “I used to play”—New York Times, June 8, 1962, Arthur Daley, “Sports of the Times: The Palmer System.”
13 “uneasy lies”—Shakespeare, William, Henry IV, Part 2, Act III, scene I, line 31.
14 “At the age of 39”—New York Times, June 11, 1969, Dave Anderson, “Sports of the Times: Arnie’s Army Is Back Following Old Soldier.”
14 “I will admit”—New York Times, June 8, 1969, (AP), “Palmer, Swamped by Remedies from His Army, Has Own Plan to Cure Slump.”
15 “the most traumatic”—D‘Antonio, Michael, Tour ’72: Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Trevino: The Story of One Great Season (New York: Hyperion, 2002), p. 139.
15 “Arnie had to withdraw”—Beard, Frank, Pro: Frank Beard on the Golf Tour, edited by Dick Schaap (New York and Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1970), p. 319.
16 “not to signal”—Sports Illustrated, September 1, 1969, Dan Jenkins, “Thanks for the Memories.”
16 “given a nobility”—ibid.
17 “This was as important”—Moberly (MO) Monitor Index, (AP), December 1, 1969, Bob Green, “Palmer Wins in Heritage Classic.”
17 “Getting it going”—Jefferson City (MO) Post-Tribune, (AP), December 8, 1969, “Crowd Yells ‘Charge, Arnie!’ and grinning Palmer Does.”
18 “probably the toughest”—Tucson Daily Citizen, (AP), June 19, 1972, “Arnie Calls It ‘Toughest Open.’”
19 “I’ve got to”—Honolulu Star-Bulletin, February 8, 1973, Jim Hackleman, “‘If I Quit, I’d Be Climbing the Walls . . .”’
20 “There was a time”—Long Beach (CA) Independent Press-Telegram, February 11, 1973, Doug Ives, “A Nicklaus-Palmer Showdown.”
20 “usual form”—Los Angeles Times, February 12, 1973, Shav Glick, “Arnie Marches Troops Through Mud, Wins Day.”
20 “I kept thinking”—New York Times, February 12, 1973, Lincoln A. Werden, “Palmer’s Closing 69 Wins Hope Golf by Two Shots.”
21 “When you haven’t”—Eureka (CA) Times-Standard, (UPI), February 12, 1973, “Palmer Ends Long Struggle.”
21 “[I feared] someone”—Nevada State Journal, (UPI), February 12, 1973, “Nicklaus, Johnny Miller 2nd.”
21 “I hope”—Glick, “Arnie Marches.”
21 “Call the florist”—Los Angeles Times, February 13, 1973, Jim Murray, “The Star Is Reborn.”
22 “I’m not upset”—Victoria (TX) Advocate, (AP), April 6, 1973, “77 ‘Disgusting’ to Arnie.”
22 “I’ll play the Byron Nelson”—Albuquerque Journal, (AP), April 22, 1973, “Nicklaus, Trevino 1-2 in Champs Meet.”
23 “Now that the big guy”—Palmer, Arnold, with James Dodson, A Golfer’s Life (New York: Ballantine Books, 1999), p. 211.
23 “I wanted every putt”—Pittsburgh Press, June 18, 1962, “Three-Putt Greens Called No. 1 Factor in Palmer’s Defeat.”
24 “I can’t play”—ibid.
24 “Ever since I lost”—Miami Herald, June 14, 1973, “Recluse Trevino Likes Chances.”
25 “A great amount of desire”—Reno Evening Gazette, May 7, 1973, “Palmer, 44, Jokes About Age in Reno.”
26 “out of position”—The Billings Gazette, (AP), June 13, 1973, Bob Green, “Palmer: Elder Statesman at 43.”
26 “[We changed] the whole ball”—ibid.
26 “Almost from the moment”—Palmer, A Golfer’s Life, p. 19.
26 “I worked pretty hard”—Interview with Arnold Palmer, September 2008.
26 “I’m discouraged”—New York Times, June 4, 1973, Lincoln A. Werden, “Weiskopf Gets 68 for 271 and 3-Shot Open Victory.”
27 “I feel very much at home”—Latrobe Bulletin, (UPI), June 13, 1973, Ira Miller, “Arnold Palmer Plays It Cool.”
27 “I probably should”—ibid.
28 “Palmer still is”—Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 17, 1973, Bill Nichols, “Tee Time with Bill Nichols.”
28 “Buthe’s 43 years old”—New York Times, June 14, 1973, Dave Anderson, “The Last Stand.”
CHAPTER 2
The Big Three Reborn
30 “I was happy with”—Philadelphia Inquirer, June 15, 1973, “‘Shell-Shocked’ Player Says He’d Settle for 72-72-72 Finish.”
31 “Through that period”—Interview with Jack Nicklaus, September 2008.
31 “Even in ’73”—ibid.
32 “The Whitemarsh course”—New York Times, May 31, 1973, Lincoln Werden, “To Palmer, There’s Only One Oakmont.”
33 “There’s no similarity”—ibid.
34 “He returns now”—Hamilton (OH) Journal News, (AP), June 10, 1973, Bob Green, “Nick Could Join Golf’s All-time Elite This Week.”
34 “Honestly, I don’t remember”—Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 13, 1973, Bill Nichols, “Oakmont Is Severe Test.”
34 “I played with blinders on”—Golf Digest, July 2000, Bob Verdi, “I Had My Century.”
35 “Did you play golf‘—Chicago Tribune, June 15, 1973, Cooper Rollow, “Nicklaus ‘Stupid Shot’ Turns into Eagle Deuce.”
37 “A man would be a fool” —Pittsburgh Press, June 10, 1973, Ray Kienzl, “Jack Nicklaus Returns to Where It All Began.”
37 “It wouldn’t be worth”—Pittsburgh Press, June 15, 1973, Pat Livingston, “The Scoreboard: Jack’s Gamble Pays Off.”
38 “Maybe you can”—ibid.
38 “The fairway is not”—Dallas Morning News, (UPI), “Driving the Green.”
38 “I didn’t want to start”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 15, 1973, Al Smith, “Jack ‘Tickled’ with a 71.”
39 “When I saw him point”—Miami Herald, June 15, 1973, Edwin Pope, “‘Stupid’ Shot Keeps Jack in Line.”
39 “I needed to keep”—Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, June 15, 1973, Tony Destino, “Player Fires 67, Leads by 3.”
39 “to be in the air”—Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1973, Jim Murray, “The Stuff of Legend.”
39 “That one’s on the green”—Pope, “‘Stupid’ Shot.”
39 “When we got down the fairway”—ibid.
39 “You watch now”—ibid.
40 “the best iron shot”—Dallas Morning News, July 22, 1962, Frank Reece, “Player Snares PGA Lead.”
41 “The Americans”—Toronto Star, June 15, 1973, Ken McKee, “Three-way Tie for Lead in U.S. Open.”
42 “The record speaks” —Charleston (WV) Sunday Gazette-Mail, August 6, 1972, Bob Baker, “Down the Fairway.”
42 “I think it will be”—Las Cruces (NM) Sun News (UPI), August 6, 1972, “Gary Player Only Golfer to Break Par.”
43 “Still, the big question”—Player, Gary, with Floyd Thatcher, Gary Player, World Golfer (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 1974), p. 142.
44 “I’m fit as a”—Miami Herald, (AP), June 15, 1973, Bob Green, “Player’s Putter Pays Off in Three-shot Open Lead.”
44 �
��I’m playing worse”—Columbus (OH) Dispatch, June 13, 1973, Paul Hornung, “Open Field Waits Sun.”
44 “cannot yet be”—London Times, June 13, 1973, Peter Ryde, “Great Course Will Find a Champion to Match.”
44 “I still say this is”—Pittsburgh Press, June 17, 1962, James O’Brien, “Palmer Foes Like Lee at Appomattox.”
44 “Still I don’t throw”—ibid.
44 “I played a practice round”—Pittsburgh Press (Evening Edition), June 15, 1973, “Player’s 70 Holds Lead; Borek (Who’s He?) Fires 65.”
45 “I putted as well as”—Green, “Player’s Putter Pays Off.”
45 “This course is a pleasure”—Erie (PA) Morning News, June 15, 1973, Jack Polancy, “Player Fully Recovered.”
46 “Someday you’ll realize”—Green, “Player’s Putter Pays Off.”
46 “What surprises me”—San Francisco Chronicle, June 15, 1973, Art Spander, “Player Leads Open by Three.”
46 “I remember one U.S. Open”—Green, “Player’s Putter Pays Off.”
46 “You never know”—United States Golf Association, 1973 U.S. Open: Miller’s Miracle at Oakmont. New York: Trans World International, 1973.
CHAPTER 3
A View from the Parking Lot
47 “It was a lonely life”—Sports Illustrated, December 20, 1971, Curry Kirkpatrick, “A Common Man with an Uncommon Touch.”
47 “In those days”—Sports Illustrated, June 17, 1968, Myron Cope, “A Firm Hand on a Carefree Cat.”
48 “I feel like I helped”—Dallas Morning News, June 17, 1995, Sam Blair, “Back in His Old Backyard.”
48 “I caddied for one”—Trevino, Lee, and Sam Blair, They Call Me Super Mex (New York: Random House, 1982), p. 22.
48 “I went from a country kid”—ibid., p. 23.
49 “Confused, unsettled”—ibid., p. 32.
49 “I got hit in the”—ibid., p. 34.
49 “I didn’t do anything but”—New York Times, June 17, 1968, “Golf’s No. 1 Extrovert.”
50 “Either it’s going to”—Trevino and Blair, They Call Me Super Mex, p. 53.
50 “a savage uninhibited”—Kirkpatrick, “A Common Man.”
50 “the only way to forget”—ibid.
51 “Hardy wouldn’t”—Trevino and Blair, They Call Me Super Mex, p. 58.
51 “Instead, I stayed”—ibid.
52 “We discovered Lee”—New York Times, January 5, 1968, (UPI), “PGA Names Trevino Rookie Golfer of 1967.”
53 “You had to wear”—Trevino and Blair, They Call Me Super Mex, p. 84.
53 “scuba goggles because”—New York Times, June 19, 1967, “Finish Is Rosy to Trevino without Scuba Goggles.”
54 “And that night”—Trevino and Blair, They Call Me Super Mex, p. 87.
54 “a humble background”—Dallas Morning News, April 14, 1968, “Trevino Charms Masters Crowd.”
54 “The 28-year-old Trevino”—ibid.
55 “the swarthy Mexican-American”—Dallas Morning News, (AP), June 11, 1968, “Open Course Favors Casper.”
55 “In purely technical terms”—Kirkpatrick, “A Common Man.”
55 “If he ever gets up high”—ibid.
55 “Lee said, ‘I’m not that worried”’—Golf Digest, August 2003, Jaime Diaz, “Finding His Way Home.”
56 “On eighteen, I missed”—Trevino and Blair, They Call Me Super Mex, p. 102.
56 “The pin was set right”—ibid.
56 “What Lee Trevino really”—Sports Illustrated, June 24, 1968, Dan Jenkins, “Eyes Right ... but Wrong.”
57 “I was his traveling”—Woy, Bucky, with James Patterson, Sign ’Em Up, Bucky: The Adventures of a Sports Agent (New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1975), p. 75.
57 “I’m so happy”—Dallas Morning News, June 17, 1968, Harless Wade, “Olé! Trevino Finds His Place in Sun.”
57 “I said I didn’t like it”—Trevino and Blair, They Call Me Super Mex, p. 114; Golf, April 1971, Al Barkow, “The Masters, An Idea Betrayed?”
57 “I should have just”—Trevino and Blair, They Call Me Super Mex, p. 114.
58 “isn’t conducive”—Golf World, April 20, 1971, “Back in El Paso ... Trevino Wins $150.”
58 “That was the greatest”—Trevino and Blair, They Call Me Super Mex, p. 114.
58 “You look at my galleries”—Time, July 19, 1971, “Lee Trevino: Cantinflas of the Country Clubs.”
58 “Yeah, I been married”—Jenkins, “Eyes Right.”
59 “sales pitch would be”—Woy, Sign ’Em Up Bucky, pp. 74-75.
59 “Naw, I didn’t bring”—Trevino and Blair, They Call Me Super Mex, p. 110.
59 “You’ll seldom see Trevino”—Woy, Sign ’Em Up Bucky, pp. 80-81.
59 “I was stumbling, falling”—Trevino and Blair, They Call Me Super Mex, p. 142.
60 “crashing and burning”—ibid., p. 144.
60 “Yes, this one is more”—Dallas Morning News, June 22, 1971, Harless Wade, “Trevino’s 2d Open ‘More Rewarding.’”
61 “a helluva psych artist”—Trevino and Blair, They Call Me Super Mex, p. 146.
61 “is the worst of the lot”—Sports Illustrated, July 19, 1971, Dan Jenkins, “Now for the Mexican Open.”
62 “a little testy”—Dallas Morning News, (UPI), July 7, 1971, “No Gags for Trevino.”
62 “This is the most fantastic”—Dallas Morning News, (AP), July 11, 1971, “In England, It’s Ole and Viva Lee Trevino.”
62 “To be established”—Dallas Morning News, July 11, 1971, Sam Blair, “Longer the Streak, the Easier It Looks.”
62 “When I win a championship”—Corpus Christi (TX) Caller-Times, (AP), July 11, 1971, “Lee Trevino Makes Another Donation.”
62 “I wanted to do something”—Blair, “Longer the Streak.”
62 “It was such a tragedy”—Trevino and Blair, They Call Me Super Mex, p. 112.
63 “I could give him $15,000”—Cope, “A Firm Hand.”
63 “The world’s a funny place”—Wind, Herbert Warren, Following Through (New York: HarperCollins, 1995), pp. 251-52.
64 “Just tell Mr. Roberts”—D’Antonio, Tour ’72, p. 111.
64 “The damage has been done”—Dallas Morning News, (AP), November 1, 1972, “Trevino Says He Should Be Suspended or Handed Fine.”
65 “I’m usually on the road”—Dallas Morning News, November 23, 1972, Marilyn Beck, “Love Lights Jack’s Fire for England.”
65 “[Losing the weight] ruined”—Golf World, February 2, 1973, “Bunker to Bunker.”
65 “They said I have not won”—Dallas Morning News, (AP), February 1, 1973, “Lee Gets Teed-off at Talk of Slump.”
65 “No matter how much”—Woy, Sign ’Em Up, Bucky, pp. 80, 83.
66 “Tacos, get your red-hot”—ibid., p. 77.
66 “Spring training was over”—New York Times, February 23, 1973, Lincoln Werden, “Brewer, Fezler Share Lead in Golf with 67s.”
67 “Man, I’ve got to play”—Dallas Morning News, May 9, 1973, Harless Wade, “Will Lee Buck Chest Pains?”
67 “about 60 days”—New York Times, August 23, 1973, “People in Sports: Tour Too Long for Trevino.”
67 “I don’t sleep and live”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 14, 1973, Phil Gundelfinger, “Tee Topics.”
68 “‘Where you going?”’—Philadelphia Inquirer, June 9,1973, John Bloom, “Fans Don’t Care Who’s Leading, They Follow Nicklaus, Trevino.”
68 “‘I’m wasting a whole week’”—Bloom, “Fans Don’t Care.”
68 “Mentally, I wasn’t here”—Dallas Morning News, (AP), June 10, 1973, “Weiskopf Holds 3-Stroke Lead.”
68 “We were going on”—Columbus Evening Dispatch, June 14, 1973, Paul Hornung, “Trevino Loves His Life, But Seeks Privacy.”
68 “I can’t go into a restaurant”—ibid.
69 “Look, I love to have fun”—Toronto Star, June 14, 1973, Ken McKee, “The ‘Other’ Lee Trevino Shuns Golfing Sta
ge.”
69 “I thought that was a cute quote”—Pittsburgh Press, June 14, 1973, Pat Livingston, “Don’t Count Out the Mex.”
70 “This thing will be won”—Dallas Morning News, June 14, 1973, “Trevino Posts ‘Danger’ Signs.”
70 “[Trevino] fell victim”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 15, 1973, Marino Parascenzo, “Down 3 but Confident, Lee Trusting Oakmont.”
70 “I bogeyed the two easiest”—Washington Post, June 15, 1973, Bob Addie, “Player Comes Back to Lead Open by 3.”
71 “I think about what I should make”—Sports Illustrated, December 20, 1971, Curry Kirkpatrick, “A Common Man with an Uncommon Touch.”
71 “you don’t have to”—Chicago Sun Times, June 15, 1973, “Player Starts Hot, Leads Open with 67.”
71 “I hope he does it every day”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 15, 1973, Al Smith, “Jack’s Shot Not in Plan Trevino Has.”
71 “I used a three-iron”—Addie, “Player Comes Back.”
71 “My round couldn’t have been better”—Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 15, 1973, Bill Nichols, “Player’s 4-Under 67 Leads Open by 3.”
71 “I want to shoot”—San Francisco Chronicle, June 15, 1973, Art Spander, “Player Leads Open by 3.”
71-72 “The longer you stay”—Pittsburgh Press (Evening Edition), June 15, 1973, “Player’s 70 Holds Lead; Borek (Who’s He?) Fires 65.”
72 “This is a course which requires”—Pittsburgh Press (Evening Edition), June 15, 1973, Pat Livingston, “Jack’s Gamble Pays Off.”
CHAPTER 4
Carnage
73 “I was thrilled”—Interview with Geoff Hensley, October 2008.
73 “the final degree”—Liebman, Glenn, Golf Shorts: Par 2 (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998), p. 153.
74 “Hey, you’re on the tee!”—Interview with Geoff Hensley, October 2008.
74 “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen”—Pittsburgh Post Gazette, June 15, 1973, Bill Christine, “Open Opening a Bit Tardy.”
74 “I don’t have the equipment”—Dallas Morning News, June 12, 1973, Harless Wade, “Rain Opens, Top Hazard.”