Small-Time Golf: The First Round Is Complete. A Tiger, A Bear, A Friendly Ghost, And A Very Unusual Cut

by Craig Small

Pairing 5: Tiger Woods and Ken Venturi
The putting was atrocious in this pairing which only makes Woods’ final score all the more incredible. Woods missed putts from 11, 4, 4, 7, 6, 8, and 8 feet and still, incredibly, shot a 68. His iron play was nothing short of spectacular and, for the most part, he managed to keep his tee-shots in the fairway. He was putting for birdie for almost the entire round. He finished with 7 birdies and 3 bogeys. All of the bogeys came on missed short putts. Venturi missed putts of 6, 10, 10, 7, 8, and 3 feet. He actually 3-putted from 8 feet on the 12th. Unlike Woods, he wasn’t able to do much of anything to save his chances of making the cut.

Shot of the round: Nothing worth reporting other than Woods continually hitting his irons in close.

Woods: -4 (68)
Venturi: +2 (74)

Pairing 6: Harry Vardon and Billy Casper
I knew I was in for a treat after completing the par-5 second. Vardon hit his approach to within 2 feet of the cup for an easy tap-in birdie and Casper did him one better. Casper followed a 310-yard driver off the tee with a 250-yard 4-wood that came to rest in the fairway 20 yard short of the pin. He then got a resounding cheer from the crowd when he holed his pitch from the fairway for the first eagle of the tournament. Casper appeared to be off to the races when he followed his eagle with a birdie on 3 and another on 5, but bogeys on 6 and 7 derailed his promising start. Vardon snuffed out his excellent start (2-under after 6) by bogeying 9, 10, and double bogeying 12. Incredibly, he followed this train wreck with a stunning eagle in 13. Birdies at 15 and 18 brought his round back to respectability. Casper also closed strong with birdies at 12, 15, and 18.

Shot of the round: Casper’s 20-yard eagle pitch at the 2nd.

Vardon: -2 (70)
Casper: -4 (68)

Pairing 7: Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagen
Hagen played a solid round that was spoiled by missed putts from 2, 10, 4, 6, and 6 feet. He made two 17-footers to give himself a chance to make the cut but the story of this round was Nicklaus. Here’s a quick recap of Nicklaus’ first 6 putts: 9-footer for birdie, 4-footer for birdie, 7-footer for birdie, 12-footer for birdie, 26-footer for birdie, 19-footer for birdie. 6 holes. 6 birdies. 6-under after 6. At that point I was thinking 59 but I was quickly brought back down to earth when he missed a 2-footer on 8 and took his first bogey. A birdie on 9 briefly rekindled my hopes but a lost ball in the trees on 11 put an end to that. But wait. He followed up that bogey with a birdie on 12 and an eagle on 13 to go 8-under after 13 holes. A 59 was still possible but Jack missed his 8-foot birdie putt on 14 and hit his tee-shot into the water on 16. Still, Nicklaus once again thrilled the crowd at Augusta National, his home away from home.

Shot of the round: Two shots actually. Nicklaus drained a 26-foot birdie putt on 5 and followed it up with a 19-footer on 6 to keep his incredible birdie streak alive.

Nicklaus: -6 (66)
Hagen: -2 (70)

Pairing 8: Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson
This pairing was all about fighting back from adversity as both golfers attempted to salvage poor rounds and make the cut. Nelson actually played pretty well but an unplayable lie on 11 forced a double-bogey that put him at even par. As part of the final group he knew what he had to do to make the cut and started his climb with a birdie on the following hole to get himself back in contention. A wayward approach on 15 landed in the water, resulting in a bogey but birdies on 16 and 17 left him squarely in the hunt. Hogan, meanwhile, had a miserable front-9. A double-bogey after losing a 4-wood into the trees on 8 left him at 3-over. Hogan knew he’d have to put together a very special back-9 to have any chance of playing the weekend. The magic started at 11 with the shot of the tournament thus far. He hit his tee-shot into the trees but was able to get the ball back into the fairway with a 7-iron but not before hitting a branch on the way out, leaving him a long approach just to save the possibility of a par putt. Ben Hogan knew at this stage pars weren’t going to be good enough so he thrilled the crowd with a magnificent 5-iron that just cleared the pond protecting the green, took a nice bounce and slowly rolled toward the cup. You could have heard a pin drop as the ball inched it’s way to the flag. Slowly but surely it made it’s way to the lip of the cup and feeling the force of Hogan’s will from 185 yards away, it fell in. The crowd exhaled as one and let out a roar. Game on! With the spectators still buzzing Hogan birdied 12, 15, and 16. 1-over with 2 holes to go. Hogan knew a 70 would give him a chance but a 69 would get him in. He left his second shot just short on 17 and chipped to 4-feet of the cup. A solid putt left him with a par and he knew he needed to birdie 18 or go home for the weekend. His tee-shot belied the tension in the air as it landed in the fairway 300 yards from the tee but it stubbornly refused to bow to its master and rolled into the fairway bunker. Any hope of a birdie was going to require a hell of a second shot out of the sand and Hogan just didn’t have it in him that day. His 7-iron fell to the left of the green and Hogan’s pitch wasn’t enough. Deflated, he missed his par put and finished out of the running. The crowd sent Hogan off with a cheer but after shaking hands with his boyhood friend, Nelson, he walked off the green, head down, clearly disappointed.

Shot of the round: Hogan’s 185-yard miracle 5-iron.

Hogan: +1 (72)
Nelson: -2 (70)

So the first round was over. Time to make the cut. The first 5 players were easy as Nicklaus, Mickelson, Casper, Woods, and Young Tom Morris were the only players to break 70. That left me with 3 to complete the final 8. Now I had a problem, as half the field had shot 70 but I only needed 3 of the 8 to move on. I decided to do something unusual to decide it. I took the 8 players deadlocked at 70 back to the extremely difficult par-3 12th and decided that the 3 players to hit their tee-shots closest to the pin would move on. My decision was made easy for me as only 3 of the 8 were able to keep their shots on the green. Hagen, Vardon, and Faldo would move on while Nelson, Sarazen, Wood, and Locke would have to go home.

Here are the pairings to begin the second round:

Nicklaus: -6 (66)
Mickelson: -4 (68)

Casper: -4 (68)
Woods: -4 (68)

Morris: -3 (69)
Hagen: -2 (70)

Vardon: -2 (70)
Faldo: -2 (70)

I should have round two completed this weekend and I’ll be back with an update soon. I’ve already played the first pairing and it was the best round of golf I’ve played since buying this game. Here’s a teaser: It’s not often a golfer shoots a 5-under 67 and gets outclassed by his playing partner.

Talk to you soon.