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Players' closing round was one of golf's best
Fear of playoff helped produce a back-nine 30 to secure title
Posted: Wednesday April 09, 2003 10:57 PM
Updated: Thursday April 10, 2003 3:14 AM
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1978 Masters Champion Gary Player (waving) is congratulated at the Augusta National. Chairman Bill Lane (right) and Arnold Palmer (behind Lane) also were on hand. The win was Player's last in a major championship. File/AugustaChronicle |
By John Boyette
The Augusta Chronicle
Gary Player had some powerful motivation for producing one of the greatest closing rounds in golf history at the 1978 Masters Tournament.
He didn't want to take any chances with a sudden-death playoff, which tournament officials had instituted in 1976.
"I didn't want to go back out there," he told reporters after shooting a 64 to match the course record. "I have lost 17 sudden-death playoffs."
Player's spectacular Sunday - including a 6-under-par 30 on the back nine - was good enough to vault him from 10th place to victory.
"Coming back in 30, actually touching the hole three times (with putts that didn't fall)," Player said. "If I had done that, they would have changed the course 20 years ago."
Player, then 42, became the oldest man to win the Masters. Jack Nicklaus eclipsed the record at age 46 with his win in 1986.
It didn't come easily for Player on the final day. He made the turn in 2-under 34, then began to heat up with birdies at Nos. 10, 12, 13 and 15. When he rolled in a short putt for birdie on the 16th, victory was in his grasp.
After Hubert Green, Tom Watson and Rod Funseth all encountered trouble on the closing holes, Player figured that one more birdie might be good enough. He made the 15-foot putt for birdie on the final hole, then punched the air with his clenched fist.
One by one, the challengers fell by the wayside. Player, who had teed off well ahead of them, had to watch the action on television.
"It was agony, sheer agony," he said.
The victory had special meaning for Player. His father passed away later that year, but the South African was able to give him one final thrill.
"He loved Augusta," Player said. "He wanted to come back every year."
Although the 1978 Masters was Player's final win in a major championship, he wasn't quite finished on the PGA Tour. He won the week after the Masters at the Tournament of Champions, then won the Houston Open for three wins in as many weeks.
Copyright 2003 The Augusta Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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