Good afternoon. I'm Jack Whittaker, and, on behalf of CBS, we welcome you to the final round of the 1978 Masters tournament.
Physically, the Masters begins at the main gate off Washington Road in Augusta, Georgia—Gate Number Two. Gate Number Two is for players, officials, honorary invitees, taxis … no walk-ins. Gate Number Two leads you down Magnolia Lane and eventually to the clubhouse and golfing history and to the Founder Circles, where we see the two commemorative plaques to the co-founders of the tournament, Bob Jones and Clifford Roberts.
This is the 42nd Masters. It is different than the 41 that preceded it because this is the first year without the man who made this tournament into the most illustrious golf championship in the world. Clifford Roberts made the Masters, and this tournament beyond any doubt is his legacy. And it will follow the patterns he set down—patterns that will allow it to change to improve and to grow, patterns that will allow the transfer of power to be painless and easy.
Cliff Roberts at times was autocratic, feisty, even stubborn, occasionally wrong. But he seldom was afraid of change, and it's reflected here in Augusta in the great attention that is paid to details. But, above all among all the golf tournaments in the world, the Masters reveres its past champions. When you win at Augusta, you're invited back to play for life.
And back they come, those former Masters champions, this living Hall of Fame--honorable schoolboys all, back for a reunion, a laugh, a drink, a couple of rounds of golf. And they love it, because here they are respected and welcomed. I think that's worth mentioning in this year of 1978 when it's difficult sometimes to savor traditions, when speed is our constant, when we worship the instant, when we tear down beautiful buildings to construct parking lots. At the Masters, they believe the champions of yesterday made today's champions possible and will make tomorrow’s even better.
Gary Player birdies No. 15. That's five birdies in the last six holes for the 42-year-old from Johannesburg, South Africa, and Player joins the lead group at 9-under.
ReplyDeleteBut no! Tom Watson eagles No. 13! The 1978 Masters champion (and 28-year-old from Kansas City) leapfrogs the leaders and is now in first place alone, at 10-under.
ReplyDeleteBUT NO! Rod Funseth, Hubert Green and Gary Player each score birdies within about three minutes of Channel 12 broadcast time, and suddenly we have a four-way tie for first place.
ReplyDeleteAnd then Watson just misses a birdie try at 14.
ReplyDeleteAnd then Watson just misses a par try at 14!
ReplyDeleteFunseth and Green, playing together, are both wearing green pants. Funseth, 45, of Spokane, Washington, is in what I would guess to be "Erin green," which I don't believe I'd ever heard of. Green, 31, of Birmingham, Alabama, is somewhere in the light-/lime-green range.
ReplyDeleteFunseth misses at No. 14, and so it's now just Player and Green left at 10-under.
ReplyDelete"These guys don't seem to be enjoying themselves any too much," notes my father-in-law over breakfast now in his 82nd day of recovery from a Jan. 17 fall in which he sustained a fractured skull and bruised brain. He's coming along nicely--and rooting for Tom Watson.
ReplyDeleteWatson rides the good vibes to a birdie on No. 15, so ...
ReplyDeleteT1. Green 10-under through 14
T1. Player -10 (17)
T1. Watson -10 (15)
4. Funseth -9 (14)
5. Wally Armstrong -8 (17)
Vin Scully: "We come now to the dramatic moments of the final of this 42nd Masters. Bobby Jones said the purpose was to give pleasure to the greatest possible number of players, to offer problems which a man may attempt according to his ability. It would never become hopeless for the duffer, nor fail to concern and interest the expert. And believe me: There is a great deal of concern and interest for the expert today."
ReplyDeleteCBS goes to a horizontal split screen of Player going for a birdie at No. 18 on top and Green going for birdie at No. 15 on bottom. Within a second or two, Green misses and Player makes.
ReplyDeleteAnd then a few minutes later, my father-in-law's dude, Watson, birdies 16. So now it's Player (in the clubhouse) and Watson, headed to 17, in the tie for the lead at 11-under.
One of the best golf tournaments ever played.
ReplyDeleteIt's excellent. Right where I left off, however, I had to take care of some stuff with my father-in-law in 2025. Fortunately, in 1978, I have a fancy video-cassette recorder, and so now I'm going to get back to what I missed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I see that I made two mistakes in the comments here. First of all, CBS put Green on the upper half Player on the bottom. Second, and more critically, Green's missed putt was for eagle, not birdie. He came back and got the birdie. So the deal is that we have a three-way tie for first: the defending champ and Tom's favorite (my father-in-law also likes Tom's snacks and most anything "Tom"-named) from Kansas City, the 1961 and '74 champ and 1974 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee from Johannesburg and green-panted Green from Birmingham.
Vin Scully: "It's almost more than this huge gallery can stand ..."
ReplyDelete"Maybe the most exciting Masters of all time," says the CBS commentator calling the Green/Funseth action from the 16th tee.
ReplyDeleteWally Armstrong pars 18th to finish his 8-under Masters. I don't remember ever hearing of Wally Armstrong, which surprises me because there certainly was a bunch of golf playing in my house on Channel 12 on Saturday and Sunday afternoons between the college-basketball and NFL seasons.
ReplyDeleteWalter Armstrong III is a 79-year-old from New London, Connecticut. Says Wikipedia: "Armstrong played on the PGA Tour from 1974 to 1984. His best finishes were a trio of second places: a tie for second at the 1974 Sahara Invitational, second at the 1975 Pensacola Open, and a second-place tie at the 1977 Western Open. His best finish in a major was a fifth-place tie at the 1978 Masters Tournament. His 280 total in 1978 was a record low for a first-time Masters participant."
Green got on the green with his drive on par-3 No. 16 but rolled a lengthy downhill putt about 4 or 5 feet past the hole--then pushed the par putt to the right. "A costly three-putt for Green at this point," says the not-Vin Scully commentator (is that Ray Scott?), as Green slips back to 10-under and T3 with playing-partner Funseth.
ReplyDeleteWatson has 15 feet for birdie on No. 17. Maybe Ray Scott says it's mostly flat and mostly straight, and his voice sounds to me like maybe Ray Scott believes he is getting ready to call the signature shot of the most exciting Masters of all time ...
ReplyDeleteNope. It misses to the right by no more than an inch and rolls past no more than six. Par.
ReplyDeleteWatson will go to No. 18 still tied with Player at 11-under. If it finishes that way, the Masters will go to a first-ever sudden-death playoff, starting with Hole No. 1.
After the first round Thursday, the leader was 38-year-old John Schlee of Kremmling, Colorado. (Wikipedia: "Schlee played full-time on the PGA Tour from 1966–1977. He had more than 30 top-10 finishes in PGA Tour events. His career year was 1973 when he won the Hawaiian Open and finished one stroke behind Johnny Miller at the U.S. Open. Schlee had four top-10 finishes in major championships: the aforementioned solo 2nd at the 1973 U.S. Open, a T10 at the 1975 PGA Championship, a T4 at the 1976 PGA Championship, and a T8 at 1977 Masters Tournament.")
ReplyDeleteAt 17, Green settles in over his own 15-foot putt for birdie with what probably Ray Scott calls “that most unorthodox putting stance—but very effective.” This time, though, his voice has none of the pregnant expectation that it had as Watson lined up his birdie try at 17 ...
ReplyDeleteMiss.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Ray Scott: "So near and yet so far. And Green who has held the lead most of the day now has the unenviable task of trying to birdie the tough 18th hole, and, speaking of 18, let's move there right now."
Definitely Vin Scully: "And there's Tom Watson."
Watson's second shot--I don't know how many yards it is, maybe 125--on the par-4 18th is from amid saplings planted in 1975. Watson lifts a shot out of the trees without any kookiness, but his ball goes deep into the gallery to the left and back of the 18th green. Either Watson's done for the 1978 Masters, or he's going to make a third shot that will make the 1982 U.S. Open look like nothing.
ReplyDeleteNope.
ReplyDeleteThe second round of this tournament is when my father-in-law, Go Heath and most of us would've started to get jazzed about the 1978 Masters:
ReplyDelete-- Tom Watson, the defending champ, shot a 68 to get to 3-under and T5.
-- Arnold Palmer, 48, of Latrobe, Pennsylvania--the Masters champ in 1958, '60, '62 and '64--got a 69 to get to 2-under and T8.
-- Ascending Hale Irwin (67), 32, of Joplin, Missouri, and old friends Gene Littler (68), 47, of San Diego, California, and Miller Barber (67), 47, of Shreveport, Louisiana, all got themselves into contention for what would've been a first Masters championship for any of them.
The whole leaderboard got more interesting, especially at the top. The leaders after Round 2 at 5-under were Rod Funseth, who smoked a 66, and "Supermex." Lee Trevino, 38, of Garland, Texas, midway through the 1978 Masters had so far carded a 70 and 69. He was vying for his sixth major championship (but first since 1974) and, notoriously, his first-ever Masters title.
Trevino faded to the pack in Saturday's Round 3, with a 72. Funseth kept on trucking with a 70, and Watson positioned himself nicely with a second-straight 68. They were tied at 7-under going into the final round.
ReplyDeleteBut the story of Saturday was Green. His 65 put him three strokes clear of the field. Green was a comer. The 1971 PGA Tour rookie of the year was emerging as a star in his prime by April 1978. Super Wikipedia: "In March 1976, Green won three PGA Tour events in consecutive weeks. ... At the 1977 U.S. Open, as Green walked to the 15th tee of the final round, he was notified of a caller anonymously phoning in a death threat on his life. The police presented him with options, and he courageously opted to play on, winning by one stroke over Lou Graham. A month later at the 1977 Open Championship at Turnberry, Green finished third behind Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus, who were respectively eleven and ten shots clear of Green in their famous 'Duel in the Sun.' Alluding to the extent to which Watson and Nicklaus's scores were so significantly clear of the rest of the field, he notably remarked, 'I won the other tournament.' Green was ranked third in Mark McCormack's world golf rankings in 1977, having also won the 1977 Irish Open in August."
Green's approach on No. 18 is brilliant. "Oh, what a shot!" exclaims Vin Scully as the ball plugs in about three or four feet to the left of the cup.
ReplyDeleteFunseth's shot is also on the green but long. He'll have a lengthy, downhill try to tie Player, whom Scully calls "the most interested spectator of all." By this point in the show, CBS is superimposing Player's live face on the screen from time to time for his reaction to various key shots.
I highly recommend every word of Wikipedia's phenomenal Rod Funseth page. Here are some highlights:
ReplyDelete-- Son of men's clothier in Spokane, Washington
-- Competitor with older brother for city junior titles
-- Student at University of Idaho in Moscow
-- Civilian draftsman at the Bremerton Navy Yard
-- Funding recipient from Spokane's Athletic Round Table (ART)
-- Husband of a former competitive water skier whom he met in a tent at the rainy Bing Crosby tournament in 1965
-- Earnings from winning a Sammy Davis Jr. tournament "paid for his horse barn"
-- Next-door neighbors with Johnny Miller
-- Died of cancer at 52 at the start of a promising senior-tour career
Funseth's birdie try has perfect distance and curls to within an inch of the hole.
ReplyDelete"One down," says Scully as CBS cuts to Player's unchanging face.
Something happens as Green gets over his ball for his short birdie try. Green abruptly backs away. The crowd groans. Green smiles, looks toward the crowd and puts one finger over closed lips. "The ability to break concentration and then gather it again," woodenly says Scully, who obviously doesn't yet know what has transpired.
ReplyDeleteHubert Green resets, skims the right of the cup. CBS flashes to Arnold Palmer shaking Gary Player's hand in the clubhouse.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia: "At the 1978 Masters Tournament he came to the final hole about 30 minutes after Gary Player had finished a round of 64. Player had a one-shot lead over Green, who hit a good drive and then a great approach to within three feet of the cup. Green had to back away from the putt when he overheard radio announcer Jim Kelly say something. When Green took the stroke, he pushed it a little to the right and the putt slid by. Green never blamed Kelly, however, telling Golf Digest, 'Only an amateur would have been put off by the interruption — or would try to make excuses about it.'"
ReplyDeleteThe Gary Player Wikipedia page also is great. Here are my two favorite sentences: "At the age of 14, Player played his first round of golf and parred the first three holes. At age 16, he announced that he would become number one in the world."
ReplyDeleteMy first-ever golf shot was a 7-iron at a par-3 course with my dad and brothers down somewhere around Kentucky Lake. It was straight down the fairway and got to within about 10 yards of the green, and I remember walking toward that ball feeling as though I was obviously a golf prodigy. So I totally get Gary Player.
Also, Gary Player came around on apartheid. Good for Gary Player.
Well, that was superfun. Thank you, Masters, for posting these final rounds (and today's honorary start, including 89-year-old Gary Player). Now I'm psyched for the 2025 tournament.
ReplyDelete