Golf / Mal Florence : Crenshaw Claims That Costly Shots Are Not Easy to Forget

It has been said that the average golfer has a selective memory, recalling only his few good shots in any round.

The pros, though, are haunted by memories of bad shots at the worst possible times, or even circumstances beyond their control.

After Scott Hoch had won the Las Vegas Invitational last Sunday, beating Robert Wrenn on the fifth hole of a playoff, he conceded that the pain of missing a two-foot putt while losing in the recent Masters playoff against Nick Faldo had eased slightly.

“But the monkey will always be on my back,” Hoch added, referring to the short putt that would have won the Masters.

Greg Norman is constantly reminded that he hasn’t won a “major” in the United States, even though he is acknowledged as one of the world’s best golfers.

Yet, Norman has been star-crossed. He watched Larry Mize take the Masters title away from him with an incredible 140-foot chip shot in a playoff in 1987. It will be a while, if ever, before that memory fades away.

Ben Crenshaw, who played last Monday at the Bel-Air Country Club in a fund-raising event for college golf, said that he has a skeleton of his own.

“I’ve lived with a two-iron shot that I hit in the water in the 1975 U.S. Open when I had as good a chance to win as anybody,” Crenshaw said. “Winning the Masters in 1984 makes that thought ebb somewhat, but I’ll never forget that two-iron shot.”

Crenshaw could also be brooding about the bogey he shot on the 18th hole of this year’s Masters, which prevented him for getting into a playoff with Faldo and Hoch.

But he seemed philosophical about his disappointment.

The players were battling the elements, rain and descending darkness, near the finish of the tournament.

“I asked my caddie, Carl Jackson, if he had an extra towel in the bag to dry the clubs,” Crenshaw said. “He said he did, but then he couldn’t find it. He’s been with me at the Masters for 13 or 14 years and he felt terrible about it.”

As it turned out, Crenshaw’s hand slipped on the club in his approach shot to the 18th green and he wound up in a bunker. He got out with a shot 10-12 feet from the pin, but missed the par putt that would have put him in the playoff.

“The ball went right through the break,” Crenshaw said. “The green wasn’t as wet as I thought. What I didn’t know was that they had just squeegeed the greens.”

Though Crenshaw is regarded as the tour’s best putter, he missed the important putt.

He held a putting clinic at Bel-Air and, as he talked about that part of the game, casually stroked in three consecutive putts from 20 feet.

Crenshaw had a three-week layoff after the Masters in early April. He said that he was emotionally drained by the tournament that he favors above all others.

Crenshaw, 37, is a golf traditionalist, who reveres the former masters, such as Bobby Jones, and courses with traditional values.

“It’s like going to a museum and looking at art,” he said of his favorite courses, which include Riviera, Pebble Beach, Los Angeles Country Club’s North course, Winged Foot, Pine Valley, Marion, and, of course, Augusta National.

“It’s very easy to build a hard golf course,” Crenshaw said. “But it’s another thing to build a course that people can enjoy. Average golfers have to have a route they can take on a course.”

Crenshaw finished sixth on the money list last year, earning $696,895. He has yet to win a tournament this year and said that the tour is more competitive than it has been in previous years.

“The players are just better. You’re battling more odds now trying to win,” Crenshaw said. “Regardless where you play, or what the conditions are, someone does something spectacular every day.”

In golf, the double-eagle is a rare species. Crenshaw says he has witnessed only one double eagle in his 16 years on the tour.

“I saw Hal Sutton do it four years ago in a tournament at Dallas,” Crenshaw said.

A double eagle is three strokes under par on a par-five, or par-four hole. Of course, if accomplished on a par-four, it would also be a hole in one.

Gene Sarazen’s double-eagle in the 1935 Masters is generally acknowledged as the most renowned shot in tournament history. He holed out a 220-yard four-wood shot on the par-five, 485-yard 15th hole at Augusta.

In the last two years, there have been only four double eagles recorded on the tour, in contrast with 52 holes in one.

Andre Resner is not a touring pro, but he’s a proud member of the double-eagle club. He recorded his April 28 at Bel-Air on the par-five, 460-yard first hole, using a seven-wood from 205 yards. Resner, a Princeton graduate student, has a 12 handicap. He attended Pepperdine, but didn’t play on the golf team, simply because the school didn’t have one at the time.

Golf Notes

Ben Crenshaw participated in the Friends of Golf tournament Monday at Bel-Air, which raises money for college golf and funds some high school, junior golf and caddie programs. “It’s a unique group of some 600 people, literally from around the world, who participate either by playing, or contributing,” said Eddie Merrins, the pro at Bel-Air. Famous golfers who have previously appeared are Greg Norman, Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson and Lee Trevino.

“Scholarships were founded in their name in perpetuity at UCLA,” said Merrins, who is retiring as the Bruins’ golf coach after this season to devote more time to his duties at Bel-Air. Crenshaw’s scholarship money will be divided between his alma mater, the University of Texas, and UCLA.

Jack Nicklaus will design his first course in Scotland, a 250-acre championship layout in Gleneagles. It will be a par-72, 7,100-yard complex. . . . Larry Gephart, teaching instructor at Industry Hills, is scheduling classes May 20-21 in the full swing and May 27-28 in the short swing. . . . Sandi Alexander-Coffer won the Newport Beach Country Club women’s championship April 28 for the third consecutive year.

Chi Chi Rodriguez in Golf Digest on the prospect of Nicklaus and Trevino joining the senior tour: “When they come in, 10-under par on the tour will look like nothing. They’ll probably be like Jesse James and Frank James on this tour. I’d just like to be their caddie.” . . . Merrins said he has witnessed only one other double-eagle, by Doug Sanders, in his 25 years as the pro at Bel-Air. . . . Bob Burns, 21, set a Valencia Golf Club course record with a 65 Thursday, 29-36. . . . The fourth annual NutraSweet tournament, benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, will be held Monday at Riviera Country Club.