A Stroke of Good Fortune for Crenshaw

The 50-foot putt went dead into the hole as if there was a homing device inside the ball.

Caddie Carl Jackson turned to Ben Crenshaw and told his Masters boss of 16 years: “I think ‘Little Ben’ is letting us know he wants to be in on the action.”

“Little Ben,” missing almost four weeks, is not only back, but the magic putting blade of former champion Crenshaw is being brought off the bench as a starter today in the 54th Masters at the Augusta National Golf Club.

The decades-old putter, a Wilson 8802, was stolen out of Crenshaw’s golf bag after the Doral tournament.

For 27 days, the putter that helped Crenshaw win the 1984 Masters was a pawn in a quick-buck scheme. Crenshaw offered a reward of $2,000, no questions asked. There were no takers.

“I was worried, real worried,” Crenshaw said. “I didn’t know how I was going to play the Masters without it. Nowhere in the world of golf is putting such a major part of the game as it is at the Masters. I was just sick about it. I thought the putter was gone forever.”

But where had the putter gone? Crenshaw’s missing putter report to the police had gone unanswered.

Suddenly it was returned last weekend.

“The friend of an aspiring tour professional recognized it for what it was and got it to me,” Crenshaw said. “I offered him $2,000, but he wouldn’t take a dime. He said the putter had been sold and resold probably three times.”