Palmer's reign began with a perfect 3-wood in 1958
Before Sunday's final round at Augusta, we'll watch never-before-seen color highights of Arnold Palmer's thrilling victory at the 1960 Masters. But the King will always remember the 3-wood second shot he hit to the 13th green in 1958.
By Brett Avery, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
At some point this week a group of writers will cluster around Arnold Palmer at Augusta National Golf Club and ask all sorts of questions.
It is one of the traditions of sports writing and for its practitioners one of it's happiest: basking in the reflections of a great man.
Many of the writers will have attended preview screenings of the rebroadcast-cum-documentary of his 1960 Masters victory, which will air as a prelude to this year's final-round telecast. Almost any story this week on Palmer -- including paeans by columnists to his becoming an honorary starter -- will cite how that victory energized Palmer and professional golf into magnets for those who never played the game.
But that's akin to concentrating on a throw to first that completes a double play. The acrobatic dive to snag the ball and flip it to second? For Palmer, that was 1958, the tournament's 22nd playing, an instant that opened a gulf between one era and the next.
The hints of excellence in Palmer's game had matched his boldness as he'd won the 1955 Canadian Open, then twice during the 1956 season and a TOUR-best four times in 1957.
Writers were sketching comparisons to both the on-course flair of Walter Hagen, the bon vivant professional of the 1920s, and the invincibility of Bob Jones, the gentleman amateur who won the Grand Slam in 1930 and became the Masters' host.
The fourth round in 1958 was played Easter morning, April 6, after a second day of rain extended into the night. Palmer, 27, shared the lead with 45-year-old Sam Snead after Palmer shot 70-68-73, draining a 25-footer at the last green for birdie and the tie.
The Friday round represented only Palmer's third sub-70 score in four appearances. It helped approximate the previous year's Saturday night, when Palmer stood a shot behind Snead, only to close with a 76 and tie for seventh.
"That won't happen again," Palmer promised. "I picked up a shot and a little knowledge in a year's time."
The rain prompted officials to allow players to lift, clean and drop any ball embedded in its own pitch mark "through the green," a term designating anywhere but in a hazard. It became a crucial distinction at the 155-yard 12th when Palmer hit a 4-iron over the green.
The ball embedded in the soft slope amidst dogwoods, a delicate position with Rae's Creek looming on the far side of the narrow green. Palmer could easily make a big number and tumble from contention with any number of additional misfortunes on the remaining holes.
The rules official working the 12th denied Palmer's intent to drop the ball, a view with which Palmer passionately disagreed. So he elected to play a provisional ball and ask the Rules Committee to decide which number would count.
After Palmer made a double-bogey 5 with the embedded ball and a 3 with the dropped ball, he split the fairway at the dogleg 13th. At that time the 475-yard hole played far longer -- Snead hit an exceptional 1-iron into the green in the third round to set up his fourth of five birdies that day.
If any of the writers clustered around Palmer this week cares to ask about the best shot of his career, he can provide the same answer given to authors Ron Cherney and Michael Arkush in late August 2003.
Researching the book "My Greatest Shot," the pair asked dozens of players about the singular moments of their careers. Palmer, in a one-page letter, cited the 3-wood second he hit to the 13th green.
"I had just had a ruling dispute at the 12th hole," Palmer recounted, "played two balls and was awaiting word from the full Rules Committee which one would count -- a three, which I felt I was entitled to, or a five, which would have dropped me out of the tournament lead.
"I put my tee shot at 13 in the middle of the fairway. With Bob Jones looking on, I was determined to take the risk and go for the water-guarded green on the par-five hole. I caught the ball perfectly. It carried 20 feet past the hole and I sank the eagle putt."
Jones informed Palmer at the 14th tee that he would be credited with a 3 at the 12th. Shaken by the turn of events Palmer's fellow competitor, Ken Venturi, made three-putt bogeys at the next three holes.
Palmer bogeyed the 16th and 18th, then watched on television as tying birdie putts failed to fall for defending champion Doug Ford (18 feet) and then Fred Hawkins (12 feet). Those late miscues intensified the drama and made the episode at No. 12 a compelling hook for every story.
The era of Snead, who shot 79 and placed 13th, and Ben Hogan, who tied for 14th, had ended. The ageless Snead would win six more times, setting the TOUR record at 82 in the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open, but no majors. Hogan also came close in a half-dozen or so majors but the 1959 Colonial National Invitation was his last victory.
Palmer was only starting. He nearly won the Masters and U.S. Open the next year, a double he pulled off in 1960 in spectacular fashion with a final 65 at Cherry Hills CC. In fact, Palmer won 29 of 93 starts from 1960-63, an astounding clip of 31.2 percent.
That Sunday night in 1958 a writer asked Clifford Roberts, the taciturn Masters tournament chairman, if President Dwight Eisenhower, a frequent visitor, would be traveling to the club to play.
"Maybe," Roberts said, "but Arnold certainly is the chief executive today."