One of the lasting photos of the final time The Country Club hosted the U.S. Open 34 years in the past was Curtis Strange blasting out of the bunker that stretches throughout the entrance of the 18th inexperienced on Sunday afternoon to inside a foot, serving to to safe a spot in Monday’s 18-hole playoff with Nick Faldo.
Strange was regular that Monday, handing over an even-par 71 to win by 4 photographs. It was his third win because the starting of May and the sixth within the earlier 12 months. He was nicely on his solution to main the PGA Tour cash record for the third time in 4 years – changing into the primary to interrupt $1 million in earnings in a single season – however that win in Brookline made him a nationwide champion and altered the notion of Strange.
“The U.S. Open is the biggest event that you or I could win because we’re Americans, it’s our national championship,” Strange informed the Herald just lately. “The Masters is huge, trust me, and I think in today’s time the Masters might be looked at by some players as more important to them personally, but it’s not from a marketing standpoint, for a recognition standpoint, it’s not even close.”
Up till that time, the informal fan remembered Strange for shedding a four-shot lead on the again 9 of Augusta National within the 1985 Masters by discovering the water when making an attempt to succeed in each par 5s – Nos. 13 and 15 – in two. That identical group usually forgets that he opened the match with an 80.
There can be a sentimental connection that Strange has for the U.S. Open that the Masters simply can’t contact. His father, Tom, was a membership professional in Virginia Beach, successful the Virginia State Opens 5 occasions and showing in six U.S. Opens between 1949 and 1968.
He began Curtis on his golf journey, however by no means acquired to see the participant he would turn out to be, dying of most cancers in 1969 at 38 years previous. Curtis was simply 14.
Curtis Strange was a stellar newbie, successful the NCAA particular person title as a freshman at Wake Forest in 1974 and serving to the Demon Deacons to the workforce title in 1974 and 1975. He turned professional following his junior 12 months in 1976.
He tried to qualify for the U.S. Open a few occasions, however lastly broke by each Local and Final Qualifying in 1977 to earn a spot at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“It was a big deal in my house for Day 1,” Strange mentioned of getting that preliminary likelihood. “Just to be able to play the first time in ’77 was a thrill. Then to have a chance two or three times before I won it at The Country Club was emotional because you want to get in there and win for your dad. That’s why The Country Club was so emotional in the press room afterwards.”
Strange had two top-20 finishes within the early 80s earlier than ending third in 1984 at Winged Foot.
It all got here collectively in Brookline.
“I felt good about my game. I really, really liked The Country Club, as most everybody did,” Strange mentioned. “I understand you continue to must go on the market and execute and make a number of putts. I take that mentality to the primary tee.
“I was never good enough to say, ‘Hey, this is my week.’ You get on the first tee and realize you’re playing well and you’re prepared, rested and to just do your job. I got off to a solid start and a good second round and everything kind of progresses from there.”
After opening 70-67, Strange was tied for third at 5-under 137, two photographs behind Scott Simpson, the defending champion.
Strange performed the primary 15 holes in 4 underneath on Saturday to maneuver in entrance. Bogeys at 16 and 17 and dumping his method to the 18th into the bunker threatened to spoil what had been an amazing spherical. He managed to rise up and down for the par and end the day 2-under 69 and take a one-shot lead into Sunday.
“Anytime you can do that at the end of your round it leaves a good taste in your mouth, because you’re going to have to get up and down throughout the day of a round of golf,” he mentioned. “I became accustomed to being in that bunker for four straight days. It was big.”
Strange stumbled early on Sunday, dropping photographs at Nos. 2 and three, however was in a position to reclaim the lead with birdies at Nos. 7 and 10. Faldo was caught on 6 underneath and not using a mark on his scorecard and D.A. Weibring briefly acquired to six underneath earlier than fading.
Faldo pulled even at 7 underneath with a birdie on the par-4 fifteenth, solely to present it again on the sixteenth with Strange draining a 25-footer to save lots of par and reclaim the lead.
It was short-lived, nonetheless, as Strange three-putted No. 17 from about 12 ft. The two went to the 72nd gap tied at 6 underneath.
Faldo discovered the proper fringe together with his second, whereas Strange hit a 7-iron from the primary lower of the left tough and had it splash down within the bunker for the fourth time in as many days.
Strange dealt with the upslope and not using a drawback and the ball rolled to inside a foot of the cup. He then needed to sweat out Faldo’s sport bid from the perimeter that stayed on the excessive aspect of the outlet.
The deciding playoff
For the third time in as many tries, an 18-hole playoff was wanted to determine the U.S. Open at The Country Club.
“It wasn’t a difficult shot, but the environment and the situation made it tough,” Strange mentioned of his penultimate shot of the 4 days.
He known as it “the most important shot I ever hit.”
“I didn’t have a lot of room to work with on Sunday, but I was straight on the upslope. The upslope made it a little bit tricky,” he added. “It would have been a fried egg if it didn’t come out of its gap. But that’s what you’re employed to your entire life to get in that scenario and hopefully execute once you get there.
“It didn’t start the week before or the week before that. It started back in junior golf, amateur golf and college golf, preparing for a situation like that.”
While match week usually has full galleries all through the week, Monday playoffs had been virtually seen as a letdown with lots of the folks having returned to work leading to smaller crowds. It was a bit totally different in Brookline with Strange estimating there have been about 15,000 folks on the market for the early afternoon tee time.
Strange curled in a 10-foot birdie on the fifth gap to take the lead for the second time, and he wouldn’t relinquish it. The lead was nonetheless one on the par-4 thirteenth, and Faldo hit his second from the proper tough and it ran to the again of the inexperienced leaving him about 50 ft, whereas Strange put his second to inside 25 ft.
After Faldo ran his preliminary putt about six ft by, Strange drained his birdie bid, the right-to-left putt straightening out for the ultimate few ft earlier than disappearing with Strange almost right down to a knee giving an enthusiastic fist pump. When Faldo missed his comebacker, Strange’s lead was three with simply 5 holes to play.
“You never feel comfortable at all, but now you say to yourself, just keep your head on straight and we might come out all right,” he mentioned.
Faldo pulled one again on the 14th, but additionally dropped a shot on the seventeenth. Leading by three, Strange might soak in that stroll down the 18th fairway.
“I’ll never forget that, obviously, when you can finally let your guard down and let your emotions run out,” he mentioned. “I’m there playing in front of Bob Rosburg, he was a dear friend. He was the on-course reporter for ABC for all those years. Dave Marr was in the booth, he was a dear friend. My (twin) brother (Allan) came up that morning, my wife (Sarah) was there and all the Boston people, they adopted a Southern boy that day. I will always be indebted to the fans in Boston.”
“They showed Nick all the respect in the world and were rooting for him to hit good shots, but I felt all day long that he was the Englishman and I was the American, so I felt like they had my back.”
The aftermath
Strange gained the U.S. Open the next 12 months at Oak Hill, the positioning of his father’s remaining U.S. Open appearances, to turn out to be the primary participant to efficiently defend the title since Ben Hogan in 1950 and 1951.
It was the final of his 17 PGA Tour victories. He mentioned there was not a lot stress main into Oak Hill as a result of only a few folks thought of a repeat champion because it had been so lengthy since Hogan had executed it. Only Brooks Koepka has executed it since.
The bid to affix Willie Anderson (1903-1905) with three in a row proved to be greater than he might take. Strange was simply two photographs off the lead coming into Sunday at Medinah, the place his father made his U.S. Open debut in 1949, however a 74 despatched him right down to a tie for twenty first.
“The last six weeks before Medinah was exhausting. We didn’t think so at the time, but it was exhausting after the fact you collapse,” he mentioned. “You don’t think so, but I lost weight, you don’t eat properly, you’re still working out and running but you’re beating yourself up. I didn’t play so well prior to that Open because of the Open coming up.”
Strange, who works as an analyst for ESPN, is wanting ahead to the chance to get again to the positioning the place he turned a significant champion. He mentioned it took him some time to return, doing so a few occasions a few dozen years in the past.
The course has modified considerably since he gained in 1988 with quite a few bushes having been ripped out, the routing might be totally different, one gap has been changed and the course lengthened considerably.
While he didn’t have anybody in thoughts as being a favourite, he thinks the champion will come from that small group of gamers who’ve persistently discovered their manner towards the highest of the leaderboard over the previous few majors.
“We shot some decent scores at The Country Club, I’m anxious to see what they shoot,” he mentioned.
Source: www.bostonherald.com