Word: casper
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...trust that none of TIME'S readers will be left with the impression from the story on Billy Casper [July 1] that he was fat and sick because he was a Congregationalist. Congregationalists are fat and sick, I am sure, in about the same proportion as members of any other religious group. However, if your readers infer that Casper became a superior golfer because he was first a Congregationalist, they may be nearer the truth. Congregationalists are often fine golfers, as I can attest on many a sunny Sunday morning...
...words, he was "just trying to finish second." By the time the fourth round was half over, Arnold Palmer had a seven-stroke lead, and seemed certain to break Ben Hogan's 18-year-old Open record of 276 for 72 holes. Casper, Dave Marr, Tony Lema and Jack Nicklaus were battling for the runner-up purse of $12,500. Then, in one of the most shocking turnabouts in sports history, Palmer blew 1) his lead, 2) his cool and 3) the tournament...
Nobody got particularly excited when Palmer bogeyed Olympic's par-four tenth hole, cutting his lead over Casper to six strokes-especially after both golfers parred the eleventh hole and birdied the twelfth. Nobody got alarmed when Arnie lost a second stroke at the par-three 13th. After the 14th, with four holes to go, he still had a five-stroke lead. Then, with incredible swiftness, disaster struck. On the par-three, 150-yd. 15th hole, Palmer's No. 7 iron shot strayed off line and caught a yawning sand trap to the right of the green...
...just to get the ball back on the fairway. A stray No. 3 wood left Arnie trapped just off the green; he had to explode to within 4 ft. of the rim and sink the putt to salvage a six-"the greatest six I ever made." Another birdie by Casper cut Palmer's lead to one stroke, and that stroke vanished when Arnie missed a 10-ft. putt on the 17th hole. Both golfers parred the 18th, and for the 24th time in 72 years the U.S. Open went into a playoff...
Beating Arnold Palmer in an Open play-off is no longer news; he has been involved in three and lost them all. Casper did it spectacularly. Once the "fat young man" of the pro tour, now slimmed down 45 Ibs. (to 180 Ibs. on his 5-ft. 11-in. frame) on an antiallergy diet that includes such entrées as buffalo steak and mooseburgers, Billy was converted to Mormonism last Jan. 1 and spent the night before the play-off attending a church "fireside" 35 miles from San Francisco. Next day he fired his fourth subpar round...