Word: venturi
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Everything Right. A Walker Cup golfer in '53, with few important tournament titles to his credit, Venturi had not even qualified for the Masters. He had been the choice of former Masters winners (who have one invitation to give) mostly on the strength of his upset victory over Amateur Champion Harvie Ward in last month's San Francisco city championship. Sent off, appropriately enough, with Amateur Billy Joe Patton, who led the field to the halfway mark two years ago, Venturi did everything right. His drives were true, his irons crisp and sure. Not once did he take...
Next day the weather was still bad. But for Venturi that was all right. He shot a three-under-par 69 to set a Masters' 36-hole record (135) for amateurs and tie Nelson's 14-year-old professional record for the halfway point in the tournament. In second place, Cary Middlecoff dropped farther back with a 72, for a total of 139. Hogan shot a 78 and was out of the running. Four were bunched in third place; in fourth, with 143, was Jackie Burke Jr. of Kiamesha Lake...
...Your Butt. On the third day the winds were even worse. Scores soared like kites. Venturi finished the first nine in a dreadful 40. "There he blows!" murmured a spectator, and most of the crowd agreed. Then Middlecoff went out in a brisk 35 to take the lead. Venturi murmured to himself: "Boy, you've got to get off your butt and go." Result of the new "go": he shot three successive birdies (the 13th through 18th) and came home through the back nine in 35. Middlecoff, meanwhile, ran into poor luck. His eyes were swollen from hay fever...
Sure enough, it was windy, and Middlecoff might as well have stayed indoors. He went out in 38, two over par. Venturi, taking no chances at all, shot the same score. With only nine holes to go, the improbable seemed at hand. But the scoreboard showed one more pro still in there pitching. Ex-Marine Sergeant Burke, 33, a handsome, blond Ryder Cup veteran with a talent for finishing second in expensive tournaments, was chugging steadily toward...
Still, all Venturi had to shoot was another 40 on the final nine. But at length, pressure told: Venturi bogied the 10th-then the 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th. On the 17th he did it again. On the 18th only a 20-foot putt for a birdie could save him -and he missed by a foot. Texan Jack Burke, the fast-finishing professional, was master of the Masters. The crack shot who had qualified for the National Open at 16 had finally won a major tournament...