From Bridesmaid To Green Jacket

Tommy Aaron watches tee shot at the 1973 Masters (Photo: Getty Images)

It is Wednesday, April 3rd, 1973 and the par-3 tournament at the Masters on the nine-hole course at Augusta National has just wrapped up. Gay Brewer tied Art Wall’s record, set in 1965, of 20 to win the annual event. Tuesday night featured the annual Champion’s Dinner that kicks off the festivities of Masters week. The host of this year’s dinner was Jack Nicklaus, the defending champion who won his fourth Masters in 1972.

Nicklaus was the overwhelming favorite to repeat in 1973. Rain soaked the course early in the week and the wet fairways would make Augusta National play extremely long and this would be an advantage to Nicklaus, one of the longest hitters on tour. Nicklaus needed just one more major title to overtake his golfing hero, Bobby Jones, for the most major titles won. Both he and Jones had 14 major titles to their names.

The experts in the press had a handful of other players that could win—if Nicklaus faltered. Lee Trevino, Tom Weiskopf, Bruce Crampton, Gay Brewer, Charles Coody, Bruce Devlin, Johnny Miller, Jerry Heard, Tony Jacklin, and Arnold Palmer were all named as challengers to Nicklaus for the title. But it would be a player that was not only ignored by the experts, but was also disrespected, since he had only one official title to his name and had finished a runner-up 14 times.

The so-called experts called him a “perennial bridesmaid” and a “choker.” Dan Jenkins of Sports Illustrated  wrote that he “had a swing with more things that could go wrong under pressure than the lead car in a freeway traffic jam.”

And then there was the fact that he was the man who, in 1968, wrote down the wrong score on Roberto de Vicenzo’s scorecard, which was subsequently signed by di Vecenzo, giving him a higher score than he shot (signing for a higher score makes that score the official score). The mistake left di Vecenzo one-stroke behind the winner, Bob Goalby. At the time, an anonymous sportswriter wrote “Tommy Aaron, in his career, has devised innumerable methods to lose a tournament for himself. Today, he found a way to lose one for somebody else.”

Tommy Aaron, being a native Georgian from Gainesville, had plenty of fans at the Masters, but you couldn’t count on the “experts” in the press to be among them. He was also well-liked by his fellow pros who admired his sense of humor and that he was always one of the nicest guys on tour.

The lack of respect from the press was fortified by the state of Aaron’s game coming into Augusta. He missed the Florida swing of the tour because he was attending to his wife, Jimmye, who was recovering from a difficult surgery. His game was admittedly off with a tie for fourth in the Phoenix Open his highest finish and he’d managed to win only $10,221 for the year.

Players had to negotiate a hard to judge wind that gusted up to 15 miles-per-hour in Thursday’s opening round. Aaron got off to a fast start birdieing the first two holes and going four-under on the front nine. An even-par back nine gave him an opening 68 and the lead. Jack Nicklaus and Masahi “Jumbo” Ozaki shot 69 while J. C. Snead and Bob Dickson were another shot back. Grier Jones and Phil Rodgers were at 71.

The unpredictable winds made for some high scores. Palmer shot a 77 while Doug Sanders shot an 83 with 11 bogies.

The weather for Friday’s second round was described as “a beautiful, perfect afternoon” by George Smith, sports editor of The Anniston Star (Anniston, AL). The perfect conditions made the 77 shot by Nicklaus that much more confounding.

“There was just no excuse not to break 70 out there today,” Nicklaus admitted to reporters after his round. “No excuse, at all. It was nobody’s fault but my own.”

In one stretch, he three-putted three greens in a row and added another three-putt later in his round. He had a total of 39 putts for the round.

Gay Brewer took full advantage of nice weather and favorable course conditions to fashion a six-under 66 that along with an opening round 75 gave him a share of the lead at 141. He was tied with Aaron who shot a second-round 73, and Dickson and Snead who both shot 71. Could Brewer become the first player to win both the par 3 tournament and a green jacket in the same year?

Brewer, a former Masters champion, had been rushed to the hospital at the 1972 Masters with bleeding ulcers that kept him off the tour for a full month, so it was remarkable that he was back and in the lead. Of the names at the top of the leader board, it was Brewer who was most feared by the other players.

Chi Chi Rodriguez was at 142 while Peter Oosterhuis of England was at 143, tied with Ozaki, Bob Goalby, and Greer Jones.

The weather turned on Saturday morning as the course was drenched by a rainstorm. The lords of Augusta were determined to get the round in, but it was evident early that they would be unable to do so. They managed to get seven players started, but it was soon obvious that the course was unplayable.

“The whole course was in casual water,” Bobby Nichols, one of the seven players who teed off, reported. “The fairways were such that you couldn’t believe. When you were putting, it was tough to read the currents.”

After an hour’s wait, the round was postponed with the final round to be played on Monday. The wet course again played very long in Sunday’s third round. Oosterhuis, on the strength of some incredible putting, posted a 68 that propelled him into the lead at 211. He sank a 60-foot putt on the second hole for an eagle, made a 15-footer for birdie on the eighth, and then finished his round by making a pair of 18-foot putts on the final two holes.

“I don’t deny it,” Oosterhuis explained after his round. “I am more confident than I have been in my past two Masters. I shall retire early and sleep until 9 am and then—I promise—I will come out charged to play.”

Jim Jamieson shot the second best round of the day, a 70 and sat at 214 tied with Snead and Goalby. At 215 was Johnny Miller who shot a 71 in the third round,tied with Rodriguez (73), Aaron (74), and Brewer (74). Nicklaus followed up his second round 77 with a third round 72 that included a triple-bogey eight on the 15th hole, the result of hitting two balls into the water, and he was eight strokes off the pace.

Nicklaus lit up the course in Monday’s final round with eight birdies, offset by two bogeys to shoot a 66. The two bogeys were the result of three-putts, one at the fourth hole and the other at the 14th hole.

Nicklaus said he played “one of the best rounds I’ve ever played in a major tournament” after his 66. But he also knew that he was too far back to have a chance to win.

“I gave it my best shot,” Nicklaus said after his round. “I guess I was just too far back. I know I had the game to do it, but I was just so far back. I felt all day—I felt all week—that I was going to win it. But I just got too far behind.”

Aaron got off to a fast start with birdies on the first three holes and he finished the front nine with a score of 32. The patrons at Augusta were getting excited as the fellow Georgian tied Oosterhuis with a birdie on the eighth hole. But then the groans went up as he three-putted the 10th for a bogey and followed up with another bogey on the 11th. Was Aaron doomed to be a runner-up once again?

Snead, playing with Oosterhuis, shot a 33 on the front nine, while Oosterhuis shot a 37. Snead held the lead as they arrived at the 12th hole. Snead wanted to hit a 6-iron, but was talked out of it by his caddie who wanted him to hit a 7-iron. His shot hit the top of the bank guarding the front of the green and rolled back into Rae’s Creek resulting in a double bogey. Snead voiced his displeasure with his caddie to both reporters and on the nationally broadcast post-round interview in Butler Cabin.

Oosterhuis continued to leak oil on the back nine with a bogey on the 11th hole. He bounced back with a birdie on the 13th hole, but a bogey on the 15th hole took him out of contention for good.

“That six took everything out of me,” Oosterhuis said after his round. “I felt until the 15th I could still win the tournament.”

Aaron hit his second shot over the par-5 15th green and then hit a delicate chip down the hill that wound up four feet from the cup. He stroked in the birdie putt and was in the lead. Under pressure from Snead and Oosterhuis, along with Jack Nicklaus who was in the Butler Cabin watching the action, Aaron parred the last three holes and held the clubhouse lead. He joined Nicklaus in the Butler Cabin to watch Snead and Oosterhuis finish. You can watch that HERE.

Neither Snead nor Oosterhuis were able to catch Aaron. The mantle of “bridesmaid” and “choker” were lifted from his shoulders. It was redemption as he turned the disrespect into respect. And it couldn’t have happened at a better tournament for the man from Gainesville, GA.

“I’d always dreamed I’d someday win the Masters,” Aaron said. “All I can tell you is how happy I am, and how anxious I am to get home to my wife so that we can share this victory.”

With the victory, Aaron was able to put his reputation for not being able to win to rest and he would forever be known as a Masters champion and all that comes with that. He is in attendance at this year’s Masters in his green jacket and occupied his chair at the table for the Champions Dinner on Tuesday night. Not as a bridesmaid, but as a champion.