Lew Oehmig
Lew Oehmig is at the top of the list of fine gentleman I have had the pleasure of caddying for in competition. It was the 1986 USGA Senior Amateur Championship at Interlachen Country Club. Lew was the defending champion, having won the tournament for the third time at age 69, making him the oldest USGA Champion in history. A record that still stands.
In 1981 I was appointed to the USGA Mid Amateur Committee. After attending three USGA Mid Amateurs I realized that Interlachen would be a wonderful site for a USGA Championship. I talked with then Executive Director, Frank Hannigan about Interlachen hosting an event. He suggested the Senior Amateur, as it had not been placed for 1986.
The process for a club to be selected to host a USGA event is simple. The club sends a letter inviting the USGA to hold whatever tournament is desired. The USGA accepts the invitation or quietly tells the club that they were not selected. Interlachen invited the USGA for the 1986 Senior Amateur and it was accepted.
Sometimes a little work behind the scenes can grease the skids. I was at the 1983 USGA Mid Amateur at Knollwood GC in Chicago working on course rules with Brookline member, Ken Burns. Ken said to me, “Come on, I need to go in and talk to Frank Hannigan.”
I stood nearby as Ken said, “Say Frank, I’m representing the tournament committee at Brookline. We’re thinking of inviting the USGA to hold the 1988 Open at our course. If we extended that invitation, do you think it would be looked on favorably?”
Frank thought for the longest time and then said, “Yes, I think it would.” And with that the 1988 Open was at Brookline. Brookline sent an invitation, probably along with a half dozen other clubs, inviting the USGA for the 1988 Open. However, the fix was in. All the politicking by the other clubs for the ’88 Open was a waste of time. Brookline knew they were going to win the beauty contest and they did. All because of Frank’s answer to Ken.
Times have changed significantly since then. The placement of the US Open, Women’s Open, Men’s Amateur, Men’s Senior Open, and the Walker Cup are all competitive and Ken’s method no longer works.
We looked forward to the 1986 USGA Senior Amateur which would be held the last week in September at ICC. In August qualifying started around the country and slowly the field was put together.
As the tournament week approached the weather started to deteriorate. “I hope this forecast is not going to pan out,” said Tom Meeks, Senior Operations Director for the USGA. Tom set up and ran the major tournaments for the USGA. He was a friend of mine from the Mid Amateur, one of the events under his purview.
It had been a wet September, raining off and on the entire month. In addition, it rained hard the Saturday night before the Monday start to the tournament.
The rain stopped briefly as Tom and I, as chair of the grounds committee, drove around the course looking at the conditions on Sunday morning. “This place is really wet, what do you think about cart use?” asked Tom. Cart usage was allowed in the Senior Amateur and every one of the 156 competitors had signed up to use a cart.
"Well, I think if this was our big invitational we would allow carts.” I said
Just about that time, Dick Vasatka, the ICC tournament chair, came over the radio saying he thought it was too wet for carts. “Cal says if it was the invitational, carts would be allowed,” responded Tom. Talk about throwing me under the bus!
“You guys need to get in here and we’ll discuss this,” answered a very irritated Vasatka.
It was decided that carts would be allowed if there was no additional moisture. And then it poured for three hours. There was no way carts could be used without serious damage to the course.
With no carts, caddies were needed. With school in session, where would 156 caddies come from 12 hours before the first ball was in the air Monday morning? At 8 pm Sunday night, a group started making calls to members and friends to recruit caddies. Men and women, young and old all stepped forward, including me.
This ended up being the best thing that happened to the club. Suddenly everybody was into the tournament. Where once there was a general malaise about the event, now there was excitement. The response of the Interlachen members to a crisis at the Senior Amateur lived for decades within the walls of the USGA. The members loved caddying for the best Senior players in the country and the competitors loved getting to know the members.
Before caddie assignments were made, I quickly looked through the list of qualifiers. I knew the names of several of the top players like Bill Hyndman and Gordon Brewer. Big names in senior golf. However, I selected Lou Oehmig, the defending champion who had won the tournament three times.
I found Lew and his wife Mary at the players dinner, Sunday night. There was a warmth and charm around both of them that was immediately noticeable. “This is awfully nice of you to do this, Cal, but I’m 70 years old. Are you sure you want to caddie for a 70 year old?” said the self deprecating Oehmig, following our introductions.
“Are you the Lew Oehmig that is the defending champion and has won this event three times?” I teased back at him.
“Well, yes I am,” he said.
“Then I would be honored to carry your bag, no matter what your age,” I said.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, honored!”
“It’s done then. We’re going to have a lot of fun this week, you and me,” he said with a confident twinkle in his eye.
The format was 36 holes of medal play qualifying for 64 match play spots. I wondered if Lew could get to the match play portion. Wet conditions, no roll, with Lew being a shorter hitter at age 70.
In 1986, there were no metal woods and balata balls were still in use. It was a time when a “big hitter” would hit it 285 yards on tour. At 70 years and wet conditions, it would be a challenging qualifier for Lew.
I could not have been more wrong, he was still a terrific player. As the eight time winner and five time runner up of the Tennessee State Amateur, the USGA Senior Amateur Champion in ’72, ’76, ’85 and runner up in ’73, ’77, and ’79, Lew had assembled an astonishing record.
The weather continued to be cool, overcast and misty throughout the qualifying rounds. Never hitting it more that 225 yards, he worked his way around Interlachen’s 6550 yards, hitting green after green with 3 woods, 5 woods, long irons and short ones. Lew easily qualified with a score of 151 for two rounds.
Billy Joe Patton, the great amateur champion of the past, was the USGA Executive Committee member in charge of the Senior Amateur. In one of the most famous Walker Cup Matches in history Billy Joe Patton beat Englishman Reid Jack at Minikahda in 1958. Legend has it that Billy Joe hit it everywhere but in the fairway, with Jack continuously down the middle. In a series of remarkable saves from the trees, Billy Joe beat Reid Jack, 1 up.
I approached Billy Joe on Wednesday following Lew’s relatively easy victory in his first round of match play that morning. “Have you been back to Minikahda since your match with Reid Jack in ‘58?”
“Never been back,” he responded in his North Carolina drawl.
“Let’s go over and play this afternoon,” I suggested.
“Well, let’s go,” he said.
It was a most enjoyable round with Billy Joe telling me some of the places he had hit it and how he won the match. Walking up the 4th fairway, I told him about the past three days with Lew.
“This guy is just terrific,” I said, as I described some of the wonderful shots Lew had hit. I must have gone on a bit too much because Billy Joe had had enough.
“I’ll tell you what. I have played in eight Masters, four times the low amateur, six US Opens and five Walker Cup teams. Lew Oehmig has never done any of those things.” I guess I touched a nerve with Billy Joe and that was the end of the Lew Oehmig discussion.
After his first round win, Lew drew Johnny Stevens from Louisville, Thursday morning. I did not know him, but to get to the second round of match play he had to be a good player. It was another day with heavy cloud cover, but no rain. Lew played beautifully never making a mistake, impressing me more with every shot.
After winning the long, difficult par four 14th hole with a par, he took the tee at #15, another good par four, four up. He was dormey, meaning if he won or tied one of the last four holes he would win the match. I was already thinking about how to handle things at lunch and getting ready for the afternoon match.
Lew hit a good drive, right in the middle, leaving a shot of 165 yards. Stevens also hit a good drive, slightly in front of Lew. Both players knocked it on the green. With Stevens putting first, he hit a good putt which was conceded for par. Lew then hit his uphill putt, leaving it short. It was a putt of about three and a half feet with a little right to left break.
“What do you think,” Lew asked of me.
“Inside right, give it some pace,” I said, knowing that he would make the putt and win the match.
But he didn’t. It was weak and broke out of the low side. No big deal, three up, three to go, heading for the short 16th hole.
“No problem, let’s win this hole and end it,” Lew said.
Both players hit good drives, hit the green and again Stevens putted up for a concession. Lew again left his putt short. This left a putt very similar to the last hole, but breaking from left to right.
The hole location was in a treacherous position, requiring a putt that was either played out of the hole or firmly inside the left edge.
“What do you think here?” he asked.
“Inside left, firm,” I said. I then came back and said, “This will go hard right if not firm.” And that’s what happened, it moved right missing low. Had I filled his head with too much garbage? Since that day I have felt that I gave him too many options. Get a plan and commit to it. I didn’t do that with Lew on the 16th green.
Still not a problem, win or tie one of the last two holes and go to lunch.
The 17th hole is a 210 yard par three with a bunker front left and another deep bunker running along the right side of the green. The hole location was right center.
Stephens was first to hit. He pulled his shot left, missing the green by about five yards, pin high. He was left with a challenging pitch to a sloped green, but, since he had quite a lot of green to work with, it was manageable.
Lew made a good strike, but the ball hung right and flew into the bunker. We walked up the fairway to the green side bunker. “Where is it?” Lew asked.
“Well, it’s in this bunker so it must be plugged,” I said.
We started a search and after a short time found the ball plugged in the face.
“We’ve got a problem here,” said Lew.
“It’ll come out,” I said. “Let’s just get it on the green and make four. He has a difficult up and down, with a high probability of making four.”
But it wasn’t to be. Stevens made a nice up and down, while Lew could not make three to tie. One up, one to go.
Both players hit good drives off the 18th tee, leaving a difficult uphill shot to a green where Bobby Jones made a 30 footer to win the US Open on his way to the Grand Slam in 1930.
The green at #18 is the smallest on the course with a severe slope from back to front and left to right. Lew hit a nice shot to the green within 25 feet of the hole. Stephens then hit a shot slightly inside Lew’s but from a different angle.
Lew was away, hit a nice putt and his four was conceded. Stephens was now faced with having to make an extremely difficult putt coming down the hill breaking from left to right, toward the front of the green.
“If he makes this one he deserves to keep playing,” said Lew. And with that he knocked it right in for a three.
Lew had lost the last four holes in a row and the match went to extra holes.
The air was out of the balloon. Lew drove it in the trees left, knocked it out in the fairway and eventually could make no better than six, while Stephens made a very routine par five.
Lew had lost five holes in a row to lose the match. Never have I seen such a devastating loss in such a crucial situation. We were all in a state of shock. Lew courteously shook hands with Johnny Stephens and we turned around to walk back to the clubhouse. It was a long, quiet walk. When we finally neared the club, Lew was matter of fact, calm and poised. Never did he lose control of his language or emotion.
When he finally collected his things from the locker and we parted, he could not have been classier to me. He thanked me profusely for all I had done for him and told me how much he enjoyed being with me. He wished me the best with my life and my golf game.
Lew’s son, King, whom I got to know over the next few years, told me that his father never got over the loss.
I learned a lot from Lew Oehmig that week: how to graciously handle winning and losing and how to act in an honorable manner in the face of an horrendous situation. During this week of high stress competition when good and bad situations happened, he was always upbeat, positive and respectful to his fellow competitors, the course, himself and me, as his caddy.
I wasn’t the only one who thought Lew Oehmig was a great person. In 1994 the USGA honored Lew with the Bob Jones Award, the highest award given by the organization for distinguished sportsmanship in golf.
Lew passed away in 2002, but his memory lives with me as I strive to be like Lew every time I go to the first tee. There will be unfortunate things that happen in the game and, because of Lew, I hope to handle those things in an honorable and positive manner. Lew Oehmig had a big impact on A Life In Golf.
