Tom Lehman's 1994 Masters
As the Co-Chair of the 1993 Walker Cup, I was given tickets to The Masters in 1993. In 1994 I received a call from Jim Gabrielson, the Chairman of the 1989 Masters, a former Walker Cup Team member and member at Augusta National with the offer, "Would you again like tickets to the Masters?" He had given me the tickets in 1993. I assumed it was a one year offer. The second year was a bonus I jumped at.
The Masters has a culture unlike any in golf. Other than golfers trying to shoot low scores, nothing is similar to other golf tournaments. The mystique established is the envy of every PGA Tour event.
There are several reasons The Masters has been elevated to the pedestal it sits on. It is the first "major" of the year. If the PGA Championship, the final major of the year and The Masters exchanged dates, the esteem The Masters holds would diminish and the PGA Championship would elevate. As the first major, the public is interested in which great players will be favorites in tournaments the balance of the year. With a limited field that includes inviting past champions, the public knows the names of many of the players. Senior players Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer, for example, play well at Augusta and with only about 85 players in the field, frequently make the cut. While there are new names on the leaderboard every year, the average golf fan can cheer for familiar names. This increases viewer interest.
The Masters is played at the same course every year, thus the TV audience knows the course. Viewers know the 12th is a dangerous par three and the 13th is a risk-reward par five. You feel like you are with an old friend watching Sunday unfold at Augusta.
Proper decorum is demanded of the gallery, the players, even the announcers on TV. Just ask announcer Gary McCord who joked in 1994, "Bikini wax was used to make the greens faster." The powers that be did not like the analogy and Mr. McCord has not been back since. No Phoenix Open 16th hole with intoxicated screaming and shouting at Augusta. Security personnel roam the crowd on the lookout for bad behavior and those without a ticket.
In spite of all the rules and restrictions, limited accommodations, and difficult accessibility to Augusta, GA, The Masters has been the toughest ticket in sports for decades.
Every tournament makes improvements, but few have made improvements like The Masters. While the tournament committee has attempted to keep up with the distance players are hitting the ball, by lengthening many holes, improvements have also been made off the course.
With taking care of the spectator being job one, Augusta National has purchased land for conveniently located parking, built a building to better handle the retail sales, while keeping the feel of the event unchanged. No phase of the tournament is overlooked. The media building, the caddie shack, and the practice tee have all been upgraded over the years. The staging of The Masters is as fine as any in golf.
However, while the more things change, the more they stay the same. The manual scoreboards, the price of the pimento cheese sandwiches, and lack of bleachers all give The Masters the same feel year after year. A trip to The Masters on Saturday or Sunday is an annual pilgrimage for many southern couples.
The Masters crowd is somewhat unusual for tournament golf. Arriving early, many bring a small folding stool, walk out to a hole and set up. This holds their place for as long as the stool is in position. The spectator leaves to watch golf elsewhere, returning to sit when they wish. It's polite and safe. No threat of theft, just an invitation to rest for another spectator.
With few bleachers, spectators either sit and watch or follow a group. It means viewing can be difficult. The best way to see the course is to arrive to follow one of the first groups.
Tom Lehman made his initial appearance at The Masters in 1993, finishing third, qualifying for the 1994 tournament. It was the start of a remarkable run in majors for the University of Minnesota graduate. From 1992 to 2000 he finished in the top ten, eleven times in majors. This included winning the British Open and playing in the final group four years in a row in the US Open. In the 32 majors from 1992 through 2000, Tom missed the cut only four times.
My wife Sandy and I made our way to Augusta Tuesday of tournament week 1994. The anticipation of seeing Augusta National never dissipates. The scenic two hour drive to Augusta from Atlanta is a trip through rolling hills and tall pines. We checked into our hotel and were ready for Wednesday at the Masters.
The course closes at 2:00 on Wednesday as attention moves to the par three tournament on the short course located adjacent to, but out of sight of the practice area. It is the one part of the tournament seemingly incongruous to the event. There are no rules. It's all in good fun, with young children of players hitting shots, and non competing players playing. With the strict rules of the club and tournament, it is odd to see six year olds hitting shots.
For the overflow crowds, it's a hoot. Seeing the stars of the game in a relaxed atmosphere with their children as caddie or hitting shots, is fun for all. Players will donate the chance to caddie in the par three tournament. It was worth $30,000 to the Childrens Cancer Research Fund at the University of Minnesota, when Tom suggested selling caddying in the par three tournament.
"Let's meet at the first tee, watch Gene Sarazan hit the ceremonial first shot, then follow the lead group around until Tom tees off," suggested Jim Lehman before Thursday's round. "We can get a feel for the set up and where the tough pins are." As an agent for several players, Jim attends every year. It's one of the events where all the right people in the golf industry attend. He can discuss sponsorships with company heads, talk with tournament directors about exemptions to tournaments and appearance deals for his clients.
We marched from the first tee following past Masters champion, Doug Ford, and Iain Pyman, the British Amateur champion. Most past champions figure out when their time is up for playing in the tournament. The 1957 champion, Doug Ford, had not. He shot 85 and withdrew. It was unfortunate for Iain Pyman, as he was unable to have a competitive Thursday pairing .
I am always struck by the Augusta National experience. On a breezy morning the tall pine trees sway with a whoshing sound as the wind blows through the needles. The fragrance of the pine and magnolias are the smells of Augusta in the spring. We walk past volunteers high on scoreboards preparing to inform the gallery of who's under par. Many have worked for decades at their post. Everything is spic and span, not a blade of grass out of place on fairways that have been cut giving them a checkerboard design.
With rare exception, every hole moves up or down, some severely. It's one of the factors leading to the vast local knowledge required to play well. Then there are the diabolical greens, the most difficult I have ever seen, with slopes, levels, sections, humps. As a result of the green design, hitting the ball into the correct position is crucial. With the rough cut shorter than most majors, there is a lesser premium on strong driving. However, few win without great putting.
Tom opened with 70, two behind Augusta resident Larry Mize, the 1987 champion. He climbed to second, just one shot behind Mize with another 70 on Friday. Breezy conditions drove the cut to five over par, pleasing the tournament committee. Scores would tumble in later years, driving the club to lengthen many holes, in the futile effort to bring scores back up.
In looking over Tom Lehman's career in majors, his scores on Saturday have been his strength. As the saying goes on tour, "Saturday is moving day", and Tom moved to the top many Saturdays. In winning the 1996 British Open, he shot 64 on Saturday. At the US Open in 1995 and 1996, he shot the low round of the day on Saturday. So it was on Saturday at the 1994 Masters. Shooting 69 for the low round of the day along with Spaniard, Jose Maria Olazabal, Tom moved into a one shot lead.
"The tournament begins on the back nine on Sunday," so they say. Paired with Olazabal, the two combatants left the first tee at their 2:20 starting time, having hit perfect drives. Olazabal, in a white Lacoste shirt with the alligator on the left chest, black slacks and shoes, was no stranger at Augusta.
At 5' 10" and 27 years old, Jose Maria Olazabal was in the hunt for the third time to win a green jacket. In 1991 he stood on the 72nd tee tied for the lead, with Ian Woosnam and Tom Watson After a bogey, with Watson making double bogey, Woosnam won his only major. With a seventh place finish in 1993, he was comfortable with the situation in 1994.
Both players played well as they moved around to the 15th tee with Tom one shot behind as a result of a bogey at 12. I stood behind the ropes with Jim and Sandy on the right side of the 15th fairway, watching as the two players analyzed the shot to the green after perfect down wind drives.
"Picking the right club is so difficult," said Jim. "With the green sloped as severely as it is, it's easy to spin the ball back into the water. The bank is cut short and anything landing over the water and short of the green will go right in the water."
Hitting first, Olazabal's shot was solid. It landed short and left of the hole location, in the front middle of the green and started to move back toward the front of the green. Had it rolled back over the front edge it would have trickled down into the water. Somehow it stopped on the front edge 35 feet from the hole.
After consulting with caddie Andy Martinez, Tom pulled out a six iron. The 6' 2", 210 pound Lehman looked fit and strong as he went through his pre-shot routine. Hitting what he would later tell me "was one of the best shots I have ever hit", the ball ended six feet straight left of the hole.
If Olazabal missed the 35 foot putt and Tom made his, they would be tied. It wasn't to be. Olazabal made the putt of his career, knocking in the long putt for an eagle!
Tom needed to make his putt or fall two behind. "I hit a great putt. It was like it walked on air when it didn't go in."
After hitting another shot at 16 which Tom also called, "One of the best shots of my life," he faced a six foot downhill slider. The hole was in the traditional Sunday location in the back left corner. "I never realized what a difficult putt it was until I was faced with it," Tom said. "I hit another great putt that sild out of the low lip."
After Olazabal made a bogey at 17, Tom stood on the 18th tee one behind. "I decided to hit a one iron, leaving a seven iron into a green which set up perfectly for me. The green has a backboard and opens from the right for my right to left ball movement." It was a conservative play, but with his natural hook, hitting a fade on the dogleg right with the driver, under the super heat of the situation, would carry a high risk. Unfortunately, with adrenalin flowing, his one iron traveled 270 yards into the bunker through the fairway. It rolled up on the far side, leaving a difficult down hill lie. Unable to get his second shot on the green, then unable to get it up and down for a par, he made a bogey five, losing by two.
"Great players make those putts at 15 and 16," Tom said to me later. "They just do."
Following the round a small group of us went to dinner with Tom and his wife Melissa. Tom was remarkably composed. No sulking, sadness, just a matter of fact attitude. The sun would come up Monday morning and he would have many more chances.
"The next week I was at Hilton Head practicing. I saw Seve Ballesteros marching across the tee toward me. I could see he had a message," said Tom.
"Next time hit the driver," he said. "Be aggressive."
Sounds like good advice. Two years later Tom stood on the 18th tee at Oakland Hills, the 72nd hole of the US Open, tied with Steve Jones for the lead. Did he remember Seve's message as he selected the driver, when a conservative play was a three wood? "I hit a great drive," he said.
Unfortunately, the ball took a wicked bounce left into the bunker and against the back lip, where he could not get to the green. Jones made a conservative play with a three wood, made a par and won the US Open.
Seve probably had several situations where his aggressive play cost him tournaments. Tom Lehman was the number one player in the world in 1996, with many chances to win. The great ones all have many chances to win, converting on occasion as Tom did.
The excitement of watching Tom Lehman being in the hunt in the 1994 Masters, and all of his great play in majors, have provided a thrill for me in A Life In Golf.
