Three graying baby boomers – a mortgage
broker, an insurance broker and a commercial
painter – stand in an empty high school gym,
staring up at the red-and-gold banners on the
north wall. The banners commemorate championship seasons in football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, track . . . but the banner with
the longest list of title seasons is for boys’ golf.
“In ’63 and ’64, we never lost a match,” says the
mortgage man. “I don’t think we lost a point.”
says the insurance guy. Tom O’Kane, the insurance broker, doesn’t want to brag. “But I stood
on the 18th green at Sacramento’s Haggin Oaks
in 1963 and watched my teammate Bob Lunn
win the U.S. Public Links Championship. And
in 1964, having qualified for the national junior,
I watched my teammate Johnny Miller win the
U.S. Junior.”
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E Street Band was pointing at Mark McCormick,
a 49-year-old club pro from New Jersey.
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GOLF’S FUTURE
1997 • Congressional Country Club
2001 • Southern Hills Country Club
2005 • Pinehurst No. 2
1998 • The Olympic Club
2002 • Bethpage State Park, Black Course
2006 • Winged Foot Golf Club
2010 • Pebble Beach Golf Links
1999 • Pinehurst No. 2
2003 • Olympia Fields Country Club
2007 • Oakmont Country Club
2011 • Congressional Country Club
2000 • Pebble Beach Golf Links
2004 • Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
2008 • Torrey Pines Golf Course
2009 • Bethpage State Park, Black Course
1997 • Congressional Country Club
2001 • Southern Hills Country Club
2005 • Pinehurst No. 2
1998 • The Olympic Club
2002 • Bethpage State Park, Black Course
2006 • Winged Foot Golf Club
2010 • Pebble Beach Golf Links
1999 • Pinehurst No. 2
2003 • Olympia Fields Country Club
2007 • Oakmont Country Club
2011 • Congressional Country Club
2000 • Pebble Beach Golf Links
2004 • Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
2008 • Torrey Pines Golf Course
“What sort of young man is Jack Nicklaus –
that is, aside from his golf skill?” the questioner
wanted to know. Small incidents are often revealing in such matters. Here are some, plucked
from memories of Jack before he became the
current National Open champion: Charlie Coe
was recalling the final hole in the 1959 Amateur
Championship at The Broadmoor in Colorado.
He and Nicklaus were all square. Charlie’s third
shot, a recovery from heavy grass behind the
green, failed to drop by half a turn of the ball.
“Then,” Charlie reminisced, “I went forward and
picked up my ball. All of a sudden it dawned on
me that Jack hadn’t asked me to lift the ball and
hadn’t conceded my next stroke, and so I had no
right to touch it. I said as much to Jack. “Forget
it,” Jack replied, and he proceeded to roll in an
eight-footer for a birdie 3 to win. Jack Nicklaus
is a sportsman.” l
64 YEARS. ONE BALL.
The #1 ball played at the U.S. Open®
since 1949 and still counting.
64 YEARS. ONE BALL.
The #1 ball played at the U.S. Open®
since 1949 and still counting.
Vini Lopez, right, and Bruce Springsteen from the back
cover of The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle.
©2012 Acushnet Company. Source: Darrell Survey. U. S. Open is a registered service mark of the United States Golf Association® and is used with the permission of the United States Golf Association. The USGA does not endorse or sponsor Titleist or its products in any way.
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