Special bond for Harmons
Claude's Masters win in '48 inspired sons
Always, the Masters seems to revolve around anniversaries. That's the way it is with celebrations cared for by folks who consider it their sacred duty to uphold tradition and pay tribute to days of yesteryear.
Anchored by those beliefs, the 2008 Masters gets underway today at Augusta National GC in Augusta, Ga., and nary a soul taking note of the tournament hasn't heard something about it being the 50th anniversary of the birth of a king, a victory by Arnold Palmer.
What they need to know, too, is that 60 years ago it was about a beloved father, a victory by Claude Harmon.
Palmer would go on to shape the game, so far as the public is concerned, and it would be foolhardy to think that his impact on the PGA Tour isn't as great as any other individual's. But let it be said that years before Palmer arrived, Harmon had, in his own way, helped give the game shape and so, too, is his impact on golf still being felt. You could argue that he's the most important teacher the game has ever known, but what isn't open for debate is this: His Masters victory in 1948 remains a celebratory cause for his sons.
"For years, we used dad's win to make the Masters a chance for us all to get together," said Butch Harmon, the oldest of Claude's four sons, all of whom followed their father into the business of teaching the game. "We were proud of that history."
Said Billy Harmon, the youngest: "I don't know how many people have won the Masters, but I know it's not many. That means there aren't many children of Masters winners. It's special to be part of that history."
Tomorrow will mark the 60th anniversary of that Sunday when Harmon shot a 2-under 70 to complete a stunning 9-under 279 trip around Augusta National to win by five shots over Cary Middlecoff. Stunning not because his talents were not appreciated - "He was a good player. No doubt about that," said 1968 Masters champ Bob Goalby - but because the rigors of the PGA Tour were a way of life for his friends, not for Harmon, a native of Savannah, Ga.
"There was no money in the game back then," said Goalby. "Guys hoped they won so they could get a good club job."
Harmon succeeded in that mission. He had the security of being a club professional at some of the country's most distinguished clubs - Winged Foot in New York was where he taught the game most of the time, though he had winter jobs for years at Seminole in Jupiter, Fla., and later at Lochinvar GC in Texas and Thunderbird CC out in Palm Springs, Calif. Harmon, who died in 1989 at age 73, remains the last club professional to win one of golf's major championships.
He also served as a daily inspiration to his sons - Butch, Craig, and Billy, as well as Dick, whose death stunned the golf world two years ago. All four got into the golf business and mastered the ability to use their father's simple methods to transfer knowledge of the swing. Just about every credible publication has included their names on any list of America's "top instructors," but if there's a common denominator they cherish, it's the pride in what happened 60 years ago.
Those closest to the Harmon boys can feel it, especially when the calendar begins to turn toward April. "He's been going [to Augusta] for 60 years," said Adam Scott, one of Butch Harmon's prized students. "It's a special place for him."
Butch Harmon was not yet 5 years old when he watched his father win the 1948 Masters, though he concedes he was too young to remember much. What he does know is this: Thanks to his father's annual pilgrimage, Butch knew that early April meant Augusta National. The stately clubhouse, the endless stretches of green grass, the devilish greens, and passionate patrons - it all became a way of life for Butch Harmon, even more so when his younger brothers joined the trips.
Even after Claude Harmon played competitively for the 25th and final time, in 1971, the sons would build a reunion around the Masters. They had pursued the game as players (Butch) and caddies (Billy), but what came natural to all of them was the ability to teach the game using their father's blueprint as a guide.
Butch would earn notoriety as swing coach for icons such as Greg Norman and Tiger Woods, but as Billy Andrade, who has worked with both Craig and Billy, once said: "Any chance you get a chance to work with a Harmon, you grab it."
Craig (Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y.) spread his knowledge to former PGA Championship winner Jeff Sluman. Dick (River Oaks in Houston) for years guided major winners Craig Stadler and Lanny Wadkins. Billy was not only Jay Haas's caddie for many years, he was his trusted instructor. They share not only their father's great eye for teaching, but a biting wit that they rarely spare on one another, though they've always loved to rib Butch.
"I'm a better teacher. He just has a better student," Dick once said with a great laugh, a reference to the fact that Butch Harmon at the time coached Woods.
There will be laughs and good cheer whenever they're together, but most especially at Augusta, thanks to the memory of their dad.
"A lot of people don't know that that [1948 Masters] was his first tournament of the year," said Billy. "That's pretty cool."
Along the way, chances to play the course have come their way, but the thought occurred to Butch Harmon that there is one small void in their lives so enriched by golf.
"We've never played Augusta National together," he said. "We've all played it, but never together. That would be nice to do that."
Heads weren’t stuck in sand
It doesn't mean he'll get any of the prize money that was denied him, but Stewart Cink can take solace in a feeling of vindication after those guardians of the Rules of Golf pretty much conceded he was disqualified unfairly from the recent Zurich Classic in New Orleans.In an unprecedented move by the Joint Rules Committee, which consists of US Golf Association and Royal & Ancient representatives, the interpretation of Rule 13-4a has been reworded, relating to the testing of conditions in a hazard. Although hardly anyone would have known about it two weeks ago, it became infamous during Round 3 of the PGA event March 29 when Cink got stuck in the middle.
He hit a drive wide of the fairway, but just shy of the bunker, though to hit the shot he had to stand in the sand. After hitting his shot into a greenside bunker, Cink proceeded up the fairway, while his caddie practiced good etiquette by raking the bunker.
The only thing is, interpreting the rule to the letter of the law, Cink, in fact, was in violation of the Rules of Golf. By his caddie raking a bunker before Cink played his bunker shot up the green, he was cited for having "tested the conditions in a hazard."
It didn't come to light until the following day, when a fellow player, Zach Johnson, initiated a conversation about a similar instance and Cink became frozen. He realized he had done the same thing, so he alerted PGA Tour officials, who had no other option than to disqualify Cink, not for the act itself, but for not adding a penalty shot and thus signing an incorrect scorecard.
Flooded with criticism and inquiries about the incident, the USGA did something it rarely has done - it acted swiftly to reword the rule, where usually it would take at least a two-year period to make alterations.
Now, as the rule reads, it would not be a penalty "if the player were to smooth the sand in another bunker."
Recuperating Faxon shows that he can talk a good game
Like anyone else who is knocked to the sideline by an injury, Brad Faxon has gravitated toward television.Only for him, it wasn't for viewing pleasure; rather, it was for broadcasting experience.
"It was actually kind of fun. I enjoyed it," said Faxon, who accepted an offer to hop into the tower behind the 17th green and call the action for The Golf Channel at last week's Shell Houston Open. "But I can tell you this: I never realized how fast-moving golf is."
At least the televised side of it, because Faxon knows not only how slowly the game can move, but when you're recovering from knee surgery, it seems to drag on endlessly. His surgery took place late last year and while he's just now doing some "chipping and putting and making some hard swings inside," the Rhode Islander hasn't yet hit balls with any vigor.
He hopes to get the OK from his doctor within the next week or so, at which time he'll head to Florida to warm up eyeing a late-May return.
"We'll see. Right now I'm feeling pretty good, but I'm chomping at the bit to get back to the golf."
His chance with TGC was born out of a discussion he had with NBC producer Tommy Roy late last summer at the
The trip to Houston also allowed Faxon to do a little teaching - or, more accurately, to offer some putting tips to Phil Mickelson, who has been struggling with that part of his game this season.
Etc.
Penciling in some family timeIf Jim Furyk had a complaint to offer PGA Tour officials, it's that the schedule is filled with too many good tournaments. Tour officials, no doubt, wouldn't see that as a problem, but for a guy who is trying to work out a schedule that affords him quality family time while staying tournament fresh, well, it's a hurdle. "Once we get to Augusta, I love the schedule on the way out," said Furyk, reeling off the stops he feels a longing to go to - Harbour Town in Hilton Head, the
LPGA schedule drives away Ochoa
Unfortunate for a player who deserves all the recognition she is worthy of, but Lorena Ochoa was precluded from attending last night's Golf Writers' Association of America dinner, at which she was to be cited as LPGA Tour Player of the Year. That's because the LPGA Tour inexplicably scheduled a tournament in Ochoa's native Mexico, bizarre since most golf tours shut down rather than go opposite the Masters. It would have been especially fitting, given that Ochoa is coming off a stirring victory in the Kraft Nabisco Championship, her second consecutive triumph in an LPGA major.
Out of line for a promotion
Fairway news: US Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger rips European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo. Then Azinger says he was only kidding. Faldo says he knows Azinger was only kidding, but only after reporters get a week's worth of stories.
Clubhouse view: This is called marketing. It is how you keep an event in the news, even though it's months away. To carry out that task next week, Faldo will announce that his team will wear black socks for Day 1. Azinger will refuse to reveal his team's sock colors.
Missing in action
At 18, Michelle Wie has faded from view, but a resurface is sure to occur. Now a freshman at Stanford, Wie is months removed from her last meaningful LPGA performance and, as proof, consider the sponsor's exemptions. She didn't get one into the Ginn Open (April 17-20), though officials denied it had anything to do with the way in which she withdrew from a Ginn event last May. Wie has accepted exemptions, however, into the Michelob Ultra Open (May 8-11), the Wegmans LPGA (June 19-22), and the Jamie Farr
Award-winning personality
Furyk on the legend of Arnold Palmer, whose first win in the Masters came 50 years ago: "He was the guy who brought golf to the mainstream. He had a way of being famous and embracing it, of making people feel like they were special."
Love of the game - and the hunt
He couldn't pull off the trick that served him well in 1995 - a last-second win to get into the Masters - but Davis Love vows to remain upbeat after last week's Shell Houston Open. "I've got to look at the positive, that I'm back playing, that I'm healthy, that I've bounced back from this injury," said Love, who will turn 44 Sunday, after shooting a closing 73 to finish tied for 26th. It would have taken a victory to earn his 18th consecutive trip down Magnolia Lane, but Love looked at the flip side. "It doesn't mean I can't win the US Open." Most encouraging is the fact that Love has made a great comeback from torn ligaments in his left ankle last fall. Committed to a turkey-hunting trip, Love was asked if he'd watch the Masters. "It'll be hard not to watch it. I don't know. It depends on who's playing well. I've got a lot of turkeys to chase."
In a league of his own
At a qualifier to get into the Monday Qualifier for the PGA stop in Houston, a whopping 173 players coughed up $200 each to partake. Finishing 173d was a chap who made as many triple bogeys or worse (three) as pars en route to a round of 100. Which leads me to wonder: What did he think he was qualifying for? To be the D player in an opening-day scramble at Ponky?
