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[OT] Billy Casper

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eSJayDee Veteran

eSJayDee

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He got a 14 on the 16th, a par 3. Had he managed to quadruple bogey it, he woulda broke 100!

Depending on how tough the course is playing, it wouldn't (oops, fixed that) surprise me if I failed to break 100. (On my normal course, I shoot in the 70s more often than in the 90s.)

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Sound_n_Fury Veteran

Sound_n_Fury

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Isn't Casper well over 70 years old ? I think I heard that this morning.

 

I give him credit for finishing in that bad weather.

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He's 73. He hasn't played Agusta in three years, so I give the guy credit for teeing it up.

 

I believe I saw a story where he said he declined to turn in his scorecard because "I'm going to put this in my scrapbook." Sounds like he's not taking it too hard.

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Dante All Pro

Dante

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Casper is 74 years old.  His nickname on the tour is "Buffalo Bill." For that reason alone, we should be nice to him.

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hmmm..this is eerie! Is is coincidence that 106 is the total losing margine in all the Bills Super Bowl appearences? J/K It would be kinda weird though.

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millbank Veteran

millbank

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here is the story as to why Billy Casper played and its beautiful and right on........

 

 

 

 

They suspended play again Friday, and if it weren't for the dark skies and scattered thunderstorms, maybe we all would think it was because a perfect round of golf has already been played and this 69th Masters already has its champion.

Of course, some are trying to turn him into the villain of this tournament. But he's 73. And he worked hard to lose 60 pounds and had a hip replacement surgery just so he could walk 18 holes and play one final round at the Masters.

 

Casper shot 106, which would have been a Masters record by 11 strokes, but he walked off with the scorecard and said, "I'm taking it with me and I'm framing it."

 

Do you blame him?

 

Because Casper has 11 children and 26 grandchildren. And 10 of those -- five children and five grandchildren -- traveled to Augusta and waited out a three-hour rain delay because they wanted to see the old man play one final round of golf here. For a couple of them, it was the first time they've seen him play live in a professional tournament.

 

Casper's wife of 54 years, Shirley, walked the entire 18 holes, watching her husband and shouting encouragement the whole way.

 

"It was unfinished business for him," she said.

 

On Friday, maybe because play was halted and nobody had anything better to talk about, everyone suddenly wanted to make an example of Casper's last stand. They were questioning whether all former Masters champions should be allowed an exemption.

 

As if the man who shot 34 over par and left the course smiling and hugging his family had somehow managed to embarrass . . . the rest of us?

 

C asper, who won the 1970 Masters, hadn't played here in four years. He had an awful hook. And on No. 16, he hit five balls in the water and ended the hole with what would have been a tournament-record 14.

 

Again, he left with that scorecard in his back pocket. So officially in this 2005 Masters, next to the name "Billy Casper" will forever be the letters "WD."

 

That's withdrew.

 

Embarrassing?

 

Let's reserve that word for the misguided souls who didn't understand what this final beautiful round, finished late Thursday, was really all about. Because most of the patrons had gone home, and it was so dark when Casper approached his final tee box that it became a nice, intimate moment between a grandfather and his family.

 

"I hit a great drive on my last hole and I couldn't see the green," Casper said.

 

Nobody cared. Because the golfer -- not the green -- was the focus on that hole. And he must have noticed because they were cheering for him when he made that final walk toward the pin.

 

If golf can learn anything from itself this week, it's that the most beautiful part of the sport is its history. It's Jack Nicklaus. It's Arnold Palmer. It's championship shots and championship memories. Golf is sport. Sport is entertainment. And that's why Casper was right to ignore the form letter he received three years ago.

 

You remember the letter, right?

 

The letter advised all past champions to choose not to play if they couldn't be competitive. It was signed by tournament chairman Hootie Johnson. And, thankfully, it ended up in Casper's wastebasket.

 

Now, 106 isn't a competitive score. And Casper had a 57 on his front nine alone. But I'm here to tell you that there hasn't been a more remarkable round of golf played during the first two delayed and suspended days of this tournament.

 

Eldrick Woods hasn't found the same magic that Casper did. Phil Mickelson's shots haven't given you the same goosebumps. And Nicklaus wowed us, sure, but only because when he was asked about Casper he said, "He's earned the right to play."

 

Casper already has a green jacket. He also won two other majors and has a total of 51 PGA victories, ranking sixth on the all-time list.

 

If Casper wanted to play, he belonged here.

 

Still, there were people walking around Friday saying his round was "disastrous" for the tournament. And there were others crying out that it was an outrage to see someone set records in futility. As if golf were suddenly more than, well, a game.

 

Well, maybe it is, because after his final round Casper said: "I just wanted to do it one more time before I got to be old. I just wanted to walk those fairways in competition one more time."

 

His grandchildren must have been thrilled.

 

Casper didn't care that he woke up with a bad back, which 73-year-old men sometimes do. And he didn't care that the tournament itself didn't want him there. And he didn't care that he was losing balls and holding up play, because going out your way beats the feathers out of bowing out their way.

 

So here we are, entering the final two days of this Masters, knowing that the golfers have been called on and off the course so many times that whoever wins this tournament is going to be the guy with the mental focus of a surgeon.

 

Still, this tournament always will belong to Casper.

 

That's hardly cause to use a word like "embarrassing."

 

Instead, try memorable. Try meaningful. Try perfect.

 

The 106 score?

 

That was just golf trying to get in the way.

 

 

A Champion

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