“Anyway, I get into a play-off with Gene [Littler] for the ’70 Masters,
and on the second hole I hooked my tee shot badly to the left, deep into
the trees. I was on some tamped-down grass, but a small branch halfcovered my ball. I couldn’t move it for fear of moving the ball.
“All I wanted to do was put a nine-iron back into the fairway, from
where I could get back into play on the par-five. I had to hit it very high,
though, and with that branch on my ball I wasn’t sure I could do that. I
managed to get the club head between the branch and the ball and got it
out. I had a five-iron third shot I put on the back of the green. Litt was in
front of the green in two, but he chili-dipped it and made a bogey.
“I two-putted for a par and was off and running. It seems odd, somehow, but the one shot I remember most was a nine-iron I played back to
the fairway. That’s golf, I guess.”
In good part because of his mien on the course, Casper was often said
to play too conservative a game. Since he was also playing during the heyday of the ever-aggressive superhero, Arnold Palmer, that tag may have gotten more currency than it deserved. Casper puts that aspect of his
reputation into historical perspective. “There is definitely room in golf for
a more conservative approach to the game. Certainly there was in my day,
when the purses weren’t quite as generous as they’ve become.
“Take that fellow Goosen, in Tulsa [the 2001 U.S. Open]. He needed
two putts from twelve feet to win the U.S. Open, and he charges it. Not
smart. But they can do that now, because the money is so great.
“Nowadays, you can catch lightning three times a year and make a million, which is all you need. In my first year on the Tour, 1955, I won
$4,000 and was fifty-fifth on the money list. Next year I won a tournament and a total of $18,000 and was twelfth on the money list. We pulled
a Spartan trailer with a Buick Roadmaster the first year and a half on tour.
I got $650 a month from my backers for three years and more as I won
more money. Finally I paid them off. I owned a car and a little house and
had four or five thousand in the bank. Things were good, and a little different, moneywise, in those days.”
What does someone who has devoted his life to playing a terrifically
demanding game learn about himself and, if you please, life in general? For
Billy Casper it has been patience, with himself and his game and in his private life. In the end, it is what it takes to be a winner.
Pool Hall Bill • Billy Casper 55
“You must have the ability to control your mind and your heart,” says
Casper. “The golf swing is really a small part of it. It comes from all the
practice and routine. But you need a strong will and the ability to think
yourself around the course when not playing well.
“That is what heart is, when you’re not hitting the ball well and still staying with it. That is something I learned. It didn’t come with the territory.”
