Shots heard ‘round the Sandhills

By Lee Pace

Payne Stewart’s 20-foot putt to win the 1999 U.S. Open on the last stroke of the championship on Pinehurst No. 2 is certainly one of the most famous strokes in golf history, let alone the annals of this little Sandhills burgh. Films have been made, books have been written about Stewart’s masterful stroke under enormous pressure; the photo of him extending his fist in celebration just as the ball trickles into the hole with thousands of spectators packed around the green is an image for the ages.

But let’s face it: That was a putt, a whack that any 8-year-old could replicate through a lion’s mouth at Myrtle Beach. What about full shots or at least chips and pitches, strokes that require the ball to at least get airborne and some fusion of multiple moving body parts?

Golf has been played at Pinehurst since 1898 on as many as three dozen courses if you include all Moore County. Here, then, are 10 of the best shots ever made in the Sandhills.

Denny Shute’s 3-wood, 1936 — The PGA Championship was Pinehurst’s first taste of major championship golf when the match-play event came to No. 2 in November 1936. Favorites for the title like Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Paul Runyan and Tommy Armour lost earlier matches, leaving Denny Shute, the 1933 British Open winner, to face Jimmy Thomson in the 36-hole championship match. Shute was 2-up over Thomson through 33 holes coming to the par-5 16th hole in the afternoon round. He nailed a 3-wood second shot on the 475-yard par 5 to five feet and was conceded the eagle putt, giving him a 3 and 2 victory.

Ben Hogan’s sand wedge, 1940 — The 28-year-old Texan was winless on the PGA Tour and seriously considering giving it up when he came to Pinehurst in March 1940 for the North and South Open, a tournament considered one of pro golf’s top events of the era. In the opening round, Hogan holed out a shot from a greenside bunker on the par-4 11th for a birdie, fueling him to a 6-under 66. He led by seven shots after 36 holes and wound up beating Sam Snead by three for his first professional victory. He went on to win consecutive tournaments in Greensboro and Asheville, and the match for a Hall of Fame career was lit. “I had finished second and third so many times I was beginning to think I was an also ran. I needed that win,” Hogan said.

Sam Snead’s 4-iron, 1941 — It was a heavyweight threesome if there ever was one — Snead, Hogan and Charlotte’s Clayton Heafner in the last group of the final round of the 1941 North and South Open on No. 2. Hogan faded early, leaving Snead and Heafner in the spotlight. “They were trailed by almost all of the final day gallery of 4,000, and these two big hitters traded birdie punches from start to finish of the last 18 holes,” said one newspaper account. Snead had a one-shot lead coming to the final hole and ripped his 4-iron approach to within inches, securing a three-shot win. “As he broke through the ring of galleryites to tap the ball in, he got a hand such as few golfers ever receive,” the newspaper continued. Snead would win three North and South titles.

Harvie Ward’s sand wedge, 1948 — Harvie Ward had no designs on winning the North and South Amateur when he traveled to Pinehurst from Chapel Hill in April 1948. In fact, the Tarboro native and University of North Carolina golfer didn’t even pack a change of clothes. But he advanced day by day in match play until he reached the final against Frank Stranahan. The big shot came with a 1-up lead through 34 holes. Ward hit into the front bunker on the par-3 17th, then into the back bunker. Then Ward hit a magnificent recovery from that bunker to inches away for a tap-in bogey. Rattled, Stranahan missed a 3-footer for par and the hole was halved. Ward collected his 1-up win with a par on 18.

Hobart Manley’s run of threes, 1951 — It wasn’t just one shot from the 24-year-old Savannah amateur that makes the archives of great golf in Pinehurst — it was 15 of them. Manley and Billy Joe Patton were locked in a tight battle for the North and South Amateur title, and Patton was 2-up through the 13th hole of the afternoon round of the 36-hole finale. Patton would play the last five holes 1-under par, but he lost to Manley, who ripped off five straight threes, which were four-under with birdie, par, eagle, par, birdie. “Just watching the drama unfold made my heart pound and left me limp,” Bill Campbell remembered. Manley won the title, 1-up.

Billy Joe Patton’s 4-wood, late 1950s — The career amateur known for his uncanny recovery ability and gregarious nature hit any number of outstanding shots on No. 2 in winning three North and South Amateurs, but it was a certain 4-wood shot from a troubled lie in the late 1950s that summarized his gift to golf. Patton was in a playoff against Dr. Bud Taylor in the North and South and they came to the second hole. Patton’s tee shot came to rest in a bunker to left of the fairway, near Palmetto Road. He addressed his shot with one foot in the sand, one above it and his ball hung up in tall grass. At that very moment a woman stopped in her car and called out to no one in particular, “Does anyone know where I can get a room for the night?” Nonplussed, Patton continued to address the ball and said, “Lady, if you can wait a few minutes you can probably get mine.” He made bogey, lost the match and vacated his room for a trip back home to Morganton.

Tom Watson’s 8-iron, 1973 — Executives at the Diamondhead Corp., Pinehurst’s new owners since late 1970, conceived the idea of the World Open — a 144-hole marathon on the PGA Tour for a $100,000 first prize. The first one was held on No. 2 in November 1973, and twice a new course record was set. Gibby Gilbert shot a nine-under 62 in the first round and Watson followed with another 62 in the second round. The key shot for Watson was his 8-iron approach for eagle on the 14th hole, and he followed that with four straight birdies. “I was in a daze after that,” Watson said of the eagle. “I felt I could make everything after that.” Alas, the 24-year-old Watson had not quite learned to win and faded with rounds of 76-76-77 as Miller Barber collected first prize.

Mark O’Meara’s 6-iron, 1980 — O’Meara burst onto the national golf scene with a runaway 8-and-7 win over John Cook in the 1979 U.S. Amateur at Canterbury in Cleveland and came to the Country Club of North Carolina the following year as the defending champion. But he almost missed match play as Houston golfer Fred Couples shot rounds of 69-70 to collect the medal and O’Meara was one of 12 players who tied for 57th place, necessitating a playoff to determine the last seven spots in match play. The playoff started at 10 and, on the par-4 11th hole, O’Meara hit his 3-iron into the hole from the fairway. He promptly turned and walked back to the clubhouse. O’Meara lost to Willie Wood in the first round.

Annika Sorenstam’s 3-wood, 1996 — The young Swedish golfer won her first major in the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor in Colorado and came to Pine Needles in Southern Pines as the defending champion. Her coach, Pia Nilsson, accompanied her and spoke of golfers in Sweden as looking “at things differently — we’re trying to find ways to shoot 54, make birdies on every hole.” Sorenstam made it look that easy with a final-round 66 that staked her to a six-shot win over Kris Tschetter. The key shot was a 220-yard 3-wood on the par-5 10th and the ensuing 25-foot eagle putt.  “I was in a zone today,” she said. “It was like I could close my eyes and hit. Whatever I did, my shots went straight, my putts went in. It was unbelievable.”

Payne Stewart’s 6-iron, 1999 — Everyone remembers Stewart’s U.S. Open winning putt on the last hole. But the shot that staked Stewart to a one-shot lead on the last hole was his 6-iron to four feet on the 17th hole. Caddie Mike Hicks said the roars when Stewart hit his ball and when Phil Mickelson knocked his to six feet were greater than anything he’d ever heard on a golf course — including the Ryder Cup. “It’s getting kinda wild out here,” NBC’s Roger Maltbie said. Mickelson missed his putt and Stewart made his. “It was a gimme,” Hicks said. “He hadn’t missed inside four feet all week.”  PS

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace has chronicled many of these memorable shots in Pinehurst lore in three of his books—Pinehurst Stories (1991), The Spirit of Pinehurst (2004) and The Golden Age of Pinehurst (2012).

Recommended Posts