Countdown to the Masters 2011 – Day 27: Palmer wins in 1960

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Welcome to Day 27 of the Today’s Golfer Countdown to The Masters 2011. Every day from February 17th until the big day when the season’s first Major tees off, April 7th, we will be bringing you some of our favourite memorable moments from The Masters since the tournament started in 1934.

As Palmer came to the 13th tee in the final round, he was a shot behind Ken Venturi, who was just finishing with a par on the 18th. Arnie knew he had two great chances of making a birdie to tie, at the par-5 13th and 15th; and if he could pick up a stroke on each, a second Green Jacket would be his.

At the 13th his second with a 3-wood, carried the Creek; but he then took three to get down from the fringe. And, at the 15th, his drive down the left meant that a tall pine blocked him from taking direct aim at the flag. As a result, he had to hook a 1-iron round the tree, which he couldn’t get close; and again a par resulted.

As everyone knows, there aren’t many birdie chances on the final three holes at Augusta National; and so Venturi (who, but for a massive collapse four years earlier, would already possess a Green Jacket) now looked like a certain winner.

At the 16th, Arnie had a birdie putt from 35 feet. He left the pin in. His putt hit the pin and rebounded 7 feet past the hole. Some witnesses said that if he’d taken the pin out, his birdie attempt would have dropped. As it was he made a par; and so was still a shot behind Venturi.

At the par-4 17th, his 8-iron finished 25 feet short of the hole. His birdie putt fell in with literally its last breath. Arnie did this crazy dance when it finally dropped.

Now he was level going up the last. But there was a stiff breeze in his face; and many had lost the Masters by dropping a shot on the final hole.

His approach was with a 6-iron, which he punched, in order to keep it below the wind. It landed two feet right of the flag, spun viciously left (almost hitting the flag) and finished five feet away.

Arnie took very little time over the putt (“I just tried to remember what my old friend George Low says ‘Keep your head down and stay still,” he said afterwards). He started it just outside the left edge, and it dropped in the middle.

Just before Bobby Jones congratulated Arnie at the presentation ceremony, he said to Venturi “Ken, it is a very great pleasure to present to you the runner-up medal, and Lord knows it ought to be a lot more.”

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