|
|
Austin, Texas might as well have been Mayberry for the young Ben Crenshaw. Growing up there were tree forts, a worn out front yard from halcyon neighborhood games, a "tree-lined Leave it to Beaver street," a father "the perfect blend of discipline and tenderness."
Every afternoon dad and his friends, among them the legendary Texas football coach D.X. Bible, would meet for their constitutional putting contest sipping "lemonade" while young Ben went round and round the practice green, as Harvey Penick suggested, with just one ball.
His mother's touch at the piano may have given the prodigy a head start on the greens but his feel was honed at an impressionable age. Around Austin there are those who will tell you that no one ever putted better than the future Masters champion as a teen.
Good old-fashioned southern civility, a natural, boyish athleticism, a loving family and mentor, a sense of place and history, an admirable foil in Tom Kite, these steeled the instincts that would serve Ben so well in the memorable dramas of Augusta and Brookline.
The Ryder Cup naturally is still very much in his thoughts, but unlike his counterpart, Mark James, he kept no notes or diary. James, in his attraction to controversy, may be said to have been slightly Clintonesque. Although it's hard for American eyes to see what all the fuss was about, his book caused a storm of protest overseas and resulted in his ouster as Sam Torrance's assistant for the upcoming matches at The Belfry.
Ben, a friend and vocal supporter of George W. Bush, steers a decided "Dub-"like literary tact, eschewing controversy for the high road. As much as he once might have wanted to, you wouldn't expect that he would rip the American mercenaries who insisted on being paid to represent their country, especially in print, and he doesn't. ("It was a painful time for all of us …") And, about the U.S. win, including the joyous outburst of which he concedes, "We lost it," he's had enough and is ready to turn the page.
"We played better than they did on the last day," he writes, "and we deserved to win. . . We need to rise above this whole thing. "Mark [James] had his observations; we saw things much differently. Let's leave it at that."
There are some fun reflections. Nervous at introducing himself to the autocratic ruler at Augusta National, Ben recalls not needing to be told twice when Clifford Roberts suggested that there was a barbershop on the premises. . .Hogan once took his beloved persimmon Macgregor driver in hand, turned it over, and said, "looks like a goddamn doorknob." Ben: "That just totally deflated me." The famous shot of Hogan at Merion hangs in his office, surrounded by one of the world's best private golf book collections. . . During a Ryder Cup match, he busted Little Ben after a three putt.
"How are things going back there?" Captain Jack Nicklaus, happening by, asked.
"Pretty good. ButIbrokemyputterbackthere," Ben mumbled. "Well, the way things are going, I don't blame you," Nicklaus responded. "Just do the best you can." He putted out the match with a sand wedge or 1-iron.
As a player, the winner of 19 official PGA Tour events, Ben says he's "okay" with his accomplishments, even an 0-8 record in playoffs. His course design work has been universally hailed, especially Sand Hills in Nebraska. He's looking forward to joining the Senior PGA Tour. The consistency that has always eluded him, well. . .his golf game is taking a back seat now, and that's fine with him. Given what he's been through, it's hard to see how he - or anyone - could've topped his win at the '95 Masters. He admitted as much recently in a conversation with Frank Luksa of the Dallas Morning News. "I thought to myself," afterward, he said, "There's nothing you can probably ever do that would be as meaningful."
The importance of the role fate has played in his life is something at which he can only marvel. "My whole life has been guided by feelings. They're nothing I can put my finger on. I just know - Like I did at Brookline and twice at Augusta."
The providential symmetry of his professional life, returning to Brookline, where he competed as a junior golfer, a place that, as he often said during the Ryder Cup, had been good to Americans as far back as Ouimet's historic win in 1913, is not lost on him. He thinks of himself as a good, not a great, golfer. His place assured, if more in the heart than the record books, perhaps one day he'll be hitting that ceremonial first drive on a chilly Georgia morning in April.
From his porch, he listens to the cicadas in the oaks. It's easy to be reflective. "No one," he concludes, "has been luckier in life than me." -0-
Duly Noted - Edition I - Shouting at Amen Corner
Duly Noted - Edition II - Precision Putting
Duly Noted - Edition III - In the Women's Clubhouse
Duly Noted - Edition IV - Royal and Ancient
Duly Noted - Edition V - Into the Bear Pit
Duly Noted - Edition VI - The Biography of Walter J. Travis
Duly Noted - Edition VII - Uneven Lies
Duly Noted - Edition VIII - Sir Walter & Mr. Jones
Duly Noted - Edition IX - The Golf Ball Book
Duly Noted - Edition X - Balls!
|
