1975 Masters: The First 3 Rounds

The Opening 3 Rounds of the Greatest Golf Tournament Ever Contested

In my last post I shared the preview of the 1975 Masters. You can find that article at this link: 1975 Masters PREVIEW

Now I’m excited to share the reports of my virtual time travels to experience the first 3 rounds.

In my next post, I will cover the 4th round with in-depth coverage of the thrilling final 9 holes.

The dates for each of the reports below are the dates of the newspapers I read during my virtual journey.

1st Round - Friday, April 11, 1975

Light rain slowed down the greens in yesterday’s opening round of the 1975 Masters. The conditions were much to the liking of 1964 PGA champion Bobby Nichols, who turns 39 on Monday.

Nichols told George Cunningham of the Atlanta Constitution, “Rain made us feel we could hit it on the green and hold the ball there. And we could go for the pin. The pin placement was fairly easy… today was ideal for scoring.”

Nichols shot a 5 under par 67 to take the lead.

Most of the rest of the field didn’t find the course as easy as Nichols described it. Only 16 of the 75 players broke par. And, only 5 others besides Nichols broke 70.

The closest pursuers were Miller and Nicklaus at 68. But that’s not Johnny Miller tied with Jack. It’s the “other Miller” on the PGA TOUR - Allen Miller. Allen is 25 years old with 1 PGA TOUR victory and has never finished higher than 62nd on the money list in 4 years on the tour.

The man Miller was tied with, the Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus, didn’t putt well, but was satisfied with his play. He told George Cunningham in the Atlanta Constitution, “When you have 36 putts and shoot a 68 at Augusta, you have to consider it a good, solid round.”

Note from The Sports Time Traveler

I interrupt this article to ponder what Jack Nicklaus did in the first round - scoring a 68 with 36 putts.

This is an astonishing round of golf for which I’m unable to determine if there is an equal. It wasn’t a stellar putting round. Nicklaus didn’t make any putts from longer than 6 feet.

But his shot-making was off the charts. He was on the green in regulation on every par 3 and par 4. And he reached all four par 5’s in 2 shots. He birdied 3 of the 4 par 5’s and 3-putted one of them (the 8th hole). The 6-foot putt he made was a birdie at the 3rd hole. If Nicklaus had a hot putter, he might have shot a 62. And no one has ever shot a 62 at The Masters.

It’s no wonder the often self-critical Nicklaus was pleased with his opening round.

Now back to 1975.

Like a Ghost from the Past

One shot further back at 69 were some big names: Snead, Weiskopf and Palmer. But the Snead was not Sam, it was his nephew J.C. The 33-year-old J.C. Snead has just 2 lifetime PGA victories, and no major victories, but he is a formidable competitor as he finished 5th on the money list last year in 1974.

J.C.’s uncle Sam had a surprisingly good first round too, shooting a 1-under 71 at age 62. It actually shouldn’t be so startling. In the last major of 1974, Sam finished 3rd behind the winner Lee Trevino, and 2nd place Jack Nicklaus.

No other 60+ year old competitor has ever finished in the top 3 in a major.

Weiskopf, a pre-tournament favorite, and winner last week at Greensboro, wasn’t a surprise at 69. But 45-year-old Arnold Palmer was. Palmer hasn’t won a PGA TOUR event since 1973, and hasn’t won a major since the 1964 Masters. But there he was at 69 after the first round. George Cunningham wrote, “Like a ghost from the past, Palmer returned appropriately in foggy weather for a first-round 69, that had him just two shots out of the lead.”

The Top Story of the Day

However, for much of America, all the interesting storylines from above were not even close to being the big news of the first round of the tournament. The biggest news of the day was that Lee Elder became the first Black player to compete at the Masters. Elder shot a 2-over-par 74.

Lee Elder qualified for the Masters by winning the Monsanto Open last year. And under the new Masters qualifying rules, anyone who wins a PGA TOUR event in the past year, regardless of the color of their skin, automatically qualifies to play in the Masters.

Prior to the rules changes, Charles Sifford, a Black golfer, won 2 PGA TOUR events in the 1960s, including the prestigious Los Angeles Open in 1969. He had also competed in 10 U.S. Opens, finishing as high as 27th in 1964, yet never received a Masters invitation due to the policies of the Augusta National Golf Club.

THE TOP 16 LEADING SCORES AFTER ROUND 1

-5 Bobby Nichols
-4 Allen Miller and Jack Nicklaus
-3 J.C. Snead, Tom Weiskopf and Arnold Palmer
-2 Bob Murphy, Billy Casper, Tom Watson
-1 Jerry Pate, Sam Snead, Tommy Aaron, Jerry Heard, Lee Trevino, Larry Ziegler and Mac Mclendon

Where’s Johnny?

In yet another interesting storyline, notably missing from the top 16 was the phenom of the PGA TOUR - Johnny Miller. Miller has won 12 times on TOUR in the past 16 months, but yesterday he bogeyed 3 of the first 4 holes en route to a 75. Only 17 players shot a higher score, and that puts Miller in danger of missing the cut today.

Like Nicklaus, Miller also took 36 putts. But unlike Jack, Johnny was not happy. He half-joked that he was going to burn his putter. The Atlanta Journal declared that Miller’s round had the effect of “virtually putting himself out of contention after just one day of play.”

Miller told the Macon News, “I haven’t been putting well for four weeks, and if things don’t improve, I may be in California Saturday night. We’re building a new home and have to select things like door knobs.”

I can imagine Johnny Miller was thinking he would prefer to be selecting golf clubs instead of door knobs on Saturday.

Miller perhaps may have been thrown off kilter by the recent Masters preview issue of Golf World. The cover showed him walking on water.

You can see that magazine cover at this link:

Johnny Miller on Cover of Golf World - Walking on Water

In the locker room, other players were kidding Miller about the cover photo, saying things like, “did you have your rubbers on?”

2nd Round - Saturday, April 12, 1975

Arnold Palmer caused a stir on the grounds of Augusta early Friday afternoon. Teeing off at 11:39am, and paired with 25 year old Tom Watson, Palmer shot a 2 under 34 on the front 9. And when 1st round leader Bobby Nichols, who teed off at 1pm, started with a bogey on the 1st hole, that gave Arnold Palmer sole possession of the lead in the 1975 Masters.

Tom Weiskopf, who teed off at 10:26am, also went out in 34, but playing an hour ahead of Palmer, Weiskopf bogeyed the 13th hole when his ball hit a pine tree, and was a shot behind Palmer at that point. Then Weiskopf lost another shot at 15 when he hit into the water.

Jack Nicklaus, teeing off at 1:35pm and Allen Miller, teeing off at 1:56, were also tied with Nichols, 1 shot behind Palmer, as they began play.

THE LEADING SCORERS AS PALMER MADE THE TURN IN ROUND 2

-5 Arnold Palmer
-4 Tom Weiskopf, Jack Nicklaus, Allen Miller and Bobby Nichols

In the New York Times, John Radosta wrote, “For a few fleeting minutes today, Palmer sent his followers into raptures by holding the lead at five under par after nine holes.”

Arnie Alone in the Lead!

The AP reported that Arnie was, “alone in the lead for 42 magic minutes.”

Hubert Mizell of the Tampa Bay Times interviewed Palmer’s playing partner, Tom Watson, after the round. Tom told him about the galleries, “They were going ape all day… They yell, ‘YEA,’ at everything he does, at a noise level of about 10 million decibels… But, Arnold deserves it. He means so much to this game of golf. I was thrilled for him… excited just to be a part of it.”

The magic came to an end when Palmer had a rough patch early on the back 9. Arnold told Milton Richman of the UPI, “Today out there, I lost my concentration at some point.” Palmer was likely referring to the 11th and 12th holes. Palmer 3-putted from 25 feet on the 11th for a bogey. And when he hit his tee shot into the trap on the treacherous par 3 12th, he bogeyed that hole as well.

Palmer gathered himself back together and finished the day with a 71, for a 2-day total of 4 under par, 140. Right after Palmer’s round ended, Jesse Outlar of the Atlanta Constitution noted, “Glancing over his shoulder at the scoreboard during the Friday interview… at that point Jack Nicklaus was six under par, only two strokes in front of Palmer as he made the turn.”

Jack, like Arnie, went out in 34 on the front nine.

But unlike Arnie, Jack kept his concentration and played masterfully on the back 9. At the 11th, he hit a 6-iron to 28 feet from the pin and sank the birdie putt, his longest of the day. Then on the 12th hole, he put his 7-iron 7 feet from the hole and made that putt. Next, on the par 5 dogleg 13th hole, he hit a 4-iron to 35 feet. He missed the eagle putt, but bagged his 3rd birdie in a row.

Then on the part 5 15th hole, Nicklaus again reached the green in 2, this time just 16 feet from the hole. He missed the eagle putt, but picked up his 4th birdie in just 6 holes on the back 9.

Suddenly, Jack Nicklaus was clear of the field at 10 under par for the tournament.

Nicklaus gave 1 shot back at 18 when he missed a 7 footer for par that rimmed out of the hole. According to Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Constitution, Jack also rimmed out on 14 and 16 as well. Jack finished with a brilliant 67, the best score of the day, but it could just as easily been a record-tying 64 if all 3 rimmed putts had fallen.

Jack was one of only 4 players in the field to break 70 on Friday. The others were Bud Allin (69), Homero Blancas (69), and Pat Fitzsimmons (68). The 24-year-old Fitzsimmons, who won just $10,098 on TOUR in 1974, had qualified for the Masters by winning this year’s Los Angeles Open, his first ever PGA TOUR victory.

First round leader Nichols ballooned to a 74. Allen Miller, who started the day in 2nd place with Nicklaus was even worse with a 75. Of the top 16 scorers from day 1, only Nicklaus shot under 70.

Tom Weiskopf, who started the day with a promising 34 on the front 9, bogeyed the 10th en route to a 38 on the back 9 and finished the day with a disappointing 72. No press comments from Weiskopf were reported after his round.

Jack Nicklaus’ 67 gave him a 5-shot lead over the field. It was just the 2nd time in Masters’ history that a golfer held a 5-shot lead after the 2nd round. The first was Herman Keiser in 1946.

LEADING SCORES AFTER ROUND 2

-9 Jack Nicklaus
-4 Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper and Tom Watson
-3 Bobby Nichols, J.C. Snead, Pat Fitzsimmons, Homero Blancas, Tom Weiskopf and Lee Trevino

After the round, the press was ready to award the tournament to Jack Nicklaus, especially after Nicklaus announced, “I’m playing as well now as I have played in my life,” as noted by George Cunningham in the Atlanta Constitution. Cunningham started his article today with this line, “Jack Nicklaus charged into a class by himself here Friday.”

Horace Billings of the Salisbury, NC Post wrote, “The Golden Bear, who again is asserting himself as king of golf, destroyed the hopes of his challengers.”

The Raleigh News and Observer posted this assessment “Jack Nicklaus was turning the Masters into his private show… suddenly, everyone else was playing for second place.”

But Bill Shirley of The Los Angeles Times quoted Nicklaus who spoke words of caution for himself, “The tournament is not over. I’ve seen strange things happen at Augusta. I’ve had five-shot leads here before and lost them.”

Some reporters took Nicklaus’ humility with a grain of salt. The Palm Beach Post proclaimed, “It would take an awful lot of persuading for Nicklaus to convince anybody he’s in danger of losing this tournament.”

Where’s Johnny - Part 2?

Johnny Miller, Golf World’s pick to win this year’s Masters, finished the day 11 shots back of Jack. Mark Purdy of the Dayton Journal Herald wrote, “Johnny Miller has come to Augusta and fallen on his smiling, square-jawed face - almost.”

Purdy wrote “almost” because technically Miller was still in the tournament. He had made the cut by 3 strokes. But Purdy was counting Miller out nevertheless, “He will never recover this weekend from his opening 75… everyone expected that he and Jack Nicklaus would be going blonde-head to blonde head in this tournament.”

And Miller was also counting himself out, “Sure, this will be a disappointment if I keep on like this and don’t do well… And it doesn’t look like I’m going to win it.”

Miller was inevitably asked in the clubhouse about the Golf World cover photo showing him walking on water. Miller responded, “People are trying to make me into something I’m not.”

Lee Elder

Further back of Johnny Miller, and 3 shots outside the cut line, was Lee Elder who could only manage a 78 on Friday. Sam Heys of the Columbus, GA Ledger-Enquirer wrote that Elder, “seemed unruffled by not being among the top 46 after two-days of the 76 man tournament.”

Elder told the AP, “I did myself in. I got out of the box bad. I was all over the place. I really did the beautification bit - I saw all the flowers and the trees.”

3rd Round - Sunday, April 13, 1975

Golf fans were treated to a Saturday special at Augusta when tournament officials made the decision to pair Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer in the final group of the day at 2:10pm.

But Jack and Arnie didn’t like it according to George Cunningham in the Atlanta Constitution. “Nicklaus said he and Palmer were so concerned about being paired in the same twosome that they asked Masters officials for a reason.”

Nicklaus told Cunningham, “Normally I would have played with someone else. But they told us that instead of having two large galleries back to back, they wanted it all at the end of the field. They do things differently here at Augusta.”

So the only two men who had ever won 4 Masters titles were playing mano-a-mano in the final group.

Playing 13 groups ahead of the two legends was Johnny Miller who had teed off at 12:26pm with last year’s champion Gary Player. Both men were 11 shots behind the leader, Nicklaus. Miller parred the 1st hole. Then some Miller magic took over. On the par 5 2nd hole, Johnny blasted out of a greenside sand trap to within a foot of the hole for a gimme birdie.

And then Miller went on a birdie barrage the likes of which had never been seen before at the Masters. On 3, 4 and 5, he made putts of 14, 10, and 14 feet. On then on the par 3 6th hole, he hit a 5-iron one foot from the hole for another tap-in birdie.

He wasn’t done. On 7, he was just off the green, 35 feet from the hole. He putted and knocked it in.

Miller was in the zone. He told John Radosta of the New York Times, “When I’ve got it going and I’m standing over a putt, eight feet looks like four feet and the hole looks bigger. I can’t make it happen. It happens by itself.”

Miller’s magic took him from +2 for the tournament to -4. Miller had made 6 consecutive birdies. In doing so, Miller had leaped from 28th place all the way to 2nd.

And Miller had clawed his way back from 11 shots behind to just 4 shots back of Jack who bogeyed the 1st hole. It was a stunning comeback.

Miller then parred the 9th hole to post a cool 30 on the front 9.

George Cunningham wrote in the Atlanta Constitution about the reaction of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus when they saw the leader board as they walked down the fairway on the 2nd hole and saw Miller had shot 30 on the front 9.

According to Arnold Palmer the conversation went like this:

Jack: “Good nine holes, huh?
Arnie: “Yeah, not bad.”
Jack: “Not bad, right. It’s a record. No one has ever done that before.”

Jack was right. Miller’s 30 on the front 9 was a new Masters record.

Herman Helms of the Columbia, SC State newspaper was following the “Gold Dust Twins” on the course and told the story a little differently. He quoted Nicklaus talking about the first time he saw a leader board with Miller at -5 for tournament. “I’m color blind and at first I couldn’t tell if that ‘5’ on the scoreboard was a green (over par) or a red (under par). At second glance it seemed to have a darker tint to it, indicating it was red. I said to Arnie, ‘That can’t be red, can it?’ He said, ‘I’m afraid so, but that must be for the day not for the tournament.’”

NOTE from The Sports Time Traveler

I interrupt the article for a moment to inform you that back here in the present time, Johnny Miller’s 30 on the front 9 remains the Masters record, although it has been tied by 6 other players.

Miller’s record of 6 consecutive birdies has been surpassed. Steve Pate in 1999 and Tiger Woods in 2005 recorded 7 straight birdies.

Now back to 1975.

Could Have Been a 60

Johnny Miller only got one more birdie on the back 9 to finish with a 65. He told Charles Rhodes of the Columbus, GA Ledger, “I’ve been playing well the last three weeks but I just haven’t been dropping the putts. I just needed a little inspiration and those early birdies gave it to me. The round could have been a 60 or 61… I threw some strokes away on the back nine and missed some easy putts… I was going for birdie on every hole.”

It was a sensational round that put him at -5 for the tournament. And just after he finished, Jack Nicklaus bogeyed the 9th to drop to -8. Miller had made up 8 shots in one day on the Golden Bear. Johnny Miller had justified the Golf World “walking on water” cover shot.

Tall Tom Takes Charge

Miller wasn’t the only player making a moving day charge. Tom Weiskopf, playing with Bobby Nichols, started 6 shots back and 4 groups ahead of Jack Nicklaus. Weiskopf birdied the 6th on an 18 foot putt and the par 5 8th when he chipped his 3rd shot to within 18 inches to get to -5 for the tournament. Then he birdied 10 by draining a 30 footer and birdied the par 5 13th to reach -7.

When Weiskopf dropped a 15 foot putt at the 16th hole, he pulled into a tie for the lead at -8. And one more 15 birdie putt at 18 gave Tom Weiskopf the outright lead by a stroke.

When Tom Weiskopf made that putt it was the first time he had ever led the Masters, despite the fact that he has finished as the runner-up three prior times.

Tom told Russ DeVault of the Atlanta Constitution, “I knew with the way Jack was playing that I had to shoot a super round.” Regarding the task ahead on Sunday, he told George Cunningham, “I’ve never led the Masters before. I’m not thinking ahead. If I do have the lead, there are two great players behind me.”

For someone who was the 3rd round leader of the Masters, Tom Weiskopf received shockingly sparse coverage in the press today. Of course, that was because of the marquee matchup that occurred yesterday with Jack Nicklaus playing in the final pairing against Arnold Palmer.

Nicklaus vs. Palmer

It has been 13 years since the two legends first clashed head-to-head in the 1962 U.S. Open. And with Palmer clearly past his prime, yesterday’s round was filled with nostalgia and harkened golf fans back to their many battles for supremacy of the golf world in the 1960s.

Arnie’s army wanted to see one more charge from the man they still think of as the King of golf. One more chance for their hero to win an unprecedented 5th Masters. One more opportunity to make up for the painful collapses in several prior majors that prevented his total count from reaching double digits like Jack.

If Palmer could pull this one out, it would make up for all those past misses. It would be the glorious crowning achievement to his already sparkling career.

Jack Nicklaus became consumed with defeating the man who has been both his friend and arch competitor. He told George Cunningham, “We want to beat each other so badly.”

The setting here in Augusta, with two the greatest players of the prior decade, drew an enormous share of the entire crowd watching the tournament. Nicklaus said, “The crowd following us many have been as big as any I’ve played before.”

And the crowd relished the rivalry. Jack noted, “The gallery plays us against each other, and today I think Arnie’s gallery was a detriment to him. And the gallery was far more even-handed than it used to be.”

Nicklaus was likely referring to crowds in the early 1960s, particularly at Oakmont, near Palmer’s home town in the 1962 U.S. Open, when the crowd was hostile towards Jack, rooting against Nicklaus on the course when the two were paired 3 times in 4 days. It reached a point where it was embarrassing to Palmer and ultimately may have negatively impacted Palmer as he lost in a playoff to Jack.

Ever since then a funny thing happens when Jack and Arnie are paired together. Jack commented on it, “We have never - in a long time, at least - played well when we played together.”

Arnie was quick to agree, “Jack and I can’t put a finger on why this is. But I suppose it is because we are trying to play each other instead of the golf course.”

And it held true here in the 3rd round. After Nicklaus had shot spectacular rounds of 68 and 67 in the opening rounds, yesterday he shot a lackluster 73. He went out in 37 with bogeys on 1 and 9. And he shot just even par on the back 9, where he notably was unable to take advantage of either the par 5 13th or the par 5 15th. He finished at -8 for the tournament. And that left him a shot behind Tom Weiskopf. Jack had not only lost his 5 stroke cushion, he wasn’t even leading the tournament.

In addition to the pairing with Palmer, Jack blamed his 73 partly on the conditions. “The winds were gusty today, and that made it difficult for me.”

But Nicklaus remained upbeat about the tournament despite going into the final day a shot behind Tom Weiskopf. “I’m not unhappy at all. The position is not all that bad.”

Arnold Palmer also struggled in the pairing with Nicklaus. After starting the day tied for 2nd place, Arnie shot a 3 over par 75. That left him 8 shots behind the leader, Weiskopf, and in a tie for 7th place.

Palmer told Herman Helms of the Columbia, SC State newspaper, “I played lousy. I was constantly in trouble. I never hit a good iron shot all day.

He told George Cunningham in the Atlanta Constitution, “If I wasn’t scrambling well I might have shot 80.”

And then he squarely laid blame on the pairing with Nicklaus, “To be honest about it, if we had our druthers Jack and I would never play together. We always seem to play poorly when we do. I suppose subconsciously we play each other too much.”

Arnie told Russ DeVault, “Some people want me to beat Jack and some people want Jack to beat me. We feel it. But you can bet I won’t be playing with Nicklaus tomorrow. Maybe he’ll play better and I’ll play better.”

No, Not Nicklaus, Nichols

Almost forgotten by the media on Saturday was 1st round leader Bobby Nichols. Nichols had started the 3rd round tied for 5th at -3. He was playing with Weiskopf. Nichols had a 1 under par round going through 12, and then he eagled the par 5 13th. That vaulted Nichols to -6 for the tournament and just 3 shots off the lead.

Russ DeVault was one of the few to interview Nichols, and Bobby told him, “I thought I might shoot a pretty good round after the eagle at 13. But I missed too many short putts.”

Nichols bogeyed 3 of the last 4 holes to finish with a round of 72 that placed him 6 back of Weiskopf and tied with Bill Casper, the 1970 champion.

And it put Bobby Nichols in position to be paired with Arnold Palmer for the final round.

Young Tom Watson

One other golfer remained in the mix. 25 year old Tom Watson, who has won just 1 PGA TOUR event, carded a 72 on Saturday after he made the cut in the Masters for the first time on Friday. He had started the day in the group that was 5 shots behind Nicklaus and he ended the day in sole possession of 4th place and 5 shots behind the new leader Weiskopf.

George Cunningham referred to Watson as “the forgotten man in fourth place.” Referring to the three big names in front of him, Tom Watson told Cunningham, “They are three tough people to try to pass. I give myself a ray of hope.”

LEADING SCORES AFTER ROUND 3

-9 Tom Weiskopf
-8 Jack Nicklaus
-5 Johnny Miller
-4 Tom Watson
-3 Billy Casper and Bobby Nichols
-1 Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Buddy Allin, Allen Miller and Hubert Green

The Final Round

In my next post, I will cover the thrilling final round with in-depth coverage of the back 9.

Thanks for reading.

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