Golf stories from journalist Peter Stone

Prodigy

It was at The Grove course in Hertfordshire just outside London in the final round WGC American Express Championship in 2006 when I saw Tiger Woods up close and personal from the privileged position inside the ropes for the first time since he came to Australia a decade earlier as quite agreeable 21-year-old with a massive future ahead of him for our open championship at The Australian Golf Club.

What I saw that day in England as he went head-to-head with Adam Scott in the final grouping – with Woods winning the tournament by eight shots – appalled me. His cursing with foul language that would have made a sheep shearer blush, his spitting and his club throwing were not the stuff of a world No 1 golfer, and idol and role model to so many kids.

Entering the Confessional

Those who’ve read my scribbling on golf through the years would know I am passionate about the game, its history and its integrity but it is time to enter the confessional.

As a school house sports captain at Bendigo High in 1961, I had nothing but scorn for those who chose to play golf on our weekly sports afternoon rather than engage in more vigorous and athletic pursuits like Australian Rules football, cricket, tennis, swimming, athletics, anything really but not golf.

Golf, I thought, was a game for folk after they’d played “real” sport, an activity easily pursued when their bodies could take no more of the aches and pains of more physical sports. Then, after golf, there was always lawn bowls.

The Masters

Augusta National and The Masters folklore has it “the shot that was heard around the world” – Gene Sarazen’s albatross at the 15^th in the final round of the 1935 Masters that ultimately tied him with Craig Wood who Sarazen then defeated him in a 36-hole playoff the following day – was the making of what is now the most-watched golf tournament on the planet.

In truth, according to five-time British Open champion Peter Thomson who played the Masters eight times in the 1950s and 1960s with a best finish of fifth in 1957, is that’s a myth.