One More Birdie to Shoot 59

I wasn’t watching any leader boards during the round, but I guess everybody else was.
I needed one more birdie to shoot 59 with two holes to play. I think everybody on the premises, except the other players still on the course, was watching me. The eighth hole, my 17th because I started the round on the 10th hole, is the hardest hole on the course at Colonial, a 479-yard par 4. Usually we hit 2- or 3-irons for our second shots, and I have hit a wood on occasion, but on this day I hit a big drive and a 5-iron 20 feet short of the hole. I hit a pretty good putt, but it was left of the hole all the way, ending up less than a foot away.

So the stage was set for the last hole, and the gallery was charging over to the tee yelling, “59!” I think I floated over, my feet never touching the ground.

The ninth at Colonial is a 402-yarder, dogleg left, with a trap at the corner that is just big enough and far enough out that you usually can’t get over it. I hit a really solid drive that was hooking a little bit, and I was a little worried about the ball carrying the trap. But it did, and once you carry the trap you get a bonus, because the ball gets around the corner and runs. The next two days I found out how big a drive I had hit—I hit what felt like exactly the same tee shot and didn’t get to the middle of the trap.

As I was waiting for my playing partners Stockton and McGee to hit their second shots, I was having a disagreement with Lee Lynch, my caddie, on the yardage remaining. I had 121 yards to the pin and he had 127. I can hit my pitching wedge 115 yards normally, and when I’m pumped up I can go to 120 if I have to. Usually, in a tense situation, you go with the shorter club and hit it full, because there is less chance for error. You stay away from half shots, because when you swing easily under pressure there is a tendency for your swing to get away from you.

But on this day I had so much control over the club and was hitting the ball so well that I didn’t have any doubts I could hit a three-quarter 9-iron and pull it off. I told Lee, “I’ve got a chance here, and I don’t want to hit the pitching wedge and leave it 30 feet short of the hole. The pin is on the back and I don’t want that long uphill putt to finish this round.”

So I hit the easy 9, and I hit it just right. It ended up just to the left of the hole, about eight feet away.

Around the green everybody was going crazy—there was yelling and screaming and a lot of emotion in the air. GN


Geiberger gives a detailed description of his historic 59 in his best selling book TEMPO available at your favorite bookstore.