History Lessons

Mark Frost's The Match vividly recounts a legendary 1956 showdown at Cypress Point -- and reminds us that facts aren't always facts

Mark Frost's book The Match.

By Bo Links January 25, 2008

The scorecard is background music when it comes to retelling the story of the epic 1956 battle Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson waged against Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward. The match pitted two legendary professionals against the two best amateurs in the world. It was a duel for honor, a prize bigger than any bet.

Hogan was six months removed from a playoff loss to Jack Fleck in the U.S. Open. Nelson, winner of 11 straight events in 1945, had been off the tour and on his ranch for a decade but still possessed one of the most dynamic swings in the game. Ward was a back-to-back U.S. Amateur champion who also had claimed the 1952 British Amateur. Venturi hardly brought up the rear: Just three months after the match, he came within a single stroke of winning the Masters.

The venue was spectacular Cypress Point, where over the rolling dunescape the four golfers broke from the starting gate and raced against each other like a quartet of elegant thoroughbreds. The shotmaking that day was as breathtaking as the scenery. In his best-seller The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever, author Mark Frost brilliantly captures the action and its emotional impact. Not only is Frost an adept storyteller, but he takes us shot-by-shot around the course. For readers who have not had the joy of playing Cypress Point, Frost's description is a riveting walking tour. His words place us there for great golf played by great golfers and put the events of Jan. 11, 1956 in historical context.

But what about the numbers? While score is often secondary to the drama of match play, the numbers in this case are compelling. They are also in conflict. To be sure, the scorecard was bleeding red. In 18 holes the two teams combined for 27 birdies and an eagle. According to Frost, Hogan and Nelson shot a miraculous score of 57 -- 15 under par -- to nip Venturi and Ward, 1 up. The difference was Hogan's holed wedge shot for a 3 at the par-5 10th hole. Only three holes (Nos. 1, 11 and 14) were halved in par. And on the other 15 holes, a black pencil was needed only four times, when Venturi/Ward parred Nos. 3 and 7, and when Hogan/Nelson parred Nos. 4 and 8.

In all the commotion, however, Frost miscounted. If we analyze his account hole-by-hole, Hogan and Nelson shot 58. They turned the front nine in 31 (six under a par of 37). With Hogan's eagle to open the back nine, the professionals charged to the clubhouse with a closing 27 (eight under a par of 35). Add 'em up. The total is 58 (14 under), not 57.

Frost writes that Hogan shot 63 to tie his own course record, while Venturi shot 65, and Ward and Nelson each shot 67. Good stuff, to say the least.

But hold on a second. Walk back in time with one of the players and the scoring gets even better. In 1995, 12 years before the publication of Frost's book, the USGA produced a video titled "Heroes of the Game: Golf's Greatest Legends." It covers five spectacular careers: Bobby Jones, Hogan, Nelson, Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead. According to the segment about Nelson, he and Hogan shot a 55. The video credits the pros with birdies at the fourth and eighth holes, while Frost says they parred them. The video scorecard reads 29 on the front, 26 on the back (according to the video, the teams halved the 11th hole with birdies; Frost says they tied the hole with pars). The video total? Seventeen under par, thank you very much.

"I was privileged to have a friendship with Byron Nelson," says Sandy Tatum, a former USGA president and longtime Cypress Point member. "We played Cypress Point one day, and he had vivid memories about the match. He was insistent that there were only two holes where he and Hogan didn't break par. They were the first and the 14th. Seventeen under was Nelson's recollection, and it's the only score I ever recall being attributed to him and Hogan that day. It was 55 beating 56, a memory that would surely resonate forever."

The match -- which came about when San Francisco car dealer Eddie Lowery (Francis Ouimet's caddie in the 1913 U.S. Open) told his friend and fellow millionaire, George Coleman, that the two young amateurs, his employees, could beat anybody -- was hardly private. According to Frost's account, which is the most complete description written about the match, several thousand people saw at least a portion of the fabled round. And, yes, it was reported by the press. The following day, articles appeared in three San Francisco newspapers: the Chronicle, the Examiner and the now-defunct Call-Bulletin.