Hogan's Heroes

America got its first good look at Jacklin (right), who practiced under the watchful eye of Great Britain captain Rees and was amused by how the Yanks reacted to Hogan.

Could the reporter ask what it was?

"You can," said an unsmiling Hogan, "but I won't tell you."

All my recent conversations with living participants from both sides invariably came back to Hogan and how he did his job with dictatorial decisiveness. They find the stories fun in hindsight. Alliss says, "Hogan was serious as ever. Doug Sanders and I were friendly, and we played a few practice holes together. Hogan tore into him afterward. 'What in hell are you doing?' he said to Doug. Fraternizing with the opposition you know."

Sanders says: "He was a great champion and great motivator, and I was proud to play for him and my country. He'd stop you that week, take a puff of his cigarette, stare into your eyes and say, 'You will win today won't you?' He'd put pressure on you, and we responded. He didn't care if you carried only a driver and putter, as long as you won. He lived his life for one thing—to win."

Win was all Hogan did during a Ryder Cup career that saw him play on two teams and serve as captain three times (as playing captain in 1947 before that practice was discontinued in 1965 with the appointment of Byron Nelson). He established a 10:30 p.m. curfew in Houston as well as other rules reminiscent of a college coach on a road trip with a young team.

Working with superior talent and experience, as well as useful familiarity with a Champions course that was then a regular stop on the PGA Tour, he presumably had little to worry about. But he took no chances and was correct in pointing out afterward that the final score was misleading in its failure to show that more individual match outcomes were close than not.

As Hogan further said sportingly, a putt here or there would have made a significant difference. But the huge Bermuda greens at Champions befuddled the British all week as they left putts woefully short. And mediocre iron play didn't help.

The three-day format at the time called for a first day of morning and afternoon foursomes, followed by a day of morning and afternoon four-balls and a third day of morning and afternoon singles, with most of the afternoon pairings changed but not all. Each team consisted of 10 players, two sitting out each round. There were no captain's picks, the players all qualifying through a points system, for the American side at any rate.

Palmer and Gardner Dickinson led the romp, going undefeated in five matches each. They paired for two foursomes wins, were split up for the four-balls, then took turns beating young Jacklin in the two rounds of singles. If there was tension between Hogan and Palmer, whose pairing with Dickinson was broken up for good after the flyover, it didn't affect the Americans' momentum.

Jackie Burke Jr. was running the Champions club with Jimmy Demaret then, and has run it by himself since Demaret's death in '83. He says, "There were the incidents over the plane flyover and which ball to play, and I think Arnold resented that Hogan always just called him 'fella' which is kinda obscure." As usual, one story reminded Burke, one of the game's leading raconteurs, of others featuring Hogan and Palmer and also Billy Casper, the all-time U.S. Ryder Cup points leader with 23½ (the same total the American side ran up in 1967).

"At a tournament Ben would go to another course to practice," Burke says. "A young pro told me one time he wanted to go practice with him. I said, 'The very second you win 60 tournaments we'll see him about that.' "

Palmer and Julius Boros were 3 down at the turn of their four-ball match against Hugh Boyle and George Will, when the team score was still in some doubt. Burke, knowing Palmer's über-competitive nature, told him on the way to the 10th tee that he'd heard about his famous charges and wondered if he would see one, a deliberate note of skepticism in his voice. If Palmer could take the match to the final hole, Burke said, he'd build him a watch. Palmer heard the bugler's call. He told Burke to follow him on the second nine—which he and Boros scorched to win 1 up. Coming off the 18th green, Palmer asked Burke where his watch was.

Burke, knowing Palmer needed another watch like he needed another fan in his gallery, pondered what he could give him that was unique, and eventually figured out that Palmer's two names add up to 12 letters that could correspond to the numbers on a clock. So he presented Palmer with a clock whose face reads "A-R-N-O-L-D-P-A-L-M-E-R." It hangs proudly in Palmer's home office.