Thoughts From Torrey Pines

Jones celebrating his 1923 U.S. Open win at Inwood. Photo: Corbis

As author Michael Blaine explained in his fine 2006 biography of Goodman, The King of Swings, the teenager was left to fend for himself. "There was little social welfare at the time, and Johnny might easily have ended up unemployed and wandering the streets," Blaine writes. "Instead, despite taking the worst possible emotional blows, he had managed to find work and put a roof over his head."

Goodman embraced golf, which he had discovered as a caddie at the city's prestigious Field Club, and despite his difficult circumstances he set his sights on being an amateur golfer/gentleman golfer in the mold of Jones. "Bobby Jones was seducing an entire country," Blaine writes. "How could the young Johnny Goodman, already under golf's spell, resist his allure?"

A victory at the Omaha city championship when he was 15 powered Goodman toward more golf accomplishments. He won the 1927 Trans-Mississippi Amateur and, in the first round of the 1929 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach, Goodman won a shocking victory over his hero, Jones. Four years later he shot an uninspiring 75 in the first round of the U.S. Open outside Chicago, but he roared back with a second-round 66 that tied Gene Sarazen's championship record. Goodman shot a third-round 70 to increase his lead to six strokes over Ralph Guldahl.

Goodman's final round started no less successfully. He began with a par, eagle and birdie to increase his lead to nine shots. Perhaps typifying how hard it is for anyone to corral an Open—especially an amateur—Goodman then got into trouble after changing his mind-set. "I decided to go on the defensive," he recalled. "I knew I had a lot of strokes in hand, so I thought, 'Now I won't go out after anything more. I will just play carefully and easily and hang onto this lead, or as much of it as I can. It ought to be enough.' "

But he lost six strokes over the next six holes, and with nine holes left he led Guldhal by only two strokes. By the 14th hole Guldahl had gotten them all back. Goodman, perhaps steeled by his difficult upbringing, didn't wilt in the stifling heat despite his horrendous stretch. "So outstanding credit is due Johnny Goodman for the brave rally that followed his sinking spell," Grantland Rice wrote in The American Golfer. "He was sinking fast. His game was breaking up. It is a terrific burden to know that you have had a big lead shot away, a sure, wide margin blown apart. Few can come back against such a hostile surf. Panic usually sets in. But under this strain Goodman played the last four holes in par, and he got his 4 where he needed it most, on the final green."

That closing par gave Goodman a 76 for 287, and he waited to see if Guldahl could catch him. Playing the 18th Guldahl needed par to tie Goodman. He hit his approach into a greenside bunker but hit a superb recovery shot four feet from the cup. He missed it on the left. Goodman was sitting in the locker room when he found out he had won. "It was his cool, comfortable, confident manner of chipping and putting that turned the trick," Jones later wrote in praise of the new champion, who would further emulate his idol by winning the 1937 U.S. Amateur. "He did a fine and workmanlike job in winning."

Although no amateur would claim the ultimate prize in the years after World War II, the post-war years were golden times for golfers for whom the sport was an avocation—amateurs had 27 top-25 finishes from 1948-1967. Starting with Frank Souchak's T-9 at Oakmont in 1953, an amateur finished in the top 10 of the Open for five straight years. North Carolina lumber salesman Billy Joe Patton was T-6 at Baltusrol and T-8 at Inverness in 1957; Harvie Ward was T-7 at Olympic Club in 1955; Ken Venturi was eighth at Oak Hill in 1956.

Patton, who might have won the 1954 Masters if he hadn't hit into the water on Nos. 13 and 15 in the last round, was a dynamic player not lacking in confidence or recovery shots, his tee shots often putting him in positions where he had to improvise like a jazz great. Patton was paired with Hogan for the final 36 holes of the '54 Open after having led the first round with a 69. William C. (Bill) Campbell recalled longtime USGA official Ike Grainger's memory of a conversation at the first tee that day. "Ike said, 'Joe, you got a pretty good pairing, didn't you?' " Campbell said. "And Patton said, 'Yes sir, and everybody I've played with this year [meaning the Masters and Open] I've beaten.' Ike could see past him to Hogan. Cigarette in his mouth and his eyes like slits. He didn't like that."