Golf Digest Search Results

Ken Venturi, 82, dies 11 days after Hall of Fame induction

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:14:00 GMT

His was a life in two acts, neither of which he would have scripted for himself. It was not particularly easy, and often not fair, but Ken Venturi took his cues from its challenges.

"Fate," his friend and colleague Jack Whitaker once told him by way of encouragement, "has a way of bending the twig and fashioning a man to his better instincts."

Fate cast Venturi with "an incurable" stutter that had him seek the isolation of golf and he became a U.S. Open champion. Fate robbed him of the dexterity in his hands and he became the longest-running lead analyst in television sports history.

"The full body of work, spanning everything involved in golf, there's nobody in that Hall of Fame that's done what he's done," his friend and long-time pupil John Cook said. "Maybe some have better records, more tournament wins, but the whole thing? None. He transformed television. He's been the biggest philanthropist in golf history of the things he's involved in that people don't even know about. Lifetime achievement? That barely covers it."

Venturi, 82, died on Friday, little more than a week after his induction in absentia into the World Golf Hall of Fame. He had been hospitalized following surgery for infections in his back.

Related: The golf genius of Ken Venturi

When he was elected to the Hall of Fame last fall, he summed it up this way: "The greatest reward in life is to be remembered."

Venturi will be remembered on a variety of fronts. When he was 13, "the doctor told my mother that I would never be able to speak as long as I lived, because I was an incurable stammerer. And I went out and found the loneliest sport I could find and took up golf."

At 24, he took a four-stroke lead into the final round of the Masters in a bid to become the first amateur to win at Augusta National. "For three dazzling days Venturi was within reach of a prize no amateur in the history of the Masters has ever been able to seize," the legendary writer Herbert Warren Wind wrote in Sports Illustrated. "But the Masters is a drama in four acts, not three, and on the fourth day it was exit Ken Venturi and enter Jackie Burke." Venturi finished second, still the best performance by an amateur in the history of the Masters.

Venturi would turn pro and win 14 PGA Tour events, including the U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in 1964, when against doctor's orders he played the second 18 of a 36-hole day with temperatures upwards of 100 degrees and humidity in the 90s.

"When I came in off the 18th hole in the morning, I laid down next to my locker and Doctor Everett said, 'I recommend you don't go out, because it could be fatal,'" Venturi said last year. He defied the doctor's advice, shot 70 and won his only major championship.

Related: My Shot: Ken Venturi

Carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands ended his career in 1967 and the following year, CBS Sports Producer Frank Chirkinian offered the "incurable stammerer" a job as an analyst on its golf telecasts. He would hold the job until his retirement in 2002.

Underscoring his accomplishments on the course and in the broadcast booth was the quiet philanthropy to which Cook alluded.

"Kenny was emphatic about not getting publicity for it, but his life was dedicated to philanthropy," CBS' Jim Nantz, Venturi's broadcast partner for 17 years, said recently. "He had so many different charities he was involved with, and it was under the radar. He was building a home for abused women and children in Florida. Every offseason he traveled to Ireland to throw something for the mentally-challenged kids there. He was a huge figure in bringing golf to blind people.

"He moved mountains, and people didn't know that about him. I remember there was a piece of machinery at Loma Linda (Calif.) Hospital that was one of the forerunners to really being able to treat some forms of cancer. They had that piece of equipment in large part because of money that Kenny had raised through various charitable events throughout Southern California and the Palm Springs area. That machine by the way ended up being the machine that would reach Paul Azinger when he had cancer in his shoulder."

He was only following instructions. "I was taught by Byron Nelson and I asked him one time, 'how could I ever repay you for all you've done for me?'" Venturi said. "He said, 'Ken, be good to the game and give back.'"

Follow @JohnStrege
[Photo: The Washington Post]

Brex Golf's putter offers interchangable hosel

John Strege — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:50:00 GMT

By John Strege Alignment aids are an important consideration in putters and adjustability is the order of the day in golf equipment. A new putter company, Brex Golf, has addressed both issues with the...

Hello Kitty meets Loudmouth Golf

John Strege — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:46:00 GMT

By John Strege A colorful apparel line that screams for attention and a demure furry feline icon have formed an unusual partnership and a new line of golf apparel called -- ready or not --...

Tiger was debuting new Nike TW '14 shoes

John Strege — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:29:00 GMT

By John Strege It might have been the same old Tiger Woods in many ways -- winning for the Players Championship on Sunday, his fourth victory of the year and 78th in his PGA Tour...

Are we seeing the return of Tiger circa 2000?

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:54:00 GMT

By John Strege

Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

When choosing a Tiger Woods vintage, 2000, as they might say in Johnny Miller's Napa Valley neighborhood, was a very good year, incomparable, even. But what about vintage Tiger Woods?

Miller uncorked the possibility that that is where Tiger's game is headed. "He could be moving back into that 2000 year form for the first time," Miller said Saturday on the NBC telecast of the Players Championship.

On Sunday, Woods lent credence to the notion, by winning for the fourth time this year and third time in his last four starts. By way of comparison, Woods had three victories through mid-May of 2000, though he would go on to win six more times that year, including the remaining three major championships. It's a steep curve.

Still, it's an interesting observation, one that Miller based on the versatility that has returned to Woods' game. "I like what Tiger's doing," he said. "He's standing a little closer to it, a little more up the line and down the line, not swinging over to the left. Now he can hit the cut when he wants, he's got a straight ball on the normal shot, and he can play the draw."

The draw, the final piece for a shotmaker who prefers shaping the ball, was there on command late on Sunday afternoon. Clinging to a one-stroke lead, his tee shot on the 18th hole followed the route of the fairway, right to left. Then with the pin tucked in the front left corner of the green, he took a 9-iron and hit another draw to 18 feet above the hole. Game, set and unmatched.

"That's what he has over the field right now," Miller said. "He can hit the cut or the draw. All systems are go right now."

Maybe, but the caution flag remains out. The design of the TPC Sawgrass diminishes the need for the driver, which remains Woods' arch-enemy. He was ranked 154th in driving accuracy entering the Players Championship, and even on courses that call for the club more often, he tends to resist it.

Related: How Tiger's swing has changed

Then there was that tee shot at the 14th hole while holding a two-stroke lead. It was straight off a muny, a pop-up hook that splashed down in the middle of a hazard. "I'm sorry, but I don't think Tiger 2000 hits that tee shot," fellow PGA Tour player Bob Estes wrote on Twitter.

Woods likely would concur. "On the 14th tee, that was the worst shot I could possibly hit," he said. Misfiring to that extent, while guarding a final-round lead, has never been part of his playbook.

It likely was an aberration. He still won by two and to do so in the Players might be disconcerting to the competition than his four victories. The Players has never been a gimme for Woods, the way other tour courses have been (eight professional victories at Torrey Pines, eight at Bay Hill). He had won it only once before, a dozen years ago.

Even more disconcerting might have been his succinct post-tournament assessment of his game.

"I'm getting better," he said simply.

Follow @JohnStrege

Books: 'Great Moments of the U.S. Open'

John Strege — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:28:00 GMT

By John Strege This year marks the 100th anniversary of amateur Francis Ouimet's stunning victory in the U.S. Open, a performance that helped propel golf into the American mainstream. The United States Golf Association...

Sun Mountain's new push cart only 13 pounds

John Strege — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:39:00 GMT

By John Strege Light is the operative word for those who don't ride around golf courses. Sun Mountain has accomplished that with its new Micro-Cart Sport, a four-wheel push cart that weighs in at 13...

Ecco's Life Street Bootie (yes, it's a golf shoe)

John Strege — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:04:00 GMT

By John Strege The company that launched the hybrid golf shoe revolution with Fred Couples wearing Ecco Street Premiere shoes at the 2010 Masters continues to take golf shoes to places they haven't been before....

Kelli Kuehne and PlayKleen golf towels

John Strege — Mon, 06 May 2013 19:59:00 GMT

By John Strege A heralded amateur golfer and a winner on the LPGA, Kelli Kuehne has a new addition to her resume: entrepreneur. Kuehne, 35, who no longer plays competitive golf, is a co-owner and...

You should have seen Phil Mickelson

Sun, 05 May 2013 20:22:00 GMT

By John Strege

Golf was not meant to be a contact sport, though Phil Mickelson has turned it into one through the years. He beaned a woman at the Wells Fargo Championship on Saturday. As compensation, she received a signed glove from the stash of them he must keep on hand for such occasions.

Mickelson was asked the last time he hit a spectator. "Oh, yesterday," he said, jokingly. "I don't know. It happens a lot."

Even had he been exaggerating the frequency with which he fells spectators, it is a fact that he tends to hit to all fields. It is this confounding inconsistency, and the incomparable brilliance with which he often responds, that makes watching him so compelling, though you are advised to do so at your own risk. And bring a hard hat. Or stay home and watch it on television.

Alas, the latter was not an option, not for those who prefer their sports be televised live. The likelihood is that this was an inconvenience only to hard-core golf fans. Still, in the modern era of television, when even a wide array of college baseball games are aired live, it seems a reasonable expectation that the final round of a PGA Tour event with an impressive international leader board could be viewed live.

A nasty weather forecast in the Charlotte, N.C., area caused tee times to be moved up in advance of the worst of the weather in an effort to complete the tournament without it spilling into Monday. The tournament, as a result, ended more than an hour before the delayed telecast began on CBS.

We reached out to a CBS representative for an explanation. "We have the rights to the final round," she wrote in an email. "Our broadcast window is from 3:00-6:00 pm ET. Due to affiliate and/or other programming commitments, we can not move the broadcast window when tee times are moved up."

What then would compel anyone to watch had they already known that an obscure tour rookie, Derek Ernst, had won in his ninth career start? They might logically conclude that they hadn't missed anything.

This brings us back to Mickelson, who over the course of four days gave us his career in microcosm, a mix of bewildering misfires from which he magically recovered to bring him to the brink of his 42nd PGA Tour victory, a spectacle worth viewing, live.

"I would say there's no way anybody can play four rounds and hit it as poorly as he has and win a golf tournament, with the exception of him," Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee said. "Nobody can hit the ball that bad. It's not that the ones he hits good are close. It baffles."

Mickelson led most of the round, and at times was one ahead of Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood, before bogeys at 16 and 17 derailed his bid. While much of this was going on, Golf Channel (an NBC property, incidentally) was showing a telecast of the European Tour's Volvo China Open. Delayed.

Follow @JohnStrege