Every Putt Breaks Right For Somebody A mini-history of rims and stifled grins Ben Hogan can earn his first major victory if he sinks a 12-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole. But he runs the ball 30 inches past. He misses the comebacker, making Herman Keiser the happy winner. Doug Sanders has a three-foot, sliding-right par putt to win. From the moment he first soles the putter, it takes him 25 seconds to putt. The miss to the right causes commentator Henry Longhurst to immortally intone, "And there but for the grace of God ... " Sanders loses to Jack Nicklaus in the playoff the next day by one shot. This one took an extra day to deliver the punch line: Going lefty, Hale Irwin whiffs a two-inch tap-in at the 14th hole in the third round, making bogey, then finishes second by one shot the next day to Tom Watson (pictured). Scott Hoch has a two-foot putt for par on No. 10, the first in a sudden-death playoff, to beat Nick Faldo. But the putt slides past on the left. Faldo birdies No. 11 to win. Bringing pleasure to the U.S. team, there was no chance for decorum after Bernhard Langer misses a six-foot par putt on 18 in his singles match with Hale Irwin. Their match is halved, and the U.S. team wins the cup by a point. A trio of players are in a giveaway mood on the last hole: Mark Brooks three-putts (the second from six feet) for bogey. Stewart Cink misses from two feet to make a double bogey. Retief Goosen three-putts from 12 feet. The result is a tie between Goosen and Brooks, which Goosen breaks the next day in a playoff. Eventual winner Zach Johnson misses a two-foot par putt at 16 in the second round. Because the 10-shot rule is in effect, the cut moves to eight over par. This pleases 15 players, particularly eventual runner-up Retief Goosen. Just moments away from being able to jump into Poppy's Pond in victory, I.K. Kim instead rims out a one-foot putt for par on 18. She falls into a tie with Sun Young Yoo, who wins in a playoff. With the second round delayed to Saturday morning because of rain, Jesper Parnevik finishes by missing a five-footer for par. His extra shot moves the cut line from one over par to two over, allowing 21 more players to play two more rounds for a record-tying 91 weekend players. Mark Wilson and Trevor Immelman take the most advantage and end up tied for ninth.
