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Mark Calcavecchia once signed a scorecard with an expletive, then won the tournament
Al Messerschmidt
After a particularly poor first round at Innisbrook in 2007, Mark Calcavecchia had had enough. He was so upset with his Thursday 75 that he told his wife to pack up their bags so they could make a quick exit when he eventually missed the cut on Friday afternoon.
What happened next is the stuff PGA Tour legends are made of.
Calcavecchia, known for being one of the great streaky players in golf, put his sixth putter in as many rounds into play on Friday, one he bought for $256.18 at a golf store. He shot a second-round 67, then followed with a scintillating Saturday 62 and finally a closing 70 that earned him a one-stroke victory over Heath Slocum.
"From where I was Thursday, maybe it's just a fairy-tale week," Calcavecchia said in 2007. "This stuff doesn't happen to me -- from bottom to top in three days. I know things happen in a hurry in this game, but that's a record for me. From no chance, no hope, missed cut to victory. I'm just stunned."
Even more stunning was what Calc wrote in the competitor's signature section on Thursday after shooting three over. His wife, Brenda, was digging through some old stuff on Tuesday evening and found the self-loathing note he wrote himself underneath his back-nine 39 -- "I f---ing suck," it once read. Unfortunately, it was erased out for the victory plaque, but you can still see the outline:
Here's a closer look:
For those wondering, no, Calcavecchia wasn't the one who erased it, according to Brenda:
Not sure who "they" are, but "they" ruined a great piece of memorabilia, although the erased outline sort of adds to the legend. Who among us hasn't hated themselves that much after a crap round? The difference of course is that there are only a handful of golfers on the planet who can respond by shooting 62 a few days later.
This victory wound up being Calcavecchia's last of 13 on the PGA Tour, though he did continue to have success for the rest of the 2007 season. He collected six top 25s, including a T-23 at the Open Championship, and three top 5s, one of which was a T-2 at the Tour Championship, where he played in the final pairing alongside Tiger Woods. Woods shot a final-round 66 to win by eight.