Masters' Master

Predicting the winner of a major golf tournament is about as easy as scoring a hole in one. But before the 1960 Masters tournament at Augusta got under way, husky Arnold Palmer, 30, of Latrobe, Pa., was solidly established as the favorite.' Palmer had already won four tournaments this year. He had always played well in the Masters, winning in 1958 and finishing third last year. And the rambling (6,980 yds.) Augusta National Golf course seemed made to order for his long-hitting game. Said one pro: "On other courses a puffball hitter can get hot, but here you've got to play four days, and you've got to be a bull. Palmer is a bull."

Palmer lived up to such bullish notices in the first round. Although he had trouble with his short irons, his drives boomed out for 260 and 270 yds. at a crack. His putting was deadly: on the last hole, he stroked an 18-footer that seemed to die about two feet from the cup, then limped in for a birdie three! After a field-leading round of 67, he admitted that "I drove very good"--then quickly corrected the comment to "good enough." Palmer's most highly touted competitor, smooth-swinging young, (28), Ken Venturi, burned up the front nine with a 31, then collapsed, coming home with a weekend golfer's 42.

Whipping the Woods. Next day Palmer was off form--for Palmer. Frowning and shaking his head, he missed putt after putt, finished the first nine two over par. But he whipped his woods and irons into shape, finished with a respectable 73, one over par. That was good enough for the lead--but only because of an odd penalty to another bright young pro, Dow Finsterwald, 30. Finsterwald, with a 69 for the first round and a 70 for the second, would have been a stroke ahead of Palmer. But after sinking a second-day putt, he started to take a practice putt on the same green. He was reminded by his playing mate, Billy Casper, that it was illegal--and he thereupon told officials that he had unwittingly broken the same rule the day before. The penalty: two strokes.

High winds made the third round the tournament's toughest. Palmer finished the first nine in 34. But on the 475-yd. 13th hole he gambled. Trying to make the green with his second shot, he landed instead in a creek, took a bogey 6 for the hole. And again, throughout most of the day, Palmer had putting troubles. Finishing the round with a 72, he groaned, "I've putted like Joe Shmokes two days in a row." At that point, his tournament total of 212 was only one better than that of a five-man pack on his heels: Ben Hogan, beginning to weary ("Every time I stand over the ball I feel like the hole is filled with my corpuscles"), Finsterwald, Venturi, Casper and Julius Boros.

Pausing & Gulping. Then came the final day--and the final drama. Most of the afternoon Palmer was riding with the pressure of the five devils on his back.

He was still well out on the course when Venturi finished with a silky 70, giving him a 283 -- or five under par -- for the tournament. By the time he got to the 1 6th hole Palmer needed one birdie to tie, two to win. On the 16th he had to make a 20-ft. uphill putt for a birdie. He opted to leave the flag in the hole. The putt was true -- but overstroked. It hit the flag and ricocheted away.

Thus, with two holes left, Palmer needed one birdie just to stay alive for a play off with Venturi. But a tie was the last thing in his mind. Approaching the 17th tee, he told an official in a matter-of-fact tone: "Well, I've got to make two birdies." On the 1 7th he left himself a 25-ft. putt on a wickedly convoluted green. He stroked it. The ball seemed to stroll up to the cup's brink, pause, gulp-- and drop. Palmer, with one hole to go. was tied with Venturi.

The finish, in a way, was anticlimactic. An almost perfectly hit second shot with a six-iron left Palmer with a 5-ft. putt for the birdie he needed to win. Where before he had left his huge gallery cliff-hanging for minutes while he painstakingly sized up each stroke, now he appeared merely anxious to get it over with. He addressed the ball -- and sank it.

A new king, who might reign for a decade or more, had won his crown -- and $17,500 -- under tremendous pressure.

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