Capelle On Golf

2008 US Open Coverage

Lee Trevino fired a warning shot across golf’s bow when he finished fifth at the 1967 US Open at Baltusrol, nine back of Jack Nicklaus, who beat Arnold Palmer in a titanic duel.

One year later Trevino arrived as a major player on the world golf stage when he captured the 1968 US Open at Oak Hill in Rochester, New York. Trevino’s first PGA Tour victory, like Nicklaus’, came in the US Open. Meanwhile, Nicklaus finished four back despite a closing 67.

The Top Three
68-69-69-69-275 Trevino
72-70-70-67-279 Nicklaus
67-68-70-76-281 Yancey

A Masterful Performance
It’s too bad they didn’t keep stats back then. If they did, we’d know exactly how Trevino beat the field by an average of 5.75 shots per round. We’d also know how he managed to score only five bogeys in 72 holes on a course where the average score was 74.5. Since anecdotal evidence on his game abounds, it is reasonable to assume that super accurate driving, artful shotmaking, and clutch putting were among the key components of his sterling performance.

The Bert Yancey Story
Even though Nicklaus finished second, the contest for first was centered on Trevino and Bert Yancey, who held a one shot lead over Trevino going into the final round. They were paired together were in the last group. Through eight holes Yancey was hanging tough against Trevino, who’s incessant chatter made it difficult for some player’s to maintain their concentration. But when Yancey bogeyed number nine, he fell a shot behind Trevino, who was making almost no mistakes. Trevino birdied eleven while Yancey bogeyed, upping his lead to three shots. Trevino then birdied the twelfth to assume a four shot lead with six to play. He went on to beat Yancey by six and Nicklaus by four shots.

Only Yancey knows for sure why he ballooned to a 76 after three superb rounds of golf. Certainly his record indicated that he was poised to win his first major. The former West Point Cadet was 29 and at the peak of his game. He’d won four times in the previous two seasons and finished solo third in both the 1967 and 1968 Masters. But when push came to shove in the final round, Trevino played like the Hall of Fame golfer he would become, and Yancey wilted under the pressure.

Six years later Yancey would experience a relapse of his bipolar disorder, which had led to an honorable discharge from West Point. Yancey died of a heart attack at age 56 and, sadly enough, is all but forgotten except by those who lived through that era who enjoyed his stylish game of golf.

What If?
Lee Trevino’s emergence as a major player was likely inevitable, but who knows for sure? If Yancey had held his ground and beaten Trevino, maybe Trevino wouldn’t have had the confidence to win his next major, the 1971 US Open, at Nicklaus’ expense.

Which brings us to this year’s US Open at Torrey Pines. Will a Hall of Fame caliber golfer finally assert himself and win his first major at the Open, and then go on to give Tiger Woods fits as Trevino did 40 years ago? It’s always a possibility, one that continues to intrigue golf fans everywhere.