They supplied Masters memories

KEN VENTURI

Venturi seemingly did everything at the Masters Tour­na­ment but win it.

The golfer-turned-broadcaster, who died May 17 at the age of 82, was a familiar face at Augusta Na­tion­al Golf Club for nearly 50 years.

He played in 14 Masters between 1954 and 1969 and twice finished as runner-up. He also served as an honorary starter at the Masters in 1983.

After his playing career ended, Venturi became familiar to millions as the lead golf analyst for CBS for 35 years. He called his final Masters in 2002.

Venturi had three chances at slipping into the green jacket, and all ended in heartbreaking fashion.

In 1956, Venturi was poised to become the first amateur to win the Masters. He led after 54 holes but shot 80 in the windswept final round. Jack Burke Jr. edged him by one shot.

“I hit 15 greens, but I three-putted six times,” Venturi told The Augusta Chronicle in 2002.

In 1960, Venturi held the clubhouse lead but lost when Arnold Palmer birdied the final two holes.

“I’m in the clubhouse, and he finishes 3-3-3 to win,” Venturi said. “The next year, Gary Player was in the clubhouse in the lead, and Palmer went 3-4-6 and lost.

“I was thinking, ‘Why the hell me? What did I do?’ But I gave it my best.”

Venturi was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame just a few days before his death. He had been hospitalized and could not make it to the induction ceremony, and his sons accepted the honor on his behalf.

“If there is some sense of fairness, it is that Ken was inducted into a Hall of Fame that he very much deserved to be in and, in fact, should have been in for many years,” Jack Nicklaus said. “While I know he was not able to be there in person for his induction, I am certain there was an overwhelming sense of pride and peace that embraced Ken. It was a dream of Ken Venturi’s that became a reality before he sadly left us.”

Venturi won 14 times on the PGA Tour, and his biggest win came in the 1964 U.S. Open at Con­gressional. In sweltering heat, Venturi overcame dehydration and heat exhaustion to win in the 36-hole finale. Those conditions prompted the U.S. Golf Association to change the format to four days of play rather than the customary three.

Injuries cut his playing days short, and Venturi joined CBS as a broadcaster in 1968. He was the longest-running lead analyst on television for any sport.

At the Masters, Venturi would call the action at the par-5 13th and then make his way to the 18th hole tower after the final groups had come through No. 13.

“He was one of the finest gentlemen the world will ever know and one of the greatest friends you could ever have,” said Jim Nantz, his longtime CBS colleague. “He was a deeply principled man with a dynamic presence. He just exuded class. Through his competitive days and unequaled broadcasting career, Kenny became a human bridge connecting everyone from Sarazen, Nelson and Hogan to the greatest players of today’s generation. Kenny faced many adversities in his life and always found a way to win.”

After his near-miss as an amateur at the Masters, Venturi turned pro and figured prominently in the 1958 Masters as Palmer won the first of his four green jackets.

The two men were paired in the final round, and Palmer’s tee shot on the par-3 12th flew the green and plugged into the bank behind it.

Palmer and the rules official on the 12th were unsure whether he was entitled to a free drop from the plugged lie, so Palmer played the muddy ball and wound up taking a double-bogey five. Then he went back and dropped a second ball and played a pitch that finished close to the hole. He made the short putt for par and turned his fate over to the Masters committee to decide which score would count.

Three holes later, the committee ruled in Palmer’s favor, and he went on to win by one shot over Doug Ford and Fred Hawkins, and Venturi tied for fourth.

In his 2004 book Getting Up & Down: My 60 Years in Golf, Venturi asserted that Palmer broke the rules in 1958.

Venturi said Palmer decided to play a second ball only after he made double bogey and should have declared his intentions before playing the first ball.

“I firmly believe that he did wrong and that he knows that I know he did wrong,” Venturi wrote.

In Palmer’s version of the event, the rules official at the 12th hole disputed that he could play two balls.

“That incident affected our relationship,” Palmer wrote in a column for golfchannel.com. “We both wrote about it in subsequent books, each of us insisting that we were right. I think the whole episode says more about the confusion built into the Rules of Golf than it does about me or Ken. I regret that the incident affected our relationship.

“Ken was a remarkable human being, and a warm and true friend to thousands of people in and out of the game.”

PAT SUMMERALL

He gained fame after his NFL playing days in the broadcast booth, first with Tom Brookshier and then John Madden. But he was equally skilled as a golf announcer, and he was part of the CBS crew at the Masters for more than two decades.

Summerall died April 16 at age 82.

He was part of the CBS broadcast team in Augusta each year from 1968-94, except 1980. Summerall was the announcer at No. 18 for many years, including his last decade at the network.

He teamed with Ken Venturi, the former U.S. Open champion and Masters runner-up, to call the action at the final hole for many of those years. After the 1994 Masters, Summerall and Madden left CBS to call NFL games for Fox.

“Many of my earliest memories of the Masters are still narrated by the iconic voice of Pat Summerall,” said Billy Payne, the chairman of Augusta National and the Masters. “He helped set a high standard in our television presentation and was hugely important to the continued success of our telecast. The game of golf has lost a legendary broadcaster, and we have lost a great friend.”

In addition to his 25 Masters appearances in the CBS booth, Summerall was a friend to the tournament and Augusta National. In recent years, he was on the tournament’s committee assignments list as part of the special assignments group.

“I was his understudy for 10 years. He could not have been more generous or kind to a young broadcaster,” CBS sports anchorman Jim Nantz said.

Summerall played 10 NFL seasons (1952-61) with the Chicago Cardinals and New York Giants. He began his broadcast career with CBS in 1964 and was part of the network’s PGA Tour and U.S. Open tennis coverage.

Summerall was part of network television broadcasts for 16 Super Bowls. His last championship game was for Fox on Feb. 3, 2002, also his last game with Madden. The popular duo worked together for 21 years.

FRANK STRANAHAN

Stranahan, who lifted weights before fitness in golf became fashionable and once had a memorable run-in with Masters Tour­nament Chairman Clifford Roberts, always marched to his own beat.

Stranahan, who played in 12 Masters and tied for second in 1947, died June 23 in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 90.

The heir to the Champion spark plug fortune played much of his career as an amateur, and he turned pro in 1954.

His biggest professional win came at the 1958 Los Angeles Open.

As an amateur, Stranahan won the 1948 and 1950 British Amateurs and was a fixture in golf’s biggest events.

At the 1947 Masters, Stranahan closed with 68 to finish two shots behind winner Jimmy Demaret. No amateur has ever won the Masters, though Charlie Coe, Ken Venturi and Billy Joe Patton all had close calls.

The following year, Stranahan crossed paths with Roberts, Augusta National’s stern chairman. The dustup involved a rule about playing a second ball to greens during practice rounds.

While he was still playing the second nine, Stranahan was asked to leave the course and told that his invitation had been withdrawn.

Stranahan’s protests fell on deaf ears, and Roberts’ decision was final.

“So I bought a ticket, and I stayed there,” Stranahan said in a 1998 interview with Sports Illustrated.

The amateur did return the following year to Augusta, and he competed regularly in Augusta through the 1950s.

He turned professional after losing to Arnold Palmer in the quarterfinals of the 1954 U.S. Amateur. Stranahan also was runner-up in two British Opens, in 1947 and 1953, and Palmer said he should get more credit for his role in encouraging Americans to compete in the game’s oldest championship.

“Frank never quit on the Open,” Pal­mer wrote for golf
channel.com. “He continued to compete there on a regular basis, and finished second in 1947 and 1953. His devotion to the Open Championship is what inspired me to go over in 1960.”

Despite his success on the course, Stranahan was best known as the golfer who was exceptionally strong.

Most golfers frowned on weight-lifting back then, but Stranahan embraced the training and even carried his weights with him on the road. That sometimes led to amusing adventures.

“He used to carry his weights in a suitcase,” Palmer told The Associated Press. “He’d get the bellman to carry the luggage to his room, but it was so heavy they couldn’t lift it.”

KATHRYN EMMA MURPHY

Murphy, the executive secretary for five Augusta National and Masters chairmen, including club co-founder Clifford Roberts, died April 14. She was 81.

The woman who devoted her life to Augusta National died after enjoying a traditional Masters Week with friends and family and seeing the first Australian win the tournament, her daughter said.

“She went out in great style,” Billie Murphy said. “She waited until the tournament was over and an Aussie won and she was ready to go.”

Murphy was known for many things, including her ability to secure Masters badges for players. In a 2011 interview with The Augusta Chronicle, Murphy said Gene Sarazen, Fred Couples, Brad Faxon and Ben Cren­shaw were among the nicest she knew.

For nearly four decades as executive secretary, starting in 1962, Murphy sent invitations to Masters participants, archived golfer information, updated the on-course spectator guide and served as the primary media contact for the tournament.

Although Roberts was famous for his stern demeanor, Murphy enjoyed a good relationship with the chairman.

“He would call me ‘my dear,’  ” she said.

Born and raised in Belvedere, S.C., Murphy lived near Augusta National. In 2011, she became one of the final homeowners along upper Berckmans Road to sell her house for golf parking.

Although Augusta National and the Masters were a huge part of Murphy’s life and allowed her to travel the globe, she and her husband also were charter members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3200 and she was committed to veterans, her daughter said.

H. LOWREY STULB

Stulb, the architect responsible for designing the Eisen­hower Cabin and the Sarazen Bridge at Augusta National, died Jan. 8. He was 96.

The Augusta resident’s firm, Eve and Stulb, designed many prominent buildings around Augusta after World War II, including the Augusta-Richmond County Library on Greene Street, Butler High School, Langford Junior High School, a research and education building at the Medical College of Georgia, the Convent of St. Helena and St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church.

Stulb was proud of his affiliation with the home of the Masters.

“He was very modest,” said his son, Franklin Stulb. “He got the work at Augusta National because his father-in-law was Ed Dudley,” the club’s first professional.

Stulb was a gallery guard in 1934 for the first Augusta National Invitation Tournament and regularly attended the event, including 1935 when Gene Sarazen recorded his famous double eagle on the 15th hole.

The architect married Elizabeth Dudley, and that led to his getting a call to design quarters for President Eisen­hower and his family.

In 1953, the Eisenhower Cabin – some call it Ike’s Cabin, but Stulb always called it Mamie’s Cabin – was built near the 10th tee at Augusta National.

The cabin wasn’t Stulb’s only project at Augusta Na­tional. He also designed the Sarazen Bridge; the golf shop, a suite above it, and an office used by Eisenhower; and the wine cellar.

Stulb came up with the idea for the Sarazen Bridge, which runs to the left of the pond fronting the 15th green, to commemorate Sarazen’s “Shot Heard ’Round the World.”

The flat footbridge was dedicated on the 20th anniversary of the famous shot.

“It isn’t a bridge,” he said, “but we’ll call it that.”

AL LUDWICK

Ludwick, a longtime sports editor of The Augusta Chronicle and Augusta Herald, died May 22. He was 84.

The native of Greensburg, Pa., moved his family to Augusta in 1961, when he started working for the Augusta Herald as an outdoors writer.

He was promoted to sports editor in 1963 and was an integral part of the Masters coverage for The Chronicle and the Herald until his retirement in 1991.

His popular column was called “The ALcove” and covered all sports, but golf was a frequent topic.

Ludwick also played trombone with the Augusta Symphony and the Augusta Concert Band.

In a 1999 Augusta Chronicle article, he said his biggest achievements were getting married, covering the 1981 Sugar Bowl game won by Georgia and covering the 1984 British Open.

“He loved covering the Masters, and he was highly respected by all the golfers,” Chronicle golf writer David Westin said. “I remember being invited to his house when I first started working for him and seeing a framed letter on the wall that he’d received complimenting him on one of his Masters stories. It was from Ben Hogan.”

WILLIAM CAMPBELL

Campbell, the first golfer to serve as president of the U.S. Golf Association and as captain of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, died Aug. 30. He was 90.

The career amateur from West Virginia played in the Masters 18 times between 1950 and 1976, and his best showings were ties for 36th.

MILLER BARBER

Barber, who once shared the record for best round at the Masters, died June 12. He was 82.

Barber made the most combined starts on the PGA and Champions tours. He won 11 times in 694 PGA Tour starts and added 24 victories in 603 events on the Champions Tour.

In 1979, Barber shot an
8-under-par 64 in the second round of the Masters. That score matched the lowest in Augusta National history and stood until Nick Price, and later Greg Norman, shot 63s.

BEV NORWOOD

Norwood, a golf writer and publicist who worked with some of golf’s biggest stars, died Sept. 4. He was 66.

Norwood began his career at the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal before he joined Inter­national Management Group and specialized in publications.

A fixture in the media centers at the Masters and other major championships, Norwood enjoyed a close relationship with Arnold Palmer and ran the media center for Palmer’s annual PGA Tour event at Bay Hill.