Andy North - Part 2 (1978 U.S. Open)

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Let's talk about the 1977 American Express Westchester Classic at Westchester Country Club by two over George Archer. And my recollection of that tournament back then is they had a pretty good purse.

Andy North 0:26

That was the biggest event of the year. That was 60 grand for winning. And I think the biggest, I think the next biggest was like 40.

unknown 0:38

Yeah.

Andy North 0:39

At that point in time. If you can remember this PG, the 77 PJ was at Pebble. Where Lanny beat Littler. Littler should have probably won. He messed up coming in. Lanny ended up beating him.

Bruce Devlin 0:58

Jerry Pay to tell you that he should have won, though.

Andy North 1:00

Well, he should have won everyone, according to him. But I had missed I'd missed the cut at Philadelphia and missed the cut at Hartford, I think, and then went to the PGA and I missed the cut there. And I I hurt my back. I wasn't doing doing much. There was a a Monday and Tuesday pro am in at Napa. And during the week, I bought a 57th Thunderbird in Carmel, drove it up to Napa and played in this event. My back was terrible. Susan had flown Tuesday to New York to meet me there. She loves the city and loves the theater and all that. So she had all a week all planned out of what we're going to do there. And I called her that night and I said, you know, I think I'm going home. My back is I'm it's not worth playing. And my back she says, Baloney, you're coming to you're coming to New York. I've got tickets for all these shows. If you if you don't even play, we're going to the shows. So we get out there, and I my back was terrible. Um I flew in, it took the red eye, got there in time, and on Wednesday I was playing the Pro Am with Tip O'Neill, Danny Rostinkowski, Jamie Witten, the guys who ran our country, basically, and the CEO of the Penny Company. And it was rainy and crappy, and we played nine holes and spent literally the entire afternoon sitting telling stories and stuff. It was one of the great days I've ever spent. These guys, you get Tip and Ross and Kowski telling stories. It was absolutely amazing. But my back was, you know, and then I you you know worked on your back and you did some stuff. And I went out on Thursday and it felt halfway decent. And I played okay and played better on Friday and better on Saturday, and all of a sudden you're leading the tournament. And um, you know, hadn't won. I've been close, uh, finished, had some seconds, uh, so then you know, there's obviously the pressure trying to win your first tournament. And we woke up Sunday morning. I mean, I played with a it was warm, and I played with a sweater on all week long, you know, to keep your back loose and stuff. And uh got up Sunday morning, the wind was blowing a little bit, which I loved the fact that it was going to be harder for somebody to shoot a good score to catch you. I think I had a two-shot lead and ended up, you know, playing okay. Um, played decent all day long, kept the lead the whole day, and just you know, kind of stumbled around and and didn't make too many mistakes, and ended up, I think I ended up shooting even parr the last day and was able to win. I think I beat George by a couple of shots. Um, but uh you know it was it was a great win. And uh to win the first one, um uh Shirkinian used to tell this story, and Bruce, you know, knew Frank very, very well.

Bruce Devlin 4:04

Very well.

Andy North 4:05

Um so this would have been 77. Our oldest daughter was three years old. Um and Susan was at the last hole, and they're getting, you know, we finish up and you know, whatever, and and she's Susan's trying to hold our oldest daughter, and she can't, you know, she breaks loose and comes running out in the green and jumps up in my arms, and Shirkinian in the truck is just screaming, get the kid, get the kid, get the kid. So, so I actually he actually sent me that tape. I actually have that two-inch CBS cut for that of that show. So it was pretty cool. But you know, the get your first one is you know, always special, and you know, you just wonder if you're ever going to be good enough to win. You know, I mean you get yourself in a position and uh sometimes you can play great and it doesn't happen, and other times you stumble around and somebody else screws up and you win. You know, so you just you you never know. You just keep grinding away, and hopefully, you know, something good happens at the end.

unknown 5:08

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 5:09

Can I assume then that at that point in your career, you're now five years into this, that the victory was much more important than even the$60,000, which was real money back then.

Andy North 5:20

Yeah, it was. Um to get that first win was big. Uh, you know, I had I'd progressed through those first five years where I got better every year. Um I had a couple of chances to win uh the the year before. Um I had the lead at at Kings Island and and shot 69 on Sunday with the lead, and Crenshaw shot 66 to beat me. Um you know, so I felt like I was, you know, you're going the right direction. You're you know, you're you're doing some things that were better. And um I, you know, you you started getting in the majors and you'd played in the masters and you'd played in the the open, and you know, you're you felt like you belonged at that point in time, but just to get that off your your back is always nice. But um, you know, so that was a big stepping stone to what happened, you know, after that.

Mike Gonzalez 6:14

Well, speaking of that, let's talk a little bit about the major championships, and maybe we'll uh we'll uh save the best for last and just start with the Masters as that comes first in the year. Andy North had 13 starts, nine cuts made, uh, three top 25s with your best finished uh T-12 in 1979. Just tell us a little bit about your experience at Augusta National in that tournament.

Andy North 6:36

Uh I love I I mean I enjoyed going there. Um it was it was a a little bit different event than it is now. Um it was a really hard golf course for me to walk with my knee issues. Um it got to the point where their years I didn't play practice rounds where I'd play nine holes on a Tuesday and nine holes on Wednesday, and that was it. Um I'd get shin splints so badly there by the end of the week I couldn't walk. Um I always felt like it was a golf course that I should have played really well. Um my first year there at 76, Floyd Raymond set the record. I shot 66 the first day, Thursday. Um my first round at the Masters, I shot 66. It was the easiest day ever. He had it in the right position every hole. You know, you knocked it on the par fives, it couldn't have been any easier. And the next day I shot 80 and hit it about the same, but had it on the wrong side of the hole, spun it off the bank at 15, spun it off the bank at you know, six, you know, whatever, and made and shot a gazillion. But I think that's uh that's the thing that was so difficult about playing well there. It was hard to do it every day because you could have a day where you just had it in the wrong places and you couldn't play, you know, and those are the key days there that you've got to figure out a way to shoot 70 or 71 on those days because your good days you can shoot 66 or 67 very easily there. Um not easily, but it's it's very doable. Um so I enjoyed that. Uh, I've really enjoyed doing TV from there for the last 30 years. Uh, you know, the the history and the uh the friends you've made there. It's it's a it's a perfect way to start kind of the golf season for us in the northeast and midwest. That you know, once the masters are here, it's time to get your clubs out and start thinking about playing.

Mike Gonzalez 8:39

Yeah, that's right. For those of us that did grow up in the Midwest, uh that was the start of the season, albeit a short a short season generally. But uh, you know, some of the things you talk about relative to Augusta National, we've certainly heard from some of our other guests. Uh you mentioned shin splints, and uh Bruce, I've I've heard you use that term several times related to Augusta.

Bruce Devlin 9:04

I was the same way as Andy. You know, I mean, play a couple of practice rounds there, and you would think, God, how am I going to walk tomorrow? I mean, it got to be so bad.

Mike Gonzalez 9:16

The other thing we heard from uh some of our guests is there were certain guys where uh their game was not well suited to Augusta National.

Andy North 9:25

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I I really thought mine was. Uh, I thought that was a golf course that I should have had a better chance of winning. I had a chance to win, I might have been 80. It was, I think it was 70's first win there. Uh it was he and Jack Newton were kind of going at it. I was a couple of shots back going the last round, and I was in the next to last group, and three-potted one and hit it down in the creek, left at two and made an eight, and that's you know, it was over.

Bruce Devlin 9:57

The end of that.

Andy North 9:58

Yeah, it was the end of that. And then talk about the most miserable day you've ever spent having to finish out that day. Um, you know, it's it was a funny it consistency there for me was so difficult. I I I just there'd always be one day during the week I'd wake up, my body wouldn't work for some reason. Uh maybe walking or whatever it was. Um but yeah, I I you know you're always you look back and you're always disappointed he didn't do better some places, but that was the place I really thought I should have had more chances to win.

Mike Gonzalez 10:32

Let's talk a little bit about the uh the open championship. Um uh you only played four opens, made three cuts. Yeah. Um looking back on that, uh you know, at least early in your career, that was back at the time when a lot of guys weren't making that trip because it was expensive, it was time consuming.

Andy North 10:50

Um as you look back, what was was that that was I was I was exempt there a lot of years. I didn't go. Yeah. Um just because it wasn't even ex it wasn't even official money. Right, correct. So if you're trying to make the top 60 and you're gonna skip the week before, which was Milwaukee, which was my home, my home tournament, there's no way I could do that. Uh so for me to go over there, it was you know, you're not getting there until Monday night. Um I had back issues during that period of time that you didn't know what you're gonna what was gonna happen once you got off the airplane. You know, there weren't physios and trailers and everything to try to get you back. So uh I I a lot of years just skipped there and went and played Quad Cities. It was a better, it was a better business decision. I mean, that's what it came down to. It had nothing to do with majors and all that. It was a business decision, and and that's that's what would happen. And um I I skipped it uh as the open champion both times. I probably shouldn't have, but I got into some arguments with them, and they did some things to me I wasn't happy with, so I you know, I was ornery and stubborn about it. But you know, it it was a it was a very I mean to to break even financially, you probably had to finish the top three or four.

Bruce Devlin 12:13

Correct.

Andy North 12:13

That just didn't make any sense to me at you know at the time. And and you know, we were playing golf then trying to make a living. It wasn't like now where you're trying to make a a brand or uh your history, you're trying to pay bills, and it just wasn't a good a good decision for me back then.

Bruce Devlin 12:31

Yeah, yeah.

Andy North 12:31

I wish I'd have played more. I love playing that kind of golf. Absolutely love it. Um it'd be it'd have been fun to play more events, but if Milwaukee wouldn't have been the week before, I probably would have played 10 or 12, 12 of them, I'm guessing.

unknown 12:45

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 12:45

And and I assume you played in plenty of GMOs over the years then.

Andy North 12:51

Yeah, pretty much every one of them. I skipped, I missed one. I missed from 73 to probably 96 or so. Seven, somewhere in there. I missed one. That was it was opposite the Ryder Cup in 85.

Mike Gonzalez 13:07

Yeah, you mentioned that financial decision, really more of a practical decision with schedule and everything else. Um, and I've told the story, but uh we had uh Dave Stockton on the on the show. Of course, he won the GMO in 1970, and uh that year they paid the GMO winner$40,000. I think the open championship paid the winner about 6,000 pounds.

Andy North 13:30

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And that was, you know, the people for Milwaukee in it started in 68, 69, and 70. It was the biggest money tournament on tour. Um, Stockton beat Sam Sneed, I think, in 70 to win. Um, and we we paid off those years for the next 20 years, the debt from those years. Because later on I got involved in being on the the board there, and we yeah, there's one year we had to write checks to keep our 5013.

Mike Gonzalez 14:07

Yeah, and that's Trevino in that same year, 1970, he elected to bypass the British Open, played in the GMO. He wins the British Open the next two years.

Andy North 14:16

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was just, you know, it really Arnold changed the Open Championship when he went over there and won in '61, I believe it was. Uh not many Americans would go over there. And the fact that it wasn't official money until I'm guessing 1980 or somewhere in that that time frame. And you know, Watson's five open championships didn't count as official wins until about 20 years ago. Yeah. So, you know, it's it's it's changed, and it's it's hard for people who see it in today's realm to understand what was going on 50 years ago. Correct.

Mike Gonzalez 14:58

Yeah, exactly. It was a it was absolutely a different deal. Uh, but you played in some good venues. I think you played at Lithum a couple of times.

Andy North 15:05

Yep, St. Andrews.

Mike Gonzalez 15:07

Yeah, and Muirfield.

Andy North 15:08

Yeah, those are uh I still enjoy those. Um, you know, we've we've been I've been lucky enough to with ESPN and ABC that we did the open championship a bunch of years and to go back to those places and uh you know St. Andrews is special. It it it it no matter what anybody says, the fact that they were playing golf there 600 years ago on that same dirt is pretty darn amazing. And they haven't changed anything. I mean, they haven't changed a green complex in 600 years, so uh you know that's pretty special. Um I th I I think of of the rotation of courses there that probably Carnoustie is the most difficult.

Bruce Devlin 15:48

Absolutely.

Andy North 15:49

Um I think Muirfield maybe is the best course, but St. Andrews is special beyond, you know, to play those last three or four holes coming back into the city, you know, the people hanging over the fences, it's it's pretty cool. Yeah, not very often you get to play over a hotel.

Bruce Devlin 16:06

You know, I mean that's yeah.

Andy North 16:10

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 16:10

So a lot of great history there, too. Let's move on to the PGA championship uh where you played in it 15 times, uh made eight cuts. Uh you finished fourth was your best finish. You mentioned uh with Nicholas winning at Firestone 1975 with a final round of 65.

Andy North 16:28

Yeah, I think I think the fact that the PGA was always in August. Um by that time of the year, a lot of us had played so much golf that you're worn out. I mean, you were completely worn out. Um and you know, we played a lot of PGAs and some really crummy weather, you know. And Bruce, you remember how hot and wet and rainy it would be, so many of those that you know it was it was just and this is not in any disrespect for the PGA, but it was kind of like just another tournament uh in some ways, because you were so tired of of playing. And by that time, most of us had probably played 25 tournaments or so, and you're kind of looking forward to some time off. And uh the conditions there were I remember maybe it was the year that Stockton did Stockton won at uh congressional. It was so wet and rainy and sloppy, and we we played an extra day or two, or I mean it seemed like you're there forever. It was tough. But I think I think the P I think the new change for the PGA moving into May is an absolute home run. The fact that we've got that at on ESPN, uh we're really fired up and excited about that. That um uh we would have never done it in August. Uh it it them coming to May uh opened up that opportunity for us. And it's uh it's the new schedule. I think the players are still trying to figure it out, but to have one huge event in March, April, May, June, July is really special. Uh, I think that really helps elevate all those big events even to be bigger.

Mike Gonzalez 18:21

Let's uh as I said, we've saved the best for last. Let's go to the U.S. Open. So we're gonna go out to Cherry Hills Country Club 1978, where driving the first hole that year probably wasn't an option.

Andy North 18:34

No, um it definitely wasn't an option. Arnold came in and did a little bit of redesign and built a T to make sure no one else had ever had that opportunity. Um my open history is is is kind of interesting. Um I missed qualifying for the open 10 times before I finally got in one. I started trying to qualify for the U.S. Open, I was probably 15 years old. And I'd make it through the first stage every single year and then not get through the second stage. And then finally, after playing on tour, you played well enough to be exempt through the first stage. 1975 was the first time I actually qualified for it. Uh it was at uh Medina that uh Mahaffey beat Murphy in a playoff, I believe. Um it was uh a really good week. Uh I shot like 72-72. The first two tur rounds, it was soft conditions. It rained a bunch on Wednesday, and the golf course firmed up and I shot 72-72. No, I shot what uh 75-72, and then shot 72-72 on the weekend and finished 11th or something. 12, something like that. And it was only four shots out of the playoff. Um, and I I played the Raymond on Sunday there, and we both played nicely and had a bunch of had a lot of opportunities that I didn't make. But by doing finishing 12th, that got me in the masters the next year. So that was it got me back in the open and back got me into the masters. So that was a really big deal for my first open. And I just felt like the open fit my game to a T. Uh I just felt like um it wasn't about how low you could go, it wasn't about making a bunch of birdies, it was about how can you figure out a way to make a ton of pars and not make very many mistakes, and and it was about just grinding it and competing and and doing all the things that I felt really fit fit my mental state and my game. And I just felt like every year I had a great chance to do well there. I mean, you know, you can say, oh gee, I was expected to win. No, you never expected to win, but you there are weeks you expected to play well. And I just thought that I uh I could play well there. And I I played well there in 75, I played okay in 76. Um, I missed the cut in 77 where Hubert won.

Mike Gonzalez 21:13

Right, yeah, yeah.

Andy North 21:14

Um, but uh uh I was uh 78. I I was playing really well. I'd finished second at at Charlotte two weeks before, uh had an off week in between, uh, went off to Denver early to get used to the altitude, and just really played a nice week of golf. I played exceptional golf until the last four or five holes. I mean, I I was at the lead all week long, had the lead, um and then you know, kind of s stumbled in, had had a four or five shot lead with five holes to go or whatever it was, and and I had a putt on the thirteenth hole. And Bruce, will you remember this hole? It's a shot. Short par four with a little creek that ran down in front of the green. I'd hit a really nice approach shot in there with like an eight or nine iron. I was playing with Plaire on Sunday, played with Nicholas on Saturday, which to me was the best part of winning this tournament. Not only did you win a major championship, but you you did it with playing with the best. They each won majors that year. So I mean, these were the best. And um I had about a 15-footer, 12-footer for Birdie. And line of the put up, I'm talking, you know, as players talk to their caddies all the time about, you know, I make this one, it's over, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, I pour the thing in, and literally, it was like you unplugged your electrical appliance. I was the the edge was gone. And I I didn't hit a good shot the rest of the way in. I mean, it was awful. I just made bogey at 14. 15, I did hit one of my better shots, and I buried in the lip of the bunker and ended up making a double, and then parts 16 and 17 with just you know okay shots.

Bruce Devlin 23:09

And give us a shot for shot on the last hole. I remember the last hole. Vividly remember watching you come up that last hole, boy.

Andy North 23:17

I get I get to the last hole, and it's a it's a a par five, they turned into a par four for the open. There's a lake on the entire left-hand side of the fairway, and it's the perfect red hazard.

Bruce Devlin 23:30

Yeah.

Andy North 23:30

So it's a perfect red hazard. You hit the ball on the fairway and it bounced down, it goes in the water. It should be red. Well, the USJ had that yellow all week long. So it was like having out of bounds there. Look at to the right. I one-ironed it there Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and actually made two birdies. I had one iron, one iron, three straight days, and made two pars and and one par and two birdies on the whole. Um made a long putt on Friday and made another big putt on Saturday. Uh but so we get there. There's a little bit of wind, there's the winds blowing pretty good, it's behind us. So I'm gonna hit three iron. I'm jacked up. And I hit this three iron about 280 yards through the fairway up into the rough. I hit it probably 40 to 50 yards further than I thought I could hit it. Uh I've got a not a very good lie in the rough. It's kind of one that do you really take a chance and hit it over the the lake cane it kind of cut back halfway through the fairway, about 50 yards shore of the green. I didn't know if I could carry it over that the edge of the water down there. And I I took an eight iron and I said, well, you know, either this is gonna work or it's not, you know, and I just mauled it out of the rough and carried it about 30 yards over the water up into the just into the first cut of rough on the left side, about 40 yards shore of the green. And had the pin was cut in the front and middle left over the bunker. It was straight downwind, about the wind's blowing about 25 probably. And the one place on the 18th hole, you didn't want to end it. I had a one-shot lead when we teed off. It ended up that JC had missed a putt for a par, and Stockton had missed a putt for Birdie, so I ended up having a two-shot lead when I was hitting my second shot. So I I I get it up there, and I've got this third shot, and I I don't want to hit it past the hole. The only place you can get in trouble on the last hole would be to hit it 35 or 40 feet by the hole. And then there's you're gonna three-putt it half the time, putting back down this hill. It's like a ski slope. So I hit it, I hit what I thought was a really good pitch. The wind knocked it down a little bit, and it hit the top lip of the bunker and goes back down into the bunker. So the guy who caddied for me, Gary Crandall at the time, caddy for me for about eight or nine years. Um I thought I felt like I was the best bunker player on tour. And we would we would always talk about, you know, every time you hit in the bunker, it's your opportunity to get some votes, you know, for best bunker player of the year. And for some reason, to it it helped kind of cut the whole tension part of it. I walked up and I said, okay, this is votes. This is these are extra votes here, you know. And I ended up hitting a really nice bunker shot about three feet below the hole, exactly where you'd want it, maybe four feet. Um, and then eventually I got over the putt, and the wind's blown. I backed off a couple of times, the ball was oscillating, and I finally got back over it, I think the third time, and and the ball, the wind basically stopped. And it was like, okay, it's your time, knock it in. And I made a nice stroke and made it. And uh a story that not many people know. Rossberg was with our group. He was doing ABC golf at the time, and Devil, he was one of your good friends. He's a great guy. He was funny to me. He walks out in the he walks out on the green, shakes my hand. Congratulations. I Rossi, that means a lot. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it. He said, Oh no, no, no, no. I've got an outing tomorrow, and my wife had you in the pool for about four thousand dollars. I'm just happy you won.

Bruce Devlin 27:30

Oh but that was well difficult uh the the lie was. No chance. No chance in this. You had no chance. That's too difficult to hit. That was funny.

Andy North 27:43

Yeah. Yeah, that's true. So that was obviously that was a big win, and it was you know, it was it was kind of what I felt like was the next stage in my career at that time. You know, I'd been progressing. You won at Westchester the year before. I had, I think from Westchester to the open, I had four seconds in that stretch. So I was playing some really good golf, it really felt like you belonged. Um and then winning that was a big deal. Um, interesting again, there's a guy named Johnny D, who was the basketball coach at Notre Dame. He was there before Parsi or before uh Digger Phelps. And he recruited me at Notre Dame. So I walk in the media tent early in the week, and he was hired to run the media situation that year. So we talk a little bit all week long, you know. Hey, I'll see you tomorrow. And you know, we talk, and at the end of the week, we had a nice discussion. He says, you know, I think you probably made the right decision playing golf versus playing basketball in college. Yeah, so that that was nice. That was really nice.

Mike Gonzalez 28:55

Well, you know, when I when we prepare for these uh these interviews, uh it's always fun to go back and do a little research. And invariably, if you're talking about a major championship, you're gonna come across a Dan Jenkins article. Of course, he was writing for Sports Illustrated back then, and I'll just a couple of interesting quotes from his article that was entitled The Bogey that won the open. Uh Tom Wieskopf that week was quoted as saying when he was asked how he would play the 18th if he needed a life or death par four, he said I'd make a six.

Bruce Devlin 29:30

Life life or death.

Andy North 29:32

Yeah, that's that's a hard hole, really a hard hole. And uh the way they had it set up, and they've done it every major since. I think that's that's a yellow hazard, and there's no rough at all between so if you hit anything in that fairway that slopes right to left, curving right to left, it's got a good chance of going in the water. Um and JC Sneed playing in the group in front of us, skipped it off the water there, back onto the fairway, if you remember. And and had a chance to to still win the tournament.

Mike Gonzalez 30:03

Yeah, uh you won that tournament by one over Dave Stockton and JC Sneed. Here's what Trevino said about 18. He said a man could be standing on the 18th T with a two-shot lead on Sunday and finish fourth.

Andy North 30:17

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, well, the women's open there, what about 10 years ago? Didn't one of the one of the women make a nine or ten or something to lose, and she had a decent lead. I don't remember who it was, but it something crazy happened there.

Mike Gonzalez 30:35

Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 30:35

You can understand it though.

Mike Gonzalez 30:37

Now, Bruce, you'll you'll like this 114 putts Andy North had that week.

Bruce Devlin 30:42

Yeah. Well, you know something? He was uh he did have a reputation for being able to uh use that flat stick fairly well, I would say.

Andy North 30:52

Well, I think, you know, I think the thing there is that the greens there were pretty small, and they were that week they were absolutely as firm as as you could ever play. Um they were hard as a rock. And you'd hit a I mean, I remember playing my yardage that week was I tried to carry the ball one yard on the front of every green. I didn't even don't give me the pin, it doesn't matter. I'm gonna try to land it one yard on the green and and it's gonna stay on the green someplace, and that's the best you can do. I don't want to try to get it closer to the hole than that, which I think ended up being a pretty good strategy. But the greens were like concrete. So you'd hit a lot of really good shots that would release back up into the first cut. You you still could putt the ball, but you weren't technically on the green. And uh so there's some weeks like that where you have some really low numbers and putts.

Mike Gonzalez 31:43

You guys may remember, but this was uh uh first open, I think, for 21-year-old Sevy Ballesteros. He received a special exemption and was actually tied for fifth after three rounds, so he uh he played pretty decently. Um one thing I didn't know, and you guys probably uh do and do remember, but only 43 players were exempt from qualifying for this event. Uh the PGA at the time, led by uh Dean Beaman, felt this was uh too few and staged a competing protest event, the Buick Open, uh at the same time. Do you recall all that?

Andy North 32:19

I don't because I was locked in to be playing playing there, but I know that you know we as players would always talk about how the purses and at the majors were always much less than normal weeks. Yeah um and there was talk at one point in time not going to the masters because you couldn't use your caddies, the purse was not very much. Um, but that was you know, that was part of the the growth and the struggles that we had at that time. I mean, Bruce lived that late 60, 68, 69 where the the tour broke away from the PGA of America, and it's the best thing that ever happened for both groups.

Bruce Devlin 33:03

Absolutely. Best thing could have happened.

Mike Gonzalez 33:05

Before we jump ahead to your win in 1985, uh next year you go to Inverness. Uh that's the year Hale Earr won one. I think that's the year they planted the Lon Hinkle tree after the first round.

Andy North 33:16

Absolutely.

Mike Gonzalez 33:17

And uh good finish, tied 11th.

Andy North 33:20

Well, it was a weird that was another weird week. Um, I'm playing at, you know, that's the pairing where they put the National Amateur Champion and the U.S. Open Champion and the British, or I think it was. So I played with Nicholas and and Bobby Clampett, I believe it was. And I start out, I'm six over after the first six holes of that week.

Bruce Devlin 33:44

Another one of your five starts.

Andy North 33:46

Just yeah, another just brilliant, brilliant start. And and Nicholas was going like, what are you doing? Seriously. I couldn't, you know, you hit in the rough in an open, particularly at a place like Inverness, where they have a lot the rough is the key there, so the rough was just brutal. You drive in the rough, hack it out, you see, you start, you make bogeys like they're pars. You can't, you know, and and all of a sudden you make a double trying to do something, and all of a sudden you're I was six over. And I ended up grinding away, grinding away, grinding away, made the cut. Um, and I think I shot 68 on Saturday there, and went from one of the first groups off to third group from the end. You know, so you're right in the middle of it on Sunday. And I got shot 73 or 4 or something, but still had a decent finish. Uh, but that's what I loved about the open is that you you have a start like that at a regular week, you may as well not even show up the next day. You know, you you got no chance. But there the scoring is so difficult that if you can figure out a start just making some pars and birdie or two, and and all of a sudden you get it, you know, you keep it at that six over mark the rest of the week. By the end of the week, you're gonna be pretty decent.

Mike Gonzalez 35:01

Yeah, then you go to Baltasar all the next uh year that Nicholas won, top ten.

Andy North 35:06

Yeah, I mean I I I just love going to the open. I mean, I just felt like uh I had a chance there every year. Um I you know, it was um that Baltasroll open Hubert Green and I played with Arnold there. So Arnold that he'd have been fifty maybe in eighty. And he opened up with 31 or 32 on the first nine holes on Thursday. And Trevino, Watson, and Nicholas are playing like two groups behind us. They don't have seven people following. I mean, every single person there is watching Arnold. It was so much fun. Um, you know, he ended up coming back to Earth a little bit, but to watch Arnold in full flight like that was something special. And uh, you know, those are the kind of things you remember, sometimes not what you did, but you know, guys you played with or things that happened. And uh it was always a pleasure to get to play with Jack or Arnold or you know, the great players.

Mike Gonzalez 36:07

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, tell your friends until we tee it up again with the good of the game, everybody.