David Graham - "Winning at Merion" SHORT TRACK

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to do that.

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

So let's talk about uh the U.S. Open. 22 starts, 17 cuts made, one top five, four top tens, eight top twenty-fives. Uh the best finish I think you can recall. 1981. Uh winning the U.S. Open at uh at Marion Golf Club. Pretty special.

David Graham 0:34

Yeah, it was actually pretty special. It was um it was what I call the uh a uh trifecta where you win that tournament and you win it on national television and you win it on Father's Day and you win it on a classic golf course. You know, it was kind of like if you were writing a script, you couldn't you couldn't write one better than that.

Bruce Devlin 0:58

Then there was one other aspect to it, if I can just jump across David for a second, was that uh it probably was one of the finest ball striking rounds of golf that was ever played in a major championship, particularly on the last day. Uh I believe he missed one green by about two and a half inches on one of the holes, but uh obviously putted it, but that was I think in a lot of people's minds one of the greatest striking ball striking rounds of golf that was ever played.

David Graham 1:32

Well, interestingly, I I never hit a bunker shot and I never hit a chip shot. Yeah. Yeah. And you think about playing any golf course and not doing that, but the the I didn't know what I was doing it, and I've openly said that. I had absolutely no awareness of that. I was trying to win. And if you'd have said how many greens you did in regulation, I would have had to say, give me a ten minute timeout, because I have no clue. It wasn't until I hit my second shot on eighteen that Bob uh Bob Golby, who was doing ABC broadcast with Jim McKay. It wasn't until he said on air after I hit my second shot that I'd hit all eighteen grades.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

Yeah.

David Graham 2:16

That's where that round first got its its uh respect, I guess you'd call it.

Mike Gonzalez 2:22

Yeah. I mean, d do you remember a Sunday sort of round like that in your career in terms of ball striking?

David Graham 2:31

I I did pretty good at Oakland Hills until the last hole. Yeah. And then I had a oh shit, this is a major moment. Uh if I'd have parred the last hole at Oakland Hills, I'd have shot 63. And on that golf course, that would have been a pretty good score.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

Oh yeah. That's a brutal.

Bruce Devlin 2:53

Two great places to win major championships. Yeah, and and actually two very opposite type golf courses when you think about it. And Amerian from a from a yardage standpoint was a lot shorter. Uh some of the I mean, the ninth uh one par three that I always remember at Oakland Hills. Oh, God. I mean, that's that had to be one of the most difficult par threes that one would ever play in his life.

Mike Gonzalez 3:19

Do you recall going and checking out Pine Valley with Ben Crenshaw on the city? Of course, yeah.

David Graham 3:24

Absolutely, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 3:25

Was that your first time over there?

David Graham 3:27

It was, yeah. I w it happened by accident, actually. We both played early, and I said, Where are you going? He said, I'm going over to Pine Valley. I said, Oh, can I come? He said, Yeah, let's go. So we went over and they kindly gave us a cart and we drove around, and of course, Ben was starting to really get interested in golf course design and and the history of the game and was absorbing everything he could and got to be very good at it too, I should add. And uh he was just in awe of the place, the bunkering and the greens and the history of the club and everything. So yeah, I remember doing that, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 4:04

So you you get up for your your your final round on Sunday. I mean, some people would just picture that you just simply picked up from the lunch table, took a couple of steps and hit your first T shot. That's kind of the way it's set up at Marion, but uh you get off to a pretty good start, don't you?

David Graham 4:17

Well, you actually you had to take a cart to the driving range, because they didn't have a driving range. So you had to go out, get on the road, and go down to the driving range, which was on the other course, and practice, and then you'd have to come back again and then they'd drop you off and you'd you'd put. Um Logistically, now it's a really hard venue because of of that reason with all the spectators and corporate tents and everything. But yeah, I mean I I um I knew I was playing well, I was in second place, I was in the last group, so you don't have to be uh too smart to not be able to figure that out. I I buried the first and the second hole, which was a really good start. And um Yeah, I was just in a I was just in one of those feeling good days, but you know, I was always I always played I guess f fearing something was gonna happen. You know, I I never let my guard down because I was scared of either early celebrations or making a fool of myself or um you know, having somebody say, well, he got what he deserved because he shouldn't have done that on the fifteenth hole and stuff like that. So I was I was pretty stoic when I played golf. I was really serious. But you know, that was our living, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 5:44

You started the day three down. Yeah. Uh birdie birdie start really helps. Yeah. Uh and then swept to a three shot victory. So you made up some ground over uh uh guys like George Burns and Bill Rogers that final day, yeah.

David Graham 5:57

Yeah. Yeah, it was a good day. And I I felt good that day, and I hit I birdied I birdied fourteen and fifteen, and that was uh a big turning point.

Mike Gonzalez 6:08

And uh first Aussie to win the U.S. Open as well. About then, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:13

It went straight down the middle.

Mike Gonzalez 6:15

We hope you've enjoyed this short track 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, and tell your friends. Until we tee it up again for the good of the game, so long, everybody.

Intro Music 6:38

Smack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. And it started to slice just smitts off lines. It's headed for two, but it must off time. My caddies, as long as you're still in the stage, you're okay. It went straight down the middle.