John Mahaffey - Part 2 (The Tour Wins)

Outro Music 0:06

It went straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Let it start it.

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Let's, if we can, let's just uh uh brief recap of the professional career of one John Mahaffey and then John, if you don't mind, let's just take a walk down memory lane and review some of those victories that you had on the PGA tour. But uh John won 16 times professionally, including 10 on the PGA Tour. He had one senior PGA Tour win as well. Of course, the highlight, as we'll talk about, was the win of the PGA Championship in 1978 at famed Oakmont. But uh there were many other wins, and let's talk about them starting in 1973. The Sahara Invitational, it's Sahara Nevada Country Club by three over Dave Eichelberger.

John Mahaffey 0:56

Yeah, uh Ike had the league going into the last round, and uh I just I got hot. I got and uh sometimes you don't think about the pressure when you're really playing well, and and you know this, Bruce. When you start making birdies, you know you can't wait to get to the next hole. You're not trying to hang on, you're trying to make another one. And uh I just ended up having a round like that. Uh the only the only time I really thought about it, you think, was when I got to the final hole, and the the final hole had some some water issues if you if you got a little bit careless. So uh it was a par five, so I didn't take too many chances. I just kind of hit it like a three wood off the T and laid it short and then knocked it on the green and two-potted and won. So uh it wasn't anything from uh from having to birdie the last three holes to do it. I I played well all day and and you know just was in a great frame of mind. And uh the year before I'd been second a couple of times. In fact, uh I was second in Memphis my rookie year to ensure being in the top sixty ended up being like 35th, which was really important not to have to go back to to Q school or Monday qualifying and all that kind of stuff.

Mike Gonzalez 2:06

Yeah, because you were back in the era, I suppose, when you started where it was still top sixty. Uh and then if you made the cut, you could play the next week, but top sixty guys were example a little different now. But uh that was a did you like that system? Did you prefer that system to the newer one?

John Mahaffey 2:23

Uh well they're different. I I I think if I would have changed it, I wouldn't have doubled it or more. I would have I would have gone to a to maybe a hundred instead of a hundred and twenty-five to try out the end or or ninety instead of a hundred. But uh they went the whole game, but I think it works fine the way it is. What what happened with me is that because I didn't want to go back and money qualify, I kept playing and playing and playing and playing. And I finally took a week off. And and I played pretty well, but I got I kind of got worn out and I went back home for a week and hoped and thinking I would get a sponsor's exemption to a tournament the next week. Asked for one, didn't get it. So I never played that tournament. I won't tell you which one it was, but I never played that tournament on my uh on the tour because I just I I probably shouldn't have been at uh had that much hostility toward them, but I did.

Bruce Devlin 3:20

Stuff happens, doesn't it?

Mike Gonzalez 3:22

Yeah. Yeah. So there was a bit of a break between win number one and and uh uh win number two, yeah, which came uh in 1978. So, you know, elbow, thumb, other things. What was going on in your life and and how was the game from from that stretch of time after that first win?

John Mahaffey 3:40

Well, I played I played well. In fact, uh 1975 I had a great chance to win the U.S. Open. Lou I Lou Graham and I tied at uh Medina.

SPEAKER_04 3:50

Right.

John Mahaffey 3:50

And uh I I went out Monday and I played great from Tita Green, I didn't make anything. And uh I ended up shooting 74 and he shot 72 and beat me in a playoff. And you know, I had nobody to blame but myself for that. And uh one of the greatest things about about Lou Graham, uh he's a he's a wonderful individual. But his wife was sitting behind me and uh at the presentation, and she tapped me on the shoulder, and now I leaned back and she says, I just want to tell you something. She says, You've you've got a wonderful golf game, and and you're gonna win your share. This was Louie's last chance. She says, she said, you played great golf to get there. So, you know, let this be a stepping stone. Now, I mean, I thought that was great. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 4:34

Yeah, pretty nice. Yeah, pretty cool. Pretty cool. And and the next year you had a a chance as well. And and yeah, we're we'll come back and talk about uh some of the close calls as well as the PGA uh uh win. But you had some injuries during that time, didn't you too, a little bit?

John Mahaffey 4:50

Yeah, I did. Uh I had a a situation happen where uh I got I got a club caught under the lip. I was trying to hit a buried lie that was right up against the face. And I I got the ball out, but I when I did, I tore the hell out of my left and really bad about my left elbow. And uh didn't realize it went and played the next week and it got really swollen, so I had to go back and had some ligament issues or whatever. And uh so I I I pretty much missed uh a lot of uh the season and really started playing golf kind of it toward the end of 77. So uh there was uh I was a little I I was cautious, I didn't want to come back too soon because I I didn't want to have this reoccurring all the time. And luckily it didn't after that.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

Yeah, yeah.

John Mahaffey 5:39

So going into going into the PGA at 1978, I'd only made like$10,000. So I wasn't really setting the world on fire after I came back.

Mike Gonzalez 5:50

And uh I assume in terms of the sequence of events, was the the the PGA win come before that uh that win at Pleasant Valley in the American Optical Classic? Yes. Yeah, yeah. So let's talk about that one and we'll come back to the majors. But uh you won you won that tournament by two over Raymond Floyd and Dr. Gil Morgan.

John Mahaffey 6:12

I did. Uh, and it was funny too, because I uh Dr. Joe Brayley, you remember that name, Elvin?

Bruce Devlin 6:18

I do, sure do, yeah. Yeah.

John Mahaffey 6:20

All right. Well, after I after I won the PGA, I'm going to to Pleasant Valley. Uh I see Dr. Brayley uh Monday somewhere, and he says, uh, no, I saw him Sunday night after after the PGA. He says, hey, I want to I want to try something with you. He says, I've got I've got some new shafts and stuff. And he's always I want to check your shafts in your golf clubs. I want to see where they flag all the kind of stuff and the repetitions and all that kind of stuff that they were doing back in the day, vibration and all that.

Bruce Devlin 6:49

Yeah.

John Mahaffey 6:50

So I said, Well, I really don't want to, you know, I fooled around with these grips and things to get them just the way I want them forever. He says, Oh, don't worry about it. We put the we put the same grips back on. I said, I'm oh, I got these kind of grips. And I said, Okay. So I go to his his test facility, whatever it is, and uh he does all this kind of stuff and he's looking around. He says, Oh my goodness, I don't have any of those kind of grips. So he puts, and I use cord grips like Hogan.

SPEAKER_04 7:17

Yeah.

John Mahaffey 7:18

He puts these rubber grips on. And they're way bigger. Okay, they're not quite Mo Norman size, but they were big. And uh I go to Pleasant Valley and I'm going, oh my god, what am I gonna do? Well, I played better, I played awful good, awfully good that week. And uh I don't know that I missed but one or two greens. I hit a couple of par fives and two, and uh ended up uh birdie and 17 and and uh might have been birdie in 17 and 18 to beat Raymond by two. And uh playing head to head with him was always uh it was a treat because you know he wasn't gonna let down. So that's that's a victory right there. And you won there at Pleasant Valley, Bruce. I did.

Mike Gonzalez 8:00

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, uh Bruce won there in 1972 uh uh over Lee Elder, but I was gonna mention Guess who was third? Pardon me? Guess who was third?

Bruce Devlin 8:11

John Mahaffey.

John Mahaffey 8:13

Yeah. I remember that. You guys go ahead.

Mike Gonzalez 8:18

You guys remember the minutest details. It's astounding your recall on particulars of these tournaments.

John Mahaffey 8:27

Well, they kind of get embedded in your head, you know. The nightmares are the worst ones.

SPEAKER_04 8:31

Yeah.

John Mahaffey 8:32

Uh the U.S. Open and the back-to-back U.S. Open's where it's a little that those were both a little tough to get over. I still have a nightmare from time to time about those.

Bruce Devlin 8:42

I bet you you do. So then in uh in 79, you started off uh quickly in 79. Win the Bob Hope Desert Classic? I did.

John Mahaffey 8:53

Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 8:53

And uh beat a pretty good player, too, by the way.

John Mahaffey 8:58

Who might that be? Could it have been Trevino?

Bruce Devlin 9:00

Yeah, that's who it was.

John Mahaffey 9:01

Yeah. Well, I always thought that was a neat tournament. I love that tournament. I finished in a top ten there a lot. And uh five rounds, so you could have a kind of an off-round in the middle and still be all right. Uh but uh coming into the last green, I was tied with Lee Trevino, playing at Indian Wells, R5, and I drove it to bunker. And uh and I hit exploded it out down the fairway somewhere. Oh, I actually hit a pretty good shot, and I had uh pitching wedge about 12 feet from the hole. Trevino was behind the green, and he was sitting there with Bob and Dolores Hope, you know, and they were talking, and he had an apple. I'll never forget this. And he put this apple up to his mouth and was about to take a bite when I hit this putt, and I looked over at him and he he didn't take the bite, and because he knew that he nobody had read that putt right all day. I mean, you know, you sat in the tower before, you know how this is. Nobody's made this putt, right? And Trevino goes, this breaks the opposite way of the way it looks. Well, I pushed it and it went in. It went in. And he took that apple and he threw it in the garbage bin and walked off. Didn't storm off, but walked off. Just kind of shaking his head. But you know, it uh playing with uh playing with Trevino was always a treat. I love playing with Trevino. I played with Trevino uh uh the last round when I won at Kemper as well. So uh, you know, once you get past the chatter the chatter, and and some of it's pretty entertaining. You know really, really good stuff.

Mike Gonzalez 10:38

Bruce, uh, weren't you playing with Trevino in the final round when you won at the Bob Hope?

Bruce Devlin 10:44

I was, interestingly, yeah. A little story. I don't know if John knows this or not, but coming down the uh 17th hole at uh La Quinta.

John Mahaffey 10:55

Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 10:56

Uh and you'll recall there's a roadway at the back uh that goes into the development. And yeah. Uh I got a two-shot lead there, and I drove it past Trevino after tea, and um my caddy Emil Smith was he was doing yardage and I was too. And I walk over to him and I said, Well, I got 138 to the front and 153 to the hole. Uh is that what you got, Emil? He said, Yeah, I got the same boss. He said, uh, I said, What do you think? And I looked down at the bag and went, oh, there was an arm around everything but a seven eye. Uh yeah, not a word was said. Uh the arm did not belong to Emil Smith. Really? Did not belong to Emil Smith.

John Mahaffey 11:49

Wow.

Bruce Devlin 11:50

He stood, he was standing there, never said a word. Just I mean, that's that's pretty uh pretty interesting.

John Mahaffey 12:00

Uh they don't make him any better than that, man.

Bruce Devlin 12:03

No, they don't. No. So after the after it was over, after I win, I said to him, Lee, look, uh you know, I I don't know what to say. You know, he said, all I can tell you is you could lose the golf tournament one way by hitting it out of bounds, and you couldn't do it with a seven eye.

John Mahaffey 12:25

Yeah. There you go. There you go.

Bruce Devlin 12:28

Simple explanation.

Mike Gonzalez 12:30

Yeah. Bruce, you got a call after that uh after that tournament as well. You were probably in the scorest tent or something.

Bruce Devlin 12:37

Yeah, I did. Yeah, I I got I was in the uh in the press tent and I got a phone call from a man by the name of Dean Martin, who was opening at the Sahara Club in Vegas that night. And he said, I got a plane on the way to pick you and Gloria up. Come up to the opening. So that was a pretty nice way to celebrate.

John Mahaffey 12:56

Oh my goodness, are you kidding? That's how about that? Well, there there again, how about the entertainers and the and the relationships we we all were able to build?

Bruce Devlin 13:04

We all had with them.

John Mahaffey 13:05

Yeah, yeah. It was great.

Mike Gonzalez 13:07

Yeah. Well, let's move ahead to the 1980 Kemper Open at Congressional by three over the Walrus.

John Mahaffey 13:17

Yeah, and it this uh there's a great story behind this. I think it's a great story. Um I'll preface it with with uh another one. Uh a Hogan story. They're both Hogan stories. But uh after playing the tour about four or five years, I went into I'd always go into to Mr. Hogan's office after I'd have some clubs made that had some new uh like the Apex 2 came out and stuff like that. So I'd always go up there ahead of the of the tour in December and get a couple of sets made. Gene Sheeley would make them and stuff like that. Hogan would approve, and we'll I'd go in his office and chat with him. So uh this one this one particular year I'd go in, or it I don't know if it was this year, but I I went in and started talking to him. And I said, uh and he had a schedule on his desk and he handed it to me. He says, All right, I want you to uh just put a check mark by all the tournaments that you that you like, all the tournaments that you that you want to play, that you like the golf course. So, you know, I went through there and you know Cherry picked about twenty-five of them out of forty, whatever we had. So Hogan looks at it and goes, that's what I thought. He tears it up and throws it in the garbage can. He said, There's not a tournament on there that you don't like. He says, the way you play that that's the problem with your game. You don't take your game to the golf course. I practice with you. You hit cuts, you hit your draws, high, low, and stuff. You become one-dimensional. Go ahead and use your talent. You can play any one of these golf courses you just by using your talent. And you know, and I said, well, there's one on there that I've really had a problem with, and it's congressional. I said, There's too many blind shots on congressional, and just drove me crazy. He says, He says, I hate blind shots too, but he says, you pick a target in the distance. And all that I mean, you know, it's just kind of giving me something positive to think about. And uh, because I'd withdrawn from uh from or missed the cut uh badly when we played the PGA at Congressional. Then when when I go to p to congressional in 1980, you know, I don't have the greatest vibes in the world, but I'm thinking, you know, I'm gonna put this, see what happens. And uh I played terrific golf, and that's the kind of golf course in my mind that uh that you need a guy that hits it high and long, and uh especially the the irons, somebody that can drop it in there soft on those greens because they used to get like bricks and they weren't very good uh to you know because they're they didn't get enough sunlight. They were always kind of uh hard and crusty and stuff. But that particular week, the hitting the fade and everything, and then having the opportunity to play with Trevino again the last round, yeah, uh that that was uh was pretty special. Uh he and I, I think, were tied, if I'm not mistaken, going into the final round and playing in the in the last group. And uh he didn't have a particularly good day, but he was chattering the whole way uh until I it got down to the nitty-gritty, and then he just he was supportive, just like he was with you.

Bruce Devlin 16:19

Yeah, yeah, amazing.

Mike Gonzalez 16:21

That's that's really neat. Uh uh next year, 1981, Anheuser Busch Golf Classic. Uh, you went at Kingsmill Golf Club by two over Andy North.

John Mahaffey 16:31

Yeah, that was the inaugural there for uh the Anheuser Busch. Never played that golf tournament, and I'd probably one of the other than Manila, probably the hottest place I've ever played in my life was right there at Kingsmill. But uh it was a Pete Die golf course. Uh it and uh I'd always fared pretty well at Pete Dye golf courses for some reason. I didn't hit it particularly long, but I was pretty accurate. Uh good iron player. And uh that week uh I think I had a six or seven shot lead or something going into the to the last ten holes. And any north shot, something like twenty-eight or twenty-nine on the last nine. Yeah. And got my attention because I walk up on the 18th hole and I'm and I gotta make par now to win. And I'm going, holy mackerel, that's not the easiest hole. You gotta, there's water, you gotta hit it up over a hill and all kinds of stuff. And uh I did. I knocked it on the green about 20 feet and two putty, but I'm it's kind of like where the heck did this guy come from? But uh it it I like that golf course. It was a good golf course. I I lost a playoff there to Mark Weeby uh a couple of years later. So uh one of the golf courses I really enjoyed playing.

Mike Gonzalez 17:40

Yeah, you you you played with a hometown boy there, didn't you too? Your final round, Curtis Strange? Did I play with Curtis? Yeah.

John Mahaffey 17:47

Yeah, probably I might have played with Curtis final round. What a what a career that man's had. Unbelievable.

Bruce Devlin 17:56

You had a little little gap there between that and the uh second win at the Hope there. What was a couple of years with no wins. What was there any particular reason? Just played pretty good but couldn't couldn't get through the goalposts, huh?

John Mahaffey 18:13

Well I I to be quite honest with you, I think that and I I'm not afraid to talk about this now. Uh and I was for a long time. Uh at some point in my career my focus was sidetracked, okay? Uh and it caused a lot of personal issue issues and uh and took me away from uh really performing on the tour like I should have. Uh and it it's something that I'm not proud of, but something that uh that now I'm able to face. And it's you know, I I had a uh issue with with alcohol and uh it started out slow and uh gained momentum and unfortunately uh now I'm great. It uh uh I hadn't had a that's I'm 22 years sober. Wish I'd have I'd have paid attention to to more uh of the game and and less of the of the other back in the day, but I didn't. Uh I think that's one of the reasons that Hogan and I parted ways. Actually, I think that uh as I said, he he had an eye on me for a long time and uh I think that he knew the talent that I had and that I I'd actually thrown it away. Uh turned a Hall of Fame career into a decent career, but something that uh I left so much on the table. Uh I own what I did. I face up to what I did. Like I say, twenty-two years that and uh now I I never played I haven't played uh I I won't say I didn't play as well. Uh I had some hip issues and everything that that that were entered into that those those years as well. I had both hips replaced uh eleven years ago. But anyway, twenty-two years of sobriety. Had an opportunity to to change my life, turn my life around. Met a wonderful lady I've been married to for over twenty years now, or been with with over twenty years. And uh, you know, when one door closes, uh several open. Got to good work at the Golf Channel and uh now being an author. So uh I really I don't delve on this because uh I don't want to to use it as an excuse. Uh it's something that happened, but uh and I wish it never had. I wish I would uh I wish I could go back and uh and correct all that.

Bruce Devlin 20:51

So did your psychology major help you make that decision, John? Do you think?

John Mahaffey 20:57

No, actually what happened was Bruce, and I haven't worded this exactly like I wanted to because I don't talk about it very much. Right. Um But I had a friend of mine, actually with the last name of Devlin, Tom Devlin. I don't know if you know who he is, but I've got I do know who he is. Yeah, uh he was an entrepreneur, started Rena Center and sold that and member at Vintage out in California. Anyway, we we became friends, and uh it was in the at the height of uh my non sobriety. I was uh at his place in Wichita, Kansas. I was staying in his pool house, and uh he was try I I think he was trying to get through to me, but I I wasn't paying much attention. And he walked in the pool house one one morning at ten o'clock, and uh I had had a terrible night. I went out to dinner with him, made a fool out of myself in a in a restaurant, stopped on the way home, and you had those these drive through through liquor stores that you could buy a case of beer or whatever you wanted to do, and then how I got there and how I got back home I have no idea. But anyway, uh I already had a beer in my hand at ten in the morning. And Tom walks in and he says, Uh, okay, I'm gonna tell you something. You're always gonna be a friend of mine. But I got one question, and you don't have to answer me. Think about this. Everything that's gone wrong in your life, is it because of that in your hand? And it hit me like a ton of bricks. I went over to the sink and I poured that out. And I looked at him, I said, Can you put me on an airplane? Pour me on an airplane today to Houston. That was May 16th, 2000, 10 in the morning. So he done. He put me on a plane. I went back to Houston, went through the woodlands, I turned off my air conditioner, uh, opened up my windows, uh, got in a sweatsuit, got down on my knees, looked up, and said, You and I both know I can't do this alone. And uh it's been 22 years, and I hadn't had a drink since.

Bruce Devlin 22:58

Good for you.

John Mahaffey 22:59

And uh it's been marvelous. Had I had the courage to do this before, you know, who knows? Yeah, who knows? But uh I I hate the fact that uh the thing that bothers me probably more than anything else is the hurtful things I did to people and the and and and letting Ben Hogan down.

SPEAKER_04 23:17

Yeah.

John Mahaffey 23:18

And you know, things I don't know that I did that I did.

SPEAKER_04 23:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 23:22

Did that sort of affect the uh sort of the end of your relationship with uh Hogan as he was in his failing years?

John Mahaffey 23:30

I think there's no doubt about that. Uh what happened was uh in 1989, uh no, 1986 I won the players' championship, and and that year I won the Hogan, uh, they had a bonus program, and I won the bonus program. So I went to the dinner and I got a beautiful ring, diamond ring, and stuff from Hogan, and you know, and everything, and I thought, well, and uh at that time I think it was a$50,000 bonus, all right, which was a lot of money.

SPEAKER_04 23:59

Yeah.

John Mahaffey 23:59

And uh so I was I went in like I normally do in December to negotiate a contract for the next year, and there was a guy sitting at Hogan's desk, and Hogan was standing beside it. And AMF had just bought the Hogan Company, and this was one of their representatives, and uh Hogan had been nice enough. I never wore a hat. I represented the Woodlands for a very long time, too, during this period. And um, I always wore a Woodlands hat, but I wore a Hogan shirt with, you know, with on the sleeve and Woodlands on the chest and the Woodlands hat. And this guy, you know, I'm thinking I'm gonna up my anti. I want to see if I get, you know, why not? If that's one of the best financial years I've ever had, plus being a players champion. Anyway, uh this guy goes, okay, here's your contract. He said, uh it's for ten thousand dollars, that's it. You have to wear the hat and the shirt. And, you know, and I'm looked at Hogan, and Hogan just kind of looked at me and then he walked out. And that's the last thing I ever saw. Last time I ever saw him or spoke to him. And I I th I think he was it was a double shot for him. One that he felt like he let me down, but he but I but he knew I let him down, you know, kind of thing. And it was kind of uh both of us are proud men. And uh I'm sorry for that that happening. Uh but I I think, yeah, Mike, to answer your question, I think there was a uh that was a lot of the reason that that Hogan and I split ways.

Mike Gonzalez 25:27

Yeah, you know, if you go back to the timeline we were on with you winning the Anheuser Busch in 81, uh was it an 82 that you were able to uh uh get away from it for a few years uh the first time?

John Mahaffey 25:38

I did, but but the problem is, and you know what, that was probably a great lesson for me. I got away from it and thinking I'd be okay if I just had one or two. Ha, nice try. One or two leads to six or seven, leads to a case, leads to tequila, and see you later. So yeah, that didn't that didn't work for me. And it took me till 2000 to get it all straightened out. Yeah, and but one another thing that I found out were who my really true friends were. After that, because well I lost friends uh and I I ruined um three marriages, you know. So, you know, it was and my wife, uh Elizabeth, has never seen me take a drink. I met her after this all to after I'd I'd been sober for about a year or so or more. So, you know, it's um but but that uh the fact that I I knew I couldn't take just one. You can have just one. No, I can't.

SPEAKER_04 26:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

John Mahaffey 26:36

You know, yeah, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 26:38

Well you won uh as as Bruce mentioned, you won again uh the Bob Hope the second time playoff in uh uh against Jim Simons. Uh and Bruce, we've had a lot of we've had a lot of uh Bob Hope winners on the show over the course of these past few months.

Bruce Devlin 26:53

Yeah, it's very interesting because uh uh quite well it's a few years ago now. Uh I received a flag from the Bob Hope Desert Classic from from a gentleman who had acquired all of the signatures of the guys that had won the Bob Hope Desert Classic. Did you ever receive that, John? Did you ever receive that?

John Mahaffey 27:18

I did not. No.

Bruce Devlin 27:19

You did not. Interesting. Of course, there was a little note with it. I can't remember the gentleman's name right now, but uh he said that that what he was trying to do was to get all of the living people that had won the Bob Hope Desert Classic to sign that flag. So I I signed it and sent it back to me, but I can't I I wish I could remember his name, but I can't. But I I just thought it'd be interesting to know if you had ever received it or not.

John Mahaffey 27:48

I probably if I signed it, I probably received it, but then you know, I probably sent it back to him as well. Yeah. Well we we we used we you probably still get a whole bunch of stuff to sign, you know.

Bruce Devlin 27:59

I I still get stuff, yeah. It's quite remarkable, isn't it? Really?

John Mahaffey 28:03

I think it's great. Yeah, it's great. You know, as I said, we have a great fraternity. You know that.

Bruce Devlin 28:09

Yeah. So after that, uh in uh 85, you win the Texas Open, beat Jody Mudd in a playoff.

John Mahaffey 28:17

In a playoff.

Bruce Devlin 28:18

Yeah.

John Mahaffey 28:19

A little history about the Texas Open. That was the first golf tournament I ever saw in person uh when I was a kid. My uncle Henry, Uncle Hank, took me to to uh Oak Hills and on for the final round. He had two tickets, and I followed Arnold Palmer, Gene Littler, and Chi Chi Rodriguez. How bad that's now are there three different different people that you could follow three guys? And I was in heaven and I was hooked. I was hooked, uh, unbelievable. I wanted to play so bad. You know, watching those guys and seeing the huge crowds and how well they performed, and Arnold hitching up his pants, and Chi Chi knocking at nine miles, and Gene Littler with that swing. Yeah, all three of those guys became very good friends of mine through the years. Isn't that I mean it's incredible what this game can do bringing people together, isn't it? Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 29:14

That's terrific.

John Mahaffey 29:15

But anyway, yeah, uh playing against Jody Mudd, I birdied uh four out of the last five holes at Oak Hills together, including eighteen, the par three. And uh sadly, uh we both birdied we went to the first hole for uh for the playoff, and we both parred the first hole and um the second hole, Jody, it's a little par three, short par three.

SPEAKER_04 29:38

Yeah.

John Mahaffey 29:38

And Jody buried it in the face of the bunker, and I hit it about twelve feet, and he left it in the bunker, then he blasted it to the back of the green, then he chipped it short. You know, so basically it was sort of a gift.

SPEAKER_04 29:49

Yeah.

John Mahaffey 29:50

Uh not taking anything away from Jody. He marvelous played really terrific golf swing and a good career.

SPEAKER_04 29:58

Yeah.

John Mahaffey 29:58

But I that tournament was very special to me, being the first one I've ever seen uh to win in my home state uh at Oak Hills, uh, which I think is one of the one of the finer golf courses, and the oldest, I think, that we still or used to still play. Uh unbelievable.

Bruce Devlin 30:18

So the next year you uh you won a tournament that most players that played on the on the uh PGA tour would love to win. That's a players' championship. Uh and you beat a another great player, Larry Myers, by a shot there.

John Mahaffey 30:34

I did. I did. And uh the great story here, all right. I shoot 65 the third round to get in contention. All right, playing with Larry. He's got a a pretty decent lead going into the to the last nine. And before I ever teed off, uh I was pissed in with a friend of mine and stuff, and we were talking about uh an optimistic friend, all right, and he says, Okay, so you get to the 18th hole and you got a chance to win. You're one back, one up, or tied, and you have the honor. What are you gonna do? And I said, Well he said, What are you gonna do to make a statement? So my go-to shot had always been, and we all had a go-to shot, my go-to shot had always been to tee it low and hit a low cut. So I said, What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna stand up there and I'm gonna get on the left side of the T, I'm gonna tee it high, and I'm gonna absolutely hit the biggest ripping hook around that leg that I can hit.

SPEAKER_04 31:39

Uh-oh.

John Mahaffey 31:40

You know? Uh-oh. Alright. So, well, wait a minute. I don't know if you guys can see this picture or not. All right. You see that?

Bruce Devlin 31:49

Yeah, I do. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

John Mahaffey 31:52

I keep this as my desk, all right? It's without a doubt the greatest tee shot I ever hit under pressure in my life. Because I come to the last hole, and Larry had a little trouble coming in. Uh, I made some birdies and come to the last hole, and we're tied. All right. And I have the honor. And I get on the left side of the T and I hit the most beautiful draw, and I mean I hit it right in the screws, and it went around that corner and hit the downslope and went down.

SPEAKER_04 32:22

Way down there.

John Mahaffey 32:23

Way down there. And Larry, I mean, his eyes were like saucers. Oh, I hadn't hit a hook in years, I don't think. And uh to pull that out of the out of the hat was kind of uh, you know, kind of eye-opening for him, to say the least. And he blocked it right and uh left it right of the green, chipped it short, and I two-putted. I made a three and a half footer for the two-putt, but uh I didn't lag too well. I was trying to leave it short and hit it three feet by. You know how that works with the nerves sometimes.

Bruce Devlin 32:50

It's always the hardest thing to do.

John Mahaffey 32:52

Yeah. And made the putt. Uh and again, right place, right time. Because when in the PGA got me a 10-year exemption, went in that got me another 10-year exemption, it kept me a year short of getting on the senior tour, which I could use my 50 all-time. There you go. So I could I was exempt now all the way to the senior tour. So, you know, right place, right time.

Bruce Devlin 33:18

Yeah. So your last uh last win you won the uh FedEx uh St. Jude then uh in uh 89.

John Mahaffey 33:28

Again, uh inaugural event for that. Uh South wind. Uh you know, the Pete Dye Hubert Green combination. Uh I love the golf course. Played well, always played well on Pete Dye. Love to play Harbor Town. I came in uh top ten a lot there too. Had a chance to win in one year when I think Doug Toole won. But um I like the golf course. I had a on uh played well the the final round. Well, uh you know, I get to the 14th hole in the final round, part three, it's Hubert's hole that he designed. I hate this thing. It's really long downhill, and the green kind of goes around this lake, and they have the whole location, obviously. A final round over on the right side. One you really want to wouldn't want to go after, but I'm playing so good right now, and good and a little bit stupid, that I don't hit it for the middle of the green. I go at the flag and a gust of wind catches it just at the last, it's headed right at it. Uh I think I hit a two-iron. And uh it comes falls back down into the lake. So now I gotta go drop it. And uh short of the lake. And luckily I got it up and down for four. Had I not, I probably wouldn't have won the tournament because I was so t ticked off at myself for hitting such a stupid shot. Then I made a couple of birdies coming in and uh hit a good T shot at at 18, which was always a birdie's 17th of all holes, birdie 16 and 17. And uh the 18th I drove it down the right side, hit a four and about twenty feet, and uh two putted to win by a few.

Mike Gonzalez 35:00

Let me ask you a question about fourteen. Then facing that sort of averse adversity, had you taken yourself back ten years ago before that, would you have handled that uh with the same mindset you were able to handle it with that day?

John Mahaffey 35:13

Probably not. Probably not. A lot more experience. And the thing is that I I think once you get a little more mature, you can forgive yourself quicker when you make a mistake on a golf course, because we do do that sometimes. You get caught up in the moment, and everybody does, you get excited. It's not pressure, it's just that you're so excited and you're playing so well, you just you know, boy, if I could just burdy this hole, you know, I could really slam the door. Well, that wasn't really the hole to to try that on. But to get away with four was was magical.

Mike Gonzalez 35:47

Yeah, so uh if I remember correctly, 17 years prior to this, I thought you mentioned that you'd come close, finished second in Memphis, and here you are booking your final victory in Memphis.

John Mahaffey 36:00

How about that? Memphis was good to me. So was uh uh the one in Massachusetts. Uh you and I won, Bruce, the American Optical. Yeah. That got golf course should never have been uh good for me. It was long. Well, probably the longest we had on the tour at that time.

Bruce Devlin 36:19

It was pretty long. Yeah, remember uh Cosmongola?

John Mahaffey 36:23

Yes, I do. And Ted, his son?

Bruce Devlin 36:25

That's right.

John Mahaffey 36:26

Yeah, they were great people. They did it. They love their golf, I'll tell you that.

Mike Gonzalez 36:32

Pleasant Valley. 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, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Outro Music 36:58

It went smack down the fairway. But it's tired of this lights just to smet you off line. We've had it, but too.