Larry Nelson - Part 2 (The Major Championships)

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Speaking of friends, who were some of your other early friends uh coming out on the tour?

Larry Nelson 0:20

Uh you know, it was funny, and Bruce probably understands this too. We um you travel so separately out there at time um that it um it was just it and we carried our families with us, which was uh kind of an anomaly before the guys kind of went out and uh you know, they maybe they partied or spent time in the bars or whatever, but we were kind of the first generation to start taking our families with us. Um and uh so uh, you know, I was taking care of a three and a five-year-old or a one and a three-year-old, and didn't have much time to get in relationships basically uh out there. Uh I didn't play in college, so I didn't have college friends, or you know, so um but uh people like Wally Armstrong and Don Pooley and um were were guys that we spent some time with. Um and uh I mean it was a lot of it was out of convenience. I mean, Mark and I would go play, and maybe Mark and Jana uh they would drive the car you know to the next event or something like that. So uh it it's a little different, much different now than it was then. Of course, we had to rent cars and buy our food in the clubhouse at that time and pay for range balls. We actually rented a range ball.

Mike Gonzalez 1:45

Or brought your own, right?

Larry Nelson 1:46

Oh yeah. We I mean, and there were a couple of places where we had shag bags, Westchester and Colonial. You used uh your shag bag to play. So uh it's much different. Now, now you go out to the practice team, you know, this day in time they say, What kind of ball are you hitting? Yeah, yeah. So you get to hit your own ball. So we were lucky just to get around when when we played.

Mike Gonzalez 2:07

So Bruce, uh, what's your recollection of the first time you guys crossed paths?

Bruce Devlin 2:12

Oh, gee. I I I don't be honest with you, I I don't recall the first time we uh Bruce was a star when I was out there.

Larry Nelson 2:20

So I I mean I probably remember seeing him more than he remember seeing me, but uh but Bruce Crampton was interesting. Um I mean I go I was playing in Tucson my first year, um, and of course you didn't have places to practice and uh you know all this kind of stuff, and I'm over at a driving range somewhere on the other side of I-10 or whatever the thing was, a little old driving range, and I'm hitting balls and I hear this guy say, Oh, what'd you do? How'd you do today? Or something. Turn around and reproofs. Yeah. And uh so it was it was so much different than it is this day and time. You you don't you didn't travel together and you had to find a place to play or practice, which you know it it was just hard to do. And uh if you didn't see them in the clubhouse, you pretty much didn't see them anywhere.

Mike Gonzalez 3:11

So uh back to your string of wins on the PGA tour. Uh I I would say you went back to back, although there were a couple of intervening years, but uh the Walt Disney tournament you won twice, I suppose, if I remember correctly, that was played on the Palms and the Magnolia course down there. Yes.

Larry Nelson 3:30

Yeah, I I loved those two golf courses. They were so different for both of them being right there in the same facility. But um Magnolia course was a long golf course for that day and time. Uh and the palms were shorter, but had a lot more trouble. Um and I always enjoyed playing uh those two courses, and then Lake Buena Vista came in. I think the second time I won, we had we played Lake Buena Vista. Um I'm not sure. I think we did. Uh but uh I always enjoyed being there. And the kids, it was what was so funny, is the kids just of course they loved it, and then Disney, they just took care of everything, gave us tickets, and you know, we do all this stuff. And uh and I won the first year, and they that was the best thing. They got to run around with Mickey and Minnie and Pluto and all the people on the on the green and all that stuff. And second time I won, uh, 87, I think. Yeah. I was I was seven shots behind going into the last day, and I told Gail, I said, just take the boys home. I said, take them home on Sunday. They got school that they're going to on Monday. They kind of argue with me a little bit, and I said, Listen, I'm seven shots behind. I said, you know, it's not going to be the same as it was. That was the hardest phone call I ever made from the press room. Uh boys, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I won the tournament and uh I shot 63 the last round. Oh boy. And uh won the tournament. Didn't even have to go in the playoff. I was there for an hour and a half in the press room waiting for everybody to finish. And uh I said, boys, I'm sorry, but listen, they gave me a watch to bring you. So that was the that was the the big deal. But um, yeah, I always enjoyed playing down there, and it seemed like that uh I played, you know, played a lot, uh, played good in the fall. Um but in the summertime I didn't play that much because the boys' baseball and and all that and soccer. Um so my schedule was kind of limited in uh in the summertime. The U.S. Open, I played the British Open, uh, but and the PGA, but that was pretty much it. I didn't play all that much in the summer.

Bruce Devlin 5:52

So the Magnolia Course is something that I have remembered and repeated many, many times. It was something that happened to me at the Magnolia Course, and it happened every time I played there, the tenth hole of par five. Yes. Right. If I could drive it to the front edge of the left-hand bunker, it was 235 to carry it over the greenside bunk bunker in front of the the green. And yes, and and that was my absolute strongest, best, hardest three wood that I could hit. Today that's only that's only 70 yards behind what these guys can hit it now. Good gracious.

Larry Nelson 6:30

Well, that's what I I tell people all the time when I'm talking to them. I says, you know, I won, I still hold the USGA record at Oakmont or the last two days, 10 under par the last two days in the US Open, and it was at Oakmont, and they asked me, was it how'd you do it? And I said, Well, it I had the benefit of using iron shafts, wooden clubs, and a lot of balls. You know, I so it was it was easy. Yeah, it made it much easier than um than what it is now. So uh that's kind of uh it's uh you know, the game has changed a lot since we played. Um and I mean I I was a member, I joined Atlanta Country Club in 81, um, and I still play out there today, and until I had the back issue, but um I was hitting shorter clubs into the greens, flying it over bunkers that I didn't do back in the 70s and the 80s that I could do in 2000 because the equipment.

Bruce Devlin 7:27

Yeah. Just while we're on that subject, then do you do you think all of this new technology is uh has benefited the average player, or do you think the pros are the ones that have received all the full benefit of all this technology?

Larry Nelson 7:41

Oh, the pros have received much more benefit, I think, than the amateurs have. Um you know, they uh the ball, the ball now uh just goes as far as you can hit it. I mean, there's no you know, the old balls, if you hit it hard, it just go up higher. I mean, pretty much. I mean, a a long hitter back in our day was 20 yards past us. I mean, maybe, maybe two clubs, you know, past us. That would that would be a long. Now it's 100 yards or 90 yards or 80 yards for you know the difference between the guy out there trying to make a living and the long guy. Uh I think that's the biggest difference is the ball. But the the size of the head and that kind of stuff, can you imagine swinging 125 miles an hour with a with a head that's just about the same size as the ball? And uh so anyway, I think they they lost it with the size of the club, the length of the club, uh, and the ball. Uh I think that's you know, uh but Balata Bruce, you and I know I'd take a ball, we used to carry little rings. Rings, you know? So and if a ball ball would go through it one way and wouldn't go through the other, you'd throw it away.

SPEAKER_04 8:56

That's right.

Larry Nelson 8:56

Or if it went through real quick, then you would keep it for a par five. If it didn't go through at all, you'd try to see if they gave you enough balls that some of them would. But um, yeah, it it was uh much different today. I mean, you can buy you can go to the PGA tour superstore now and buy balls, and it's the same ball we're using out there on the tour.

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(Cont.) Larry Nelson - Part 2 (The Major Championships)

Bruce Devlin 9:17

So the last uh your last victory on the uh tour was in in UF, a town you spent a lot of time in Atlanta, that you know, Atlanta golf classic again.

Larry Nelson 9:31

Yes, and I actually lived uh on the 18th Fairway then. We had built a house there in uh 82. We moved in in 82, which was really interesting. We it didn't have any significance to me at the time when I bought the lot, it was on Oakmont Circle. And so we moved into the house uh in 82, and then I won the U.S. Open in Oakmont the next year. So uh everybody that had my address says, oh, they changed the name of the street. No, no, no, no. No. I tried to find uh the uh wingfoot the next year, but it didn't work. Didn't work well it's nice to have home field advantage.

Mike Gonzalez 10:16

Uh not not many guys can say they live on the 18th hole of the course that they just won on.

Larry Nelson 10:21

Yeah, true yeah, it made the trip home a lot better. It did. Yeah, I told you that uh my uh the caddy situation changed quite a bit, but this year uh in 88, um I decided that uh what I'd like to do is just use the the guy who is the head caddy there at Atlanta Country Club. Pap, everybody knew Pap, uh just a good guy. He took care of the kids a lot when they'd go out and play. And um so I said, Pap, you want to work for me this week? He said, sure, no problem. And so went out and I played really well. I mean, I had a pretty good pretty good lead going into last day, and but ended up having to birdie the last hole to win. But walking down the 18th fairway, everybody was saying, Yay, Pap, yay, pap. Nobody was saying, you know, no, no, they were all yelling for Pap. And it was such a neat experience for uh it was a neat experience for me, but I think for the membership and for Pap, I think it was a huge deal. So but one other little caddy story, I gotta tell you this. Um I did a lot of stuff over in Japan, and one of my partners over there had a um guy that he wanted to me get him to know a little bit more about golf and the language and all that stuff, and he just asked me if if this this young man could work for me for a year or for a period of time. I said, sure, no problem. Um so I'm playing, we're playing the PGA down at the uh West Palm Beat, and uh he's caddying for me. And I said it was the best caddy week I had ever had, uh, because the only English word he knew was yes. And uh so no matter what question I asked him, the answer was yes. You know, is the wind blowing this way? Yes. Is this the right club? Yes. Does the putt break left? Yes. So it was the most positive, most positive week I ever had.

Mike Gonzalez 12:19

Yeah, exactly. Interesting. Exactly. So before we start uh talking about your major championship performance, uh uh you gotta remind our listeners about the Amana hat and and what the deal was for you guys, because they paid you a little stipend to wear it. What was the deal back then with those?

Larry Nelson 12:37

Uh well, it they paid you$100 a week. You know, that and I was trying to figure out that probably paid at that time, probably paid for a meals for a week, uh I would think. But the big deal is you got a chance to go up to Amana, Iowa and do their casino and play in the tournament, you know, they it was a big deal. Um I don't think anybody did it for the$100 a week. Uh and uh we get Roy Clark would sing and you know they'd have uh so it was just it was a good deal. And uh so I wore the hat for I guess three years, maybe 79, probably 79 till uh through 83, and then uh that was it. But um it was a pretty good deal. Matter of fact, I still have one. Uh Atlanta Country Club has one of my old bags and some of the old clubs and my amana hat on one of the clubs.

Mike Gonzalez 13:33

So it was a brilliant marketing maneuver back then by whoever developed that idea.

Larry Nelson 13:40

Oh, it was. I mean, uh Frank Chinagan said he wouldn't show me on television uh if because I was wearing the Amana hat. He said unless I was winning, he wouldn't show me. Yeah. But because they didn't spend any money advertising, and that that was his thing. But but he showed a lot of the Michelobe guys. So Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 13:58

I wonder I wonder what was happening there. Yeah, I wonder. Yeah, I wonder.

Mike Gonzalez 14:03

Well, let's talk about the majors and and maybe uh instead of taking them in the order that they're played throughout the year, let's take them more uh um talk about U.S. Open PGA where you had victories, and we'll come back and pick up the other. So let's just start with the U.S. Open for Larry Nelson. 20 starts, 14 cuts, made three top fives, eight top 25s with his best finish in 1983 with the win at Oakmont by uh one over Tom Watson.

Larry Nelson 14:30

Yes. It's such an interesting week that was because um we uh rented a house uh not far from the golf course because the it it you just can't rent anything that's pretty close. And you have one bridge that you gotta go over uh to get over to Oakmont. So we rented a house and had a three and a five-year-old, and I get up there and my clubs didn't come. I mean uh uh all of our other luggage got there, but my clubs, and uh so I didn't have anything to practice with. Um fortunate enough, uh they had a a B sixty putter, which was what I used uh in the pro shop, and the guys let me use it. So I just practiced putting for about a day and a half before my clubs got there, which turned out to be, I think, probably a good thing, because I did end up putting really well that week. Um but um wasn't hitting a ball. I shot I think 48 or something the first two days, one forty-eight, uh, which just barely made the cut. Um and I decided that um what was happening to me was I was getting too nervous. You know, I was looking down, I see the bunkers and the rough was knee high, it seemed like. Um it probably was knee high. And uh I get nervous and get tight, so I decided I wasn't gonna look down anymore. Uh I was gonna pick me out of spot, kind of like what Nicholas does, pick me out of spot um six to eight inches in front of the ball and never look down the fairway, never look up. And um, but by I guess by late Saturday afternoon, I had enough confidence in what I was doing, it didn't matter what I was looking at. So but that helped me, that helped me kind of make the transition. It got to where I could feel my swing more. Um and I mean I played really well. I didn't miss a green uh the last day. I shot 60 67, I guess, and uh um two three putts, the only two bogeys I made. Uh so it was mechanically everything was really good and it was thinking very well. I mean, uh not only did I beat Watson, but Balisteros in the last group. He and uh Watson and Balesteros were tied. And uh so we had to catch them. But Watson played well. Watson shot uh sixty-nine, I think, and uh or sixty-eight. I shot sixty-seven. Um or six yeah, I guess he shot sixty-nine, but I ended up winning by a shot. And so um but uh I I never was not any pressure. We had to go back. Um we had stopped. I had three holes to play when the rains came, thunderstorms came, and so I had to go back home. It's actually like spending two Saturday nights, I guess, with a league. Um I had to finish the next day, next morning, but didn't have any problem. Um boys seemed to do well, so um just got out the next day. I could have played the last three holes with four clubs. I knew exactly what I was gonna hit um but ended up making a sixty foot putt on the sixteenth hole. First putt of the day, make it six from sixty feet. Um and then um just ended up parring and uh actually three putted the last hole to win the tournament. I think the only thing that was bad about this is that you know you think about winning the US Open by that point I was hoping to win the US Open at some point. Um when you walk up to the crowds or whatever on 18 and uh I was kind of denied that because the next day they didn't have as many people there. Um and so I think that was the only disappointing part of it, but uh I think being able to play as well as I played the last two rounds um was uh I think uh something I probably remember the most my whole career.

Mike Gonzalez 18:28

Yeah, yeah. So let's let's back up and and uh because you skimmed over a few things that I think our listeners would be quite interested in. Uh first of all, I give a little shout out to my co-host here because uh uh Bruce Devlin was in contention after being in contention at uh Pebble the previous year, by the way. Uh the old war horse. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Old war horse.

Mike Gonzalez 18:48

But uh uh he was one back of Sevy after 18. Uh you mentioned Sevy by Asteros uh, you know, making a run. Uh and then he shared the third the uh 54-hole lead with Tom Watson, leading you by one, uh having played uh his last hole 14, uh his last 14 holes in seven under. Um so pretty good finish to make the cut. And then so let's go through that final round in a little bit more detail. Watson opens his final round with a 31 on the front to take a three-shot lead over you. Right. And then before the reins come, you birdie 14 to Ty Watson, who had just bogeyed 10 and 12.

Larry Nelson 19:27

Yes. That was, you know, Bruce will know. You just got to keep your head down at Oakmont. You got the hottest golf course. The hottest golf course. A lot of, you know, I I tell somebody that I was playing pretty good, and I get to the tenth hole. I've got, I don't know if I hit three wood off the T or what, but middle of the fairway, I've got a five-iron into the tenth hole. I mean, now they're driving it down there where it didn't hit wedge or something, but head of five iron uh into that hole, and there was a little uh ground under repair white circle right in front of the green. And with a five iron, I knew I had to land this ball right around that circle, right in that ground under repair area, and let it just kind of trickle onto the green. Um, anyway, hit exactly where I wanted to hit it. And it was in the I ended up about 10 or 11 feet short and to the right of the hole. And I was worried about putting it off the green. A little quick. Yes. And so I mean, from 10 to 11 feet, all you try and do is two-putt. I mean, that's how you know how difficult that golf course was. And I remember Sevi playing in front of me uh one day uh on the uh 11th hole, and he had hit it in the left rough, and he was over there taking a practice swing, and I couldn't see his knees. I mean, that's how high the rough was over on the 11th, you know, 11th hole. So it was not only were the greens quick, not only was the golf course playing long because it was wet, but the rough, uh you know, you couldn't play it out of there uh if you had anything more than a sandwich. So anyway, it was it was it's uh you know, when you're playing good, things don't bother you. When you're playing bad, everything bothers you. And uh but that week uh I was hitting the ball after the first two days as good as I've ever hit it, and so I didn't care who was ahead of me or behind me or whatever, it didn't matter. I was just able to play, you know, the way I wanted to play.

Mike Gonzalez 21:33

Well, as you mentioned, uh your 65-67 finish broke the U.S. Open scoring record held by Gene Sarazin for 51 years up until that point, uh, still yet to be equaled. So uh it's one thing to shoot 65 67 in the last two days of an of a U.S. Open. It's quite another to do it at Oakmont.

Bruce Devlin 21:52

Isn't that the truth? So I got one little story that Larry, you you'll understand this very well. I took some friends of mine to Oakmont uh a couple of years ago in the fall, and and we played there for a couple of days in a row. The first day we played, uh one one of my uh guests were uh was in the golf cart, and we're and I'm walking with the member, because you've got to have a member with you to play there. So we're walking down the first hole, and uh my friend says to the member, so uh is there anything, you know, anything special about this about the first uh first green? And he said, Well, yes, he said uh the best thing you can do is uh hit it in the back rough with your second shot. And uh my friend said, So why would you do that? He said, Because if you don't hit your second in the back rough, you'll hit your third in there. Because you won't be able to hold the green.

Larry Nelson 22:50

Yeah, that's great. That's a Sam Sneed said, What it was he marked it, marked his ball with a dime in his dime slid six inches. But in the practice rounds that that week, uh went to the top, uh, you know, the back of the second green. And you could drop it on the green, you could drop the ball on the fringe of the second green, it ran all the way off the front. And uh so yeah, yeah you had to make sure that the ball was in the right spot um when you're putting and you know when you're trying to just you know make a par or something. So yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 23:26

Well, what a great venue to get to this U.S. Open Championship. Uh Tom Watson uh had another close call there just a few years before that, didn't he? He uh he lost to Mahaffey in a playoff in the 1978 PGA. So something about uh that golf course uh he could he could play it as well. Let's just talk about two other uh I'll call them near misses. You can tell me whether they were or not in terms of whether you felt you were, you know, you you had a real chance. But one was that in 1979 where you tied for fourth at Inverness. Uh uh I think you led by three after 36 holes, ended up finishing up four behind the eventual winner, Hale Irwin.

Larry Nelson 24:05

Right. We uh actually I was playing Tom Pertzer and I were tied, I think, tied for the lead after 36 holes or something like that. I don't know what it was, but we were anyway, we we were kind of playing together and played really well. And Inverness was one of those golf courses where the Greens were really quick. I mean, and they they were touted to be the fastest uh of any of our U.S. open venues. Um so that's before we got to Oakmont. But um yeah, I was playing well. I I it was just one of those because I'd won, you know, earlier uh and I guess it'd won twice. No, no, I just won once, and then uh played there in June, then I won the other one the Western Western Open. But uh Inverness was a good golf course, and you know they um I I had not had the opportunity to play in too many open opens before that, and uh so it it seemed to be the opens seemed to be kind of my style of golf course at that point. Um because like I said, I was not a great putter, not a really good sand player at that point. Uh I was getting better. Um, but ball hitting was kind of what I relied on. And um opens and PGAs at that time required you know, ball hitting. And uh so uh that was kind of I guess just kind of getting to where I enjoyed the US Open. Uh instead of hating it, you know, a lot of people hated it. I loved it. And uh so I think that's the reason why over the years that I I played as well as I did. I even though I think I played in the last group two or three times when I didn't win. Uh so it was one of those that I just enjoyed taking part in it.

Mike Gonzalez 25:54

Yeah, you uh you finished three out of a playoff uh at Hazletine in 91. Payne Stewart was in a playoff with uh with Scott Simpson. Payne eventually won that, but uh uh you tied for third in that uh particular open.

Larry Nelson 26:08

And uh the Curtis Strange, I was playing with him when he won. Um at I don't know if it was the Detroit or the other one. Um Massachusetts. Brookline, was it?

Mike Gonzalez 26:20

Yeah, he was either at the country club or at Oak Hill, depending on what year.

Larry Nelson 26:24

I think Oak Hill was where um I played with him the last round.

Mike Gonzalez 26:29

So let's move on to the PGA championship then for Larry Nelson. 27 starts, 13 cuts made. He had two top fives. Of course, those were wins, four top 25s. And uh let's talk about the two wins. Those are the highlights. 1981, where he wins it at Atlanta Athletic Club by four over Fuzzy Zeller, uh, with Fuzzy sporting his new perm that week.

Larry Nelson 26:50

Oh, that was cute, yeah. Uh um yeah, I'm going, uh, you know, I'm living in Ackworth, so it's about a 45-50-minute drive from Ackworth over to Duluth, where um the uh North Cross, where the tournament was, at the athletic club, and um had a lot of time to think, you know, when you're driving that long and uh just through country really. And I had a three-shot going in, three shot lead, and um didn't know, I knew I was playing well, uh, but I knew that uh fuzzy and Tom Kite was the other one uh that I played with the last day and uh and it was hot. I mean it was hot, typical for Atlanta in August, and um didn't really know how I was doing but knew I was playing well and uh just got off to just kind of a normal start and um played better than they did and even with a lead I think ended up winning by four. Um yeah I think I improved my lead anyway, but I can remember going to the last hold which uh you know they take a par five and make a par four out of it, and I knew I had at that point that I had a pretty good lead and I had a four iron into the green and told my caddy and says, Well, I'm just gonna hit it in a left bunker. And uh that was the best shot I hit all day. I hit it I hit it hit it in the left bunker. Uh because you don't want to miss it right or short anyway, there uh because the water unless you want to get wet. So I hit it in the left bunker and uh got it up and down uh to win by four. But um the thing is you have to walk around the lake uh and between the the walkway is between the stands and the the lake, getting it to getting around where you can get onto the green and just seeing a lot of my friends, my family, Bert, Seagraves was there, uh, and my dad, mom, um Gail, of course, my wife, and um it it was fun to to be able to um just see everyone. Um and as Bruce knows you kind of you you go from a qualifier to a tournament winner, and then you go from a multiple tournament winner, hopefully to a major winner, and then so this was one of the steps. This was kind of the next step, and I felt, well, maybe I do belong out here. So um and it it's it it it was a fun to do it at home with my family and friends. Um it it was it was a good good week.

Mike Gonzalez 29:27

How helpful was it to play with Fuzzy Zeller? Um keep you listening.

Larry Nelson 29:32

Well, you know, I you hear the same jokes all the time. Uh you know, we've we've heard most of that stuff before. So uh the gallery enjoyed it a lot more than we did. I mean, Fuzzy's a good guy. He's a pool, he's gonna pull for you, he's gonna do all that, and and um so it's fun. He and Trevino, you know, but I mean Trevino had he not played professional golf, I think could have been a comedian. I mean he he comes up with stuff that you just don't, you know, don't understand. But um it I um I think playing with with Fuzzy, I'm sure it did not hurt at all. Um don't know that it helped that much. And of course Tom, Tom is such a competitor that you know he's just he's going at it all the time anyway. And Fuzzy seemed like he didn't care a whole lot, which probably between those two I fit in. I was a gr I was a grinder and didn't care all that much, so it was okay.

Mike Gonzalez 30:30

So when when in that final round did you feel, okay, this is my tournament?

Larry Nelson 30:34

Uh actually when I hit it over the water on 17. Uh 17, uh the T shot on 18 and the second shot on eighteen can get you, but um you have to carry it over the water on seventeen. And now we're back there with two and three irons and hitting it um, you know, downhill 220 or two however it was. And all I was trying to do was hit it on the green and the back of the green. I figured I could two-putt from back there, and that's exactly where I hit it. When I hit it on the 17th grain, I knew it was I I knew it was over. I could handle you know a three-shot lead going into the last hole. And uh so that was that was kind of when I knew, but nothing nothing before then. I was so focused on what I was doing um that uh I didn't didn't feel any relief until I hit it on the grain on 17.

Mike Gonzalez 31:30

So you got your first major under your belt, uh sporting the Amanahat, as I recall.

Larry Nelson 31:35

Yeah, that's it. Yes.

Mike Gonzalez 31:36

Yeah. So let's move on to the 1987 win. That was at PGA National uh in a playoff with Lanny Watkins, who had won it uh at Pebble Beach in 1977 in the first sudden death playoff against Gene Littler.

Larry Nelson 31:50

Right. Uh yeah, I felt like we played in Memphis uh the week before. We had a heat index up in Memphis about a 106 or something like that. So you know, we had gone through really hot weather, and now we're going down to West Palm where it's gonna be hotter and uh more humid. Heat index is gonna be higher. But what had happened is the year before, uh in 86, uh I decided that uh I was either gonna have to get better physically um or do my golf course design business, which was doing pretty well at that point. And um so I started working out, started running, started you know doing some stuff, getting endurance up. And uh what I tell people is that it uh in West Palm in 87, I just outlasted everybody. Um I mean I just uh probably was in better shape than everybody else, and um end up beating Lanny in the playoff. But uh I think I shot one under or something like that the last day to to pass a lot of people, at least to get in the position to you know get in the playoff.

Bruce Devlin 33:05

And only two of you, uh you and Lanny were the only two players to uh to shoot under par for the week. One under par total, which is I think the highest winning score of any PGA championship.

Larry Nelson 33:17

Well, yeah, compared to what they do today, but uh the Green Superintendent somehow they put the wrong chemicals on the didn't have any grass. I mean the greens the greens were just dirt. They were painted green. Uh, but um so uh you couldn't really make up anything on the greens, basically. Um I mean the guy that hit the most greens and closest to the holes were going to end up doing the best. And um Lanny was one of the best ball strikers, you know, of his time, I think. And uh I had the best middle iron trophy for four or five years. So I mean it was so it was one of those things that it was it was uh I think a shootout between guys that were hitting the ball the best. And rough was terrible down there that year. It just made a it was Bermuda Rough, and it would just make a whole size of the ball when it was about four inches deep. Um so I think that was it, but I think all in all, it was just that I outlasted everybody. I was just in a little better shape, maybe, than uh some of the other guys. But the greatest thing about that is I won it ten days before my 40th birthday. So uh I was gonna be exempt until 10 days before my 50th birthday. So it was a good thing. Good timing. Yes.

Mike Gonzalez 34:38

Good timing indeed. Uh let's just go back to the masters and uh and uh uh without going into a lot of detail, I guess uh uh one question I'd ask you, because I think it might pertain to the masters, and it's a question we ask all of our guests, if you had one career mulligan, where you where you might take it.

Larry Nelson 34:54

Yeah, that would be the twelfth hole of the masters in '84. Didn't have to think about that very long. No, no, I think about that. I think that about it uh, you know, quite a bit. Every year when the Masters comes on television, I think about uh because I was U.S. Open champion at the time, and after birding the hardest hole in the golf course, which was 11, uh I just kind of felt bulletproof. Being from Georgia, the crowd just went wild up behind the uh 12th green, 12th uh T. And I tried to calm myself down the whole time walking up the hill from the 11th green up to the 12th T, I said, calm down, calm down, calm down. And um never did get calm enough, I think, to think about the shot and all that. Uh so I hit a six iron, hit it fat, and uh I didn't know whether to say get up or get out, because I didn't know if we would get to the water. And uh that's where a a good caddy would have probably helped me win the tournament that week. Uh he'd said, just hit it over the bunker and let's go to 13.

Mike Gonzalez 35:56

Yeah, that was the first of uh Ben Crenshaw's two victories in 1984. Um you also had a couple of other top 10 finishes, an 80 and an 82. But uh what are, I guess what uh if you had to look back on your memories of the masters, uh what comes to mind?

Larry Nelson 36:12

You know, I I enjoyed the golf course. I went through it went through two or three stages when I was there. It went from I think uh the first year I played there or something, it was overseed at Bermuda. Then they went to Bent, and then they went back to Bermuda. So uh I never enjoyed playing practice rounds there because the greens were not anywhere near what they would be on Friday and not even close to what they would be on Sunday. Um and it it just changed so much during the week. And guys who and when we played there for the majority of the time we had to use whatever caddy they gave us. I mean, we didn't take our own caddies, and so that was kind of a crapshoot in a way. Um you could get someone who was really good, or you could get someone who just was there, you know. So anyway, they I would have loved to have my whole career playing at Augusta with someone that um that knew more than some of the people I had.

Mike Gonzalez 37:15

Yeah, yeah. Um let's uh I'm gonna ask you another question that we typically ask our guests. Um if you knew when you turned professional what you know today, what would you have done differently?

Larry Nelson 37:28

Yeah, that's really kind of an odd question because um I felt so fortunate to be able to do what I did and the way I did it that I don't know that I could change it. Or that that um so blessed for the opportunity that I had that I don't know that I would have done anything any different.

Mike Gonzalez 37:53

Uh with the time we've got left, uh just re- uh re recount a couple of other things. Uh Larry Nelson, of course, was inducted in the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2006, uh received from the PGA their Distinguished Service Award from the PGA of America in 2011. Uh certainly a man of faith. You've got experience in golf course design and and designing teaching aids, you've are in a few other uh sports hall of fames. There's things we we probably still need to talk about at some point if we had the time, like your writer cup experience, but perhaps we'll pick up on that uh on another time because we know time is short for you today.

Larry Nelson 38:28

And so uh that's an hour show at that point. But uh nothing wrong with that. The thing, the one of the biggest things, and I'll I'll let myself go after this one, is I got the chance to play with Arnold Palmer as my partner two times down at the Disney tournament, down at the Disney World team event. Yeah. And um, you know, that that just was the great experience in itself. And uh so uh just you know, having the opportunities to meet presidents and play with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicholas and just being around uh Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson. Um, you know, it's kind of one of those things, as I said at my my Hall of Fame thing, is that I never will consider myself the greatest player, but I had the opportunity to play with them. So that's that's pretty much what my career was about and just happy with it.

Bruce Devlin 39:18

Hey, listen, thanks for your time today. We'll get back together again and uh cover all of your uh involvement in golf.

Larry Nelson 39:26

Now that I know how to do it and uh Michael can work me through it, yes, it that'll be fun. Really well. Okay, thank you, Larry. You well y'all have a great day.

Mike Gonzalez 39:38

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.

Intro Music 40:01

It went smack down the fairway.