Former champ recalls hot, 36-hole final day
Ben Hogan’s recovery from a life-threatening car crash and victory in the 1950 U.S. Open was so stirring it inspired a movie, “Follow the Sun.”
No one made a film about Ken Venturi’s recovery from a similar accident and victory in the 1964 U.S. Open at Congressional. Not that it wasn’t worthy.
With his promising career in free fall after a crash in 1961, Venturi came from oblivion, battling 100-degree heat and a 36-hole final-day stress test, to post a score (278) that was then the second-best in U.S. Open history.
| MAJOR ATTRACTION |
| Four majors have been held at Congressional Country Club: |
| 1964 U.S. Open |
| Ken Venturi shot a 2-under 278 to win by four strokes over Tommy Jacobs. It was the first PGA Tour win for Venturi in four years and came in unrelenting 100-degree heat. Coming off a win at the Masters, his seventh and final major, Arnold Palmer tied for fifth after leading through the first round. |
| 1976 PGA |
| Short-hitting Dave Stockton shot a 1-over 281 to win the PGA for a second time, by a stroke over Don January and Ray Floyd. Playing on Monday in a rain-soaked event, Stockton, now a putting guru who instructs Phil Mickelson, dropped a 15-foot putt on the 72nd hole to avoid a playoff. |
| 1995 Senior Open |
| Tom Weiskopf shot a 13-under 275 in what was Congressional’s audition for the 1997 U.S. Open. Thirty-one years earlier, at age 21, Weiskopf played his first Open at Congressional. Another Ohio State alum, Jack Nicklaus, aced the seventh hole in the final round on his way to an eighth-place finish. |
| 1997 U.S. Open |
| Ernie Els fires a 4-under 276 to beat Colin Montgomerie by one and Tom Lehman by two in an anti-climactic finish. The tournament was perhaps best remembered for it being Tiger Woods‘ Washington debut (he finished tied for 19th) and the raucous Golfapalooza scene that accompanied a weather delay on Friday. |
Because of the toll exacted by the heat, Venturi remembers little of the final day, other than weighing himself in the locker room in the morning (172 pounds) and afternoon (164). He also remembers playing partner Ray Floyd pulling the ball out of the cup for him on the final hole and handing it to him. Floyd, then 21, had tears in his eyes.
“I lost it too,” Venturi said. “I’ll never forget that.”
Venturi, 80, hasn’t played Congressional since.
“I guess after you make a hole-in-one, you shouldn’t take a mulligan,” quipped Venturi of his achievement for which he was named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year.
Much has changed since his 1964 victory. Congressional has been re-routed and has grown up, its fairways no longer lined by stumpy evergreens. The game has changed as well. In his winning year, Venturi said he ranked No. 16 in the field in driving distance at an average of 249 yards.
“I was just watching players at the 10th hole, playing 218 yards, and Bubba Watson hit a 6-iron,” Venturi said. “In my day, that was a good 4-wood.”
In 1964, Congressional was set up at 7,053 yards, then the second-longest test in U.S. Open history. To achieve the same distinction in 2011, the course has been stretched to 7,574 yards.
Recovery has been a theme in the life of Venturi, who grew up with a painful stutter but became the lead analyst at CBS, pairing up with Pat Summerall, then later Jim Nantz. As a child, Venturi turned to golf because it was a singular activity.
“My mother asked me what I planned to do,” Venturi said. “And the best I could, I said, ‘I’m taking up the loneliest sport I know.’ I picked up a set of hickory shafts across the street from a man and played my first round of golf.”
Venturi said he was moved by the 2010 Academy Award winning movie “The King’s Speech,” the story of King George’s VI of Britain and the therapist who helped him overcome his stammer. Venturi tried many of the techniques shown in the film. Finally, it was golf that helped him solve the disorder.
“It was the rhythm of swinging the club and talking with it,” Venturi said.
