1970 United States Open
With the opening of Hazeltine National Golf Club in 1962 the Twin Cites area has been blessed to have many high profile national golf events hosted by the club. Totten Heffelfinger, founder and former USGA President, started the club with the mission of bringing the United States Open and other top events to Minnesota. Following the 1966 USGA Women’s Open he reached this goal by being awarded the 1970 United States Open. I was fortunate enough to be selected to caddy.
Hosting events such as the United States Open, PGA Championship, United States Amateur, United States Women’s Open and the NCAA Championship, requires a unique set of factors to make this a reality. Events are a demand on the membership, leadership in the club must be willing to give of their time to run the event, the footprint of the property must be of such size to handle an enormous event, and the course must be of a quality to challenge the competitors and handle the crowds. Hazeltine meets all of the requirements. As a result Minnesota golf fans have been the winners in seeing the finest players in the world. I will always thank the members of Hazeltine for their work and sacrifice to make these events possible.
The highlight of my golf experience at Hazeltine has been caddying in the 1970 United States Open. At the time the USGA did not allow a competitor to bring his own caddie. Names of caddie candidates were submitted, reviewed by the chairman of the caddie committee and selected for getting a bag. The selection meeting was held on Sunday afternoon the day before practice rounds started on Monday.
The names of all the caddies were put in a bowl, with the names of the players in another. The caddie’s name was drawn from the caddie bowl, he came forward and drew a player’s name from the player bowl. Thus any caddie might end up with any player. Being drawn as the first caddie was no more of an advantage for getting a top player than being the last caddie drawn.
“Cal Simmons” shouted out the caddie chairman about halfway through the draw. I made my way to the front of the room filled with the knowledge that there were many great players still in the bowl. Arnold Palmer, Gene Littler and Bill Casper had been drawn, but Nicklaus’ name was still in the bowl. I was hoping to draw Kel Nagle, the Aussie whom I had caddied for in the 1964 St. Paul Open and of whom I had great memories. As I got to the front of the room I heard, “Ben Crenshaw,” as the kid just before me drew the young amateur’s name.
Sticking my hand in the opaque bowl and spinning the papers around, I grabbed on to what I was sure would be the winner’s name. Looking at the paper I turned to the recorder and read, “Earl Stewart Jr.”
“Earl Stewart Jr? Earl Stewart Jr? Who is Earl Stewart Jr,” I said to Tommy Friedman standing next to me, resuming my spot back out in the group. Tom had drawn Chi Chi Rodriguez earlier.
“Never heard of him,” he said.
There is a story about Tom Friedman after he became a world recognized columnist for the New York Times. Someone approached Chi Chi Rodriguez and asked him if he remembered who caddied for him in the 1970 Open at Hazeltine? “Oh, you mean Tommy?” Pretty cool.
In old photos of the event I can identify kids whom I did not know at the time, but are in my life today. My future brother in law, Craig Christensen along with Brad Sherman and Colby Lund, two frequent golf partners, plus several others all had bags. Craig drew Mr. Crabby, Bob Rosburg, who made the cut. Bob was generous enough to give Craig a $10 tip for the week, putting up with his constant complaining. Craig probably should have said to him, “Here, you can have it back, it looks like you need it more than I do.”
My friend Dave Meyer, another Wayzata CC caddie, drew Rives McBee, who finished in the top 25. “A big thrill” remembers the now successful business man.
I went home to do some research on my loop in the biggest tournament of the year. I found Earl Stewart Jr. was a great player….at one time. He was a former tour player with his best year being 1953, when he won twice on tour and finished 15th at the Masters. He played the tour while being a club pro in Dallas in the ‘50s and early 60s’. He probably felt that he caught lightning in a bottle to get in the US Open in 1970. But hey, anything could happen once the bell rings on Thursday. Whoever heard of Jack Fleck until he won the US Open in 1955?
I was happy to have a bag.
Earl Stewart Jr. was a very nice guy. He went on to become the golf coach at SMU from 1975-1986 where his best player was Payne Stewart (no relation). He had a son about my age, Chip Stewart, who was a fine amateur player, winning the USGA Mid Amateur Championship. My week with him was fun and enjoyable.
Practice rounds were with the few guys he toured with much earlier in his career, principally Sam Snead. He played two rounds with Snead, on Monday and Tuesday. Under comfortable weather conditions it was the highlight of the week. I was fascinated with Snead. One of the greatest players ever, at age 58 his game was still very good, finishing ninth in the Open just two years prior.
Snead was blessed with flexibility that allowed his long flowing swing to generate club head speed late in life. I have seen a tape of him kicking the top of a door jam at age60. 18 year old dancers can’t do that!
Snead had a reputation of being a constant skirt chaser, not a particularly friendly guy and very penurious. I was determined to get into a conversation with him, teeing off on Monday at 10:00. As we left the 6th tee I saw my opportunity. He was the last to hit and was looking around for his tee after drilling it right down the middle.
“Never want to leave a tee,” I said, hanging back from the rest of the group walking ahead, and just wanting to say something that would illicit a response.
He looked up and as he walked by me quietly said, “Ya, and you always want to make that stick spit.”
I was mortified at the comment. Did I hear him correctly? Did he really make one of the most obscene statements that, to this day, I have ever heard? I have run through my mind many times what else he might have said, that I misunderstood. He was only a few feet from me when he made the comment. As a 21 year old, I had very good hearing. I repeated the comment later toEarl. He had no response, just looked at me, probably in shock, just as I was. Earl and I spent a lot of time talking about Sam, watching his swing and the shots he hit. A marvel at 58.
Finally, on the 15th hole on Tuesday, Earl said, “Come here I want to show you something.” He motioned me over to Snead’s red and white Wilson Staff tour bag. The bag was standing about ten yards away as he prepared to hit his second shot to the par five. Earl unzipped the ball pocket, stuck his hand in, dug down and pulled out a couple of Wilson Staff balls both numbered with a 0. He then pulled out of his pocket a ball ring that he carried. “His golf balls are all numbered 0. Nobody else’s are,” said Earl.
A ball ring was a round metal ring that the player ran the ball around to make certain that it was not out of round. In the day, balls with Balata covers could easily be out of round, either during the manufacturing process or from being struck during play. Thus all professional players carried one in their bag. While playing a ball slightly out of round did not affect the average player and his or her score, it might the tour professional. They were generally careful to check all balls sent from the factory. Ball rings went away with the advancement of durable golf balls.
Typically a ball would just slightly stick in the middle of the ring. Meaning, if a player put a ball in the ring it would stay in the ring if held out, but could be pushed through the ring with virtually no effort. Earl put one of the balls in the ring and said, “look at this,” as he held up the ring and the ball to the sky. Space was visible around the entire ball. He did the same thing with the other ball, with the same result. Snead’s golf balls were small.
A smaller ball will travel through the wind with less effect on it. It is also easier for a small ball to go in the hole. Earl said nothing, looking at me, allowing me to draw my own conclusions. Did Wilson intentionally make balls slightly smaller for Snead? In their quality-control process did the factory pull out the smallest balls for him? In manufacturing there would be a natural variation in the size of balls, slight though it may be.
Did Sam’s golf balls conform to the rules? I do not know. I do know Sam Snead played with golf balls that were small.
It was during Earl’s practice rounds that I sensed he was not there to win the United States Open. He knew it was not in the cards. He was there to soak up what would probably be his last Open. Old home week for a tour player who was in his prime 18 years earlier. He relished the warm conversations in the locker room and on the practice tee. Certainly Earl was going to do the best he could, but on this monster of a golf course, at age 53, his best hope was to have two great putting rounds and make the cut. It was a tremendous achievement for guy who had not played a tour event for many years, getting through 36 holes of local and 36 more holes of sectional qualifying.
I have a theory on the weather in Minnesota. It is not good until the Sunday of the US Open, the third Sunday in June. After that date there is little chance of a cold, gray, windy day when the temp doesn't get above 60. However, before the third Sunday in June anything can happen and, on Thursday of the 1970 Open, it did.
Under overcast skies early in the week, player comments were generally positive. Neither Earl Stewart or Sam Snead complained about the course. “It has good par threes,” Nicklaus said. Gary Player commented, “It’s not as tough as Bellerive,” the site of the 1965 Open. Those opinions would be short lived.
Out in the wide open spaces of Hazeltine, the wind roared Thursday. It rained, it was cold, not 55 degrees, and blew with gusts up to 41 MPH in the morning when, “On the tee, from Dallas, Texas, Earl Stewart Jr,” rang out from the starter.
Simply a brutal day. Compounding the difficulty of the wind’s velocity was its direction, blowing out of the NW. That meant the most difficult holes, such as 6, 7, 9, 14, 15 and 18 were into the wind. In addition, the famous 16th, with Lake Hazeltine on the right, played to a cross wind, into the lake. To add to the difficulty, 9 and 18 are uphill, thus leaving the player with a particularly bad taste as they finished the round.
Scores went through the roof. Nicklaus shot 82, Trevino 77, Palmer 79. Dave Hill’s famous “80 acres of corn and a few cows” and “aim at a cloud” quotes came out. It was the day that changed Hazeltine forever. The players hated the place.
Paired with Fred Marti and Jimmy Wright, it was a struggle for the whole group. Wind and rain are hard on the player and caddie. It’s a tough job to keep the umbrella covering your player, to keep the clubs and towel dry, as clubs are coming in and out of the bag. The combination of not being comfortable in the situation, his first Open in nearly a decade and the weather, proved to be a tough onthe Texan, shooting 81.
Playing just a group ahead of Tony Jacklyn, Billy Casper and Steve Melnyk, I frequently turned around to watch them. Every time I looked, there was a ball close to the hole and cheers from the smallish gallery. It was Jacklyn. How he shot 71 was something that needed to be seen to be believed. Maybe it was his upbringing in similar conditions in his home country of England.
The weather improved somewhat the second day but Earl’s game, not so much. He missed the cut after firing another 81. He thanked me, paid me generously and urged me to come and see him in Dallas.
Tony Jacklyn became the first Englishman to win the United States Open in nearly 50 years. Hazeltine has gone on to host a whole cadre of wonderful events including a reprise of the United States Open in 1991 when SMU graduate Payne Stewart won his first Open.
The 1970 United States Open was a wonderful week working for a fine gentleman. I have spent many a pleasant day at Hazeltine, caddying, playing, working at a variety of USGA events, spectating at others. It is a tremendous asset for our community and has been a big part of A Life In Golf.
