par and won by seven shots. The prize
was $30,000 (now £23,000).
He is still the only European to
hold the Open and US Open titles
simultaneously, bookending his role
in the fabled Ryder Cup concession of
1969, when Nicklaus gave him the
two-foot putt that resulted in the first
tied biennial match. So it seems
remarkable that Jacklin says he was
done at the majors by 1972 when
Trevino, leading by one, chipped in to
fend him off at the Open at Muirfield.
“I never thought luck played such a
big part in winning but of course itthe last day. I’m not overly-religious
but I prayed that day, not to win but
for courage to get me through. I have
never been so nervous. I knew that if
I blew that lead I’d get lambasted in
the media.”
He had fluffed putts on the 7th and
8th before his long effort on the 9th
rattled the hole and dropped. It was a
tourniquet and corner-turned.
“The pressure fell away,” he says. “I
got engaged at a higher level mentally
and enjoyed the back nine. I’ve never
played so well.”
Jacklin was the only player underT
ony Jacklin is talking about
two shots. The first came 50
years ago, a runaway putt
from 30 feet that hit the
back of the 9th hole, popped
up and went in. It was the stroke that
answered a rare prayer and ensured
he won the US Open. The second was
a chip by Lee Trevino on the 71st hole
at the 1972 Open that unleashed
demons. “I was never the same after
that,” he says. Half a century on they
remain the vivid strokes that highlight
the pencil line between winning and
losing.
The anniversary of Jacklin’s 1970
win at Hazeltine comes as players
prepare for the second post-Covid
major at Winged Foot this week.
Jacklin, 76, is an astute dissector of
modern golf and lambasts the USGA
and R&A, golf’s governing bodies, for
their lethargy over big-hitting, before
analysing the problem facing a player
as gifted as Rory McIlroy.
“I have a lot of time for Rory,” he
says of the new father now into his
fifth year without a major. “He wears
his heart on his sleeve and is honest
as the day is long, but the fact is he
set the standard for excellence over
the past ten years and it’s impossible
to keep rising to that on a weekly
basis. Bobby Jones retired after he
won the grand slam. Byron NelsonSport
‘I was finished
two years after
US Open win’
won 11 in a row and said he was
stopping playing because he had
enough money for a ranch, but that
wasn’t the reason. It’s the expectation.
“Rory knows better than anyone
that golf is a mental game and just
keeping the enthusiasm is difficult.
Nobody dealt with that better than
Jack Nicklaus — he limited his
tournaments, had family time and
business time, and focused on the
majors. The single-hardest thing is to
keep turning up fresh to play.”
These words gel with McIlroy’s
remarks about a wide-screen
perspective, thriving on minimal
expectation, and not being irritated
by his major drought. Coincidentally,
both McIlroy and Jacklin were 25
when they previously won a major. In
1970, the son of a Scunthorpe lorry
driver was the first European winner
of the US Open for 45 years and it
would be another 40 before the next
came via Graeme McDowell.
Why have there been so few
European winners? “Maybe they
weren’t good enough,” Jacklin says.
Asked where one might come from
this year and he quickly name-checks
Matt Fitzpatrick and Justin Rose but
seems most enthusiastic about Tyrrell
Hatton. “He is tough and has been
showing up really well,” he says.
Jacklin says he likes the fact Hatton
doesn’t seem to like himself.
Hazeltine 1970 attracted the sort of
criticism that has become routine at
the US Open, notably at Chambers
Bay in 2015 and Shinnecock Hills in- “Dave Hill was runner-up and
said it needed a plough,” Jacklin says.
“He got more bloody publicity for his
whingeing than I did for winning.
“I had a four-stroke lead going into
does,” he says. “I won a lot of
tournaments after that, by big
margins too, but I never seemed to
turn up at the majors. It had a huge
effect on me. It hurt me.”
Jacklin played in the 1974 US Open,
the so-called “Massacre of Winged
Foot” missing the cut as Hale Irwin
won with a score of seven over par.
He says the severity of the set-up was
down to the USGA being “pissed off”
by Johnny Miller’s last round of 63
the previous year. “The top guy was
asked if it was good to see the best
players in the world look stupid.
The reply was, ‘We’re trying to
identify the best player in the
world’. The US Open was
the hardest to win, the
ultimate test — I wouldn’t
give it up for the world.”
It is not as hard now.
Jacklin says fields are deeper
but big-hitting means penal
rough is not insurmountable. “I
was watching the FedEx Cup and
even though the rough was up they
were hitting it so far they could just
hit a wedge out and control it well
enough to get it on the green,” he
says. “In 1970 the par-fours required
long or mid-irons for second shots;
now it’s nine-irons and wedges. The
ball is more aerodynamic and goes 50
yards further. It’s a different game.
“The USGA and R&A don’t want to
address it and it’s a shame they are
not doing something. I think for 30
years the underlying fear has been
that they might get sued. They don’t
want to rock the boat; all the
advertising in golf is about distance
because they’re trying to sell to
amateurs.”
Jacklin now lives in Florida with his
second wife, Astrid. He is still in
demand and is championing a new
multi-channel digital platform called
Keeler1930, which is billed as the
“authoritative tribute to and voice of
golf’s legendary players”. Fed up with
“this bloody pandemic” he got out to
play in a charity match on Saturday
when he and Irwin beat Nicklaus and
Andy North in Dakota. This week he
will settle down for another US Open,
hope for a European win and drift
back to one perfect day 50 years ago.
6 Englishman Sam Horsfield and
American Scottie Scheffler will miss
the US Open after testing positive for
Covid-19. The pair, who are both
asymptomatic, will be replaced by
Branden Grace and Rory Sabbatini.Tony Jacklin quickly
knew his second major
victory, half a century
ago, would be his last,
writes Rick Broadbent
Jacklin drops his putter after winning in 1970 but never hit such heights again
Poor record of the English at the US Open
Position
Failed to make cut
1970 75 80 85 90 95 00 05 10 15 19
Highest position of an Englishman each year
1st
20th
40th
60th
(1) Tony Jacklin (1) Justin Rose
(2) Tommy
Fleetwood(2) Nick
FaldoLEONARD KAMSLER/POPPERFOTOUS Open
Thursday to Sunday,
Winged Foot,
Mamaroneck, New York
TV: Sky Sports, from
12.30pm545 1GM Tuesday September 15 2020 | the times