Page 21 - ATODAY
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SPORTS A21
Wednesday 6 April 2016
Craig Wood 15th hole for an albatross 2. wanted a sudden-death
playoff. They chose anoth-
Continued from page 17 Wood’s wife, Jacqueline, er 18-hole round. On the
fourth hole, Nelson holed
When it came to the ma- was in the clubhouse when out with a 1-iron. He won
jors, he just didn’t have by three.
much luck. word spread about Sara- In a span of seven years,
That’s why Wood should re- Wood suffered four over-
main relevant today — not zen’s shot. One of the play- time losses in the majors.
for the majors he won, but No one suffered like that,
for the majors he didn’t. ers’ wives told her, “You’ll not even Greg Norman.
Johnson, as powerful as The Shark is the only other
anyone in the game, has get used to this, dear.” player to have lost every
reason to think he should major in a playoff, but by
have won a major by now. By then, the major misery then he had already won
He lost a three-shot lead in a major at the 1986 British
the final round of the U.S. had already started. Open.q
Open at Pebble Beach
and shot 82. He had that Two years earlier at St. An-
famous gaffe in the bun-
ker at Whistling Straits that drews, Wood was in a 36-
cost him a spot in a play-
off at the PGA Champion- hole playoff with Denny
ship. There was the 2-iron
that sailed out-of-bounds Shute at the British Open.
at Royal St. George’s, the
three-putt at Chambers On the first hole of the 36- In this April 6, 1942 file photo, Craig Wood, left, smiles as he
Bay. At 31, he already has accepts accepts a $1,500 check from former Gov. James M.
compiled some scar tissue hole playoff, Wood drove Cox, of Ohio, as first prize money at the Masters Golf tournament
from the majors. in Augusta, Ga. Wood endured more heartache in the majors
Sergio Garcia blamed the into the Swilcan Burn and than anyone before he finally won.
golfing gods for conspiring
against him at Carnoustie tried to play the shot out of Associated Press
in the 2007 British Open
when his tee shot hit the the water. He made dou-
pin during a playoff. He
also had the bad fortune ble bogey. He made an-
of having Tiger Woods in his
way whenever the Span- other double bogey on the
iard had a chance in the
majors. Phil Mickelson? He next hole. He lost by five.
was beaten on par putts
by Payne Stewart (U.S. The next year at the
Open) and David Toms
(PGA Championship) be- PGA Championship,
fore he broke through at
age 34. then match play, Wood
None compare with what
Wood endured. avenged his loss by beat-
He was the footnote in his-
tory for the “shot heard ing Shute in the semifinals
‘round the world” in 1935
at Augusta National. Wood and faced Paul Runyan
was in the clubhouse at
6-under 282. Only one other for the championship. Ru-
player on the course had a
chance to catch him and nyan was known as “Little
that was Gene Sarazen,
three shots behind. The Poison” because what he
crowd was congratulating
him. His name already was lacked in length he made
on the winner’s check. And
then Sarazen holed out up for with a stout short
with a 4-wood on the par-5
game.
They were tied after 36
holes, and Wood looked
like a winner when he hit
his second shot on a par
5 to just inside 10 feet for
an eagle putt. Runyan
hooked his shot toward
the rough, but the ball hit
the tire of a Movietone
truck and kicked back into
the fairway. He hit wedge
to a foot for birdie, Wood
missed his eagle putt, and
Runyan won on the next
hole.
And then came the Mas-
ters. And he still wasn’t
done.
The 1939 U.S. Open is re-
membered as much for
Sam Snead making triple
bogey on the last hole as
Byron Nelson winning. Of-
ten overlooked is that Nel-
son went to a playoff with
Wood and Shute. Nelson
and Wood each shot 68 in
the 18-hole playoff (Shute
shot 76). According to Golf
World, the USGA asked
Wood and Nelson if they
