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Anyone watching the Wa PGA in Kalgoorlie.

**** Augusta, this a fair dinkum golfers course:cool:
 
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It's outrageous the amount of add breaks they're having in the LA Ladies open.
 
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A bit of a summary of Maurice's exploits - bloody hilarious

Flitcroft took up the game in the early 70s. He was a talented schoolboy athlete - "I was pretty great at everything," he says - who ended up making a living as a comedy stunt man with a touring theatre group. He heard and read about golf and liked the idea of the game - the exercise, the fresh air, the sneaky feeling that here was another sport at which he was going to be great. He borrowed a Peter Alliss instruction book from the library, saved up enough money to buy a half-set of clubs from a mail-order company and, when they arrived, he headed down to the local beach to practise.

The beach was too windy, so he retired to a school playing field. "I discovered I really liked the game and I picked it up pretty quick. I used to practise every night, sometimes for as much as an hour or two," he recalls. Eventually he graduated from playing field to a proper course, although he never played 18 holes. "Sometimes I'd park at the perimeter and nip over the fence and hit a few shots."

The idea of entering the Open formed in his mind over a winter, along with belief that his true calling might be golf. The entry fee was £30 - a lot of money in the world of comedy acrobatics - but his wife agreed to give him the cash. "I expected to do reasonably well but, in spite of all that practising, I hadn't progressed as much as I would have liked. I had my doubts, you could say, but you have to enter in advance, so I gambled on being ready and decided to have a go."

As it turned out Flitcroft's doubts were well-founded, although his problems began before he got to the course. "I went there on the Saturday before the tournament, just to have a look at the place, but on the day itself I took a wrong turning and got lost. I arrived there just in time to change my shoes and have a quick drink of tea out of my flask. There was no time to hit a few practice shots." He skied his opening tee shot and it was downhill from there. "After that first hole I decided to leave the driver in the bag. I got the three-iron out and played safe, except I wasn't that great with the three-iron. I should have used the four-wood but I'd left that in the car because it was the 15th club in my bag," he said, adding wistfully. "I was an expert with the four-wood; deadly accurate."

By the time his round was over word had filtered up the coast to Royal Birkdale - where the Open proper was due to begin later in the week - that history was being made at Formby. There was bedlam when he walked into the scorer's tent to sign his card. "I didn't actually know what my score was, so you could say I was surprised," he recalls. "I wasn't too happy when I found out because I was sure I could have done better. That's why I wanted to try it again the next year."

Flitcroft's performance dominated the following day's sports pages and the day after that. He was interviewed endlessly, as were his family and friends. When his mother was told by one reporter that her son had entered the Open, she replied: "Well, he has got to start somewhere."
 
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I watched the Shark 30 for 30, on Greg Norman's '96 Masters debacle. Great perspective on the 'tragic' 'outrageous bad luck' he had at majors - along the lines of "is it really outrageous misfortune to be beaten by a chip-in when you keep shooting 40 over the last 9 holes of the tournament?"
 
spook said:
I watched the Shark 30 for 30, on Greg Norman's '96 Masters debacle. Great perspective on the 'tragic' 'outrageous bad luck' he had at majors - along the lines of "is it really outrageous misfortune to be beaten by a chip-in when you keep shooting 40 over the last 9 holes of the tournament?"
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Not quite right really. When he finished 2nd at The Masters other than that 1996 debacle -

1986 - went 1 under last 9, 6 under last 36
1987 - went 1 under the last 9, 6 under last 36 holes

Not sure he ever shot 40 another time to lose a major?

He's an easy target the shark but his overall record surpasses most. Golf in Australia would not be the same without him, was the inspiration for thousands of youngsters.
 
spook said:
I watched the Shark 30 for 30, on Greg Norman's '96 Masters debacle. Great perspective on the 'tragic' 'outrageous bad luck' he had at majors - along the lines of "is it really outrageous misfortune to be beaten by a chip-in when you keep shooting 40 over the last 9 holes of the tournament?"
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Oh and shot 64 in the final round of the BO in 1989 only to lose to a lucky Calcavechia. (who incidently chipped in froim an impossible position on one hiole in his final round).

Keep shooting 40 in the final round of majors to lose is essentially horseshit. If that's the editorial standard of the doco I'll avoid.
 
MD Jazz said:
Not quite right really. When he finished 2nd at The Masters other than that 1996 debacle -

1986 - went 1 under last 9, 6 under last 36
1987 - went 1 under the last 9, 6 under last 36 holes

Not sure he ever shot 40 another time to lose a major?

He's an easy target the shark but his overall record surpasses most. Golf in Australia would not be the same without him, was the inspiration for thousands of youngsters.
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No doubt he inspired many, and like so many of those, I rode every shot with him. I'm a lifelong fan - my first memory of golf is watching the last 9 of the 81 Masters, trying to work out which of the blond guys was the Aussie. I was paraphrasing with the 'last 9 in 40'. The doco is pretty balanced, it just puts it out there that he did choke. Which he did (and still refuses to accept). There are some sympathetic voices too. It's worth watching.

1986, yeah he went 1 under for the last 9, but he was 2 over and 4 behind Nicklaus before birdieing 14-17. One theory put forward is that he played those holes with freedom, pressure off. Then on 18, needing birdie to win, par for a playoff, he hits a good drive, leaving himself 187, which for him was a good, hard 5-iron. But he hits a 4-iron and blocks it way right. Bogey. Poor decision-making and execution under pressure.

86 US Open, gets into a verbal stoush with a spectator in the third round. Bogies 9, 10, 11, 13 on Sunday, shoots 5-over 75.

Cruises to 86 British Open win (gets advice from Nicklaus on the Saturday night: "I've watched you not get it done the last two majors. I see a flaw you keep repeating. Just think about grip pressure tomorrow.") Everyone thinks this is it, dam's broken, no stopping him now.

86 PGA, leads by 4 shots at the start of the 4th round, leads by 4 with 9 to play. Double-bogies 11, bogies 14. Shoots 65-68-69-76 (par 71).

87 Masters, 3-over for the round through 11 on Sunday (dropped 4 shots 6-11), charges back with 3 birdies to tie it, misses victory on 72nd by a cigarette paper. Great putt, dunno how it didn't go in. Unlucky Mize chipped in, but didn't play the greatest second shot himself. That broke him. I reckon he thought he was cursed after that, and never took a hard enough look at what he was doing wrong in those situations.

It's a good watch, because he is such a compelling, tragic, figure. Yeah, he won a lot. But he should have won more of the ones that really matter.
 
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MD Jazz said:

Australian Golf Digest | Golf Magazine Australia

Australia's best magazine for the golf enthusiast. Player profiles, instructional advice, equipment news, and lifestyle content for golfers.
www.golfdigest.com www.golfdigest.com
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Yep, consistently the best golfer week to week for most of the 80s. The difference between him and Tiger is Greg might shoot 64 on the last day of a major when seemingly out of contention, Tiger would shoot 67 when taking a 4-shot lead into the final day.
 
spook said:
No doubt he inspired many, and like so many of those, I rode every shot with him. I'm a lifelong fan - my first memory of golf is watching the last 9 of the 81 Masters, trying to work out which of the blond guys was the Aussie. I was paraphrasing with the 'last 9 in 40'. The doco is pretty balanced, it just puts it out there that he did choke. Which he did (and still refuses to accept). There are some sympathetic voices too. It's worth watching.

1986, yeah he went 1 under for the last 9, but he was 2 over and 4 behind Nicklaus before birdieing 14-17. One theory put forward is that he played those holes with freedom, pressure off. Then on 18, needing birdie to win, par for a playoff, he hits a good drive, leaving himself 187, which for him was a good, hard 5-iron. But he hits a 4-iron and blocks it way right. Bogey. Poor decision-making and execution under pressure.

86 US Open, gets into a verbal stoush with a spectator in the third round. Bogies 9, 10, 11, 13 on Sunday, shoots 5-over 75.

Cruises to 86 British Open win (gets advice from Nicklaus on the Saturday night: "I've watched you not get it done the last two majors. I see a flaw you keep repeating. Just think about grip pressure tomorrow.") Everyone thinks this is it, dam's broken, no stopping him now.

86 PGA, leads by 4 shots at the start of the 4th round, leads by 4 with 9 to play. Double-bogies 11, bogies 14. Shoots 65-68-69-76 (par 71).

87 Masters, 3-over for the round through 11 on Sunday (dropped 4 shots 6-11), charges back with 3 birdies to tie it, misses victory on 72nd by a cigarette paper. Great putt, dunno how it didn't go in. Unlucky Mize chipped in, but didn't play the greatest second shot himself. That broke him. I reckon he thought he was cursed after that, and never took a hard enough look at what he was doing wrong in those situations.

It's a good watch, because he is such a compelling, tragic, figure. Yeah, he won a lot. But he should have won more of the ones that really matter.
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Nice summary. Yeh he choked. But no doubt he also suffered at hands of fate.

All through those experiences he was a fantastic "loser" always heaping praise on the winner and always facing the music.

Compelling figure no doubt. I don't necessarily agree with this concept of the ones that really matter. All victories require players to show bottle. Norman won 88 tournaments worldwide. He won numerous matchplay titles. He bottled it a few times. Nicklaus came 2nd in majors more times than he won.
 
I see Mickelson and Garcia have asked for releases from the PGA Tour to play in the upcoming Norman-Saudi LIV event. Poulter and Westwood will join them.

They might be starting up with the older non top 20 players in these ad hoc events, but by the time the 2024 fixed schedule and LIV Tour gets going properly, and the prize money is obscenely more than the PGA Tour, I’m pretty sure a bunch of players will jump ship.

If there’s one thing I know about pros, it’s that they follow the money. The Tour might have most of them onside now coz it’s easy for the players to do so at the moment, but I’m sure that’ll change in 2 years time.

If I was that dhead Commissioner Jay Monahan at the PGA Tour, I’d be very very worried….just wait and watch.
 
MD Jazz said:
Oh and shot 64 in the final round of the BO in 1989 only to lose to a lucky Calcavechia. (who incidently chipped in froim an impossible position on one hiole in his final round).

Keep shooting 40 in the final round of majors to lose is essentially horseshit. If that's the editorial standard of the doco I'll avoid.
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Pretty sure it was the first time they went to a 4 hole play off, Grady was in it too, think Norman birdied first 2 and on the last or second last drives into a fairway bunker that was not thought to be drivable . Seemed like every major we got up to watch in 80s 90s he was in contention . Always thought if he beat Fuzzy ,the monkey would have been of the back and would have won a couple more
 
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MD Jazz said:
Oh and shot 64 in the final round of the BO in 1989 only to lose to a lucky Calcavechia. (who incidently chipped in froim an impossible position on one hiole in his final round).

Keep shooting 40 in the final round of majors to lose is essentially horseshit. If that's the editorial standard of the doco I'll avoid.
Click to expand...

The shooting 40 on the back 9 was in reference to the 86 US PGA at Inverness, where Bob Tway holed out from the bunker at 18 to win.

Norman did indeed shot 40 on the back 9 there.

I recommend you give it a chance MD, was a really good watch I reckon. Also good to hear the thoughts of other players at the time. Nicklaus, Watson, Elkington, Baker Finch as well as a few respected golf analysts too
 
Mopsy said:
The shooting 40 on the back 9 was in reference to the 86 US PGA at Inverness, where Bob Tway holed out from the bunker at 18 to win.

Norman did indeed shot 40 on the back 9 there.

I recommend you give it a chance MD, was a really good watch I reckon. Also good to hear the thoughts of other players at the time. Nicklaus, Watson, Elkington, Baker Finch as well as a few respected golf analysts too
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Yeh I'll watch it but reckon Norman gets a bit of a raw deal as a "choker". He didn't do that much wrong in the final round of the Masters in 1996 if you watch the whole round, he just got punished severely when he did.

Sheffler sprayed it all over the place at times in his Masters win but got bloody lucky with where he ended up.

You don't win the amount of tournaments Norman did without having plenty of bottle.

And IMO the importance of majors as a measure of a player is a bit overblown IMO, its become more marketing/media driven as the years go by.
 
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Spew ing , had to cancel stop over in Japan on the way to the Open , as Japan still won’t let tourists in , had a mate escorting us to Gotemba and back , any way now stopping over for “ one night in Bangkok “
 
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