"When you think of a man hitting a gallery stake with a 4-iron (shot) from 180 yards out in the fairway and then having the ball bounce back on the green - it's just hard to believe!" mused golf great Byron Nelson. "That stake couldn't have been much more than three-quarters of an inch and it was round, so the ball could have gone any which way."
During a long and distinguished career as a player and later a busy TV commentator, Nelson had seen almost everything in shot-making, but still marveled at Roger Maltbie's epic stroke that essentially won the first Memorial Tournament. Maltbie and Hale Irwin had finished in a 72-hole tie at 288, even par over the Muirfield Village Golf Club course, Jack Nicklaus' proud new creation on the moors of Dublin, Ohio. They then embarked on a unique playoff instituted by Nicklaus -- and later nixed by PGA TOUR Commissioner Deane Beman. The two were to play three holes on a total-score medal basis, starting at No. 15. If no winner had thus been determined, they would proceed to No. 18 at sudden death. They matched birdies, then pars on the first two extra holes. On No. 17, Maltbie elected a 4-iron for his second shot.
"I had 186 yards to the green," the 1975 PGA Rookie of the Year related afterward, "and I aimed at the right side, because I was going to play a hook. For some reason, I thought I had aimed too far right and I tried to make a little correction on the way down." The ball sailed much too far left and long, seemingly headed for big trouble. Irwin, watching from the fairway, thought "he'll have trouble making par from there." The gallery - and Maltbie - sensed the end of the match. Irwin had hit safely to the green, 15-16 feet from the pin. Maltbie appeared destined for bogey, barring a miracle. So, the miracle happened!
Maltbie said later that when he saw the ball bounce back on the green, he assumed he'd hit a spectator. When he arrived at the green, he learned about the stake assist. "I got some bad breaks during the day, but I got a beauty that made up for all of them. However lucky Hale said I was, I was twice that lucky."
With that smile from lady luck, the free-spirited Maltbie made the cup in two to match Irwin's par and the twosome trudged to No. 18 for sudden death. There, Irwin proved as ill-fated as Maltbie had been lucky on the previous hole. He used up four strokes getting to the green when his drive landed so close to a tree he bent his 5-iron on the follow-through; left himself in fluffy rough and then found a trap. Irwin never finished. Maltbie made it unnecessary. His second skipped 20 feet above the cup and, with CBS-TV electing to spill over into prime time to complete the drama, he finished like a champion, drilling the putt for only the day's sixth birdie (3) on No. 18.
"I don't lose very well, " Irwin told the press afterward. "I'm not bitter; I'm upset. I'll never forget that (Maltbie) shot on No. 17. I've never seen one like it." He didn't laugh much either when Maltbie burst in, holding up the stake and suggesting "I thought you might like to see this." One of the marshals had presented it to the new champion and he carried it away with him in his golf bag. Maltbie could have averted a playoff. He missed a 12-foot putt on the 72nd hole - the same No. 18 where he boldly penned history an hour later - and sank a nervous 3-footer to complete a struggling 76 final round.
Irwin had already posted a 69-288. The spectacular ending, Nicklaus' long-awaited, much-discussed Muirfield golf course, Maltbie's burning of the stake on No. 17 and the hectic horse-race playoff all combined to make the inaugural a truly "memorable Memorial".
The TOUR's best pros - 89 teed off - quickly discovered in Thursday's first official exploration that while Muirfield giveth, it also taketh away. Maltbie birdied two of the first four holes, but No. 5 claimed him with a double bogey; Ed Sneed's birdie at No. 8 sent him 2-under-par, but he double-bogeyed No. 9; Hubert Green birdied the first two holes, but gave both strokes back on No. 5, birdied Nos. 7 and 8, but bogeyed Nos. 9 and 10. Host/course builder Nicklaus felt a little sheepish when he dipped 4-under after 16 holes, but finished bogey-double bogey. He had six birdies and an eagle, but was only l-under at 71.
Veteran Don Bies didn't miss a fairway and accomplished a rare feat - birdies on Nos. 17 and l8 - in a first-round- eading 68; Green-with eight birdies - ran second at 69; Gibby Gilbert hit a tree and a trap in a double-bogey finish at 70 and Maltbie, Irwin and Jerry McGee were also at 71. Green bagged five more birdies in a second round 72 and led at 141; Maltbie was at 71-142; Rod Funseth did the back nine in 31 to set an 18-hole tournament record of 67 for 143, even with Bies (75); and McGee and Sneed were at 144.
Nicklaus broke fast in the third round, breezing along at 3-under, but dumped two tee shots in the water at No. 12 and had to make an 8-foot putt for a quadruple bogey seven and trailed leader Maltbie by that number of shots. Maltbie was 4-under-par after No. 12, but bogeyed Nos. 14, 15 and 16 and finished 70-212, two better than Bies by only a stroke and tying McGee in second place. The game was really on now. Bies grabbed the lead with a birdie on No. 10, but bogeyed Nos. 12 and 14; McGee double-bogeyed No. 11 but rallied with birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 to match Irwin and Bies at even par.
Irwin, playing ahead, birdied Nos. 11 and 13 to take a two-stroke lead and later admitted "I thought at that point I had the tournament won." Maltbie felt the same way: "When I saw Hale had come to No. 15 two -under (for the tournament). I didn't think I could win." But disaster struck. Irwin drove into the woods on No. 15, hit across the fairway into the woods on the other side and eventually holed out with a double-bogey seven. Irwin, Maltbie, Bies and McGee were all even on the leaderboard at that stage. Finishing first, Irwin missed from 50 feet; Bies threatened the cup from 15 feet, but the putt slid by. Maltbie's miss half an hour later created the epic playoff. Bies finished third at 289, McGee and Jerry Pate fourth at 290 and Nicklaus rallied with birdies at Nos. 10 and 15, but good only for a tie with Funseth at 292. Muirfield, and the Memorial, scored the best for the week - in compliments. "Muirfield is a great course and I love it." said Irwin.
"We play a lot of first-year tournaments and none can come even close to this one. If they didn't change a thing, it would have to be one of the great tournaments we've played. Jack has made a magnificent, very admiral effort." "This course is unbelievable," said Johnny Miller; "I love everything about the place," said Lee Trevino; I think it's one of the truly great tests of golf," said Tom Weiskopf; "If this (tournament) doesn't become a major championship, there aren't any. It already IS a major," said Jerry McGee.