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I might have been instrumental in
giving him a bit of a pat on the back. I
am not sure about that, but I gave him
some confidence that he could win.
That was his last chance really, he had
been the favourite to win for almost
twenty years and he hadn’t done it.
1967 felt like his last chance, he was
in good humor and he did it. He really
gave it a big bash, the way he played.
A big hitter.”
Player, too, has fond memories of the
event.
“I remember that in the 1967 Open
at Hoylake it was particularly dry that
year, which made scoring conditions
a little easier, other than the hard
bumpy fairways which could feed the
ball off into the rough,” he says.
“I’d had a successful campaign in
South Africa that year, winning the
Open and the SA Masters, but hadn’t
won anything in the States or Europe, so
I was keen to do well in the Open. I kept
in touch well with the leaders for the
first two rounds and then, in the third,
despite struggling a bit with my putting,
I scored 67, which was the course
record. About 30 minutes later Roberto
also scored 67, so I remained two shots
behind going into the last round.
“During the final round—I was in
the last group with Roberto—I started
disastrously with a bogey on the first
hole, which forced me to play the rest
of the round aggressively to catch up.
Unfortunately this kind of strategy
seldom works in a major tournament
and less often in an Open so, by
the time Roberto was sinking his
winning putt, I was just an interested,
disappointed spectator six shots
behind in third spot behind my old
rival Jack Nicklaus,” Player says.
It was a long time between drinks
for Royal Liverpool from de Vicenzo’s
victory in 1967 to the next time it
hosted the Open Championship in
2006. Tiger Woods was at the peak
of his powers when he shot 18-under
around an oven-baked Hoylake (67,
65, 71, 67) to beat Chris DiMarco by
two shots, Ernie Els by five, Jim Furyk
by six and Sergio Garcia by seven
shots to claim his 11th major golf title.
Woods was a ball-striking machine
in 2006, only missing one green in
regulation during his final round 67.
Woods declared it ‘probably one of
the best ball striking weeks I have ever
had’ and few will forget the 4-iron he
holed on the par-4 14th for an eagle on
the Friday. During his practice round
at Hoylake Woods quickly realized the
penalties for hitting tee shots into the
hazardous bunkers and he famously
hit long irons short of the bunkers and
often had approach shots up to 80
yards longer than his playing partners.
The strategy worked; Woods fought
off a brave attack from Chris DiMarco
and on the 72nd hole he broke into
tears, a rare sign of emotion from
Woods, three months after his father
Earl had died.
Adam Scott had his first top ten
at that Open Championship in 2006
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