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AUGUSTA — The year was 1975, and bell-bottom trousers were in fashion and “The Hustle” was a No. 1 disco hit. “Jaws” was a smash at the box office, and “All in the Family” reigned on the small screen.
Jimmy Hoffa, leader of the Teamsters Union, disappeared. The Vietnam War ended with the Fall of Saigon in 1975. In sports, a couple of dynasties were near their peak as the Pittsburgh Steelers won their first Super Bowl and the Cincinnati Reds took the first of two consecutive World Series titles.
Down in Augusta, the 39th playing of the Masters Tournament was schedule for April 10-13. Before the first tee shot was struck, it promised to be a tournament unlike any other. Breaking barriers A week after Gary Player won the Masters for the second time, Lee Elder won the 1974 Monsanto Open.
He made an 18-foot birdie putt to win the tournament in Pensacola, Fla., on the fourth hole of a playoff against Peter Oosterhuis. He received $30,000 for the victory.
Ordinarily that wouldn’t be big news, but Elder was Black and the victory meant that he could play in the Masters Tournament the following spring. Nearly 30 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, Elder was about to break the color barrier in Augusta. “For the color barrier in golf to stand that long, to finally see it fall at Augusta, was something I was happy to be a part of,” Elder said.
Notable Black golfers before him, Charlie Sifford and Pete Brown, had won events on what is now the PGA Tour but didn’t receive invitations to Augusta. Clifford Roberts, chairman of Augusta National and the Masters, put out a statement after Elder’s victory. “He has earned his invitation” and “we are very delighted,” Roberts said.
“Tell Mr. Roberts I’ll see him at the Masters,” Elder said. Then he seemed to have second thoughts.
“I’ll have to weigh it carefully,” Elder said after his win. “There’s a lot of tournaments and a lot more playing to be done between now and then. Anything can happen.
” But he relented soon after. “If there is any doubt in anyone’s mind, I’m accepting right now,” he told the Associated Press. “There is no doubt about it.
” Masters on his mind A generation after Elder, Tiger Woods experienced immense buildup after he won the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in 2000.
He had to wait eight months to see if he could win the Masters and complete the “Tiger Slam.” Woods was able to win the 2001 Masters and hold all four of golf’s major trophies at the same time. Elder faced a different pressure, but still intense.
He had almost a full year before he played in Augusta. “I go to bed thinking about the Masters,” Elder told Bob Green of the Associated Press that March. “I dream about the Masters.
I wake up thinking about the Masters.” He was paired with easygoing Gene Littler for the first round. After a good start, Elder finished the round with a 2-over-par 74.
“A 74 is a good round here,” Elder said. “It could have been higher, but I got up and down a few times to save some good pars. I thought I drove the ball well, but my iron play wasn’t so good.
” The Augusta galleries treated him well, Elder said. “Fantastic,” he told reporters. “Every green I walked up on it was a standing ovation when I arrived.
” Elder was paired with another veteran player, Miller Barber, for the second round. He struggled early and wound up with a score of 78. His 36-hole total of 152 left him over the cut line by four shots.
“I was too relaxed,” Elder told reporters. “I thought I could do anything and get close to par. I wish I had felt some pressure.
Everything I did was incorrect.” Moving Day Lost in all the hoopla surrounding Elder’s historic debut was the golf tournament. Four-time winner Jack Nicklaus set a torrid pace with rounds of 68 and 67.
But hot on his heels were some of the game’s top players, Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller, and another four-time Masters winner: Arnold Palmer. Nicklaus and Palmer, longtime rivals, were paired together for the third round. It didn’t bode well for either.
“I don’t know why it is but Jack and I never play well when we are together,” Palmer said. Nicklaus agreed. “We’ve really not played well when we played together,” he said.
“My gallery wants me to beat him and his gallery wants him to beat me. I don’t like to get beat by him. We both try not to play that way, but the gallery certainly does.
” Nicklaus shot 1-over 73, and Palmer posted 3-over 75. Miller and Weiskopf, however, took advantage of “moving day.” Miller shot 6-under 30 on the front nine, a record, and finished with 65.
Weiskopf carded an impressive 66 and took a one-shot lead over Nicklaus into the final round. “There’s still an awful lot of golf to play,” Weiskopf said. “There’s two pretty good golfers (Nicklaus and Miller) behind me.
” Epic shootout The Masters didn’t always pair players according to score. Nicklaus and an up-and-coming player, Tom Watson, were in the penultimate group. Weiskopf was paired with Miller, who was four shots behind.
Miller (32), Nicklaus (33) and Weiskopf (34) all played the front nine under par. That left Weiskopf and Nicklaus tied for the lead and Miller two behind. The old saying that the Masters doesn’t begin until the second nine on Sunday was never truer.
The three jockeyed back and forth in a battle for the ages. At the par-5 15th, Nicklaus hit a big drive and was left with 242 yards to the pin. “I was on one of those little bumps in the fairway, uphill lie, and a 1-iron is a hard club to stop on that green,” Nicklaus recalled.
“I took it and hit it straight up in the air. It comes off the golf club and you watch the flight and you say, ‘Ooh, was that fun.’ A shot I will always remember.
” His ball settled 12 feet from the hole, but he couldn’t make the eagle putt and tapped in for birdie. At the par-3 16th, Nicklaus’ tee shot came up some 40 feet short. He had plenty of time to size up his putt because playing partner Watson had hit two balls in the water at No.
16. Behind Nicklaus, both Miller and Weiskopf made birdie at the 15th. That led to one of the greatest exchanges in broadcast history.
“What a tremendous putt by Tom Weiskopf, and that is going to be evil music ringing in Nicklaus’ ears,” CBS announcer Ben Wright said. Nicklaus, now trailing by one, rapped his long putt toward the cup. Caddie Willie Peterson jumped for joy as the ball darted in the hole, and Nicklaus did a celebratory trot around the green.
“Oh, did you ever see one like that? I think that’s one of the greatest putts I’ve ever seen in my life,” CBS announcer Henry Longhurst said. “Back on the tee, Weiskopf has to take it this time, having dished it out on the hole before. I never saw such a putt in my life.
” Weiskopf, visibly shaken, hit his tee shot short and 3-putted for bogey. He was one behind Nicklaus. Miller, meanwhile, birdied the 17th hole to pull within one.
Nicklaus made an airtight par on the final hole, then hung around the scoring hut behind the 18th green to watch his foes play the final hole. Both hit good drives and excellent approaches. “Oh, what a horse race! So they are both alive, they are both above water,” CBS announcer Vin Scully said.
“Either or both make a birdie putt and we have a tie. And this gallery, that has roared at numbers, can’t wait for the finish.” Miller putted first, and missed.
Weiskopf’s putt slid by the hole, and Nicklaus was a Masters winner for the fifth time. Postscript Fifty years later, the 1975 Masters still holds up as one of the greatest tournaments of all time. It was career defining and altering for many of the participants.
Nicklaus would go on to win the 1986 Masters for his sixth win at Augusta National and his 18th career major. Weiskopf and Miller never did win the Masters. Elder, meanwhile, didn’t qualify in 1976 but played each year from 1977-81.
His best performance came in 1979 when he tied for 17th. Black golfers after Elder were in scarce supply. Calvin Peete and Jim Thorpe each qualified for the Masters multiple times, but had little success there.
Woods, however, arrived on the scene in the mid-1990s as a confident amateur. In 1997, in his first Masters as a professional, Woods shattered scoring records as he became the first Black player to win a major. Elder rushed to Augusta for the final round in 1997 to see Woods, and he got a speeding ticket along the way.
“He didn’t pay for it, either,” Elder said with a laugh. “But it was a good thing for me to see him win and make history there.” In 2021, Elder was an honorary starter at the Masters.
In poor health, he didn’t hit a tee shot but instead raised his driver into the air when introduced. “For me and my family, I think it was one of the most emotional experiences that I have ever witnessed or been involved in,” said Elder, who died later that year at age 87. “It is certainly something that I will cherish for the rest of my life because I have loved coming to Augusta National and playing here the times that I have played here with many of my friends that are members here.
” Elder’s legacy was remembered this week by Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National and the Masters. “I hope all of you will note that we celebrate a significant milestone this week ..
. Lee Elder became the first Black man to compete in the Masters,” Ridley said at his annual news conference. “Jack Nicklaus would ultimately go on to win his fifth green jacket that week, but by then, history of another dimension had been made when Lee hit his first shot as a Masters competitor.
“Fifty years later, Lee's inspiration, his courage and spirit remain truly an inspiration for all of us. We never will forget his enduring legacy that made golf a better game for everyone.”.
