| OCR Text |
Show MAMARONECK, been 13 N Y. years since a Section It has comedian stand-u- p card-carryin- - with an ailing back won the highly heralded United States Open Golf Championship. The last quick-quippin- Sports Pje gait akf dbunr Roger O Graves was g I Lee Trevino. The latest is effervescent Frank Urban Zoeller, a Roger Graves genuine Bob Hope in golf spikes. d When Trevino Jack Nicklaus into oblivion to rule the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion, the Merry Mex pulled a rubber snake out of his bag on the first tee and gently chided the Golden Bear with an impromptu snake dance. The voodoo worked. Trevino shot 68. Nicklaus, in stitches when he saw the snake, shot 71. Like Trevino 13 years earlier, Zoeller had a little act of his own on d the first tee Monday at Winged Foot Golf Club. Zoeller pulled a telephone out of his golf bag and asked Australian Greg Norman if he wanted to make a final phone call. It was tantamount to a jailerprisoner asking a recently-arreste- d if he'd like to make one call. "But no long distance calls, laughed Zoeller. "You mean I can't call home? asked Norman, playing the straight-man'- s role perfectly. "That depends on where home is," chuckled Zoeller. "If youre talkin about callin down under (to Norman's Austraian home), forget it. If you want to call Florida, that's OK. That's Fuzzy Zoeller. Tuesday, June C 19, 1984 Page 1 I ( By Bob Green AP Golf Writer N Y. MAMARONECK. struggling Greg Norman and scored a - The playoff for the United States Open Golf Championship lasted three hours. 15 minutes Monday. But it was over in 23 minutes Fuzzy Zoeller made himself the swing beneficiary of a three-strok- e on the second hole at Winged Foot, applied unrelenting pressure to record-breakin- eight-sho- t tri- in the of New York against Norof 75. northern suburbs with a 67 umph in the American national championship. "I didn't want to leave any doors unlocked." Fuzzy said. He had a five-shlead at the turn and never let man's playoff round up. the American championship. sort whistles while he works, subdued the tough old course Zoeller, a who frequently happy-go-luck- y On a course that is considered possibly the toughest that is played in the Open, Zoeller shot the best score ever recorded in a playoff for "I beat it," he said. "Maybe tomorrow I go out and it eats my lunch. But for five days 1 beat Winged Foot." He also beat Norman by the largest margin ever recorded in an Open playoff, and by the largest playoff in any margin of any of golf's recognized four major championships, which includes the Masters. British Open and PGA. "I feel hollow disappointed and hollow," said Norman. "To come so close and in the end be so far away e He let the sentence trail off unfinished. "I gave it my best shot but my best shot wasn't good enough. Now, I'll try to come back and win the British Open. "I'm going to come out of this with a positive attitude. I learned something. I learned I tried too hard, and you can't do that. "The next time, maybe I can turn it into victory. "I think I can win a major championship. And I think it will happen future, said Australian who is known as the "Great White Shark." But he was a toothless shark this a shark that dreary, drizzly day was speared by a weapon of his own y the putt. Norman provided the greatest drama of regulation play when he n dropped a breaking, putt of perhaps 50 feet in length Sunday to save par on the 72nd hole and force the playoff. Each finished four rounds at 276, four under par. But, long as that putt was, Zoeller made one of even greater distance in the playoff. After both players had birdied the first hole in a misting rain, Norman drove into the rough on the second, After Trevino put the hex on Nicklaus with his snake dance in 1971, much was written accusing Super Mex of treading on thin ice in the area of sportsmanship. But Zoeller and Norman, who happen to be close friends on the PGA Tour, simply laughed at the suggestion that Zoeller was trying to psyche" Nord conman before their frontation unfolded Monday. "We were just loosening up the crowd and trying to be loose ourselves, stressed Zoeller. Greg and I even had dinner together last night. My wine bill was about $600. I figured I'd buy whatever he wanted last night and he wouldnt be worth five cents today." Mondays playoff triumph was fun for Fuzzy, who has now come into focus as one of the games premiere players. And it was more than just a lot of laughs. They said Frank Zoeller could not win the Masters. So he gunned down e Tom W'atson and Ed Sneed in a sudden death playoff during his first appearance at Augusta National to take home the 1979 green jackhead-to-hea- two-hol- et. They said Fuzzy Zoeller couldn't win the National Open. He drives the ball prodigious distances, but can't keep it in the fairway. That was the book on Fuzzy. So he undresses Greg Norman, the Great White Shark, by a record eight strokes. That's correct. No other U.S. Open champion has ever embarrassed his adversary in an playoff by eight shots. No man has ever before fashioned a 67 in an Open playoff. Trevinos 68 at Merion was the previous modern-da- y playoff record. Of course, that was the last time a member of the Comedians Union with a bad back won the U.S. Open. card-carryin- g Maybe theres something to laughing while you roll in birdie ter birdie. af- the in the long-hittin- g cross-countr- aeross-the-gree- All Funny Business Pure Sportsmanship oral 2:7-20- 2. U.S. Open: Zoeller Buries Norman rain-soake- light-hearte- ;,ll I one-line- There he was on the first tee preparing to play perhaps the most important 18 holes of his career, and the bubbly gentleman from New Albany, Indiana, was all funny business. The United States Open was at stake. A check totaling $94,000 was up for grabs. And Fuzzy Wuzzy was joking around in the rain. "Thats just me, stressed Zoeller after burying Norman by eight strokes with a gaudy round of 67. "Everyone has their own way of relaxing. I didn't want to smoke a carton of cigarettes while I was waiting to tee off, so I asked Greg if he wanted to make a phone call. I didn't tell him it wasn't plugged in. Fuzzy Zoeller, age 32, father of three and a Richard Pryor disciple, doesn't take himself seriously. But he does take golf seriously even if he approaches the game with the zeal and squeal of a nightclub comedian. Yet, it often seems Zoeller is not respected as the supreme competitor that he is because of his d golf course antics. You cant be one of the games greats and be funny too. That seems to be the consensus. But Zoeller has shot holes in that theory by securing his second major championship in five years. "I'm sure people say there's no way he can concentrate while hes doing so many crazy things out there, analyzed Zoeller, "but that really isnt true. When I get over a shot. I'm concentrating as hard as the next guy. When Im not over a shot, I'm not thinking about it that much. Hey, I like to talk to people. A golf course is a great place to meet people." i'rortlnl Viiri' or couldnt reach the green and Associated Press Loserphoto Fuzzy Zoeller raises arms on 18th green Monday to acknowledge cheers of gallery after he routed Greg Norman by 8 shots to win the 1984 U.S. Open championship. chipped on in three. Zoeller put his approach on the back right of the green. The distance later was measured at 68 feet. He tapped the downhill putt then stood, and watched and waited, watched and waited some more as the ball, moving slowly over the wet green, rolled inexorably toward the cup and died in the hole for a birdie. Fuzzy simply lifted both hands and his eyes toward the dark and gloomy skies as if to say "thank you. Jazz Ready for Todays Draft By Lex Hemphill Tribune Sports Writer The Jazz were still preparing Monday night . . and keeping their fingers crossed. The Jazz choose 16th in Tuesday's NBA draft (beginning at 10 a.m. MDT), and in that spot, they find themselves at the mercy of those picking ahead of them. Mostly, it seemed, they found themselves hoping that San Diego States Michael Cage or, perhaps, Michigan Kevin Willis will be States left by others for them to pick. If not, they were prepared to go in another direction. . Such worries dont plague the Jazz's three Midwest Division rivals in Texas (Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio), who are picking ip the first seven and will all come away with a high-qualit- player, particularly y since the dividing line in this draft would seem to come after the top eight players. So all three teams will improve in this draft in their attempts to make a run at the Jazz's Midwest Division title. But how much will the Jazz improve themselves in Tuesdays lottery? The answer will be held by the other teams picking ahead of the Jazz, specifically by those teams picking ninth through 15th. The Jazz wouldn't mind seeing Cage or Willis slip through all those teams, but they're not sure that will happen. The guessing begins with Kansas City at No. 9. In the last couple of days, the talk has been that the Kings, instead of going big as previously advertised, will invoke the old best player available rule and take Cal State Fullerton guard Leon Wood. If they do, the Jazz would probably be delighted, because the Kings have been tagged as one of three teams in the area who want to go big (Atlanta at No. 11 and Dallas at No. 15 are the others) and who could take the three big men projected to go in that area (Willis, Cage and Otis Thorpe). If any of those three teams elect to take a guard (and its conceivable any of the three could), then the Jazz may be in good shape. Everybody we talk to seems to think weve got a good chance of Cage coming to us," said Jazz GenFrank Layden eral Manager-Coac- h Monday evening. But does that mean the Jazz will pick him? Not necessarily. By the end of the night, Layden wras saying that the Jazz brain trust Layden, assistant coach Phil Johnson, and Scott Layden assistant coach-scowere backing off Cage. Of course, if he and Willis are gone, the Jazz will have to pick somebody else. The Jazzs talent judges spent much of Monday lookTerence ing at films of Stansbury of Temple, 8 Ben Coleman of Maryland, and 6 Tony Campbell of Ohio State. The odds are good that one of these three players will be the Jazz pick if Willis, Thorpe and Cage are all gone, 6-- but Layden said late Monday that a surprise player has entered their Will He Fall to 16th? thinking and that they could go out on a limb Tuesday. The Jazz trio manned the offices Monday night until 10 p.m., which was the trading deadline (midnight EDT), to make sure they were up on any moves around the league. Layden said the Jazz were not active in trade talks as the deadline neared. Assuming no trades are announced early Tuesday, as has happened in the past, here is one way the first round of Tuesdays draft could go: The first six seem almost surefire. If they dont go right, the whole draft could be a mess: 1, Houston Akeem Olajuwon, Houston center: 2, Sam Bowie, Kentucky Portland Michael Jorcenter, 3, Chicago dan, North Carolina guard; 4, Dallas Sam Perkins, North Carolina forCharles ward; 5, Philadelphia Barkley, Auburn forward; 6, Washington TV. Turpin, Kentucky center. And then? Alvin Robertson, 7, San Antonio Arkansas guard. They need rebounding help and tried to trade this pick to get it. They talked with Phoenix about getting Alvan Adams, but opted not to. So they'll keep the pick and take the best player. Lancaster Gordon, 8, Clippers Louisville guard. You wouldn't think See Page Column 1 C-- "I wasn't trying to make it." Zoeller said. "I was just trying to get feet. If I'd done that, I'd it within have been very happy. "It just kept going and died right 7 in the hole "It's a crazy game. Crazy things happen." The shaken Norman then from 20 feet for a double bogey. "If he hadn't made it, Id probably Norman said. have Lat Fuzzv did make it. It was a swing, a lead for Fuzzy. And. at that early point, it was all but over. Both bogeyed the third. Fuzzy's leading margin went to four when Norman bogeyed the fourth from a bunker. It went to five when the Australian failed to get up and down from still another bunker on the eighth. More U.S. Open, C-- 5 By the third hole. Zoeller, occasionally whistling softly to himself, was walking to the gallery ropes to shake hands with friends. By the ninth, the rain had stopped and Fuzzy's lead remained at five. By that point, it was simply a matter of how large the margin might grow. About the time the national television cameras began their coverdownage, Zoeller dropped a hill birdie putt on the 14th hole while Norman once again bogeyed, this time flying his approach over the green. That swing gave Zoeller a lead with four holes to play. After that, it was simply a matter of getting it in the house. As they approached the 18th, Norman, joking, waved a white towel at Fuzzy, just as Zoeller had done the day before after Norman's great putt. The Australian, grinning, walked onto the green and congratulated Zoeller before they had finished play. The sixth victory of Zoeller's PGA Tour career was worth $94,000 and increased Zoeller's earnings for the year to $154,442. Norwho man, a dedicated globe-trotthad won more than 30 tournaments around the world before he settled in the United States last year, took some consolation from a $47,000 check. Downs Beats Gulls by 5-- 2 PORTLAND - Kelly Downs, who used to pitch for Viewmont High School in Bountiful, sent a message home Monday night, as he pitched the Portland Beavers to a victory over the Salt Lake Gulls in the first game of the second half of the Pacific Coast Leagues split season. Downs went all the way in stopping the Gulls on six hits. It was his third complete game and his fourth victory against nine losses. The only blow that spoiled Downs bid for a shutout was a two-ou- t, two-ru- n triple in the fifth inMoses. John ning by The Beavers didn't exactly pound Jim Lewis, who pitched a and gave Downs a good duel. But Lewis gave up one big hit, a two-ruhomer in the bottom of the fifth by John Russell that gave Downs the cushion he needed. defiThe Gulls had cut a on Moses two-ru- n cit to triple in the top of the fifth, but the Beavers answered right away when Rusty Ham-ri- c singled and Russell hit his 5-- 2 five-hitt- n 3-- 0 2 homer into the leftfield bleachers to make it 5-- Simple Burial Writes End to Saga of Swale LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - The people who foaled, raised and broke Swale buried him in silence Monday, bidding farewell to the colt who gave them lots to brag about with Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes victories. Swale, who collapsed and died Sunday after a gallop at Belmont, was only the third Claiborne horse to be buried in entirety in the shady cemetery behind the farm office. The whole bodies of Nasrullah and Princequillo are also in the tiny graveyard, but only the head, heart and hooves of the others including Bold Ruler, Hoist the Flag and are there. Buckpasser his own mind said in man Each his farewell. Everybody was standing there. It was very simple and very quick, said John Sosby, general manager of the famed breeding farm in nearby Paris. If anyone had said anything, I probably would have been called on to do it. "And if I'd tried, I probably would have started crying," Sosby said. No outsiders were there, he said, "just the Claiborne family." That in- - t eludes Claiborne president Seth Hancock, his mother Waddell, sisters Clay and Dell and brother A.B. Hancock III, as well as about 45 fulltime members of the staff. The stud men, the yearling men, the broodmare men, everybody from all different sections of the farm (were there), Sosby recounted. The van arrived around 8:30 a.m. and we had him in the ground by about 9:30 a.m." Up the hill a furlong or so stand the breeding shed and stallion barn where Hancock had hoped Swale would reproduce his winning ways. The barn now houses Nijinsky II, Secretariat, Spectacular Bid, Riva Ridge, Mr. Prospector, Sir Ivor and Damascus, among others. Sosby said Hancock wasn't willing to talk to the press Monday and probably wouldn't until he "gets it all together. Farmhands dug a grave for Swale Sunday, Sosby said, then went to the Bourbon Lumber Co. to assemble a box eight-fee- t square and about three-fee- t deep to hold the colt's carcass. six-fo- Meanwhile, officials in New York said pathologists were still trying to find the cause of Swales untimely death. Veterinarians originally suspected a heart attack, but said a showed no signs of cardiac failure. Trainer Woody Stephens mystified, too, about the reason his star runner had reared up and collapsed during a sponge bath. "Its all in the hands of the veterinarians now, said Stephens, who left Sunday for his already-planne- d vacation in Hot Springs, Ark. "The horse never had a sick day in his life. He never even had so much as an aspirin. Never even ran a temperature. Pathologists have said that further examination of the colts brain and vital organs could take two weeks, and even then the cause of his death may never be known. Sometimes horses die on you and you never know why, said Dr. Robert Fritz, who had been Swales veterinarian. Fritz said while heart failure and a stroke were the most likely causes, post-morte- he also mentioned the possibility that the horse may be have been a victim of a toxic substance. Dr. Helen Acland, a pathologist who had participated in the autopsy, said the examination showed no sign of any foul play, adding, if it was done, it was done extremely subtly. Meanwhile, two investigations were underway in New York into the colt's death. Investigators for the State Racing and Wagering Board and the New York Racing Association were conducting what sources close to situation described as routine inquiries. The investigations were said to involve interviewing all those who were around Swale before and after he galloped 14 miles in a routine early morning workout. Swale's owners had planned to race him as a and racing sources estimated that he could have earned $40 million in stud fees once he retired. He is believed to have been insured for $15 million Claiborne has been among the thoroughbred far; as for years, but Swale was the first colt to best-know- n i carry its unadorned orange-gol- silks to the Kentucky Derby d win- ners circle. TV-Rad- io Today Following is a list of Tuesdays sporting events that will be broadcast or telecast locally: 10 a.m. National Baskete ball Association draft. USA-cabl- TV. 5:30 p.m. Major league baseball: Chicago Cubs at e Pittsburgh Pirates, TV; New York Yankees at Detroit Tigers, KWGN-Cabl- e TV; San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves, W'TBS-Cabl- e WGN-Ca-bl- TV. 7 p.m. Sports talk, Jazz Coach Frank Layden discusses draft with Chris Tunis, radio. 8:15 p.m. PCL baseball, Salt Lake Gulls at Portland radio. Beavers, KLAF-123- 0 KSL-116- 0 |
