Bob Goalby, who won the Masters without going to the playoffs when Roberto de Vicenzo signed sadly for the poor score, died. He was 92 years old.
Goalby’s passed away on Wednesday in his hometown of Belleville, Illinois, was confirmed by the PGA Tour and his great-nephew Bill Haas.
The Masters was part of his 11 wins on the PGA Tour, and Goalby won twice in what is now the PGA Tour Champions. He is best known for the way he was declared champion of the Masters. The role he played in the introduction of two tours is equally remarkable.
Goalby was one of the players who boldly pushed the Tournament Players division to break away from the PGA of America and become what is now the PGA Tour. Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus have given support that has contributed to this. Goalby was among those who initiated the movement. He after joined Gardner Dickinson and Dan Sikes to organise a tour for players aged 50 and over.
“He never said ‘here’s what I did.”For the men of his time, Bob was a leader, but he had a lot of humility,” said Jay Haas, a nine-time PGA Tour winner, captain of the Presidents Cup and nephew of Goalby.
His brilliant performance at Augusta National was also overlooked.
After birdies on the 13th and 14th holes in the final round, Goalby hit an iron 3 to 8 feet for an eagle on the 15th par-5 and closed with a 66. He finished at 11-under 277 and assumed he was going to a playoff game on Monday with de Vicenzo, who had managed an oiselet in the 17th par-4 and finished with a 65.
However, Tommy Aaron held the card of the Argentine that day and put it for a 4 on the 17th hole instead of a 3. De Vicenzo signed the card, and according to the rules of golf, had to accept the highest score. That gave De Vicenzo a 66 and he finished one stroke behind, leading to one of golf’s most famous lines: “What a silly I am.”
“The presentation ceremony was not what it could have been,” Goalby told Golf Digest in an interview. “I sat down next to Roberto and did what I could to comfort him. There is a video of me patting her on the leg. I felt no excitement, nothing like you expected to win the biggest tournament of your life. It was embarrassing. It was tragic for Roberto, but it was just as unfortunate for me.
“I never had the full merit of what I had done. I played well, especially on the last day.”
Goalby was born on March 14, Belleville and was a multisport player in high school and college. Belleville West High School renamed its football field in honor of Goalby. He went to Illinois on a football scholarship, then played baseball at Southern Illinois. He was drafted into the army during the Korean War and turned professional.
After the PGA Tour, he worked as a professional club in Darien, Connecticut, but only until he shot 64 at the last round of the Mayfair Inn Open in Florida and won 20 for for finishing 30th.
“I called Darien’s store and said, “Thank you very much, but I’m not coming back,”” Goalby told the tour website.
His first victory was the Greater Greensboro Open. The last of his 11 titles on the PGA Tour was the Bahamas National Open. He participated in a Ryder Cup in East Lake, Atlanta, with Arnold Palmer as captain.
“In everything Bob did, whether he was rocking a club, sitting in a conference room to improve things for the players, whether he was walking on fairways while holding a microphone or just spending time with his family, he was a wonderful man… one of the greatest storytellers, and we will miss him,” said former PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem.
We remember him for the Masters, the last round he played and the grace with which he won on the basis of a rule violation that was not his fact. Goalby and Vicenzo remained friends and became partners twice in a PGA Tour Champions event.
The after Dan Jenkins wrote in Sports Illustrated: “Precisely because Bob Goalby is as made-up as he is, which is tough and realistic, he has felt a lot less bothered by the Masters debacle than most people might think.”
Despite everything, Goalby has received a lot of hateful messages, although it would always have been playoffs without the error of the scorecard.
“One man wrote ‘”They should put you and Sonny Liston in a concrete bag and throw you in the ocean.”The negative/positive ratio was 10 to 1 negative,” Goalby said in an interview with Golf Digest. “The letters piled up, and each of them hurt. For some reason I kept these hate postings. I don’t know why. Maybe for a day explain to people what the experience looked like.”
But there were also positive memories, and he spoke to Golf Digest about a letter he received from Masters co-founder Bobby Jones. He framed the letter and held it on a wall of his home in Belleville.
“There is a part where he says:”I was especially delighted with her second exquisite shot in the 15th, which was the best I saw played at this hole.”Jones was present when Gene Sarazen realized his double eagle, so it’s a credit,” Goalby said.
