Roger Maltbie has stories, the kind that have been told and retold over drinks and dinners, their edges still sharp, the details still clear and the beauty still in the essential truth of the story itself.
Like the story about how he won the inaugural Memorial Tournament 50 years ago when a lousy 4-iron shot caromed off a piece of rebar holding a gallery rope in place and bounced onto the green, helping him beat an angry Hale Irwin in a playoff.
Like the story about him drinking a beer one Monday morning and sticking a needle in Jack Nicklaus at one of the Golden Bear’s proudest moments.
Like the story about how he could have and maybe should have won the 1987 Masters had he only been able to shoot 36 on the second nine on Sunday.
“Who do you know who doesn’t love Roger Maltbie?”
— Jimmy Roberts
Like the story of how he was twice approached about occupying the chair alongside Jim Nantz in the 18th tower for CBS Sports and ultimately turned it down.
And, of course, the story about how he won the 1975 Pleasant Valley Classic and lost the $40,000 winner’s check a few hours later.
We’re getting to those Maltbie stories because they deserve the telling and the retelling, but they are like decorations on a Christmas tree and who doesn’t love a good Christmas tree?
“Who do you know who doesn’t love Roger Maltbie?” asked Jimmy Roberts, one of Maltbie’s longtime associates at NBC Sports.
Well, Hale Irwin for one.
That takes us back 50 years to the first Memorial Tournament played at Muirfield Village, the tournament and course created by Jack Nicklaus.
Muirfield Village is the magnum opus of Nicklaus’s extensive course-design collection and the Memorial is its elegant frame. Because of the Nicklaus name and the Augusta-like qualities built into the course, the Memorial Tournament had an instant gravitas when it debuted in 1976.
With a field full of the game’s stars, Nicklaus probably didn’t imagine the inaugural Memorial would be won by a 24-year-old, second-year pro wearing patchwork plaid pants, a dark blue shirt and a mop of brown hair long enough to cover his ears. But golf is funny that way.
At the end of 72 holes, Maltbie and Irwin were tied, forcing a playoff. Nicklaus didn’t want sudden-death so he instituted a three-hole playoff that, for whatever reason, would be played over the 15th, 16th and 17th holes.
Here’s Maltbie picking up the story from the 17th hole until the end:
“They started the playoff on 15, the five-par. Why would you start a three-hole playoff that ends on 17? It didn’t add up. Anyway, I get to the 15th tee. Hale is there waiting, and I walked on to the tee, went across and extended my hand to say good luck. What else do you do?
“My caddie, Jeff Burrell, he said loud enough for Hale to hear it and the people nearest to hear it, he goes, ‘He thinks he’s gonna win,’ which I’m sure he did. Who didn’t, maybe including me. He won the massacre at Winged Foot. I mean, come on, the guy’s a great player.
“But anyway, I laughed, and it was like all the tension left. Come on, let’s just go play. So we both birdied 15. We both parred 16. Now we’re on 17. We’re both driving near each other in the fairway. I was away. I hit 4-iron and pulled it left of the green.
“The ball ricocheted into the center of the green. What happened? I don’t know. I think maybe I hit somebody right in the noggin, or something for that to happen, to kick out like that, because it wasn’t a good spot, left.
“I looked up, and Hale is just glaring holes through me with his eyes, not happy. He hits a beautiful shot in. He’s maybe got 10 or 12 feet right underneath the hole. I putted down and missed. I walked to the back of the green and took my glove off. My caddie says what are you doing? I said he isn’t Hale Irwin because he misses straight-in 10-footers to win, right?
“Sure enough, he missed. We got to 18 and I think I drove it within two yards of where I had driven it on the 72nd hole. I knew the club. I hit a 4-iron again. It was virtually an identical shot. The same place behind the hole. I knew how it broke.
“He drove it to the right and there were these big trees at the dogleg. He got it locked up over there. It wasn’t a terrible tee shot, but it ended up in a bad spot. Well, now you can’t get it on the green, and he’s chopping it around … and I made the putt to win.
“The media room is in a cart barn. I go in and they’re interviewing Hale. He’s not pleased. That’s obvious. I’m sitting in the back row waiting my turn. The doors open and a marshal comes in with a piece of rebar that my ball hit and says, ‘I thought you might like to have this.’ Why would you do that? So I’m sitting there saying, thank you, that’s very kind. I look back up at Hale. Sheepishly I go [raises the bar toward Irwin] and he says, ‘No, thanks. I’ve already had the shaft once today.’
“He did not speak to me for about six months.”