“Winning the Open would have meant hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe millions. But, you know, I don’t measure life in dollars. I don’t think there’s anyone anywhere in the world who’s lived a better life than I’ve done.â€
There is a small but significant part of Doug Sanders’ story that everyone knows. With a one-shot lead in the 99th Open in 1970, he just needed to par St Andrews’ 18th to claim his first major title, but, standing just 3 feet from the hole, he stabbed at the ball and watched as it agonisingly missed to the right.
Inevitably, he lost an 18-hole playoff to Jack Nicklaus, and the moment went down in sporting folklore as the putt that lost the Open.
What happened in that split-second followed Sanders the rest of his life. He later said: “You know, I go back there and sometimes they say, ‘Doug, do you ever think about that putt?’ And I say, ‘Oh, sometimes I go as high as five minutes when I ain’t thinking about it.’ â€
“That’s what they would have put down: ‘That’s what won Sanders the Open.’ Jack Nicklaus said that’s the greatest bunker shot he’s ever seen in a major championship.â€
Doug Sanders
Yet there is so much more to this colourful player from America’s Deep South, who won 20 PGA Tour titles, finished runner-up in four majors and counted entertainment’s “Rat Pack†and daredevil Evel Knievel among his friends.
Sanders, who died at age 86 in 2020, lacked Nicklaus’ power or Gary Player’s creativity, but he made up for it with a heart the size of the famous Road Hole bunker, where he played perhaps his greatest-ever shot.
Just 10 minutes before his infamous putt in the final round of the 1970 Open, Sanders was in deep trouble on the 17th – and deep in one of golf’s most famous sandpits. With Nicklaus – at that point a seven-time major winner and at the peak of his irresistible powers – breathing down his neck, Sanders must have been contending with a dry throat.
Yet, his connection was sweet and the end result even sweeter as the ball zipped out of the bunker, spinning like a Shane Warne leg-break, landed softly on the green and meandered to within 1 foot of the hole.
“If I had two-putted the last hole, that bunker shot I hit at 17 would have been one of the greatest shots,†he later said in “The Open Championship: A Cruel Game (The Nearly Men)†documentary.
“It lost its fame and notoriety. That would have been the only shot they would have put down: ‘That’s what won Sanders the Open.’ Jack Nicklaus said that’s the greatest bunker shot he’s ever seen in a major championship.â€
To read more about the fascinating story of Doug Sanders, click HERE.
The R&A
