GOLF

Bogeys at the Beach

Ben Hogan called them "the toughest finishing holes in golf"--which just may be the kindest thing that anybody has ever said about the 17th and 18th holes at California's Pebble Beach golf course.

One weekend a year, Pebble Beach duffers leave their clubs at home, get their kicks instead by watching the world's top pros make fools of themselves in the $100,000 Bing Crosby championship. Most of the spectators cluster around the 17th and 18th holes, where for 752 yds. there is nothing on the left but surf, sand, rocks and Hawaii--a 2,410-mile wood shot away. The smart ones bring gunny sacks and hang out in a cove, where balls hit into the sea are washed up by the tide.

Business is generally brisk. In the 1964 Crosby, Arnold Palmer dumped three balls in the drink, took nine strokes to get down on the par-three, 217-yd. 17th. In 1959, Gene Littler needed only a par five on the 535-yd. 18th to tie Art Wall for the title; he hooked his second shot into the water, wound up with a double-bogey seven. Of course, there have been days when the 18th played easier; a San Franciscan named Mat Palacio once hit a drive in the general direction of China and muttered, "Only God can save that one." Whereupon the waves rolled back and the ball caromed off a convenient rock straight onto the fairway. "Thank you, God," sighed Palacio.

Let's Go Swimming. Jack Nicklaus could have used a little of the same in last week's Crosby. Pro golf's top money winner ($152,000) in 1965, Nicklaus was playing his first tournament of 1966, and he was still in the running for big money when he teed off at No. 18 in the final round. The 18th doglegs slightly to the left, and for a long hitter like Nicklaus the temptation is strong to try reaching the green in two--by cutting the corner across the sea. Nicklaus' first drive splashed into the surf. So did his second. That set off a fruitless ten-minute hunt for the lost balls--during which one tournament official fell into the ocean accidentally and another dived in deliberately to search the bottom. Finally, Jack hit still another drive and settled for a double-double-bogey nine, a total of 295, and $730.

Texas' Don Massengale, 28, does not pretend to be a big hitter. Besides, as he said, "I am always conscious of the ocean here." So conscious, in fact, that he sliced his second shot clear over to the opposite side of the 18th fairway, wound up stymied behind a tree. Whereupon Massengale pulled a No. 8 iron from his bag, said a silent prayer and swung. The ball sailed straight through a hole in the branches and landed on the green only 4 ft. from the pin. The easy birdie putt gave him a one-stroke victory worth $11,000.

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