Stories of golfing great Sam Snead — and that elusive U.S. Open title
I was having dinner with Joni the other day when the television showed a graphic regarding golfer Phil Mickelson.
He is one of two legends missing an elusive U.S. Open title. The man has 45 PGA Tour victories and six major championships, but no U.S. Open, which is being played this week. No U.S. Open and no career grand slam.
Just like, the graphic pointed out, Sam Snead, who was once West Virginia’s adopted son.
And I had to smile.
See, many years ago, I had the pleasure of a working lunch with Slammin’ Sam. The Greenbrier had opened a 60,000-square foot private facility golf academy. At the time, I was working at the Charleston Gazette.
I was invited to come over and write about the academy. I agreed – if Sam would give me a golf lesson as the basis of a column. Mention of the academy, I promised, would be included.
He agreed. And it was the thrill of my career.
Snead, if you’re unaware, is tied with Tiger Woods for most PGA Tour wins ever: 82. He lived to the ripe old age of 89.
But the memories of him will last my lifetime.
That working lunch? Behind us, in Slammin’ Sammy’s restaurant, a loop of Snead’s golf exploits was playing.
And at one point, he cringed.
“Had I made that putt,” he said, pointing and grimacing, “I’d have won a U.S. Open.”
I don’t know to which U.S. Open he was referring. He came in second four times: 1937, 1947, 1949 and 1953.
But I suspect it was the 1947 event.
With a birdie on the 72nd hole, Snead forced an 18-hole playoff the next day with Lew Worsham. At the final hole, they were still tied.
Snead’s birdie attempt was short on the hole, and he walked forward to knock it in for the par. Worsham, though, in a bit of gamesmanship, asked for an official determination on which golfer should putt first.
“I was so mad,” Snead said because he indeed was out and the man to eventually putt first.
He missed.
That day at lunch he shook his head.
“That’s the only regret I had ever: not winning the U.S. Open,” he told me.
I have so many other memories of Snead. There was the golf lesson. (“Do you know how much money you saved today?” he said afterward, only half-jokingly.) He kept telling me to “snap it” at the bottom of my swing. “If I had two weeks to work with you,” he said, “you’d be better.”
I went to his 80th birthday party and listened to stories that stunned the stuffy crowd. I heard stories of him being asked for advice on the course – and then submitting a bill for the lesson after the 18th hole.
I have a print of him and Jackie Gleason in a golf cart. It’s signed, “To Mitch, how sweet it is. Sam Snead.”
And I vividly remember him smiling at my ex-wife, who was eight months pregnant. “If he doesn’t treat you right, you come see me,” Snead said.
I was standing right beside him.
Indeed, he was quite a character.
With but one regret.
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Mitch Vingle covered sports in West Virginia for 38 years. Follow Mitch on Twitter at @MitchVingle and be sure to check out the rest of Wheelhouse Creative’s website for your marketing and advertising needs. If interested, call us at 304-905-6005.
