University Daily Kansan / Mondav. April 10. 1989
11
Sports
Two putts tell story of Masters title
The Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Nick Faldo's 25-foot putt for the 1989 Masters may fade from people's memories. Scott Hoch's two-foot miss for the title on the previous playoff hole will never be forgotten.
"Between my brain and my hand, the message got crisscrossed," Hoch said.
And the crisscross cost him the green jacket.
In the gathering gloom of early evening at Augusta National, it was the Englishman Faldo who raised his arms in triumph. But without two blown short putts by Hoch, Faldo never would have won it.
First, on the 17th hole of regulation. Hoch missed a three-foot par putt after he had made a great recovery shot to the green. That dropped him
into a tie for first place and eventually led to the playoff.
Then on the first playoff hole, with daylight running out, Hoch was just a two-foot put put away from the title. There were from every possible vantage point.
"I didn't want to miss an angle." he said. "I wasn't nervous, not at all. I felt this must be my time."
But he pulled the putt. The ball lipped out.
"I'm proud of myself," said Hoch, winner of three PGA Tour titles in an 11-year career. "I have nothing to be ashamed of. I played well this week."
The shot matched Faldo's earlier bogey, and they went to the next playoff hole, where Faldo rolled in the long putt.
Both drove the fairway in the drizzling rain. Faldo went for the pin,
ignoring the pond on the left of the 11th green. He put the ball about 25 feet below the hole.
Hoch put his approach to the right, with the ball skipping off the sodden putting surface and running down an embankment.
He chipped to about six feet and had that left for par when Falcon ran in the birdie that won the first of the four major tests of golfing greatness.
Faldo, a former British Open champion and eight times a runner-up in tournaments around the world last year, lifted both arms high in the air and howled in triumph when the winning putt found the cup.
"It means the world to me. Words don't describe this," Faldo said. "I seen other guys do this. Jack Nicklaus does this. I sat and Jack Nicklaus does this."
watched stuff like this on TV. And then to have it happen; it's a dream. You dream to have it happen and when you see, right before your eyes plastery?
Faldo, playing about an hour in front of the other contenders, shot a spectacular 65 in difficult conditions, completed regulation play at 283 and then sat back and watched while five opponents gave it a shot down the stretch.
There was Seve Ballesteros of Spain, the 1800 and 1838 Masters champion, who shared the top spot part of the day. But he put a 6-19 shot in the water on the 16th and ceased to be a factor.
There was Mike Reid, the soft-spoken guy called "Radian" by his proshel. He had the lead, but after he three-putted the 14th and hit into the
water at 15, he, too, was out of contention.
All came up short.
There was Greg Norman, the flamboyant Australian who has played so well here so often.
Both chopped up the first playoff hole, the 10th. Faldo drove the fairway but had an awkward stance and this approach in a greenside bunker.
And there was Ben Crenshaw,
"Gentle Ben," trying to gain that
second green jacket.
Only Hoe, with a closing 69, could match Faldo's 5 under-part total for 72 holes over the rain-slick hills of Augusta.
Hoch got on the green but was some 30 feet away.
One-handed pitcher loses in his pro debut
Poor control, nervousness hurt Abbott
In his wind-up and delivery (1 and 2), Abbott cradles a left-handed mit on his right wrist. Immediately after the release (3), he slips his left hand into the glove to catch the returning ball (4 and 5). With his right forearm, he then holds the glove against his chest (6) and opens the mitt with his right wrist (6), and catches the dropping ball in his left.
The Associated Press
Knight-Ridder Tribune News / CRAIG PURSLEY
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jim Abbott lost because he had just one pitch, not because he had just one hand.
Abbott's professional debut fizzled Saturday night, undone by trouble that could have stopped any 21-year-old rookie.
His control was off, his nerves acted up and he had some bad luck. Two errors hurt him and so did a bat single with the bases loaded.
When it was over, he had allowed six runs on six hits in 42% innings, although three runs were unearned. The Seattle Mariners, who began the night as the worst-hitting team in the league, lost Abbott and the Angelica Angels 7-0.
"I'm a little disappointed that things didn't go a little better." Abbott said. "There were some things to build on. But overall, I didn't do as many things as I'd like to."
Mainly, Abbott didn't get the ball over the plate.
"Today, maybe my mind wasn't as clearly focused as I would've wanted," he said. "There was definitely some nervousness."
He threw 83 pitches, just 47 for strikes. He walked three, one intentionally, and struck out no one. He was a fine pitch that set up two first-innings runs.
Abbott has always had control difficulty, but in college and the Olympics, a 90-mm fastball and a hard slider are enough to win. But he learns the curve and change up he needs to win in the maiers.
And against Seattle, Abbott had difficulty throwing his slider for strikes. That left him with only a fastball that is good but not great, and big-league hitters can hit anything if they know what is coming.
"We got to him early and got him to throw the kind of pitches we
wanted," said Harold Reynolds, who took "a called strike to the game and then singled. "He throws hard when he hits him, but he has to stay ahead in the count."
Abbott got two strikes on just five of the 24 batters he faced. The Mariners seemed onto him, swapping and missing on just two pitches.
"I think he uncharacteristically was more nervous than he's ever been before," Angels manager Doug Rader said. "That's understandable. He got the ball up early and was overthrowing a bit."
Abbott became the 15th player since 1965, 10 of them pitchers, to begin his pro career in the majors.
although all except Dave Winfield. Bob Horner and Pete Incaviglia eventually were sent to the minors.
Everyone seems to think Abbott eventually will be a good major-league pitcher and he might, although many people outside the Angels' organization think he would be better off at Class AM at Midland, Texas, where he was originally scheduled to open.
The Mariners, who began the night batting only 172 and lost all four games under their new manager, Jim Lefebvre, started quickly.
Reynolds and Henry Cotto opened with hard singles and each later scored. Abbott also bounced a slider
in the dirt for a wild pitch
"When I warmed up, I got caught in the hoopla," Abbott admitted. "But once you get out there, it's just another game. When they got early hits, I knew I was in the middle of it."
Abbott's fielding ability, which made some teams shy away before the Angels took him eighth in last June's draft, was not tested. He did not handle the ball, and the only bunt Seattle put in play, by Reynolds in the third, went directly at third baseman Glenn Hoffman for a single.
fielding
But despite having to switch his glove from his right arm onto his left hand, he's never had any problems
In his debut as a high school freshman, the first eight batters bunted on him; the first went for a single before Abbott threw out the key.
In three years at Michigan, he committed just three errors.
A crowd of 46,847, which included his parents from Flint, Mt. turned out to see Abbott's professional debut. That was about 13,000 more fans than the normal attendance at any other Mariners-Angels game.
Yet the Angels, whose attendance drop of 355,000 last season was the biggest in baseball, insist Abbott made the team as a fifth starter because of his ability, not his drawing power. The team did not promote his debut in any advertisements, and the game was not televised.
Still, everyone knew this game was different, including the many reporters from Japan, where Abbott is considered a hero.
Aver ns tough first inning, Abbott needed only eight pitches to retire the Mariners in order in the second. An error enabled Seattle to lead the Tampa Bay Bulls. Abbott escaped by getting Darnell Coles to ground into a double play.
Abbott again retired the side on eight pitches in the fourth. But Omar Vizquel, the ninth-place batter, opened the fifth with a single, and an error by second baseman Mark third, put runners on second and third.
Cotto was walked intentionally, and Alvin Davis broke his bat on an 0.2 pitch for a bloop single that scored two runs.
Coles reached on a run-scoring force-out. Then Abbott made a rookie mistake, failing to pay close attention to Coles, who easily stole second. Jeffrey Leonard singled him home, and when Mickey Brantley walked on four pitches, Abbott was relieved with the score 6-0.
"It was at a point where nothing more could be gained by leaving him in the game." Rader said. "I thought under the conditions, he was outstanding. I went and spoke with him privately in the dugout tunnel. He was a little angry because of the outcome."
Black coach not allowed to join club Other Volunteers have memberships
The Associated Press
KNOVILLE. Tenn — Doug Dickey, University of Tennessee athletic director, said that new Tennessee basketball coach Wade Houston, who broke racial barriers when he was named as the school's first black coach, would not be offered a membership in an all-white county club.
The Tennessee athletic department had provided the $15,000 memberships to the exclusive Cherokee Country Club to Houston's predecessors. The players of the football team coaches football coach Johnny Majors and Dickey also are members.
"Obviously, Cherokee Country Club does not have black members, and that is not an option (for Houston)." Dickey said.
Dickey and Houston discussed the matter before he was hired last week, Dickey said.
"We just have memberships we retain at the athletic department," Dickey said, "and it's our decision to do what want to do with them."
Houston said Saturday that he had no intention of fighting the decision.
"It's their decision," Houston said. "It's their club.
"There are tremendous advantages for a college basketball coach with a program of the magnitude of the University of Tennessee's to have some playoff games, who come in and want to play golf, if you can legally do those things."
"Everybody wants to monitor the membership and have the kind of club they can be proud of. If that guy is not going to make an issue of it."
Houston said that he and his family were members of a country club in Louisville, Ky.
Cherokee has no policy to exclude any potential member on the basis of race, creed or religion, said Hank Bertekamp, president of the club.
He said that there was an unofficial rule that any new member must live in the community for a year before being invited to join. He said that the waiting period would have applied to a white coach also.
But DeVoe said that he could recall no such waiting period when he first came to Tennessee, which transfers membership into DeVoe's games.
"I guess there could have been one, but I remember we were using the club quite early in my tenure at UT." DeVoe said.
Bertelkamp said that there was no agreement with the school to transfer the membership to each new coach.
Tennessee coaches pay the club's monthly $25 dues and are reimbursement from a personal expense account, Dickey said. Houston will have the same account without having to pay the dues.
Cool, rainy weather hampers men's golf team in Nashville
by Laurie Whitten
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas men's golf coach Ross Randall said that cold weather, wind and rain prevented the Jayhawks from playing their best rounds this weekend at the Music City International Tournament in Nashville.
Kansas finished seventh in a field of 18 teams with a score of 901 at the 54-hole tournament, which began Friday and ended Saturday. The University of Miami (Fla.) won the game 7-6, 6-2, 8-6, 880, followed by Alabama with 885.
"Both days, it was kind of cold and rainy with the wind blowing pretty hard," Randall said. "The conditions were tough. It was a nice, solid
Junior Sean Thayer finished the tournament in 15th place with a total of 223. Thayer had rounds of 73 and 74 on Friday and 76 on Saturday. Senior John Sinovick and junior John Ogden tied for 21st with a total of 225.
course to play, but it was unfortunate that the weather prevented the teams from shooting as low as they could have."
"Sean has been very steady for us so far," Randall said. "As soon asorden and Jenna start playing a lithe game of potential, we should be in good shape."
U.S. could avenge 1987 Davis Cup loss
Until the Jayhawks leave for the Akron Invitational on April 22-23 in Akron, Ohio, Randall said that he would work on their putting.
"We need to practice our short game because our putting and chipping is where we're losing the most strokes," he said.
Two years ago, West Germany handed the United States a humiliating defeat in the Davis Cup. This victory will have a chance to avenge the loss.
"Ogden and Sinovic played better than their scores indicated because they had trouble with putting. Some of the greens were severely sloped, so they found it difficult in bad conditions to make a good shot."
"I think we're coming around. They are not pleased with the way we are improving this little bit each time we compete. I hope we keep improving."
The conference tournament will be May 15-16.
until we peak in May during the Big Eight Championship."
Boris Becker beat Milan Sprecher 6-3, 6-4 & 3-yearend to give defending champion West Germany a 3/2 victory. And he won Davis Cup quarterfinal at Prague.
The United States clinched a victory over France on Saturday night when Ken Flach and Robert Seguso beat yannick Noah and Guy Forget
The Associated Press
in doubles at San Diego. Andre Agassi beat Noah 6:3, 7-6 (9)七-eyer day to give the United States a 40 lead, and John McEnroe tried to complete a sweep in the final match against Henr' Leconte.
West Germany will meet the United States in the semifinals July 21-23. In 1987, West Germany beat the United States in a relegation match that forced the U.S. out of the main tournament for a year.
In the other semifinal, Sweden will meet Yugoslavia.
Czechoslovakia had taken a 2-1 lead over West Germany on Saturday after Srebrer and Petr Korda beat Becker and Eric Jelen in doubles. But in Carluy Wee Steb evening the series ended with the draw, and in yesterday's first match and Becker clinched the victory by overpowering Srebrer.
Stefan Edberg beat Horst Skoff 6-3, 6-2, 1 to clinch Sweden's 3-2 victory over Austria, while teen-ager Goran Ivanisevic completed Ugosylasia's 4-1 victory over Spain by downing Javier Sanchez 7-5, 6-1.
BIG 8 SOCCER CHAMPS: KU Men's Soccer yesterday won the Big Eight Conference champion, beat Colorado 3-0 in Maphattan.
The Jayhawks, who went 4-1-0 in the tournament, were led by Kris Blumhoff, Ed Nelson and Gareth Prichard in the Colorado game. Andy Nordquist and Jon Gregor split time at goalie.
Kansas beat Missouri, which beat the Jayhawks in the league finals last year, in double overtime to advance to the finals.
"The guys went there with a purpose this year," Coach Glenn Shirtliffe said. "After a stumble in the first game, the guys went through the entire tournament without giving up a goal."
KANSAS SOFTBALL SPLITS: The Kansas softball team opened its Big Eight Conference season this weekend at Norma, Okla., defeating Oklahoma twice and losing a pair of games to Missouri.
Sports Briefs
On Saturday, Kansas had five hits and committed only one error but was unable to score against Missouri, losing to the Tigers 1-0. Junior Roanna Brazier was the first baseman, but held Missouri to four hits.
Later that day, Kansas defeated Oklahoma 43. The Jayhawks had 10 hits, while the Sooners had 6. For most of the latter Sack was the winning pitcher.
Yesterday, Kansas again lost to Missouri 1-0.
"Sack pitched a good game,but I was really disappointed in our
Kansas committed no errors but had only two hits against the Tigers.
hitting," coach Kalum Haack said. "We're just up and down, and it worries me because this is the issue we need to be more consistent."
Against Oklahoma that day, the Jayhawks beat the Sooners 1-0 Brazier, 15-11, was the game's winner.
JUDO CLUB COMPETES: The Kansas Nippon Kopeo Club competed in the Fort Leavenworth Spring Invitational Judet Tournament on Saturday, with Peggy Shortridge, Lawrence resident, winning the women's division and other club members placing second.
Davidson also received a special award for the fastest match victory.
Shortridge defeated teammate Kristin Zitta, Overland Park sophomore, for the women's title. Finishing second for the men were Pete Kowalewich, Overland Park freshman, at 156 pounds; Bruce Davidson, Leaward graduate student, at 172 pounds; and William Alix, Lawrence freshman, at 189 pounds.
KU LACROSSE CLUB: The KU lacrosse Club lost two games Saturday in the Fifth Annual Missouri Lacrosse Midwestern Shootout in Columbia, Mo. The club lost 12-6 and was knocked out Kansas then played the Kansas City Lacrosse Club in a consolation game they lost 8-6.
PERFECT GAME IN MINORS:
After two straight days of rain, Durham Bulls right-hander Dennis Hammond overcast skies were just perfect.
Kansas was led in the tournament by Scott Reinecke, Severna, Md., junior, who had three goals in each game, and John Sheahan, Littleton, Colo., freshman, who scored a goal and had five assists. Mike Carroll, Lake Forest, Ill.; junior; Dan Grossman, Denver junior; Greg Goss, Hinsale, Ill.; freshman; and Mike Beaty, St. Louis junior, also contributed goals in the tournament.
The 19-year-old tarmatto at the Atlanta Braves used a fastball and knuckle curve to loss a season-end run. The team swept a Carolina League Class A doubleheader from Frederick 4-0 and 1-0.
CHIEFS ANNOUNCE SCHEDULE:
The Kansas City Chiefs open the season with five of six games against AFC Western Division opponents, including four on the road.
All of the Chiefs games begin at noon Sundays.
The schedule is Sept. 10, at
Denver; Sept. 17, Los Angeles
Raiders; Sept. 24, at San Diego;
Oct. 1, Cincinnati; Oct. 8, at Seattle;
Oct. 15, at Los Angeles Raiders;
Oct. 23, Dallas; Oct. 29, at
Boston; Oct. 30, Boston; Dec.
12, Denver; Nov. 26, Houston; Dec.
3, Miami; Dec. 10, at Green Bay;
Dec. 17, San Diego; Dec. 24, at
Miami.