New Masters champion describes American pros as ‘money hungry’

Press, 15 April 1980, Page 46

New Masters champion describes American pros as ‘money hungry’

NZPA-Reuter ' ' " " Augusta, Georgia The new United States Masters golf champion, Severiano Ballesteros, says American golf is “too grim and impersonal” and describes American professionals as “money hungry.”

Speaking after his triumphant win yesterday, the 23-year-old Spaniard said of American golf: “It’s too cut throat. Players are money mad. There is little fun in the game.” Ballesteros, the most exciting figure to emerge in golf since Jack Nicklaus, also cast doubts about his returning to the United States in the near future to

play tournaments. “There’s big money here. More tension. You know, money’s money. “They (American professionals) are money hungry. Me? I don’t worry about money. I want to win and be happy,” he said. “I think I’ll stay in Europe. When they get tired of me then maybe I’ll come to America.

He is at present the reigning champion in two of the four major tests — the British Open and the Masters. His horizon appears limitless. Recognising this the P.G.A. tour offered Ballesteros a player’s card, free, access to the tour without the necessity of going to the qualifying school. 1 The card would require

Ballesteros to give’ his first allegiance to the United States tour. “No, gracias,” he said. Some American pros were stunned by this rebuff. The locker rooms seethed with caustic comments. “If he is to be a world class player,” said the P.G.A. titleholder, David Graham, of Australia, “he will have to learn how to play the difficult tree-lined courses that demand precision as well as distance.”

quickly dropped four strokes over the back nine to see a 10-stroke lead sliced to two.

proached the 18th green, and Nicklaus briefly put his arm around the waist of his old friend and golfing foe as they marched up to the green. . Palmer, now 50, won their personal battle. He shot a 69 for 288. Nicklaus, aged 40, still frustrated in his comeback effort, took a 73 for 291.

He bogeyed the 10th, suffered a double bogey at the short 12th where his tee shot landed in the water, then lost another stroke when his approach went into the creek in front of the 13th green. However, he steadied himself with a par at the 14th and went on to grab the title.

“We’ve both played a long time and made a lot of friends along the way,” Palmer said. “It is a tribute to the game that so many, people came to see us and stayed with us all the way.’’ Player, who Ballesteros includes with Nicklaus and Ben Hogan as his golfing idols, says that the Spaniard is the best player under 30 in the world. Graham said yesterday he agreed with Player.

In the end Ballesteros enjoyed a four-stroke advantage over Jack Newton, of Australia, and the U.S. veteran, Gibby Gilbert, who both finished on 279.

With absolutely no bearing on the outcome of the tournament, “Mini-Masters” was played between. Palmer and Nicklaus.

“We don’t have a fiesta when we play in Europe but everybody is happy when you win.”

The two great champions were paired together and drew a huge gallery, which lined the fairways from tee to green and stood six-deep around the putting surfaces. They received a standing ovation when they ap-

Newton commented 'that the Spaniard’s .win in the British Open had been unfairly dubbed as lucky. “I think it’s been driven home that he’s a really great player,” he said.

These were depressing words to Commissioner Deane Beman and the architects of the $l3 million American tour, at the moment suffering from a lack of ...identity and a downturn in popularity.

Graham insists that the American tour is a requisite to golfing greatness. Ballesteros proved his golfing by becoming the youngest player to win the Masters with a 13-under-par total of 275. He is three months younger than Jack Nicklaus was when he won the first of his five Masters titles in 1963.

With the ageing Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus descending from their once lofty pedestals to be replaced by an almost indistinguishable wave of young lions in plaid slacks, the game is thirsting for a new dramatic personality.

Ballesteros also joins South Africa’s Gary Player, the winner in 1961, 1974 and 1978, as only the second overseas golfer to earn the winner’s green jacket. But for a time things did not look too shiny for the Spaniard in the last round yesterday. He suddenly looked vulnerable when he

Now they have one in the handsome 23-year-old Spaniard, considered by most of the international golf community to be the world’s No. 1 player.