Johnny Miller and Tom Watson, whose roots go deep in Northern California golf, gave followers of the game a memorable final-round battle in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Sunday.
They shook the game to its roots.On an inclement day at the Pebble Beach Golf Links, they both hit poor shots, they both showed their age on the greens - Miller with two makeshift grips and Watson with two damaging three-putts - and at the end they they both looked like they were in shock.
Of the 180 pros who began the 72-hole, $1.25 million tournament last Thursday, only Miller, 46, and Watson, 44, were really there at the end, and both were looking at scorecards showing 74s.
"This isn't happening," Miller said. "This is a time warp. I play 25 rounds a year. I don't practice. I'm Joe Announcer. I wasn't supposed to win. It's a fluke."
Miller's two-putt par from 24 feet at Pebble Beach's wind-swept 18th green gave him a total of 7-under-par 281 and a one-stroke victory over Watson and early finishers Jeff Maggert (70), Corey Pavin (71) and Kirk Triplett (72).
Miller earned $225,000 with his first tour victory since the 1987 AT&T at Pebble, when he caught fire in the final round and posted an early 66 which none of the third-round leaders could overcome.
He thought at the time that the win would be the crowning achievement of his career. Now this.
"I guess I've got to play the Masters," Miller said.
He'll probably play about six tour events, he indicated, including October's Tour Championship at the Olympic Club.
"The win in 1987 was like a goodbye wish. When I won then it was like, `Now I can retire,"' Miller said. "A peaceful feeling. I don't know what this is going to do. But I'm not going back on tour."
A San Francisco native and former BYU Cougar who currently lives in Napa, Miller works 15 tournaments a year as a golf analyst for NBC-TV. Hampered by a chronic problem with his shins, he cut back his tour schedule in the late 1980s.
"Congratulations. Get back in the booth," Watson teased him near the scorer's tent.
When it became apparent Sunday that Miller was going to duel down the stretch with Watson, one had to think that the 1971 Stanford graduate, who captained last year's victorious Ryder Cup team and had tuned up his game in Phoenix last week, would prevail.
And when Watson rolled in an 8-foot birdie put at the 13th to go to 9-under-par, he held a two-stroke lead over Miller. But the 24-time tour winner responded with his own 18-foot birdie putt at the same hole to pull to within one.
On his long putts Sunday, Miller used a "claw" grip with the index and middle fingers of his left hand curled on the grip. On shorter putts he extended his index finger down the grip.
Miller got a gift from his opponent when Watson bogeyed the par-5 14th after his short, downwind pitch to the green dropped into the front bunker, leading to a bogey 6. Now both players were at 8-under, but Miller was the next to falter with a bogey 5 at 15.
It was Watson's turn at the 16th, where he three-putted from 10 feet. Then he took three to get down from 35 feet at the par-3 17th to put Miller in front going to the 17th tee.
That's when NBC "Today Show" host Bryant Gumbel, Miller's amateur partner, hit a passing seagull with his 3-wood tee shot, killing the bird instantly.
"I had to get that out of my system and then hit a 4-iron," Miller said. Actually, it was more of a 3-iron shot, he said, but he didn't have one in his bag. Miller faced a 182-yard shot into what he called "a two-club" wind. "So I just put on my Harley grip and revved it up. If I'd gone at the pin, I couldn't have made the green. I had to hook it in."
His ball reached safely and he two-putted for a crucial par.
Up ahead, Watson, who had tried to reach the 18th green in two, came out of the front bunker to eight feet, but his birdie putt stopped just short of the cup. Miller then played 18 conservatively, laying up, pitching to the left-center of the green and two-putting from 24 feet for the victory.
"I feel bad for Tom. He should have won," Miller said. "There aren't too many times you go down the stretch with a guy who's retired and 46. I should have had to make birdie to win at 18."
The final round began under ominous, dark gray skies, which began to open up almost as the first ball was struck. The weather was reminiscent of that on Feb. 3, 1986, when the final round had to be canceled because of thunder, lightning and hail, and Fuzzy Zoeller, the 54-hole leader, was declared the winner.
Conditions evolved into a steady rain and drizzle, let up for a while, then returned near the end with an accompanying stiff wind.
Dudley Hart, at 10-under-par 206, started the day with a one-stroke lead over Miller, a two-stroke edge over Watson and with four shots on Tom Kite, Kirk Triplett, Tom Lehman and Ted Tryba.
Hart bogeyed the 4th hole and Watson birdied the 6th to create a three-way tie at 9-under, and then the fun began. Over the last 12 holes, those three combined for 14 bogeys.
"That happens. Pebble Beach makes people fall apart," Miller said.
On Sunday, it also made Miller more than just a Joe announcer.