GOLF; Johnny Miller, a Sand Blast From the Past, Wins

By Larry Dorman
The New York Times
February 7, 1994

There is always something of an unreal sense here at Pebble Beach, a sort of vaguely mystic quality to the golf and the surroundings. But old Pebble Beach has never been as mysterious and dreamlike as today when, out of the mists of time, a retired golfer stepped up and won the A.T.&T. Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Johnny Miller, 46, playing in just his fifth tournament since 1990, reappeared today like some specter from another era. He then beat his nerves and he beat Tom Watson down the stretch to capture his first tournament victory since he won right here seven years ago.

"That didn't really happen," said Miller, whose final-round 74 gave him a total of seven-under-par 281, one stroke better than Watson and three other players — Jeff Maggert, Corey Pavin and Kirk Triplett — who never really threatened. "It was a mirage. It was weird, like the whole thing wasn't happening. I had this strange sense of calm."

Jagged Nerves

He was the only one who had that sense. For the other players on the rainy, windy and cold day, nerves were as jagged as the rocky Monterey Peninsula coastline. Watson collapsed down the stretch, three-putting both the 16th and 17th holes to fall out of the lead. He finished with a 74 when his birdie attempt on the 18th hole stopped short, dead on line.

Dudley Hart, the third-round leader who began the day at 10 under par, ran afoul of that most scenic and most deadly portion of Pebble Beach — the eighth, ninth and 10th holes that are sometimes called Carmel Hell — bogeyed them all and finished with a 78 that dropped him into a disappointing tie for seventh.

It was almost as though Miller were being pulled along by forces out of his control. There are not many other ways to explain the victory, which is the 25th of his career. He did not three-putt a hole all day, a fact that is remarkable given his ongoing battles with the yips. Miller's putting got so bad that it drove him from the PGA Tour after his 1987 victory.

But there he was — if not making the putts that had to be made, at least not three-putting holes that could not be three-putted. After Hart launched his chances over the cliff at the ninth and 10th holes, it came down to Miller and Watson, and there was a day when there would have been no question at all about which of those two players would make the crucial putts.

3 Titles in 3 Decades

"Who would have ever thought that Johnny would out-putt Tom Watson?" said Roger Maltbie, who splits time working with Miller at NBC and also plays the PGA Tour. "I never did."

Neither did Miller, Watson or anyone who follows the game. But it happened, on a course where Miller has now won three titles in three decades. He won the 1974 Bing Crosby here, the 1987 A.T.&T., and now this most improbable of victories — worth $225,000 and an invitation to the Masters, which Miller said he will accept.

The key moment of the tournament came when Miller stood on the 17th tee, watching Watson three-putt for bogey from 35 feet. That was the hole where Watson had beaten Jack Nicklaus with his famous chip-in for a birdie at the 1982 United States Open. But Miller wasn't thinking about that.

"When Tom misses, I've got a one-shot lead and I'm standing there watching the white surf beat up on the rocks," Miller said. "I've got a tough pin, the wrong club and I'm thinking, 'How can I overcome this?'"

Since Miller carries a 7-wood and three wedges, he doesn't carry a 3-iron. That was the club the 209-yard shot called for. So he improvised. He closed down his 4-iron, put the ball back in his stance, and, as he put it, "revved it up."

Miller Doesn’t Choke

His low, drawing shot found the green, 40 feet below the pin. Johnny Miller the NBC television announcer would have looked down at that situation and said something like: "This is a big-time opportunity to choke right here."

Miller didn’t. He lagged the putt up 2 feet short and tapped in. On the tee at 18, with the wind blowing hard off Carmel Bay, Miller drew a 4-wood into perfect position. His 5-iron lay-up shot left him 100 yards to the pin. He hit it perfectly, 20 feet left of the hole. Two putts from there, and the least likely tournament winner of the year — maybe the last two years — would be crowned.

At the time, Miller had a funny thought looking at the 20-footer. "I thought to myself, 'Don't hit it fat,'" he said.

Fat chance. Miller rolled the ball up just a little outside of tap-in range and before he could think anything else, stepped up and finished it off. The roar from the grandstand at the 18th was loud and sweet, the first Miller had heard aimed at him in seven years. He heard it, but he didn't hear it.

"You want to know the truth? I can't believe I won," he said. "It goes to show you that in the right place, at the right time, magic can happen. This is magic."