The Lost Masters: Grace and Disgrace in '68

by Curt Sampson

An account of the controversial 1968 Masters Tournament recounts how anticipated winners Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus were surpassed by three relatively known players, including Argentinean Roberto DeVincenzo, whose win was disqualified on a scoring technicality. 30,000 first printing.

Genres: Sports

272 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 2005

About the author

Curt Sampson, golf professional turned golf writer, came to golf the old-fashioned way—as a caddie. He looped for his father for a few years on summer Saturday’s, then turned pro, in a manner of speaking, at age 12, as one of the scores of disheveled boys and men in the caddie pen at Lake Forest Country Club in Hudson, Ohio. His golf game developed from sneaking on LFCC at twilight, an occasionally nerve-wracking exercise because the greens keeper intimated a readiness to call the cops on trespassers. Sampson—never caught—progressed as a player and as an employee, scoring a job as starter/cart maintenance boy at age 16 at Boston Hills CC, a public course, also in Hudson. His high water mark as a young golfer was a win in the Mid- American Junior in 1970. Sampson attended Kent State University on a golf scholarship and managed a municipal course for two years following graduation, worked a couple more as an assistant pro at clubs in South Carolina and Tennessee, then bummed around as a touring pro in Canada, New Zealand, and Florida.

In November 1988, Sampson began to write full-time, mostly about the game of his father, golf. Texas Golf Legends, his first book, was collaboration with Santa Fe-based artist Paul Milosevich. Researching TGL gained Sampson introductions with people he has written about many times since: Hogan, Nelson, Crenshaw, Trevino, and a few dozen others. His next book–The Eternal Summer, a recreation of golf’s summer of 1960, when Hogan, Palmer, and Nicklaus battled–is still selling 15 years after its debut, a rarity in the publishing world. Sampson’s biography of the enigmatic William Ben Hogan struck a chord. Both Hogan and his next book, The Masters, appeared on the New York Times bestseller lists. Subsequent books and scores of magazine articles cemented Sampson’s reputation as readable and sometimes controversial writer with an eye for humor and the telling detail.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's a good story no doubt and certainly an interesting chapter in the history of The Masters (notice the timing of when I read the book), but I felt the narrative had a bit of a slant to it throughout. At times it read like a feature article in a magazine, as if it was transposed directly from an issue of Golf Digest, and at other times it felt like an opinion piece attacking the administration that presided over the tournament in 1968. Perhaps that's what the author meant to portray to keep the reader involved, almost like reading a modern historical account and a news article written a week after the tournament at the same time. Regardless, the author did provide a lot of colorful stories about the characters involved and gave a true telling of the story, if not impartial.

[B Riles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great stories but they seem all over place

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

1968 had a lot of things happening even by mid April when this tournament begins. Vietnam is escalating, LBJ just dropped out of the Presidential race and MLK was just killed. This tourney should have been an escape from that craziness. Unfortunatley it is marred by controversy. This is an interesting look at this tourney in the context of the times it was played in and the characters involved in the mixed up ending. Golf is truly a game about sportsmanship and this book illustrates that.

[Evan Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly my favourite Sampson novel. An engaging story about how one small mistake can go on to define your whole career, golf is just like that . Sampson describes golf shots and tournament play like no other

[Robert Vandiver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read--in the description of the characters at the outset of the book, one would think that the situation would have reversed.

[Benny]

loved it

[Matthew Stetz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the damn Masters.