The Magnificent Masters: Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Tom Weiskopf, and the 1975 Cliffhanger at Augusta

by Gil Capps

The 1975 Masters Tournament always seemed destined for the record books. A veritable Hall of Fame list of competitors had gathered that spring in Augusta, Georgia, for the game's most famous event, including Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Hale Irwin, Billy Casper, and Sam Snead. The lead-up had been dominated by Lee Elder, the first black golfer ever invited to the exclusive club's tourney. But by the weekend, the tournament turned into a showdown between the three heavyweights of the Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, and Tom Weiskopf. Never before had golf's top three players of the moment summoned the best golf of their lives in the same major championship. Their back-and-forth battle would rivet the sporting world and dramatically culminate in one of the greatest finishes in golf history.

In The Magnificent Masters , Gil Capps, a twenty-two-year veteran of the golf industry with NBC Sports and Golf Channel, recaptures hole-by-hole the thrilling drama of this singular event during golf's golden era, from the media-crazed build-up and intertwined careers of the three combatants to the tournament's final dramatic putts that would change the game of golf forever.

Genres: Sports, History

328 pages, Hardcover

First published March 12, 2013

Reviews

[Chris Gager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this one up at the local library's sale shelves and couldn't resist digging right in. Pretty serious sporting nostalgia for me. Once upon a time I was a golf fan. My father and step-mother were golfers and Patti was pretty darned good - played in a U. S. Open and a U. S. Amateur WAY back in the day = 1960's. I played some in my youth and had talent, but no ambition. Three-time U. S. Open champ Hale Irwin was a year ahead of me at Casey Jr. High in Boulder. He gets a few mentions. This book is not particularly well written, but the subject matter is all. I assume I was watching this from my TV set in Boulder, but I don't recollect for sure.

Even though I'm officially reading at least three other books right now, this one has taken over. It's not exactly gripping(get it?) but the looking back is indeed compelling. I also enjoy learning all the biographical stuff the author includes to fill things out. One thing about pro golf and it's practitioners and fans: don't they all take it a BIT too seriously? Golf is the perfect sport for the loner-perfectionist control freak. Just what does it consist of - exactly? Maneuvering a little ball around a designated course and plopping it into a succession of flagged targets/holes in the ground. Seems a BIT silly once you back away from the close in look that this book provides. Not only that, a LOT of nice nature habitat has been(and is still being) turned into a sporting wasteland(for "weeds" and animals). Full of pesticides and herbicides ... Golf courses in the desert are an abomination and a waste of precious water. I saw plenty of those in Arizona.

We're getting right down to the real nitty-gritty on the back nine at Augusta on Sunday. It's a pretty darned exciting story, even for golf. Nicklaus has just sunk his "impossible" putt on 16 while Weiskopf and Miller have been standing around watching from the 16th tee. Watson's flailing on 16(quadruple bogey) must have had a "cooling" affect on both Miller and Weiskopf. One more night to go.

- a clunker: "Johnny continued with his golf, pouring himself into the game increasingly more." Probably should've read "... more and more." The book is not exactly full of this stuff, but the author is not exactly a master of the language.

I'm not done yet, but will finish tonight. I'm moving it to read so I can print a couple of new "read" pages for my spiral notebook. I like to keep a hard copy just in case. At work we have a color printer ...

[Tony Machnik · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great history lesson on the Master’s tournament with a heavy focus on the 75’ Masters and the careers of Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller and Tom Weiskopf

[Brian Meadows · Rating 5 out of 5]

To me, this was an amazing book that grabbed and kept my interest throughout. Although my own game is somewhere between hopelessly erratic and non-existent, thanks to a good high school friend, who went on to a career in golf, I had learned enough about golf to appreciate and picture in my mind most of the intricacies described. I thought it would be mainly a blow-by-blow report on this one 1975 Masters Tournament. It was far, far more than that. It painted a great picture of the long tradition and history of the Masters Tournament and the Augusta National Golf Course. It also did thorough biographies of the three who competed at the end; Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf, and Johnny Miller. The author respectfully delved into each one's personality, motivation, and mindset as well as what this pivotal tournament did to each one's career afterward. Of course, much was said on the strengths and weaknesses of their golf game, how they improved, and how it all played into their game strategy. I found it intriguing.

The author did not limit it to those three, but gave the narrative color by discussing other competitors and historical golfers leading up to this in similar but less extensive fashion. He even described the inspirational effect of this tournament on golfers who came afterward. He also, where it fits into the narrative, described some of the other major golf courses and tournaments. For good measure, there is an epilogue that fills you in on what happened to many of the competitors' careers from this tournament up to when the book was published in 2014. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the game of golf!

[Daniel Ronan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Didn't enjoy Johnny Miller's parts too much. He seemed to be the young badass of the golf world at the time, but learning that he didn't drink or party, was raised very religious, and his Dad was his number one fan, it sort of came across as an asshole. If Weiskopf was an asshole, well, he had the (not very good) excuse of being an alcoholic. Miller seemed to have all these things to make him a great person, and was still just an asshole to people.

More importantly, I finally finished a book! So many attempts were made, and just couldn't hold my attention. It's been months since if read an entire book.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched account of the 75 masters. The 3 mini biographies of Nicklaus, Miller, and Weiskopf were very good. This also covers Lee Elder participating as the first black man to play in The Masters. Golf fans will enjoy this book.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of great details for golf nerds like me. I didn't know that much about Weiskopf until I read this book. Such a shame that he never won the Masters. He deserved to.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brought back some good memories and revealed some new insights into the participants.

[Sean Tenaglia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty standard sports history book. Well-written, weaving in the history of Augusta and the trio at the top of the game in ‘75. Certainly a great read for any golf fan

[Brian Corbin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Grew up only hearing of this Masters. So much more to it than that putt on 16. If you are a golfer this book is a must read. For anyone else, a great story is told.

[Mr. Kovach · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read for those interested in the golden age of 1970s golf and Nicklaus et al. Not a literary masterpiece (which I grossly unfairly look for in every book I pick up) but a terrific piece of sports journalism history. A little hagiographic regardng The Masters tournament (lovers of this important event too often want to tell you how it dwarfs the other three majors in importance - nonsense!). Wonderful biographies on the three main characters, including disarming and admirable self reflections from Miller and especially Weiskopf. As for Nicklaus the look on this greatest of champions's face in the picture of him and the two runners-up seated post-tournament says it all. Weiskopf's quote on p. 120, about looking Nicklaus in the eye in tournament mode, is purely and absolutely priceless.

[David Longo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gil Capps' "The Magnificent Masters" is a light, easy read about the 1975 Masters Tournament, a rather exciting event in pro golf. Avid fans of the sport and its rich history will enjoy it. Sports fans in general might not appreciate it as much. Capps is informative about many aspects of the game beyond the major theme itself and its central cast of Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller. Unfortunately, the editing deserves a double bogey. It's frustrating at times and really makes this book, in my mind, closer to 3 1/2 stars. It also undermines the author. If you like the subject and the era, try "Arnie & Jack" by Ian O'Connor. It's not entirely about the '75 Masters, but it is a chunk of it and it's a superior piece of craftsmanship.

[Evan Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really light and easy read that expertly covers the topic in all aspects. Capps does a great job of setting up the characters of Nicklaus, Miller and Weisskopf and outlining their differences and how they all came to this point of the '75 Masters in their own way.

Capps also does a nice job featuring other highlights of this Masters that served as minor storylines including Lee Elder becoming the first black man to play the Masters and Vin Scully's first foray into commentating the event among others to further shape the scope of the event.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a terrific look at golf as it was played by the greatest of all time, Jack Nicklaus. It brought me back to my early teen years when I fell in love with the game and actually started playing pretty well, same year I won the Junior Club Championship at the Wheel. While the Masters has certianly held it's charm and drama over the years, this book lets you appreciate the competitivness and challenges to be the best. Highly recommended for any golf fan new or old.

[Don Gorman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book really slogged along most of the time. The 75 or so pages about the last two days of the tournament were mildly exciting, but the background information on the key players was pretty boring and some of the sidebars (a ridiculous 10 pages on Nick Faldo) were totally unnecessary and just page fillers. This was undoubtedly one of the most famous golf tournaments of all time but this description was hard to get through when it should have been a pleasure. 1 1/2 stars.

[C.J. Ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like golf you'll probably like this. A day by day account of the 1975 Masters including short biographies of the major participants (and even Nick Faldo for some reason). Turns out that the close finish was the reason for the start of the same day sudden-death playoffs in golf.

[Budd Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://allsportsbooks.blogspot.com/20...

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is compelling, but the telling is broken up with flashbacks that appear completely out-of-place.

[Matthew Fitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this look at one the greatest golf tournaments ever played.....

[Frank Ogden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story about the Masters, it's history. It focuses on one specific Masters involving Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskolf and Johnny Miller.
Highly Recommended!!

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great preparation for the masters.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a great great book. Brought back so many memories. Very well written.

[Sean Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for golf history buffs.

[Brettsinclair70 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific account of the classic 1975 Masters. Spoiler, Nicklaus wins...

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the 1975 Masters and the psychological relationships between the top players and their golf game as well as each other.