BREAKING SILENCE : Two Decades Later, Goalby Finally Talks About De Vicenzo, ‘Clerical Errors’ and the ’68 Masters

Roberto de Vicenzo of Argentina will make a rare visit to the United States this week to play in the Tradition Seniors golf tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz., which coincidentally is being held at the same time as the Masters at Augusta, Ga.

But you’ll have to excuse De Vicenzo if he passes up the chance to drop by Augusta, the scene of his worst nightmare.

It was there 21 years ago that he signed an incorrect scorecard after the 72nd hole of the Masters and thereby knocked himself out of a playoff with Bob Goalby for one of the most prestigious titles in golf.

Goalby shot a final-round of 66, but De Vicenzo had scorched the famed course with a 65. Unfortunately for the 1967 British Open champion, his playing partner for the final round, Tommy Aaron, had mistakenly marked a “4” on De Vicenzo’s scorecard at the 17th hole instead of the birdie three he had actually shot.

Keeping a partner’s score during tournaments was and still is the accepted method of scoring, although adjustments have been made in the wake of the 1968 Masters.

After the round, De Vicenzo did not notice the error and signed the scorecard.

Within 10 minutes, Masters and Augusta officials were highly excited. The anxiety level would not have been any higher had Jack Nicklaus teed one up in the Augusta banquet room during the awards dinner and let a drive rip toward the head table.

First, the officials at the scene quietly discussed the situation. Then, although all of them knew and understood perfectly the rule that said a player signing for a higher score must keep that score and a player signing for a lower score than he actually shot is automatically disqualified, they sought a ruling from the king of Augusta, the late Bobby Jones.

Jones was ill and resting in bed in a fairway cottage when the group of brightly dressed men pounded on his door. Jones listened to the story and made a quick decision: The rule is the rule. There will be no bending of it, regardless of the circumstances.

Back stormed the group of officials to the clubhouse. There, they notified De Vicenzo and Goalby of the decision.

De Vicenzo took it well.

“Maybe it’s Goalby’s fault,” he said. “He give me such pressure, I lose my brain. I play my best golf. Everything I do is right. But I make two mistakes. I hit a hook on the last hole and I signed the wrong scorecard.

“I feel sorry for me. I think I go get a drink and go home. We play friendly matches in Argentina.”

And then came the quote that made him famous, splashed below his face on the cover of Sports Illustrated a week later: “I was just a stupid,” he said.

Aaron took much of the heat for the simple mistake with the numbers. Ironically, Aaron had been a mathematics major at the University of Florida, which says something about: a) the enormous pressure golfers are subjected to at the Masters, or b) the University of Florida’s math department.

But De Vicenzo did not blame Aaron. “We are professionals and we should know the rules,” he said. “It is my fault.”

De Vicenzo never again challenged at the Masters. He won a tournament in Houston three weeks later, but then faded. He never won another U.S. tournament on the regular tour. He does make infrequent stops on the Senior PGA Tour, as he will this week in Arizona, and has won three of the senior events since joining that tour nine years ago.

At age 66, he spends most of his time on his sprawling ranch outside Buenos Aires. But the memory of a warm and windless and sad day in Georgia has stayed with him, according to those who know him.

“I’m sure that every time Roberto sees me or hears my name, or hears the name Georgia or Masters, he thinks about it,” said Goalby, who is also only somewhat active on the Senior Tour.

For more than two decades, Goalby was largely ignored in discussions of the controversy. When he wasn’t ignored, he was ridiculed, called the luckiest golfer in the world for having been awarded a Masters championship because of a ridiculous clerical error.

And for two decades, the likable Goalby has remained silent about it.

“I was given some good advice that same week,” Goalby said. “Arnold Palmer and Joe Dye of the USGA told me, ‘Bob, you might have a tough time dealing with this, but the best thing to do is keep your mouth shut. Don’t try to defend yourself because people won’t listen. Don’t make a big deal about it and don’t fight it.’

“And that’s what I did. For 20 years.”

At times, he said, the emotions he felt about the incident tried to cut through him like a bad slice.

“I listened to that advice and I have never really talked about this with anybody,” he said. “I never . . . complained to anyone and I have never talked to the press about it. But now I’d like to express some of my feelings about it. Now I think enough time has passed.”

The first thing Goalby wanted to clarify was that De Vicenzo’s error did not cost him the Masters. It only cost him a tie with Goalby for the Masters.

“I didn’t exactly shoot an 80 that final round,” Goalby pointed out. “I shot what was perhaps the finest round of golf in my life that day and earned a tie for the Masters championship, even though Roberto was shooting one of the finest rounds ever at Augusta. I was feeling very confident about a playoff when they told me I had won.

“And all this time, I’ve always felt like a victim, as much or more than Roberto. None of the problems with scorecards were my fault. But I have forever been singled out as the guy who won the Masters because of some damn clerical mistake. I don’t think I ever got credit for what I did that week.”

Goalby, 60, won 11 PGA events before joining the Senior Tour in 1980. In addition to the Masters, he won the 1961 Los Angeles Open and 1967 San Diego Open. But for most people, only that 1968 Masters comes to mind when they hear the name Goalby.

“All in all, I’m proud of the way I handled the whole thing,” he said. “It could have been a lot different. I could have said, ‘You bastards, you ruined the biggest and best day of my life.’ But I didn’t do that, and I’m glad. I held it in for 20 years, and maybe doctors say that’s not great for your health, but I’m glad I did.”

And as long as De Vicenzo makes an occasional visit to the United States, Goalby will always remember.

“I’ve played golf with Roberto many times since that day,” he said. “And I always thought it was a bit strange, but we have never, ever talked about the Masters. I remember it and I’m sure he remembers it. I just see his face and I immediately flash right back to that day. I bet he feels the same way. I bet he thinks about it more than I do.

“But we have never said a word about it to each other. Not a word.”