Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 8, 1994 TAG: 9402080051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PEBBLE BEACH, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
Watson, the man Miller had beaten in an unlikely and unexpected triumph, had a message for him.
"I told him to get his rear end back up in the television booth," Watson said.
But Miller delivered a message, too.
He still has it.
Miller still has that uncanny and inexplicable ability to play golf in a manner achieved by few men in history.
"Don't ask me how or why," Miller said. "I can't explain it. It's just that the good Lord gave me the ability to hit the ball close to the hole.
"It's always been there. Even when I was a kid, if I hit a long iron 12 feet off line I'd get upset. That was a bad shot for me."
In his glory days on the PGA Tour, back in the mid-'70s, that ability took him to the top of the game: the U.S. Open triumph with a then-record 63 at Oakmont in 1973, the 1976 British Open title, eight tournament triumphs and a money-winning record in 1974.
He had few worlds to conquer. Some complacency set in. Nagging injuries began to crop up. His legs began to trouble him, and a series of a half-dozen operations began.
And he got the yips, that dreaded nervous condition that destroys the ability to putt, that twitch in the hands and fear in the heart that turns the act of taking the putter head back into sheer torment.
Then, seven years ago, he pulled it all together again and won the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the links along the cliffs and crags that Miller calls home.
A resident of Napa, Calif., Pebble Beach always has ranked as his favorite course.
"I've probably played here more than anyone, even [Jack] Nicklaus," Miller said. "This is home."
His 1987 victory - his first in four years - "let me say good-bye. I felt after proving I could win, I could retire," he said.
"I felt like I'd had all the fun I could stand for 22 years, and it was time to move on to something else and try to raise six kids."
So he did.
He turned to television, joining NBC as a golf analyst. There, he quickly established a reputation as one of the more controversial commentators, quick to point out flaws and mistakes and not so likely to gloss over players' inadequacies.
"I guess I've been pretty blunt," he said.
And that led to some criticism from younger players, most of whom did not know Miller as a player.
"The young guys would look at me and Ken Venturi and Dave Marr and say, `you don't really know us,' " Miller said. And the young players didn't know the veterans.
Dudley Hart serves as an example. Hart led through the first three rounds at Pebble Beach and played in the final foursome with Miller.
"I've met him, but I don't really know him," said the 25-year-old Hart, who joined the tour after Miller had stopped competing.
Hart knows him now. So do the other youngsters. Miller's victory proved his point: he can still play. He has credibility.
The weekend victory came despite a near-total lack of competition. In the last four years, Miller played only five times.
"I do not play more than 25 times a year, and that's stretching it," Miller said. Most of that activity is with his children.
"I can still hit the ball pretty well," he said. "But I can't putt. If you can't putt, you can't compete with the kids out here now. You just can't do it."
And he still has the putting problems that sent him to the announcer's booth. And that, he said, precludes the possibility of extended competition in the future.
"I have the reverse yips. I'm good from 6 feet in, but I can't hit a 15 or 20 footer," Miller said.
He has, at times, experimented with the over-sized putter favored on the Senior Tour. In his most recent triumph he used a conventional putter, but two grips - one for short putts, another for longer ones.
So, generally speaking, he will comply with Watson's suggestion and remain in the television booth. He'll be there this weekend at the Los Angeles Open.
Keywords:
GOLF
by CNB