The 1964 Masters: Palmer’s private party

Rain drenched the Augusta National course in the days leading to the 1964 Masters , and most golfers in the field of 90 cringed.

Weathermen called for more of the wet stuff, and the advantage that defending champion Jack Nicklaus would enjoy looked insurmountable.

“Because of his power, Nicklaus has to be a big favorite,” Sam Snead said. “If the course is soft, he should make (the tournament) a runaway.”

Snead, a three-time winner at Augusta, called his shot; the tournament turned out to be a one-golfer parade.

But he focused on the wrong guy.

Arnold Palmer made the 28th Masters his private party, leading wire to wire and blitzing the field by six strokes to win the tournament for the fourth time.

He won so convincingly that his legion of fans - Arnie’s Army – only could wonder how many more major titles their general, then 34, would collect.

Everyone anticipated that his rivalry with Nicklaus for golf supremacy surely would be in full bloom for years to come. But like Snead’s pretournament prediction, everyone missed. That 1964 Masters would be Palmer’s last of his seven pro major championships.

Perfect predictions. Palmer arrived at Augusta that April in, for him, a dreadful slump. He had not won a tournament all year and ranked only fourth on the tour’s earnings list. But he proved to be a better forecaster than Snead.

“I haven’t been playing that badly,” he insisted in pretournament interviews. “I’ve got to win one pretty soon; it’s just a matter of time.”

OK, and what will the winning score be?

On Tuesday, he predicted 276, 10 strokes better than Nicklaus’ winning total a year earlier.

On Sunday, he signed his scorecard – for 276.

The rivalry between Palmer and Nicklaus, 10 years younger, had blossomed in the majors, and they had made the Masters their private preserve. Palmer won four titles in a sizzling stretch between 1958-64, and Nicklaus began his Augusta excellence with three of his six championships in four years, 1963, ’65 and ’66.

“I would like to come to the last round Sunday with Nicklaus and me 20 shots in front of the field,” Palmer said before the tourney. “Just Jack and me.” The competition “pumps me up.”

But Palmer “spoiled” the show. He played too well and eliminated the possibility of any dramatics.

He shot a first-round 69 and shared the lead with four others. He followed with 68-69-70 for 276 and almost lapped the field. Nicklaus needed a closing 67 to claim a share of second with Dave Marr at 282.

Ambition never changed. Part of the sideshow surrounding the 1964 Masters focused on Palmer’s decision to quit smoking. Reporters had noted that his streak of winless tournaments began about the time he gave up cigarettes.

Doug Sanders, who had lost the previous week at Greensboro in a playoff, had made a similar decision, then “I started smoking again” during the heat of competition, he said.

Palmer stuck with his no-smoking vow at Augusta.

“I had mental, or maybe you would say psychological, problems since I quit smoking,” he said. “I have been jittery and I think my game showed it, but I think I have it licked now.”

In his post-tournament meeting with the media, he touched on a topic that greets every Masters champion – golf’s Grand Slam.

Only the winner in Augusta can win the four majors ( Masters , U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship) in the same year.

That ambition would never change, he said.

But little did anyone suspect that the 1964 Masters would be his last major, and he would never have that Grand Slam opportunity again.

This story was originally published September 25, 2016 at 11:54 PM with the headline "The 1964 Masters: Palmer’s private party."