Greatest Shots: Number 22 ... Lee Trevino: 1972 British Open There are shots that are analysed in a player's head beyond the point of comprehension, and there are others that are hit almost on the move; shots that almost allow a player's natural talent, or a hidden sense of destiny, to manoeuvre it close to or even into the hole.
The shot that effectively won the Brtish Open at Muirfield in 1972 was not a thing of great beauty. But, then, some great golf shots can be like the loveable rogue; and, as we all know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder anyway. But Lee Trevino, even with the benefit of hindsight, was not one to treat his winning shot that year with anything other than his customary straightforwardness. "It was a no-brainer, an absolute no-brainer," he was to insist of the chip shot from off the green on the 71st hole.
To understand Trevino's mindset when he made his audacious chip for par, we have to retrace steps some 500 yards back to the 17th tee.
All week long Trevino had been the beneficiary of a large helping of good fortune, especially around the greens where his superb pitching combined with some fortuitous bounces saved him a total of six shots, enough to give him a one stroke victory over Jack Nicklaus. Another man, however, suffered even more. Tony Jacklin had gone shoulder to shoulder with Super Mex over much of the final two rounds and, as they walked to that 17th tee for the par five, it seemed that Jacklin's time had come.
Trevino was preparing to hit his penultimate drive of the day when, just as he was about to let loose, a camera man walked across him in front of the tee box. The American complained loudly to officials but never managed to calm down sufficiently and proceeded to pull his drive into a deep fairway bunker. Jacklin, in contrast, delivered a long and accurate drive some 30 yards past Trevino's and in the middle of the fairway.
It looked ominous for Trevino when he could only splash out of the bunker - and remain behind Jacklin in two - and even more ominous when he then pulled his three-wood third shot into a hill of heavy rough, some 20 yards short and to the left of the green. Jacklin hit a similar shot, but it got past Trevino's and onto the level terrain around the green.
Trevino played his fourth shot with what seemed to be a degree of carelessness. He caught the ball thin and it ran through the green, several feet up a grassy bank. He had now taken four shots. As Jacklin prepared to play his chip - which proved to be a little weak and came up 20 feet short of the cup - Trevino's mind was elsewhere. "I couldn't think of anything else except that photographer and that I had lost the championship," Trevino was to recall.
In normal circumstances, but especially in a major championship, Trevino would have stalked his chip shot. Not this time, though. As if he wanted the whole thing to end, he simply stepped up to the ball and gave it a nudge. But that, apparently, was what was needed. The ball flopped onto the edge of the green, trickled down and dropped straight into the hole for a most unlikely par five.
For a moment, Jacklin sat on the bank. He was too stunned to move and he let the roars of the gallery die down before he moved to his marker. But his putt was too aggressive, and ran three feet by the hole. He missed the one back and, in that few minutes, the whole outcome of the championship had changed. Trevino had delivered the knock-out blow, and Jacklin never recovered. Trevino had successfully defended his British Open crown and, although Nicklaus finished second, Jacklin was the biggest loser.
At the end of the series, readers can vote for the Five Greatest Golf Shots Ever - the reader whose selections correspond with the shots selected by our Irish Times panel will enter a draw to win a custom fit Titleist 975J driver.
