Golfing Disasters: Part 9 - Gary Moran on the day the supposed iceman, Ray Floyd, melted coming down the stretch
The popular perception of Ray Floyd is of a dour individual with an ugly swing who was as tough as nails and nigh on impossible to dislodge from a leading position. Only the bit about the swing is really true.
The business about being a great front-runner is a clubhouse myth, even if it gained credence with his fellow pros.
He did record wire-to-wire victories in the 1976 Masters and the 1982 PGA, but his unflappable reputation comes mostly from the 1986 US Open where a record nine players were tied for the lead at one point during the final round. Floyd outlasted them all with a closing 66 at Shinnecock Hills.
"He was like Seabiscuit", says Lee Trevino. "Once he got his nose out front, he was very difficult to catch."
In fact, between 1976 and 1992 Floyd led going into the final round of 19 tournaments but won only eight of them.
His first encounter with Trevino came in the mid-'60s when his reputation for wild living at least matched his reputation as a golfer. Floyd was challenged by backers of a young club pro at Horizon Hills in El Paso, Texas. "I'll play anyone I've never heard of," claimed Floyd. When he arrived in a white Cadillac, Floyd was met by the young pro who unpacked his bag and lead him to the locker room.
"Do you have any idea who I'm playing today?" asked Floyd. "You're playing me, Mr Floyd," replied Trevino. At one point Floyd fell $3,000 in the red, but extended his stay and eagled the final hole on day three to break even.
He quickly said adiós to El Paso claiming that there were easier pickings on Tour.
He was destined to meet Trevino many more times, one of the more memorable being when they were playing partners in the final round of the 1994 Senior PGA Championship on the Champion Course at PGA National in Florida. It was an afternoon when the supposed iceman melted coming down the stretch.
Both were among the dominant players on the Seniors Tour at the time and Floyd had won the season's first major, The Tradition, a fortnight earlier. So when he carded three consecutive rounds of 69 and covered the front nine of the final round in 33 for a four-shot lead over Trevino, Floyd was nigh on unbackable to win the title. Things were about to take a dramatic twist.
Trevino birdied the 10th, Floyd bogied the 11th and Trevino birdied the 13th so that the lead was down to a single stroke as they reached the fearsome four closing holes known as "The Bear Trap".
Redesigned four years earlier by Jack Nicklaus, they all feature vast expanses of water. All day, Floyd had been successfully fighting a tendency to push his irons, but the fault caught up with him on the 164-yard, par-three 15th. Floyd blocked his tee-shot into the water and after a penalty drop overhit the next one to get wet again. From behind the green he chipped to six feet and missed the putt to run up a quadruple bogey seven. Trevino made a regulation par to surge from one behind to three ahead.
Floyd pulled one back by knocking in a 40-footer at the 16th, but his chances disappeared at the 152-yard 17th.
Once more the water wraps around the right side of the green and Floyd's seven-iron tee-shot sank without trace. His double bogey five meant that Trevino could afford to three-putt the last and still win by one from Jim Colbert with Floyd and Dave Stockton a further shot behind.
"I was as shocked as Raymond was," said Trevino afterwards. "He gave it to me on a silver platter. Raymond was Santa Claus."
Like every good Santa, Floyd came back the following year and he parred his way through the Bear Trap to win his first Senior PGA by five shots from a group that included one Trevino.
