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Amateurs' Finest Hour
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Amateurs' Finest Hour continued...
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2. Billy Joe Patton 1954
A decade after World War II, another Patton was
marching toward victory. After
matching his age by shooting 32 on the
front nine of the final round that
included an ace on the 6th hole,
Billy Joe Patton held a one-shot lead as he
stood in the 13th fairway,
debating whether to go for the green or lay up on the
par 5.
If
the aggressive play was a long shot, Patton himself was a longer
one.
The lumber salesman from Morganton, North Carolina, was playing his first
Masters, having qualified for being an alternate on the 1953 Walker Cup
team.
(Patton went on to play in five Walker Cups.)
“What the
hell,” he said,
reaching for a 3-wood. “I didn’t get where I’ve got by
playing safe.” His second
shot found the tributary of Rae’s Creek
guarding the 13th green; Patton made
double bogey and he finished one
shot out of a playoff between Sam Snead and
Ben Hogan, won by
Snead.
Patton played in 12 more Masters, finishing in the
top 10
in 1958 and ’59.
____________________________________________
1.
Ken Venturi 1956
2.
Billy Joe Patton 1954
3.
Charles Coe 1961
4.
E. Harvie Ward Jr. 1957
5.
Frank Stranahan 1947
6.
Ryan Moore 2005
7. Jack
Nicklaus 1961
8.
Robert Tyre Jones Jr. 1934
9.
Richard Chapman 1954
10.
Matt Kuchar
1998 
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