Roberto De Vicenzo
Roberto De Vicenzo was an esteemed Argentine golfer, born in Buenos Aires in 1923, who rose from humble beginnings to become one of golf's notable figures. His journey began as a caddy, where he honed his skills before turning professional in 1938. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, he achieved significant success in various tournaments, including multiple Argentine championships and notable finishes at the British Open. Despite his prowess, De Vicenzo faced a pivotal moment in his career during the 1968 Masters, where a scorecard error cost him a potential victory, yet he handled the situation with remarkable grace and sportsmanship.
De Vicenzo's crowning achievement came in 1967 when he won the British Open, becoming the oldest champion at that time. His career spanned several decades, allowing him to win over 230 tournaments globally and earn a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1989. Known for his affability and resilience, De Vicenzo remains a beloved figure in Argentina and a symbol of perseverance in the world of golf. He continued to compete into his eighties, retiring in 2006, and passed away in 2017 at the age of ninety-four.
Roberto De Vicenzo
- Born: April 14, 1923
- Birthplace: Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Died: June 1, 2017
- Place of death: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sport: Golf
Early Life
Roberto Ricardo De Vicenzo was born in 1923, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Growing up poor, he made money as a caddy, meanwhile learning the rules of golf and developing his physical and mental skills. He turned professional in 1938 and won the Argentine Open and the Argentine Professional Golfers’ Association Championship in 1944. Further victories in those tournaments followed during the 1940s, as did a victory in the Chilean Open.
The Road to Excellence
In 1948, Roberto began establishing his reputation beyond South America by finishing in a four-way tie for third place at the British Open. In 1949, he placed third, and in the following year, he placed second. During the 1953 British Open, Ben Hogan and Roberto were tied for first place at 214 after three rounds. On the last round, however, Hogan shot a 68, a course record, and Roberto, with a 73, slipped into a sixth-place finish. In the 1956 British Open, Roberto again played well, except for a 79 in the third round, which caused him to finish third instead of first.
Meanwhile, he won other tournaments during the 1950s, including the Palm Beach Round Robin and, with Henry Ransom, the Inverness Invitational Four-Ball. In 1957, Roberto also won the Colonial National Invitational and the All-American Open. In addition to those victories, in 1953, he and Antonio Cerdá won the Canada Cup for Argentina. Roberto also won open championships in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico, and Panama.
The Emerging Champion
Despite those wins and others, Roberto entered his mid-forties without having won a major, one of the world’s four most important golf tournaments: the British Open, the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the PGA Championship. He continued to play well at the British Open, finishing in the top four in 1960, 1964, and 1965. Then, in 1967, he played in his eleventh British Open, at Hoylake, England. At the end of the second round, the defending champion, Jack Nicklaus, led with a total of 140, one stroke ahead of Roberto. In the third round, Roberto shot an excellent 67 to pull three strokes ahead of Nicklaus, who shot a 71. In the last round, Nicklaus scored a 69, but Roberto, with a 70, held on to win the tournament by two strokes. At the age of forty-four years and ninety-two days, he became the oldest golfer to win the British Open since 1867.
The victory at Hoylake would have become the best-known event in Roberto’s career had it not been for what happened the next year at Augusta, Georgia, during the Masters. The fourth round came on April 14, 1968—Roberto’s forty-fifth birthday. As play began that Sunday, Gary Player held the lead at 210. Bob Goalby was tied with four other competitors for second place at 211. Roberto and Lee Trevino were tied at 212. For seventeen holes, Roberto played brilliantly, finishing the first nine holes with a 31 and shooting birdies on the twelfth, thirteenth, and fifteenth holes. As the spectators watching in person and on television saw, Roberto also birdied the seventeenth hole, with a score of 3. Despite a bogey on the eighteenth hole, his apparent score for the last round was a superb 65. He and Goalby tied for the lead and would compete in a playoff the next day to determine the championship.
After a delay, however, the announcement came that Goalby had won with a total score of 277, and that Roberto’s score for the fourth round had to be counted as 66, making his tournament total 278. Roberto’s playing partner and scorekeeper, Tommy Aaron, had recorded Roberto’s score for the seventeenth hole as a 4 instead of a 3, and Roberto had signed and submitted the inaccurate scorecard. According to a rule of golf, if Roberto had submitted a scorecard with an incorrectly low score, he would have been disqualified. In this case, however, the rule said that the incorrectly high score had to stand. Some golfers would have thrown a public fit at what had happened, blaming everyone but themselves, but Roberto quickly acknowledged the mistake as his own. Already popular because of his affability, he quickly became one of the most admired professional golfers, and in 1970, the United States Golf Association presented him the Bob Jones Award to recognize his sportsmanship.
Continuing the Story
Despite disappointment at the 1968 Masters, Roberto did not retreat. On May 5, he won the Houston Champions International. The following year, he again won the Argentine PGA Championship; in 1970, he won both the Argentine Open and the individual title in the World Cup (the successor to the Canada Cup). During the 1970s, other victories in Latin American tournaments followed, including four in the Argentine PGA Championship. In 1985, at the age of sixty-two, Roberto won the Argentine PGA Championship for the sixteenth time.
During the years he was playing in Latin America against golfers at the peaks of their careers, he also played in seniors’ tournaments in the United States. In 1974, Roberto won the PGA Senior Championship; in 1979, he teamed with Julius Boros to win the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf; and in 1980, he won the first U.S. Senior Open. Among his other victories as a senior golfer was one as late as 1991, with Charlie Sifford, in the legendary division of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.
De Vicenzo died in 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the age of ninety-four. He and his wife, Delia, had two sons.
Summary
Roberto De Vicenzo entered the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1989 but did not officially retire from competition until 2006, when he was in his eighties. He won national titles in more than one dozen countries and a total of at least 230 tournaments throughout a career that seemed to defy age. A hero in Argentina, he was for decades the best South American golfer. For well-informed golfers and golf fans around the world, he was a model of perseverance and sportsmanship.
Bibliography
Barrett, Ted. The Complete Encyclopedia of Golf. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2005.
Goldstein, Richard. "Roberto De Vicenzo, a Golf Champion Remembered More for a Gaffe, Dies at 94." The New York Times, 1 June 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/sports/golf/roberto-de-vicenzo-dead-masters-gaffe.html. Accessed 6 Apr. 2018.
Palmer, Arnold. Playing by the Rules: All the Rules of the Game, Complete with Memorable Rulings from Golf’s Rich History. New York: Pocket Books, 2002.
Sampson, Curt. The Lost Masters: Grace and Disgrace in ’68. New York: Atria Books, 2005.