| With that wonderful victory at the PGA Championship still very much
fresh in the mind David Graham turned in another fine performance at the
next major - the 1980 Masters. His seven under par total left him in
5th place in a tournament won by the brilliant young Spaniard Seve
Ballesteros who finished at 13 under. There was victory that year at the
Memorial tournament and the following year the Australian was to enjoy
his best ever season with success at the Phoenix Open and,more
notably,the US Open. That US Open triumph owed much to Graham's
precision play in the final round where he hit every green in regulation
and missed just one fairway off the tee. He had opened the tournament
with rounds of 68,68 and 70 to trail George Burns by three strokes going
into the last day but his magnificent closing effort of 67 was
sufficient to give him a three shot victory from Burns and Bill Rogers.
With that success Graham became the first player to break the American
stranglehold on the event since Tony Jacklin in 1970. Indeed,only Ernie
Els,in 1994 and '97,has managed to join the elite band of Graham and
Jacklin as non-American winners of the event between the years of 1970
and 2000. Graham's success was to prove the pinnacle of his career and
thereafter he was to win just once more on the US Tour with victory at
the Coca-Cola Houston of 1983. There was also a fine performance at the
1985 Open where he finished in third place just two strokes back on the
champion Sandy Lyle. It could have been so different,however,as David
could only manage a closing round of 75 compared to the Scotsman's 70
and what proved to be his last chance of claiming a third major title
slipped through his fingers. In 1994 Graham was afforded the honour of
captaining the first ever International Team in the President's Cup
match with the USA. (David Scranage) |