257

Just saw the short article about the passing of Mike Souchak at age 81.

I was a numbers guy when I was growing up. One of those sports nerds (some might argue I still am such) who pored over record books. And one of the numbers that always stood out in golf was 257 - the four-round total Mike Souchak shot in winning his first tournament, the 1955 Texas Open.

The score was 27-under par, and 257 and 27-under were scoring records that stood for a long time. The 27-under mark wasn't bested until 1998, when John Huston got to 28-under in the Hawaiian Open.

And 257 didn't fall until 2001, when Mark Calcavecchia shot 256 in the Phoenix Open. (Tommy Armour later lowered the record to 254.)

So one of Souchak's records lasted 43 years, the other lasted 46 years. Not bad for a guy hitting persimmon woods and mushy balls off mats on a goat track in the mud and the snow. Here's how a 1998 article in Sports Illustrated described Souchak's record-setting tournament:

In Texas, there was mud. So much of it that the players hit their tee shots off mats all week. Where there wasn't mud, the ground was frozen. "The weather that week was pretty tough—horrible, in fact," says Arnold Palmer , who finished sixth. "It snowed, and it was very muddy. You were two inches taller when you finished than when you started with that great Texas caliche on your golf shoes."

San Antonio had been sunny on Thursday and Friday, but toward the end of Saturday's third round a two-club blue norther came rolling in, changing everything. "It caught me on the 14th hole, and the temperature dropped 15, 20 degrees," Souchak says. "It got damn cold by the time we finished." Still, he birdied two of the last five holes for a 64. That night it snowed, a light dusting that greeted the players when they awoke for the final round. "I've seen more rain and I've seen more wind," says 1959 PGA champion Bob Rosburg , "but the combination, there wasn't much worse than that."

Rosburg , who was paired with Souchak on Sunday along with Canadian pro Jerry Kesselring, had to stop frequently to pry the mud off his cleats, using a knife he'd lifted from the breakfast table. Players heated their hands over fires that were built on the tees. It was so cold that 10 players called it quits. Rosburg was almost one of them. He was four over as he trudged up the fairway of the par-5 9th, and he was cold. "Souch, I'm not playing very well," Rosburg said. "I'm going to quit."

Souchak was alarmed. Rosburg had won on Tour and was a calming influence, and his departure would leave Souchak with only Kesselring, who was lost in the middle of a 77. "Don't you dare quit, Rossi," Souchak said. "I'm about to win my first tournament, and I'm scared half to death. Don't leave me. Everybody else is playing poorly too."

Rosburg eagled the 9th and decided to play on. Souchak , of course, won easily, and he set one of the most enduring records in the game. A former lineman and kicker at Duke, he shot 60-68-64-65 for a 257. "We all knew it was an amazing score," says Peter Allis.