HANK’S LONG ROAD BACK
Hank Kuehne made the cut at the Texas Open
last week. He went on to finish in a tie for 67th
place. He made $12,710. And it was a very big
deal. The 36-year-old Kuehne, who was the 1998
U.S. Amateur champion, had all but disappeared
from the golf landscape. He had some early
professional success (twice a runner-up in PGA
Tour events) before fading away. He missed sev-
en cuts in nine PGA Tour appearances in 2006,
missed three cuts in three starts a year after
that and then ... nothing. He had back problems
that more than a dozen specialists, by Kuehne’s
count, couldn’t relieve. “I had pretty much given
up,” Kuehne said at the time.
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Toronto Blue Jays, had begrudgingly decided not
to undergo the Tommy John elbow surgery that
might have prolonged his pitching career. Facing
what would have been an 18-month rehab stint,
the 6-foot- 6 right-hander turned his attention
to another game. Since taking up golf seriously
six years earlier, Hanson had seen his handicap
quickly improve from an 8 to scratch.
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PITCH & PUTT
JACK WHO?
Although he was approaching 43, in June
of 1955, as the National Open drew near, Ben
Hogan was still the most dangerous player of
the age. He was perhaps the best striker of the
ball who ever lived, arguably as fierce a competitor as Bob Jones, and no one ever prepared for a
tournament with more intelligence or insight. In
1953, he had the greatest year any man had had
since Jones won the Grand Slam, in 1930. In his
greatest year, Hogan won The Masters, setting
the record at 274; the U.S. Open; and the British
Open. He probably would have won the PGA if he
had played. Nobody had heard of Jack Fleck.
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Erik Hanson then ...
... and now
EXHIBITIONISTS
The tiny, wooden clubs Phil Mickelson was
given when he was 18 months old and the Green
Jacket that Sandy Lyle earned when he became
the first Briton to win The Masters are just some
of the items that will make up the Class of 2012
Inductee Exhibits at the World Golf Hall of Fame
& Museum. The exhibits and lockers celebrating
the careers Mickelson and Lyle along with Peter
Alliss, Dan Jenkins and Hollis Stacy officially
will open to the public May 8, one day after the
Hall of Fame’s annual Induction Ceremony. l
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