3M I C H I G A N G O L F E R M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 0 6

Sure, we knew he was regarded asthe greatest golfer in Michigan histo-ry and the Golf Association ofMichigan affirmed that by naminghim Golfer of the Century. AndKocsis, who died May 30 at the ageof 93, played just about the entirecentury.

Not only did Kocsis win morethan anyone, he did it over thegreatest span. He was 17 in 1930when he crushed three-time cham-pion James D. Standish Jr., 9 and7, in the 36-hole final for the firstof his record six MichiganAmateur championships and thenhe shocked the national golf worldwhen he knocked off “GreatestGame Ever Played” FrancisOuimet in the first round of theU.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club.

Kocsis nailed his second giantof the game when he was 18. Hedefeated 1927 U.S. Open and 1931British Open champion TommyArmour in the 1931 MichiganOpen playoff, the first of his threeMichigan Open titles.

He played on Walker Cup teamsin three different decades, 1938,1949 and 1957, was low amateurin the 1934 and 1937 U.S. Opensand competed in nine Masters tour-

naments. He was runnerup toHarvie Ward in the 1956 U.S.Amateur.

And he was 60 years old whenhe decided to enter the 1973United States Amateur at theInverness Club in Toledo. Sixty. Ina championship dominated by col-legiate stars on their way to thePGA Tour. Gary Koch, BillKratzert, Danny Edwards, AndyBean, John Fought and CraigStadler were in the field.

But Kocsis, who didn’t reallylike match play, won his first twomatches, 4-2 and 6-4, and lost toStewart Alexander (who’d elimi-nated Bean), 1-up, when Alexanderholed a long putt on the 18thgreen. It was an incredible per-formance by the Red Run GolfClub super senior.

When I think of Kocsis I thinkof the title of a John Wayne movie,The Quiet Man. Or an advertisingline, The Quiet Assassin. As wellas being Michigan’s greatest golferhe also was Michigan’s MostUnassuming Champion.

Actually, he was something of aboring golfer. He wasn’t a TigerWoods or Phil Mickelson, hittingshots out of the woods. Or Seve

Ballesteros, hitting from the carpark. Or Arnold Palmer, slashingand crashing.

Chuck played a game unfamil-iar to most folks, and one we’d sellour souls for — fairways andgreens, like a metronome.

Interestingly, Byron Nelson,relating the tale of his 11 straightvictories in 1945, wrote “I hadpeople tell me it was boring towatch me play…people get tired ofthat. They want to see you hit it inthe woods, a bunker or water, andthen knock it out and make bunch-es of birdies. My way was fair-ways and greens. Keep it straight,keep it safe and capitalize on asmany birdie putts as possible.”

The two great fairways andgreens proponents met in a roundat Red Run and Kocsis shot 32 onthe front to Nelson’s 34. Nelsonput his arm around Kocsis as theywent to the 10th tee and said “Noamateur’s going to beat me.”Kocsis responded with a 34 backnine for 66. Nelson shot 30 for 64.

Bob McMasters joined the RedRun caddie ranks in 1943 andstarted caddying for Kocsis in thelate 1940s.

“He won the Michigan Open in

Chuck Kocsis – Chuck Kocsis – The Best There Ever WThe Best There Ever Wasas

By Jack Berry

Looking back over Chuck Kocsis’scareer, his record is staggering.

5 S P R I N G 2 0 0 6 • M I C H I G A N G O L F E R M A G A Z I N E

1945 and he was a legend,” saidMcMasters who grew up tobecome one of Kocsis’s closestfriends. “But he’d play with any-body at the club, choppers andgood players.

“He won the club invitational10 times and no time did he havea partner who was better than a 10handicap. I did like to caddie forthe guests in the invitational –they usually were big tippers.

“Chuck was thrifty, he wasn’t abig tipper and caddies were think-ing about buying cars and takingout girls and they were lookingfor big tips. But I liked caddyingfor him. It was easy. He’d hit 15,16 greens and never asked whatclub to use. He wasn’t really com-municative. You followed the threerules of caddying: show up, keepup and shut up.

“I was getting into playing andwatching him was like getting a les-son, especially bunker shots. He’dget his shag bag and we’d go out to16 as long as no one was there andevery shot was around the cup. Itwas easy to pick them up.”

Red Run’s roster was filled withlow handicappers and it wasknown for big money games butMcMasters said Kocsis neverplayed for money although othersbet on him.

Red Run members, includingKocsis, started the 72-holeMichigan Medal Play tournamentin the late 1950s. Kocsis enteredsix times. He won each time andsome grumbled why bother toenter if Kocsis was going to winall the time.

But Kocsis didn’t play a lot oforganized senior golf. He won theInternational Seniors atGleneagles, Scotland, three timesand once used the same ball the

whole way, just for the kick of it.“I’m mad he didn’t play senior

golf,” said Glenn Johnson, five-time Michigan Amateur championand a Michigan Golf Hall of Famemember as is Kocsis. “He had suchan amazing record that he could’vewon a lot more in senior golf andthere are a lot of stroke play tour-naments.

“I beat Chuck twice in teamevents. Bill Prew and I were part-ners and Chuck was playing a 27-handicapper. I was just gettinginto golf and he looked at me onthe first tee and I think hethought he’d give me a lesson.He birdied the first five holes.But we combined for eight underpar and they were seven under,all on Kocsis birdies.

“The other time he was playingwith Jimmy Nick who hadn’t donea thing all day but he holed a bigbirdie on 17 and they were cele-brating. But then I holed a 20-foot-er on top of him and we eventuallywon on the first extra hole.

“I was second to him in theMichigan Medal Play at Western –he won by eight shots,” Johnsonsaid, laughing.

Kocsis kept playing, though,right up to the end and was a lunchregular at Pine Trace and Red Run.McMasters frequently got him toplay at top courses out of town.

“Charlie was quiet if there weremore than six people around but ifit was just a few of you he’d regaleyou with stories. One time wewere set to go to Columbus andplay Muirfield Village. The weath-er seemed iffy but I called ClaytonHoskins, a director of the WesternGolf Association (McMasters is apast WGA president), and he said‘C’mon, we don’t baby thiscourse.’ We got there and it saidCourse Closed. I told the pro I’dbrought my friend Chuck Kocsisand we were told you don’t babythe course. The pro said ‘We don’t.But Jack Nicklaus just called andsaid ‘Close it.’

“Just then a guy sitting in achair said “I know that name(Kocsis). It was Phil Rodgerswho’d been working with Nicklauson his short game. Chuck andRodgers talked for an hour,”McMasters said.

The Quiet Man’s record spokevolumes. MG

Bill Shelton, Chuck Kocsis and Jack Berry in the Michigan Golfer Television Studio

Pho

to b

yA

rt M

cCaf

ferty