‘Nicklaus was great ... but he didn’t have Tiger’s short game’

Johnny Miller claimed three-time major winner Billy Casper had the “greatest pair of hands God ever gave a human being”. Even at 76 that was evident last week when the former Masters winner showed he had lost little of his subtlety around Fota Island in Cork. He spoke to Tom Aherne.

WHY is Billy Casper often a forgotten man in discussions of golf’s greatest players? He was quiet, both in personality and temperament, and he was the antithesis of flashy on the golf course. Also, he won “only” three majors.

One of those majors, however, was legendary. At the 1966 US Open, Casper came from seven shots back over the final nine holes to tie Arnold Palmer, then beat Arnie in an 18-hole playoff the following day.

Most of Casper’s contemporaries would agree with the “most under-rated” label for him. And many of them would agree if you suggested Billy Casper was the greatest putter of all-time.

“Billy Casper,” Chi Chi Rodriguez once said, “could make a 40-foot putt just by winking at it.”

Tom Aherne: You came to Fota with a golf party from a liner in Cobh. What role do you play on the cruise?

Billy Casper: “The liner has a golf theme and usually I’m on the ship helping with the lessons, as does John Clarke, the PGA pro. We’ve just come from Gleneagles. We stop at various destinations to play golf, hence our arrival at Fota.’’

TA: How do you rate Fota?

BC: “The course is very playable and enjoyable for the average player. I believe that’s the key over here. So many of the golf courses are too tough for the ability of the players who visit and they don’t have as an enjoyable time on those courses as they have on a course like this. It’s a beautiful golf course, beautiful clubhouse, it’s very nicely laid out. Overall it is a really fine course.”

TA: In terms of classic courses worldwide, what’s your favourite?

BC: “I would go for Cypress Point on the Monterey Peninsula. I enjoy it as well as any golf course I’ve ever played; the beauty of the place, such variety in the holes there. They have very strong par fours, very short par fours and they’re just really good. It’s a real enjoyable test of golf.”

TA: What makes a course great?

BC: “A championship course is far different from a golf course that the average player can play. You’ve got more and more difficult greens and, usually you have the wind blowing, all of which make a golf course very difficult for the average player. But yet a professional if he’s playing well, he can play it quite nicely. I thoroughly enjoy a golf course like this ‘cos it’s fun to play.”

TA: Did you have any fitness regimes like Gary Player did?

BC: “Gary Player is the only one that was really fit, most of us never exercised at all. We just played day in and day out and that’s it.”

TA: How old were you when you started playing golf?

BC: “I was four and a half.”

TA: A bit like Tiger Woods

BC: “He started younger, I started out in the cow pastures of New Mexico.’’

TA: What sort of clubs did you use?

BC: “I made do with whatever was available. When I was young, my dad had clubs cut down for me. The clubs were not near as good as they are now. Who could foresee the developments that lay ahead. We were happy with our lot. We didn’t know what we were missing.”

TA: Can you remember the furthest you hit a golf ball with the old drivers?

BC: “I think I hit close on 440 yards on a runway at an airport.”

TA: The greatest golfer you ever saw?

BC: “Oh, we had a lot of golfers that were extremely good, throughout the years. It seems like every few years you had four or five players who were exceptional golfers, but I don’t think any of them equals the talent that Tiger Woods has. He is the greatest equipped golfer I have ever seen. There isn’t an area of his golf that is weak. Everything is very strong and powerful, and I think he’s by far the greatest golfer I’ve ever seen. Nicklaus was great but Nicklaus didn’t have the short games that Tiger has or the imagination for short games that Tiger has.’’

TA: I know you won two US Opens and a Masters but what was your greatest thrill in the game?

BC: ‘‘To be inducted into the world golf Hall of Fame in 1978. Then when I won my first US open in ‘59. Then I went on to win the US Open in 1966. I came from seven shots back over the final 9 holes to tie Arnold Palmer, then beat him in an 18-hole playoff the following day. And then winning came the Masters in 1970. It’s hard to separate them.’’

TA: You had a great Ryder Cup record against the Europeans?

BC: “I won the most points of any player on the American Ryder Cup team, and I played in more singles than any other player. I played in eight Ryder Cup teams and played 37 singles and I have the most points of any Ryder Cup player in the American team.”

TA: Why do you think the Europeans have turned it around in the Ryder Cup?

BC: “I think until the Americans recognise that it’s more than a glorified exhibition, they’re never going to win the Ryder Cup. The European players look to the Ryder Cup as their World Series and Americans think it’s just a nothing. Until they change their attitude they’re not going to win again. What a shame.”