‘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.