Masters 2019: The missing golfer from this year’s field who deserves another invite to Augusta

Cameron Smith was annoyed. Marc Leishman was in disbelief. The duo had just been told that International Captain Ernie Els did not see them as a likely pair for the 2019 Presidents Cup in their native Australia. “Is he serious?,” they thought. A year earlier, they’d finished runner-up in the World Cup at Metropolitan Golf Club just down the road. They are great mates. Their caddies are also super tight. It appeared to be the most natural pairing on the team. It’s got to be a joke right? No joke. Els leaned heavily on data during his captaincy, and the numbers did not point to Leishman-Smith pairing. The Australians quickly shook off their initial frustration and bought into Els’ analytical ethos. They played their role, and the proof was in the pudding for Els. His side won three of four team sessions and took a 10-8 lead to Singles before being overrun on Sunday. Smith, and his short-game wizardry, went 0-1-1 alongside the steady Sungjae Im. Leishman had a win and tie with Abraham Ancer but lost matches partnered with Joaquin Niemann and Haotong Li. After leaving Royal Melbourne, Leishman and Smith made a pact to prove they can form a formidable team, no matter what the numbers say. An opportunity to prove themselves has arrived at this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans. With the 2022 Presidents Cup already on their mind, Smith and Leishman want to play so well that Trevor Immelman has to pair them next year at Quail Hollow. “We have a little bit of a point to prove regarding a potential Presidents Cup pairing. There’s no doubt,” Leishman said. “We combine pretty well. He’s a great driver of the ball and a great wedge player and I feel like I’m a pretty good iron player. We are both in decent form so we’re looking forward to the week for sure.” Smith, who won the 2017 Zurich Classic with Jonas Blixt, said the plan was in place in 2020 before the pandemic forced the tournaments cancellation. It’s been a long wait. “Leish and I understand each other’s game really well. We are quietly confident,” Smith said. “There is a proven benefit to Ernie’s methods, but by the same token good rhythm as a partnership is something to be spoken for. It would be nice to show Trevor he has options.” Immelman, the International Captain, says he will be keeping a keen eye on the team, as well as other potential pairings of countrymen. South Korea’s Im and Byeong Hun An also are playing together this week, as is the formidable South African duo of Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel. Immelman intends to use both subjective and objective criteria to form teams for next year’s Presidents Cup. “I won’t be the type of captain that is dogged in a particular strategy,” he said. “I’ve always got eyes and ears open to everything going on and possibilities that could take place. There is no doubt an emotional spark is huge in sport and it can create some incredible momentum. “My job – it’s like having a toolbox. You have a bunch of different tools and you have to figure out which ones to use when and when to trust your gut, when to trust the data. It will be a challenge I’ll have that week.” Leishman and Smith think the key to success in New Orleans will be the balance of their competitive juices and a seemingly carefree attitude. They have rented a house together with their caddies Matty Kelly and Sam Pinfold and as a foursome they’ll certainly enjoy themselves. But not too much. Not until Sunday night anyway. The Leishman Lager has been put on ice until then and they’re quick to point out they’re not just turning up to mess around. “We are just going to have a good week. At the World Cup, we kept it pretty casual and we played good golf. It’s the same game plan this week, take it as a fun week but remember we are here to compete and win,” Smith says. They really have just the one rule. Never say sorry. In fact they’re likely to laugh at any mishap rather than dwell on it. And they’re not afraid to joke at each other’s expense. At Metropolitan it was plain to see. In the opening round Four-Balls, Smith made an early birdie and eagle and turned to Leishman to say, “You can turn up at any time,” with a cheeky smile. It worked as Leishman made three birdies in four holes after it. In the final round, which used Foursomes, Leishman left a bunker shot in the sand at a critical moment as the locals were charging towards a potential comeback victory. Smith just jumped right in the sand, took aim, and holed out for an incredible birdie before quipping, “That’s how you do it,” to his mate. It took the edge off. “The key is there’s not really any pressure because we are such good friends and if we do hit a bad shot we give each other stick rather than be disappointed or apologize,” Leishman explains. “I know he’s doing his best and I’m doing my best.” And this week, they want to show how good their best can be.

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Even before winning 25 times on the PGA TOUR, including his signature victory at the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont, Johnny Miller was training for a TV career.  He just didn’t know it. “He grew up with colorful guys,â€� said Todd Miller, one of Johnny’s six kids and now the Director of Golf at Brigham Young University. “He had two guys he was really good friends with in San Francisco where he grew up, Steve Gregoire and Ron O’Connor, and they were always needling each other. They never stopped talking. For my dad, when he got to the (broadcast) booth, it came pretty natural just to come up with something really quick.â€� Miller’s second act calling golf for NBC, a career marked by insights, candor and sometimes controversy, is coming to an end after 29 years. Miller, 71, and NBC announced this week that when he calls the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Jan. 31-Feb. 3, it will mark the end of a three-decade run as one of the most iconic soundtracks on TOUR. “Soon, it will officially be Miller time,â€� Miller quipped in a press release. He was more emotional in aconference call with reporters Tuesday that also included NBC Golf Lead Producer Tommy Roy and NBC Golf President Mike McCarley. Miller seemed to choke back tears as he spoke of the highlight of his playing career, his final-round 63 at the 1973 U.S. Open—a tournament, he said, his dad groomed him to win. He said the highlight of his TV career was the relationships with his NBC Golf family like Dan Hicks and Roger Maltbie. “A lot of things going on not only in my mind but my heart, stomach,â€� Miller said.  One thing he didn’t have was a filter, and his microphone was always on. Monday-morning water-cooler talk came to include some version of: Did you hear what Johnny said? Miller once said of a fat pro that his back problems were “perhaps a result of his front problems.â€� He talked especially about choking, or gagging, under pressure on the back nine on Sunday, taking a blowtorch to the heretofore chummy, banal pleasantries of televised golf. “We all choke,â€� Miller said. “For me, I would choke at putting and I would admit that I did.â€� Of Phil Mickelson, Miller said: “If he couldn’t chip, he’d be selling cars in San Diego.â€� Of the stocky Australian Craig Parry, Miller said his swing was so unorthodox as to make Ben Hogan “puke.â€� (This, as Parry was winning the 2004 Ford Championship at Doral.)  He said Tiger Woods “gagged just a little bit because he wanted it so badâ€� at the 2012 Masters. Perhaps most famously, Miller said Justin Leonard should’ve stayed home instead of play in the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline—before Leonard made the clinching putt for the U.S. “He’s just an honest guy,â€� Todd Miller said of his father. “Even with his kids, my brothers and our families, he’s not going to dance around the truth. He’s going to be honest with you. And he’s insightful. He’ll pick things up that other people just don’t see.â€� And Johnny Miller was not above admitting his mistakes, like his Leonard comment in ’99. “I did say he should be home, but I meant the motel room,â€� Miller said. “Even then I probably shouldn’t have said that. I get so into these matches, these Ryder Cup matches. “I apologized to him literally the next day,â€� Miller added.  That was his policy, he said, when he went over the line. Producer Roy praised 99.5 percent of his work. “And .5 percent of the time it was a little bit of a problem for me and our PR department,â€� Roy said. “But that was fine. The great way outweighed the bad.â€� Miller said it came naturally to call it like he saw it, and laughed when reminded of his boyhood friends Gregoire and O’Connor and their formative give-and-take at The Olympic Club. “I remember one of the first tournaments I played, I was walking up to the practice tee and (Lee) Trevino was there,â€� Miller said. “When I walked in, he started razzing me. He didn’t realize that even though he was pretty quick with words, I sort of gave it back to him. He never bothered me again after that in front of all those people. “… I think the one thing I did have that was sort of God-given,â€� Miller added, “was sort of a quickness of spotting things in the swing and a quickness in response.â€� Nicknamed the Desert Fox as a player, Miller was at times dominant, winning 15 times in a three-year span in the mid-1970s. He captured the 1975 Phoenix Open by 14 shots and the Dean Martin Tucson Open, a week later, by nine. He was 49 under par in those eight rounds. He could be just as devastating as an analyst, starting with his first tournament, the 1990 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. At crunch time, Peter Jacobsen, a friend, was sitting on a thin lead and assessing a tricky shot from a downhill lie over water. Miller came in hot. “I said, ‘He’s got this downhill lie. Easiest shot in golf to choke on,’â€� Miller said Tuesday. “I didn’t say he was going to choke. I was just saying if he did, this is the easiest one. Downhill lie over water and you have a tendency to hit it fat or thin like guys do on 15 at Augusta.â€� Jacobsen did not choke, won the tournament, and didn’t talk to Miller for months. (Ironically, he and Leonard both now work with Miller at Golf Channel on NBC.) In retirement, Miller will antagonize only the trout. He will bounce back and forth between his home at Napa’s Silverado Resort & Spa, where he is part of the ownership group, and Heber City, Utah. His 24 grandkids are ready for fishing and golf lessons, and Miller is anxious to provide. He’ll get on more airplanes, son Todd said, but his destinations will be places like Belize, to go bonefishing. Miller is nostalgic, he said, but also excited. “I just figure 50 years on the road, it’s been a great run,â€� he said. “… I’m feeling good. I’m emotional, but feeling good.â€�

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