Heeeeere’s Johnny: Part II of Golfweek’s exclusive interview with Johnny Miller

JM: The thing is people say, he came from behind, six back, but if you look at the guys who were in front of me, literally every great player in golf, there was Weiskopf and Nicklaus and Palmer and Trevino and everybody was in front of me, but after I birdied the first four holes, it was like, I got so jazzed, literally the hair on the back of my neck (was standing up), I was thinking, damn, I was six back, birdied the first four holes and the leaders are probably going to be gagging a little bit trying to win the U.S. Open. I went through a little bit of a choking spell where I three-putted from 20 feet straight uphill and left a couple 12-footers short, and then it sort of pissed me off after eight when I three-putted. But I was hitting every fairway. My average iron that day was probably four or five feet off line. I never had a downhill putt. Put it under, near the hole every single hole. It was like a magic round. It was like somebody up there was – I was a streaky tee-to-green player, but these irons were pretty consistent, but I was a streaky putter especially. But that day was crazy good.

If you could have seen the round, it was like, that course is tough. That’s one tough course. Lanny shot 65 that day and there was like one 67 or 68 and maybe one 69. It wasn’t like everybody shot in the 60s.

That was the best round I ever played. As far as perfect ball-striking, the 61 I had at Tucson when I won by 14 at Phoenix and then I won by nine at Tucson, the last round I shot 61. I’m playing with Tom Watson and as we walked off the green he goes, that’s the greatest round of golf I’ve ever seen. Now, Tom Watson does not say that to anybody.

GW: How many majors do you think you should have won?

JM: Well, I had several close calls, but I didn’t really get into the major-itis. I wanted to win majors, but I just wanted to win. I didn’t care what kind of tournament it was. You have to understand that majors were always the most important, but Jack Nicklaus made them like super important. I won the World Open in 1974 in a four-man playoff at Pinehurst, it was the biggest purse of the year. It was a major. It had rough six inches high, and beat Nicklaus and Frank Beard and Bob Murphy, and then I lost in a playoff to Watson at the World Open another year (1979). Those were majors but they just don’t call them majors. Those were great tournaments. That was like winning the Players Championship, I guess.

I never really got into like my year is ruined because I didn’t win a major. Like Gary Player thought he should have got Player of the Year when I think he won two majors in ’74 and I won eight tournaments, and the biggest tournament in Japan I won, too, but he was upset that he didn’t get Player of the Year that year. Maybe he was right, I don’t know. But I just didn’t put all my eggs in four baskets.