Nelson went from US soldier to US Open winner
3-time major champ knows meaning of battle
When the U.S. Open tees off Thursday near Boston you will hear descriptions tied to war. Golfers will battle each other under brutal conditions. Only the most mentally strong will survive.
America's national championship is being played at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, site of the 1999 Ryder Cup, where the United States fought through adversity to defeat the enemy (aka Europeans) in a titanic conflict. The Yanks defended our country well.
But golf is not war. No sport is. Athletes are not heroic soldiers. Rory Mcilroy shows up in Nike-sponsored fuchsia, not military-grade camouflage. Phil Mickelson is taking heat over his allegiance with LIV Golf, but Lefty wouldn't know a real firefight if it hit him in his goofy-grinned face.
Larry Nelson, on the other hand … Older golf fans may remember Nelson as the slightly built PGA Tour player with the receding hairline who resembled a quiet next-door neighbor more than a three-time major championship winner. But before strolling the fairways of famous courses like Oakmont and Muirfield
Village, the Alabama-born and Georgiabred World Golf Hall of Famer walked point through the rice paddies of Vietnam.
That's right. Nelson served in a real war.
Two weeks ago, the Memorial Tournament named Nelson 2023 honoree. Rather than write about him then, it felt fitting to wait until the week of the U.S. Open, not only because Nelson won the event in 1983 at Oakmont, but because with all the '99 Ryder Cup rah-rah patriotism surrounding this major championship it seemed a good time to profile a military veteran who put his life on the line for his country during the Vietnam War.
Toss in the controversy surrounding LIV Golf and now seems appropriate to remember what real life-and-death pressure and decision-making look like. Hint: It’s not standing over a 5-footer for par on the 18th hole or struggling over whether to play for $12.5 million or $25 million.
As Nelson described it, “I learned at an early age how to deal with pressure. No one shooting at you while trying to make a putt made things a lot easier.”
Nelson, 74, does not consider himself a hero. He believes that nomenclature should be reserved for friends who died in combat. But if not a hero, he still showed courage – more than the saccharine kind associated with finding the fairway off the tee at a U.S. Open – during his three-month deployment with “D” Company in the 1st Brigade of the 46th Infantry, which was part of the 198th Light Infantry Brigade stationed near Chu Lai.
“We did a lot of patrols, search and destroy, but our main goal was to draw fire,”
Nelson said.
Draw fire.
“You could tell whether they were shooting with AK-47S or carbines by the way the rounds sounded as they went past you,” Nelson said.
Remember that explanation the next time a TV golf analyst laments the sound of a poorly-struck sand wedge from the bunker. Horror of horrors.
Before bashing today’s pampered tour players too much, be glad they don’t have actual war stories to tell.
Nelson did not enlist but was drafted at age 19, and nearly 50 years later, still questions why the United States entered into a war it had little interest in winning. His outlook lines up more with apprehensive Sergeant York than blood and guts General Patton.
“Our biggest deal was just waiting for the sun to come up,” Nelson said. “There was a big appreciation for the morning when you could actually see around us. It puts things in perspective.
“I had a lot of people I knew who lost their lives in Vietnam. It was an unfortunate time. All we were trying to do as a group was do the best we can so we could
come back home. We knew it was a political war. We were not over there to win the war. We were there to spend our time, try to do what we were told and survive. That’s basically it. Try not to do anything stupid and step in the wrong place.”
Yet Nelson appreciates his time spent overseas. He wouldn’t want to do it again,
but it girded him for a golf career in which adversity is a relative term. After walking exposed through the darkness of triplecanopy jungle, trying to advance a golf ball from deep rough is pretty tame. Likewise, going head-to-head against Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson is kid’s play compared to taking on the NVA.
“I was not intimidated by anyone. I can tell you that,” said Nelson, who edged Watson by one shot to win the 1983 U.S. Open. Among his 10 tour victories, he counts the 1981 and 1987 PGA Championships. “That’s one thing Vietnam helped me with.”
Keep Nelson in mind this week when the world’s best golfers whine about course conditions.
“I was a team leader, had nine guys I was in charge of,” Nelson said. “We were very fortunate. I didn’t have anybody even wounded. But after I left, I got a letter from one of the guys saying he got shot in the butt.”
The U.S. Open only kicks your butt. Perspective, people. Perspective. roller@dispatch.com @rollercd