U.S. Open Runners-up Share Brushes with Glory

I started out bogey, bogey, birdie, double-bogey, and then brought it back and finished very strongly the rest of the [final] round. I birdied the 72nd hole to tie, I believe, Al Geiberger and Bob Rosburg. I felt like we were heading for a playoff, but then Moody came in and beat us by a shot.

In my mind I birdied the last hole to tie the Open. But it didn't happen.

Back in the '60s, we had the notion that Bobby Jones defined the majors. Based on that way of counting, the '69 Open would have been my fourth major. I had won the U.S. Amateur twice and the British Amateur. At the time we all viewed it that way. Not now.