Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus are two of the biggest names in golf so for Charles Coody, seeing off both of them to win his one and only major was quite something.
Boasting 20 majors and 98 PGA Tour wins between them, both Nicklaus and Miller are pillars of the great game we love so much.
However, despite their greatness and dominance at times, they were both human as well and ultimately, beatable on the day.
Indeed, Nicklaus actually finished runner-up in majors a whopping 19 times.
Still, he was a force to be reckoned with and among those 19 second places is the 1971 Masters where Charles Coody was the man to do the business.
How Charles Coody won the 1971 Masters ahead of Jack Nicklaus
Beating Jack Nicklaus anywhere is hard enough but beating him at Augusta National is next level.
Nicklaus has a record six green jackets, his first coming in 1963 and his last in 1986. It goes without saying, then, that in 1971, Nicklaus was a force to be reckoned with, having won three Masters titles and another five majors on top.
However, that didn’t faze PGA Tour star Charles Coody. Not one bit.
Going into the Masters, Coody was a good player himself but only had two PGA Tour wins to his name and zero major wins.
All that would change though as Coody more or less led from start to finish to win his first and only major.
Coody was in front by three shots after round one but then found himself a shot back to Don January after day two. However, he rallied in round three, shooting a round of 70 to go to seven under and level with the great Nicklaus.
In round four, many expected Coody to lose his nerve and fall to Nicklaus’ power and relentless nature.
But for Coody, it was about digging deep and getting it done. But it wasn’t just Nicklaus who was in the running, as Johnny Miller produced a sparkling final round to go two shots clear at one point on the 14th, albeit he was ahead of Nicklaus and Coody.
In the end, though, Miller made late bogeys while Coody held his nerve to finish par, par, birdie, birdie and finally win his first major.
Charles Coody’s PGA Tour career in numbers
Winning The Masters is one of the greatest achievements in golf and Charles Coody is part of the exclusive club of green jacket winners.
However, he also carved a decent career out for himself outside of this stunning win.
Coody played more than 600 PGA Tour events, winning three times and making the cut 476 times along the way.
| Charles Coody | |
| PGA Tour events played | 629 |
| Wins | 3 |
| Runner up | 8 |
| Top tens | 84 |
| Top 5s | 48 |
| Money made (USD) | $1,187,762 |
Coody’s earnings look modest but given the period he played in, he did more than okay, while he’s also added a further $4m+ to the bank balance on the Champions Tour.
Still, it’s not always about money and for Coody, that green jacket and all that comes with it will sit top of his tree forever.