1995 Florida Open - Palm Aire CC

Rodney Butcher

Moss Misses Gimme Shot, Hands Florida Open To Butcher

^{Miami Herald
October 9, 1995}

Most of the spectators had already started toward the first tee for the playoff when the winning putt rolled past the cup. Then came the groans and gasps, and everyone looked back at the 18th green.

There stood Perry Moss, a look of horror on his face. He couldn't believe what he had just done, and neither could anyone else.

He had blown the 53rd Florida Open by missing a one-foot putt on the last green, a simple tap-in that under different circumstances would have been called a "gimme." He had three-putted from 15 feet to lose by a shot.

Back at the scorer's tent, Rodney Butcher was preparing for one of two scenarios: A playoff, or a second-place handshake. The third scenario, a victory, didn't cross his mind until someone told him what Moss had done. "I can't believe it," Butcher said. "I feel bad for him."

Moss' miscue on 18 handed the tournament to Butcher, a 25-year-old Rhode Island native living in West Palm Beach, who had blistered the Cypress Course at Palm Aire Country Club in Pompano Beach for a 5-under 67 and a 9-under 279 total. The $11,000 check is the biggest of Butcher's life. Moss earned $6,000 for second. "The money doesn't matter," said Moss, who played on the PGA Tour in 1993. "I don't do this for money. In the whole scheme of things, this is just practice for trying to get back on the tour."

Like Moss and just about everyone else in the field, Butcher, a 1992 Florida Southern grad, is headed to PGA Tour Qualifying School next. He made it to the final stage last year, but missed the cut.

He played half a year on the Nike Tour, with a conditional card, but after driving to 16 tournaments as an alternate and getting into just six of them (missing the cut all six times), he ran out of money and went back to Rhode Island.

He won the Vermont Open this summer. The $9,000 check was the biggest of his career, until Sunday. Butcher's wild round got under way with a snap-hooked drive into the water for double-bogey at No. 2 and a 220-yard 3-iron to three feet at No. 4 for an eagle. He got hot on the back nine, chipping in for birdie on both 13 and 14, then making it four birdies in a row with putts on 15 and 16. He held a one-stroke lead coming to 18, but opened the door for Moss, the only other golfer in contention, by bogeying 18 from short of the green.

Moss knocked an 8-iron up to 15 feet, giving him a shot for the victory. A two-putt would have sent the two men to a playoff. But after Moss' 15-foot try rolled a foot past the cup, he walked up to his ball and putted it, instead of marking it and taking his time. It was a fatal mistake. The ball took off to the left, catching the edge of the cup but lipping out. "It's been a long time since I've been in the hunt," a stunned Moss said later. "I should have backed off and settled down. I was in shock when it happened. It was so routine. I started to reach down into the cup to take my ball out, but it wasn't there."

Someone came around and passed out final scoring summaries. Moss grabbed one and looked hard at it, as if his name would be at the top, as if this nightmare had never happened. "Unbelievable," he said. "Unbelievable."