Remembering Al Mengert
Golf lost one of the greatest club pro players in history with the passing of Al Mengert on April 6, two days short of his 92nd birthday.
Mengert, the 1960 Met Open champion, competed in 27 majors including eight consecutive Masters. He led the 1954 U.S. Open at Baltusrol through 45 holes, the 1966 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club after one round, and the 1958 Masters with six holes remaining.
“When it was time to go, he picked Masters week,” his nephew, Mike Mengert, told the Spokane Spokesman-Review, Mengert’s hometown paper. “He had quite the life and career.”
At 6-feet, 200 pounds, Mengert used a short backswing to generate terrific power for his time, enabling him to routinely gain ground on par-5 holes.
The nation’s No. 1-ranked amateur in 1952, he lost, 3-and-2, in the 36-hole final of the U.S. Amateur at Seattle Golf Club; Jack Westland, a 47-year-old insurance executive and future six-term U.S. Congressman, rallied over the last nine holes. Westland, who fell in the 1931 final to Francis Ouimet, is still the oldest U.S. Amateur champ ever. Mengert only recently revealed he was suffering from dehydration on the final nine.
Mengert turned pro later that year and became an assistant to Claude Harmon at Winged Foot. He took over at Echo Lake Country Club in 1956 and dominated the New Jersey golf scene over the next five years, winning three State Opens and finishing second in the other two. At the 1958 Masters, playing with Sam Snead, he played the final six holes in 3-over par, falling to ninth place as Arnold Palmer claimed his first victory at Augusta.
Mengert’s best season came in 1960, when he completed the so-called Jersey Slam at the Met Open at Ridgewood Country Club, shooting four rounds in the 60s for a 12-shot victory over Wes Ellis in a field that included Claude Harmon, Davis Love Jr., Gene Borek, Jim Turnesa, and Eddie Merrins. He previously won the New Jersey State Open by five shots and the New Jersey PGA by two. It earned him an introduction from the audience by Ed Sullivan on his widely watched Sunday variety show.
That same year, Mengert announced he was leaving the area for a head pro job in St. Louis, and in December he won the Arizona Open, one of six separate state titles he would hold.
Mengert shot a 66 in his final round of competitive golf at age 62. He continued to enjoy a fine career as a teaching pro with Butch Harmon and Jim McLean among his students.
-Hank Gola