Getting Up & Down

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Ken Venturi was already a highly regarded amateur when he burst onto golf\'s center stage at the 1956 Masters. The confident 24-year old from San Francisco led the field after the first, second, and third rounds, bidding to become the first amateur to win the prestigious event. He carried a four-stroke lead into Sunday\'s final round, only to watch in disbelief as the tournament slipped out of his grasp. In a matter of hours, with a disastrous 80, he went from within inches of the sport\'s pinnacle to the depths of despair-and he hadn\'t even turned pro yet. That he would do seven months later. And in the first of a series of remarkable career-defining comebacks, he gamely overcame the devastation of his very public defeat at Augusta to prove himself to be one of the game\'s brightest young stars. Venturi became a fixture on the top 10 of the money list, rebounding from, of all things, another heart-wrenching defeat at Augusta in 1958. Regarded as one of the best players in the world following the 1960 season-he came so close again to winning the green jacket-Venturi soon sustained a series of injuries related to an automobile accident. His game suffered badly as a result, and he began to tumble down the money list. By 1963 he found himself struggling to gain invitations to tournaments that had once rolled out the red carpet for him. Thus began Venturi\'s greatest comeback of all, as he reinvented himself and his game heading into the 1964 season. After more than three years without a win, Venturi again shook the golf world by winning the 1964 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club outside Washington, D.C. To this day it remains one of the most inspiring performances in golf history. Venturi somehow managed to hold off the field despite literally staggering from heat prostration on the final day. That incredible Open victory highlighted the best year of Venturi\'s career, but again, adversity was not far behind. A debilitating case of carpel tunnel syndrome left him without full use of his hands forced him to end his playing career before it ever reached its once unlimited potential. But he rose to challenge yet again, carving out a legendary 35-year broadcasting career as the voice of golf for CBS television. It was in that capacity that the viewing public grew to know and love Ken Venturi, who wore his heart on his sleeve and wasn\'t afraid to tell it like it was. Getting Up & Down is written in the same manner, providing an honest, emotional, and sometimes searing look at Venturi\'s life, his roller-coaster playing career, and the game to which he has devoted a lifetime.