Masters Golf Tournament Has Hamptons Connections

One would not ordinarily think that there was a connection between Hamptons real estate and the Masters, the major golf tournament that is to be played this week about 1,000 miles away in Augusta, Georgia. But there is, including two champions owning homes here.

First, let’s get a few other connections out of the way. No one has won more Masters championships than Jack Nicklaus, who owns six green jackets. This year, by the way, is the 30th anniversary of his final victory at Augusta.

At age 46, the Golden Bear was viewed as too old and washed up to compete in any golf tournament, let alone one of the four majors. With one of his sons caddying for him at that event in 1986, his appearance was seen as only sentimental and ceremonial. But Mr. Nicklaus hung in there for three rounds, lurking just behind the leaders, and on that scintillating Sunday he roared into the lead and kept it for his 18th professional major championship. (The definitive book on this classic Masters is “One For the Ages” by, ahem, your humble reporter.)

This remains the record for men, and with the ongoing dodgy health of Tiger Woods, it will stay that way for the foreseeable future. Given that golf courses in the Hamptons are prime real estate, the connection to Mr. Nicklaus, is he and Tom Doak designed the course at the Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton.

Another connection can be found to Ben Crenshaw, who with Bill Coore designed the course at the East Hampton Golf Club. Gentle Ben earned green jackets in 1984 and 1995. In the latter event, few will forget the sight of Mr. Crenshaw, also considered past his prime and having come directly from the funeral of his longtime mentor, Harvey Penick, about to collapse to the ground but being held by his caddie, Carl Jackson, after sinking the winning putt.

Oh, and what the heck, a homeowner here is Marshall Watson, a columnist for The Press News Group, who has a brother, Tom, who won Masters titles in 1977 and 1981.

OK, now to Raymond Floyd. Like the previous three golfers mentioned, he is in the Hall of Fame. He has tasted victory in four major championships, one of them being the 1976 Masters. It was a record-breaking performance by Mr. Floyd that year in Augusta, with his 65, 66, and 70 in the first three rounds resulting in new low 36-hole and 54-hole scores in the event. Though his 70 in the final round meant he only tied Nicklaus for lowest 72-hole total, Floyd had lapped the field, winning by eight strokes. It was a fine field too, that included Nicklaus, Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Billy Casper, and Hale Irwin among the top-10 finishers.

What turned Mr. Floyd into a Hamptons home owner, though, was the 1986 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Winning it probably had him and his wife thinking happy thoughts about Southampton, and when they returned for the 1995 Open at Shinnecock Hills, the Floyds bought land near the course and built a house on it. He continues to live and play golf in Southampton during the summer.

In East Hampton, you might bump into Vijay Singh. The Fiji-born player is one of the few (Mr. Floyd was another) able to compete on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. Mr. Singh’s moment of Masters glory came in 2000 when, two years after winning the PGA Championship, he earned a second major by three strokes at Augusta. Among those Singh left in his wake were Mr. Woods, Ernie Els, David Duval, Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, and Phil Mickelson. It’s no coincidence that his first name means “victory” in Hindu.

In 2007, Mr. Singh used a different kind of green—a cool $9.5 million—to buy a six-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot house on 2 acres off Further Lane. Terry Semel, then the chairman of Yahoo, was a neighbor, as were the fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and the comedian Jerry Seinfeld. The latter constructed a baseball field on his property, but if Mr. Singh put a golf course on his, it has to be pretty, pretty small.

How fitting that Greg Norman almost won the Masters twice and he almost bought property in the Hamptons. His putt on the 72nd hole in the 1986 Masters would have forced a playoff with Mr. Nicklaus, but it didn’t drop. More well-known is the Shark sinking like a stone in the final round of the 1996 Masters. The Australian held a seemingly insurmountable six-shot lead going into the final at Augusta, but then the fins fell off. His epic collapse, shooting a 78, allowed Nick Faldo to wear his third green jacket. The Shark could console himself with having won two British Opens and being the no. 1 player in the world for an incredible 331 weeks.

Mr. Norman didn’t end up in the Hamptons, but his money did. After 25 years of marriage, he and his wife, Laura, divorced, and Mr. Norman married the tennis great Chris Evert. The June 2008 settlement gave Laura $103 million. She used some of that change—$11.1 million, to be precise—to purchase an estate in Southampton. Oh well, if he had only sunk that putt… And Mr. Norman and Ms. Evert have since divorced.