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Lexington, Kentucky As told to Mark Maloney by Gay Brewer Gay Brewer passed away in Lexington, Kentucky on August 31, 2007. HOFMAG.com takes a look back at Gay's win at the 1967 Masters. I always wanted to be a golf professional. When I was a student at Lafayette High School, in my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, I had stock responses when I didn't know the answer to a test question. I'd put "Ben Hogan" or "Sam Snead" on my paper. Some of the teachers got a kick out of that, I think. I'm 74 now, and my knees keep me from walking courses. But I still enjoy playing. And I still recall the day when I became known not just as Gay Brewer, but "Gay Brewer, winner of the 1967 Masters." The reality of the title – the biggest thrill I've had in golf – is something that can never be taken away. Sometimes you only get one or two shots at winning a major. I was able to take advantage of one. I can still see every shot. What made the difference, though, was my mental game. I had read Norman Vincent Peale's book The Power of Positive Thinking a week or so earlier, and I took the advice to heart. At the 1966 Masters, I had a three-putt bogey on the 18th hole to drop into a first-place tie with Jack Nicklaus and Tommy Jacobs. Jack won in an 18-hole playoff.  Brewer credits Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking with changing his. Even so, I gained confidence that I could play well at Augusta National. Just as in 1966, I came to the 1967 Masters fresh off a win at Pensacola. I was on a hot streak, coming to a course I liked. Thinking positive. I was giving myself pep talks: "You're not going to three-putt this time. You're going to play it all they way out." Each year at Augusta, I'd rent a house, and the tournament provided a courtesy car. John Y. Brown Jr., who owned Kentucky Fried Chicken, and who would later become governor of the state, and his wife Ellie joined us. The Browns rode with me on the Sunday drive to the course. We arrived at 11 a.m., about 3-1/2 hours before my tee time. My wife, Carole Lee, and family came to the course later. Turns out I committed a faux pas by wearing green slacks and a green shirt. You're not supposed to wear green on the final day of the Masters, but I didn't know. Bobby Nichols, Julius Boros and Bert Yancey led through three rounds. Ben Hogan, who shot a 30 on the back nine Saturday, and I were two shots back. I was really relaxed when I arrived, and I walked into the locker room. Hogan and Arnold Palmer and all these guys are sitting around and moping. They were concentrating, I guess. I walked in, I said, "C'mon – we're playing for the Masters today!" Everybody looked at me and said, "What the hell's wrong with him?" But it sort of hit me. I was in a frame of mind that I just felt I was going to win. You get that feeling sometimes. I went out to hit some practice balls and this and that. I also scanned Dr. Peale's book, just to get the important points. That really helped. And I went out on the back lawn, all by myself at the far end, sat there and meditated.
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