Jordan Spieth, a modern-day Byron Nelson, and the story of Cypress Point's course record

Vince Lucido has carried the bag of three separate Cypress Point Club record holders for the low 18-hole round but he hasn’t forgotten the one that got away – and could’ve shattered the record if not for a change of heart.

In the book "The Match," chronicling leading professionals Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson's best-ball game with amateurs sensation Ken Venturi and Harveie Ward in 1956, author Mark Frost notes that Hogan had tied his own course record with 63 at Cypress Point. It's a figure that has been matched several times, including by longtime club pro Jim Langley (1976), Casey Reamer (2006) and Jordan Cox (2010).

Lucido was on the bag for Gay Brewer, the 1967 Masters champion, when he went one better, shooting 10-under 62 for the unofficial record in the 1976 Crosby Clambake — except there’s always been an asterisk associated with that otherworldly round. Lucido, in a story first published in NCGA Golf Magazine, recounted how Langley tapped Brewer on the shoulder and said, "No, no, you had your hand on the ball," for it was shot with preferred lies being instituted that day (A.K.A. lift, clean and cheat). Lucido was by Adam Scott's side the day he played with member Sam Reeves in the 2004 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and carded a 63, as well as Kramer Hickok, playing for University of Texas, in 2012, when he matched that figure too.

"That was pretty cool, it was a practice round," recalled Hickok, whose team was in Pebble Beach for the Carmel Cup, an annual college event at Pebble Beach and Spyglass. "I got off to a hot start and then bogeyed No. 6. But I started making birdies again and I was 8 under with two to play. The caddies were like, 'You better not break this record.' I was like, 'What do you mean?' They said Mr. Hogan has it and our old club pro (Jim Langley) has it. Being naive, I was like, 'I'm breaking this record, I don't care what you say.' I made par at 17 and then on 18 I made a 45-footer in the dark.' Tying it was pretty cool. They got it on video of me fist-pumping and celebrating. Looking back on it now, it was the best thing, and it's not a bad record to share."

Lucido, 70, who has caddied at Cypress Point for 52 years and is honorary caddie coordinator for the Walker Cup matches this week, was on the verge of witnessing another scintillating round on the bag of Jordan Spieth who was playing with Reeves at the No. 1-ranked classic course on the Golfweek's Best list. But Spieth took a page out of fellow Texan Byron Nelson’s playbook. Lord Byron had a rule that when he visited a club he’d find out the course record and if it was held by the club pro, he wouldn’t dare break it. “The home pro lives there,” he’d explain. “We’re just visiting.”

Spieth, a Texas alum, roommate and teammate of Hickok, was at 8-under par going into 13. As much as Spieth would have liked to own the course record at one of golf’s great cathedrals, he was cognizant of his buddy’s share of the record and just as importantly that it was held by Langley, the club's famed pro Langley, and respected the unwritten rule. He put on the brakes, whispering to Lucido that he was going to push his approach on 13 and bogey the hole. Then after a birdie at the 17th, still with a potential record on the card, Reeves recommended that Spieth hit an iron off the 18^th tee that would stop short of the cypress trees guarding the green on the 346-yard par-4 and get one last birdie birdie. But Spieth threw caution to the wind and took out the driver and hooked it into the trees left. After Lucido found the ball, Spieth had a chance to escape jail but nicked a tree branch en route to a double bogey. Collegially, Spieth had shown respect to Hickok, who remains winless as a pro, but can still claim a share of the Cypress Point record, as well as Hogan and Langley, among others.

When approached on the PGA Tour to confirm the details of Lucido’s memory of that fateful day, Spieth downplayed some of the details, and he said he wasn’t specifically protecting Hickok, Hogan or Langley. There's also club lore that Phil Mickelson could've shattered the record once and he turned around and deliberately launched three drives into the ocean. Did Spieth deliberately hit a foul ball? “I think there was a tie amongst a bunch of players, and it may have included Hogan,” Spieth told Golfweek. “But you’re not supposed to break it. That was Byron Nelson’s thing. So, it might have been half yes, half I hit a bad shot.”

Then he paused, smiled and reiterated what makes him as classy a champion as Nelson before him. “You’re just not supposed to break it,” he said.