ARDMORE, Pa.—After John Capers III qualified for the 1966 U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club, his family’s home course, he rushed home to tell his mother the good news. She congratulated her son, then handed him an envelope. The return address was from the U.S. Army. Capers had been drafted to serve in Vietnam. He was 21 years old.
“I did not play in that one,” Capers says, a hint of melancholy in his voice, “but if you listen to the opening line that Byron Nelson did for the preamble to the Amateur, it said, ‘Welcome to Merion, where 320 people are marching around the golf course, but one, who should be here, is marching at Fort Knox.’ That meant a lot.”
