Paul Harney, 1929-2011

SIX-TIME PGA TOUR WINNER Paul Harney died this week. You would have to be a student of golf history to know Harney, who played alongside greats such as Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Billy Casper. Along with the legendary Francis Ouimet, Harney is considered to be one of the best golfers to hail from Massachusetts. He attended Holy Cross and was captain of the golf team. Harney joined the PGA Tour in 1955 and played the circuit full time through 1962. His first victory came at the 1957 Carling Open. A second win followed two weeks later at the Labatt Open.

A dedicated family man, Harney became a part-time player in 1963 when his oldest child (he and wife Patricia would raise six children) entered school. He took a club pro job in Northern California and then returned to his native Massachusetts to work for Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton.

Harney still managed to compete and win as a part-time player on the PGA Tour. He won three more events, the last trophy coming at the 1972 San Diego Open where he edged Hale Irwin by a stroke. He won no majors but did have six top 10s, including a fourth at the 1963 U.S. Open. He was 0 for 4 in playoffs. Three losses came to Palmer, one to Tony Lema.

Harney’s kids now run the golf course (Paul Harney Golf Club) their dad opened in Falmouth using prize money from his win in San Diego. Son Mike is the head pro. Daughter Erin is the general manager. In 2006, Mike recalled his dad’s days on the winter tour, a family affair.

“The family station wagon was dad’s office,” he said at golholycross.com. “We’d all jump in the car and go to work with him.”

Harney and family would log 10,000 miles in the station wagon driving from event to event. In 1971 the part-time player finished in the money in 14 of 15 tournaments, earning in excess of $40,000. That was good money in those days.

Later, Harney made $436,063 on the fledgling Senior Tour, more than what he collected in 18 years on the PGA Tour.

“I’ve been lucky,” Harney said in 2006. “Holy Cross gave me a tremendous education and the Jesuits gave me a good perspective. Patti gave me six terrific children, and now we have 14 grandkids.”

−The Armchair Golfer

Rodman Wanamaker: The Man Behind the Trophy

(Plucked and updated from the ARMCHAIR GOLF archives.)

HERE’S WHAT THEY’RE PLAYING FOR in the 93rd PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club. (Plus $1.35 million, plus exemptions and endorsements galore, plus getting the major monkey off their back, if they’re Steve Stricker, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, or others.)

Ladies and gentlemen, behold the Wanamaker Trophy. Shiny, isn’t it?

Of course, as with anything that’s 93, there’s a story behind it. It’s named after Rodman Wanamaker, a Philadelphia-born man of means who took up the cause of professional golfers when they were considered to be lowly working class and not allowed in the clubhouse or locker room. Think Walter Hagen era.

Wanamaker thought the treatment of pro golfers was wrong, so he spearheaded the formation of the PGA of America and its pros-only tournament, the PGA Championship. He launched the effort with $2,500 and ordered the silver cup. Every pro who teed off on Thursday playing for the $7.5 million purse should say a word of thanks for Rodman Wanamaker, a Princeton grad who owned the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph newspaper and financed designs for experimental seaplanes that made aviation history.

The original Wanamaker Trophy was huge—more than two feet tall and two feet wide (handle to handle) and weighing 27 pounds. That’s a lot of silver to hoist. Today the PGA of America awards a smaller replica to the winner.

Multiple Winners

Beginning in 1916, the PGA Championship was a match-play tournament until 1958 when TV helped dictate the move to stroke play. With Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus topping the list, following are multiple winners of the PGA Championship.

Walter Hagen 5
Jack Nicklaus 5
Tiger Woods 4
Gene Sarazen 3
Sam Snead 3
Jim Barnes 2
Leo Diegel 2
Denny Shute 2
Paul Runyan 2
Byron Nelson 2
Ben Hogan 2
Gary Player 2
Dave Stockton 2
Raymond Floyd 2
Lee Trevino 2
Larry Nelson 2
Nick Price 2
Vijay Singh 2

Notable majors winners who didn’t win the PGA Championship and wish they had: Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Nick Faldo.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: kompuder, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Peter Jacobsen Is Recipient of 2012 Old Tom Morris Award

By Golf Course Superintendents Association of America

MULTIPLE PGA TOUR WINNER and golf course designer Peter Jacobsen has been selected to receive the 2012 Old Tom Morris Award by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA). The award will be presented during the 2012 GCSAA Education Conference at Celebrate GCSAA! presented by Syngenta on February 28 in Las Vegas.

“Peter has done much for the game of golf, and he has been an advocate for golf course superintendents,” said GCSAA President Robert Randquist. “He is a perfect fit for the Old Tom Morris Award, and we look forward to recognizing him at the GCSAA Education Conference.”

GCSAA’s most prestigious honor, the Old Tom Morris Award is presented each year to an individual who “through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris.” Morris (1821-1908) was greenkeeper and golf professional at the St. Andrews Links Trust Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland. Morris was a four-time winner of the British Open (1861, ’62, ’64 and ’67) and ranked as one of the top links designers of the 19th century.

Jacobsen won seven times on the PGA TOUR and owns two Champions Tour majors, the 2004 U.S. Senior Open and the 2005 Senior Players Championship. He played for the U.S. Ryder Cup teams in 1985 and 1995. In 2003 he was PGA TOUR Comeback Player of the Year after winning the Greater Hartford Open at the age of 49.

Jacobsen is president and CEO of Peter Jacobsen Sports, a sports marketing firm he created in 1988. He also co-founded a golf course design company with Jim Hardy (Jacobsen Hardy Golf Course Design) that has developed nearly 20 courses and renovated several others worldwide since 1995.

Jacobsen also has provided commentary for various TV golf broadcasts, including recent work as a commentator for NBC and Golf Channel at the 2011 U.S. Open.

Past Winners

Arnold Palmer was the first recipient of the Old Tom Morris Award in 1983. Other winners include Nick Price, Judy Rankin, Greg Norman, Charlie Sifford, Jack Nicklaus, Rees Jones, Pete Dye, Tim Finchem, Nancy Lopez, Ken Venturi, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Fazio, Byron Nelson, Dinah Shore, Tom Watson, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Gene Sarazen, Robert Trent Jones Sr., Patty Berg, Gerald Ford and Bob Hope.

(Photo: Courtesy of GCSAA)

The Quiet End of Celebrity-Named Tour Events

AS ANNOUNCED LAST WEEK, the Bob Hope Classic is now the Humana Challenge, which will be a four-round 72-hole event instead of the five-round 90-hole marathon that made the Hope unique. Celebrities certainly have their exalted place in American society, but their famous names can’t pay the multi-million dollar bills on the PGA Tour.

“The reality of it is that having celebrities’ names attached to these tournaments may have at some point driven notoriety,” David Carter, executive director of USC’s Sports Business Institute, told the Los Angeles Times, “but in this era, you need to have cash.”

Goodbye, Hope. Hello, Humana. It really was inevitable.

It’s kind of amazing that the Bob Hope Classic outlived Bob Hope as long as it did. (The comedy legend died in 2003.) The tournament’s genesis was the Palm Springs Desert Classic, which started in 1960. It became the Bob Hope Desert Classic in 1965. Billy Casper won the first Hope. It was Arnold Palmer’s last PGA Tour victory in 1973, although I’m sure 43-year-old Arnold expected to win again. From 1986 to 2008, the tournament was sponsored by Chrysler and called the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

You may remember other long-gone celeb tour events: the Crosby, Glen Campbell Los Angeles Open, Andy Williams San Diego Open, Dinah Shore Invitational, Danny Thomas Memphis Classic and Sammy Davis Jr. Greater Hartford Open. Now they sound so quaint. (I guess we still have Justin Timberlake.)

Not all Hope is lost. Humana will award their tournament winner a newly created Bob Hope Trophy, so that’s good. The health-insurance company also plans to keep the Hope family involved.

I read that Bob Hope’s joke file is 85,000 scanned pages. You can bet he would crack a good one about last week’s Humana news. I have no idea what it would be, so I’ll leave you with this Hope one-liner:

“If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf.”

−The Armchair Golfer

Doug ‘About Time’ Ford Enters World Golf Hall of Fame

DOUG FORD, 88, FINALLY HAS a spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame. And not a moment too soon. When told last year by PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem he was one of six 2011 inductees, Ford replied, “About time.”

I wholeheartedly agree.

Monday night was the big night. Friend and 1968 Masters champion Bob Goalby presented Ford during the induction ceremony at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida. Also enshrined were Ernie Els, Jock Hutchison, Jumbo Ozaki, the late CBS-TV pioneer Frank Chirkinian and former President George H.W. Bush.

Ford had been on the ballot before—and passed over. He expressed doubt about ever getting in and wondered why his record didn’t sway voters.

“I’ll put my record up against just about anyone’s in the Hall,” Ford told GolfChannel.com’s Randall Mell after being turned away in 2009. “I think I have a hell of a record. I don’t know what they’re looking for. I don’t know what the knock on me is, but I’m just not that enthused about it anymore. If they don’t appreciate what I’ve done, I can’t do anything about it.”

Let’s look at Ford’s record. Nineteen PGA Tour wins. Two majors: the 1957 Masters, beating Sam Snead by three shots, and the 1955 PGA Championship, beating Cary Middlecoff in the final (when the PGA was a match-play event). Also four Ryder Cup teams.

Awfully good, isn’t it?

Ford played in the era of Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Cary Middlecoff, Arnold Palmer, Julius Boros, Tommy Bolt, Gene Littler and others. All winners and tough competitors. It was back in the day when you sometimes needed to win or finish high just to make enough money to get to the next event, as Bolt told me before he died.

There were already several players in the Hall who were elected with fewer wins or majors (or both) than Ford: Tom Kite (18 wins, one major), Tommy Bolt (15 wins, one major), Bob Charles (18 wins, one major), Gene Littler (29 wins, one major) and Chi Chi Rodriguez (eight wins, no majors).

“It’s a travesty Doug’s not in,” Goalby said in recent years. “Evidently, he alienated some people.”

Probably so. Ford was known for his feisty personality. It’s part of what made him a great player. But now ruffled feathers don’t matter. The feisty Ford is in, a deserving and long overdue selection.

−The Armchair Golfer

‘Like’ Arnold Palmer and a $1 Goes to Palmer Medical Center

IF YOU LIKE GOLF LEGEND Arnold Palmer, you can make it count in a monetary way during the 2011 Arnold Palmer Invitational. For every “like” the Arnold Palmer Invitational Facebook page (facebook.com/arnoldpalmerinvitational) receives through March 28, MasterCard will donate $1, up to $200,000, to the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies.

The tournament known today as the Arnold Palmer Invitational began in 1966 as the Florida Citrus Open Invitational. Lionel Hebert won the inaugural event. Since then the annual tournament on the Florida Swing has gone through several name changes. It has been hosted by Bay Hill Club & Lodge, owned by Palmer, since 1979.

Palmer was recently named one of the 25 coolest athletes of all time by GQ. He won 62 PGA Tour titles, including seven majors, four of them Masters.

−The Armchair Golfer

2011 Arnold Palmer Invitational TV Schedule and Tournament Notes

THE 2011 ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL is underway at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida.

Purse: $6 million
Winner’s share: $1.08 million
Defending champion: Ernie Els


2011 Arnold Palmer Invitational Leaderboard


Inside the field
Inside the course
Tee times
Interviews
Tournament overview
Tournament news
Tour report
Live@ Arnold Palmer Invitational
Arnold Palmer Invitational website



TV SCHEDULE

TV coverage of the 2011 Arnold Palmer Invitational is on Golf Channel and NBC.

Thu, 3/24:
GOLF 3p - 6p ET

Fri, 3/25:
GOLF 3p - 6p ET

Sat, 3/26:
NBC 2:30p - 6p ET

Sun, 3/27:
NBC 2:30p - 6p ET

SIRIUS-XM broadcast times

−The Armchair Golfer

New Mexico Golfer Wins Limited Edition Print of Ben Hogan

CHIP BECKNER OF ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, is the lucky winner of the drawing for the Steven Anthony Salerno limited edition print of Ben Hogan shown at right. The golf artist graciously offered to give away the print at ARMCHAIR GOLF to celebrate the introduction of his Arnold Palmer and Seve Ballesteros limited edition prints, which you can preview at his online gallery.

Chip will receive the Hogan print, numbered and signed by Steven, along with a Certificate of Authenticity. I asked Chip to share his thoughts on winning, Hogan and his golf habits:

Woohoo! I’m excited to win this beautiful and inspiring print. I’ll be proud to hang it over my dresser or in the living room where I can see it daily and be reminded of it’s message. Steven Anthony Salerno really captures the movement and spirit of the player and the game in an artful way.

Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson have always been larger than life figures to me. They were near the age of 50 when I was born, so they were already legends. I can remember men debating who was the best of the three. I take each on his own merits: Ben for his incredible drive and determination, Sam for his outstanding athleticism, and Byron, my favorite, for his winning streak and for being such a gentleman.

I played golf all through my teenage years and well into my twenties. But, career and a family put an end to time for golf. I took a hiatus for twenty-two years or so. Three years ago, I took the game back up and am really enjoying it. I belong to two men’s clubs and play in plenty of tournaments.

Thank you, Steven, for this awesome prize. I will cherish it.

And I’d like to thank all the readers who entered the drawing and regularly pass by this way. Keep coming back!

−The Armchair Golfer

Win a Salerno Limited Edition Print of Ben Hogan

GOLF ARTIST STEVEN ANTHONY SALERNO is celebrating the introduction of two new limited edition golf art prints by giving away one of his Ben Hogan prints (shown at right) at ARMCHAIR GOLF.

The print is a stylized, graphic expression of Hogan hitting practice balls. As you can probably see, there’s artistic text that reads: Q: how did hogan win? A: practice & guts. The winner of a random drawing (see entry details below) will receive the print, numbered and signed by Steven, along with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Two New Limited Edition Prints

“The King” is an image of golf legend Arnold Palmer in his distinctive putting stance. The original art was drawn using oil crayons on paper combined with digital wood-grain effects, all to suggest the strength of character and working-class beginnings of the player.

“Seve” is a swing portrait of Hall of Famer Severiano Ballesteros, featuring the singular Spanish star at the top of his powerful backswing. The background theme is in red, to reflect Seve’s unique passion for the game and for life. The original art was painted with gouache on paper.

Steven Anthony Salerno golf art prints are printed on 100% cotton, acid-free archival fine art papers using vivid, permanent pigment inks. Both new prints are available in different sizes. To preview these two new prints, and to see Salerno’s complete online gallery, visit sasgolf.com.

HOW TO ENTER FREE DRAWING
(The drawing is now closed. A winner has been selected. Keep reading ARMCHAIR GOLF for more chances to win cool prizes.)
To enter the drawing for the Ben Hogan print, send an email to armchairgolfer@gmail.com that includes your name and mailing address. I’ll notify you if you’re the winner, and Steven will sign, package and ship your limited edition print. Good luck!

−The Armchair Golfer

‘Morning Drive’ Debuts on Golf Channel

“MORNING DRIVE,” A WEEKDAY SHOW covering the world of golf, teed off early this morning on Golf Channel. The show will air Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and is hosted by Erik Kuselias and Gary Williams. Kuselias came from ESPN; Williams was a sports show host on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Holly Sonders (above) was also recently added to the on-air team. Sonders’ broadcast experience includes stints as a news and sports reporter in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Columbus, Ohio. She was a four-year member of the Michigan State University Women’s Golf Team and helped the Lady Spartans win a Big Ten Championship.

The lineup for today’s premiere:

Today’s Topics
- 2011 Season Begins
- Aloha Champions
- NFL Playoff Set
- First Day of Stock Trading
- Obama in Hawaii

Business Report
- First Day of Stock Trading
- IRS Postpones Tax Filings for 50 Million
- Proctor & Gamble Postpones Tiger Advertising Campaign

Interview Schedule
7:45 a.m. - Tim Rosaforte
8:15 a.m. - Next Instructor Search Winner, Martin Hall
8:30 a.m. - Arnold Palmer

I didn’t see the first show, but there were a number of positive tweets. SI’s Gary VanSickle was not impressed, although he admitted that it might be a “rash judgment.”

“Morning Drive” on Web
“Morning Drive” on Twitter

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo courtesy of Golf Channel)

Q&A: Arnold Palmer

I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY to talk to Arnold Palmer the week before Thanksgiving. In a telephone interview (he was in warm Orlando and I was in chilly Virginia), we covered a handful of topics, including the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. This year marked the 50th anniversary of Arnold’s famous (and lone) U.S. Open victory, considered to be one of the greatest ever played. Arnold charged by 20-year-old amateur Jack Nicklaus and 47-year-old Ben Hogan, who still had plenty of game but faltered on the final holes.

The 1954 U.S. Amateur champion, Arnold turned professional and joined the tour in 1955. His first of 62 PGA Tour wins came at the 1955 Canadian Open. Following is a portion of our conversation.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: When you came out as a rookie, who were the players that you really admired and looked up to?

ARNOLD PALMER: I think Nelson and Hogan and Middlecoff and Mangrum and Snead.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: There were a bunch of good players, weren’t there?

ARNOLD PALMER: Yes, there were.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: I wonder if you remembered Harvie Ward?

ARNOLD PALMER: I played against Harvie in college. (Arnold attended Wake Forest University.)

ARMCHAIR GOLF: He was at North Carolina, wasn’t he?

ARNOLD PALMER: That’s right. The first time I played Harvie Ward, he shot 67 and I dusted him 5 and 4.

(Me laughing.)

ARMCHAIR GOLF: What kind of player was he, Arnold?

ARNOLD PALMER: He was a great player. He was a good friend and a great player.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: That’s what others have told me, too. And he continued to compete as an amateur but I’ve had people tell me that he was one of the best players in the world as an amateur in the mid 50s.

ARNOLD PALMER: That’s right.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: I wanted to ask you what life on tour was like when you first came out. I talked to Rossie [Bob Rosburg] a couple of years ago before he passed. He said he traveled with you and there was a lot of camaraderie and it was just a whole different scene back then. Can you tell me a little bit of your impressions of life on tour back in the 50s?

ARNOLD PALMER: We drove everywhere, first thing. For the first year I was on tour, I pulled a trailer. That was interesting in itself, with my wife, going from the West coast to the East coast and then up to my home. My wife said to me, “I love you and I’ll do anything you want, but I’m not going to live in a trailer ever again.” (Chuckling.)

ARMCHAIR GOLF: It was not an easy thing to do, was it?

ARNOLD PALMER: No, it sure wasn’t. It was tough.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: I look at purses where the total purse was 15, 20, 25 thousand dollars.

ARNOLD PALMER: Hell, there were only 15 money places on the tour. At every tournament, the max was 15. And 15th was $100. So, you think about that. And if you won and it was a pretty good tournament, you won $2,000.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: That was a different era, for sure. There was a nice celebration at Cherry Hills this past summer to celebrate the 50th anniversary of your [1960 U.S. Open] win there. Can you tell me what that was like for you?

ARNOLD PALMER: It was wonderful. I’m trying to think who all was there. Some of the guys that played in the Open were there. Cherry Hills did a wonderful job of putting on a big affair. The membership was sold out. We talked about the Open and some of things that happened. It was very nice.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: You probably remember quite a bit about that Open.

ARNOLD PALMER: I wouldn’t say I could give you all the details, but I remember some of things that happened. I thought I played pretty well for three rounds and nothing happened. I was just sort of in limbo. Then the last round, it all happened.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: I’ve gone over that front nine you shot on the fourth round, where you birdied something like six out of the first seven holes. I know you shot 30 on the front nine of that final round.

ARNOLD PALMER: Right.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: Do you remember when you reached that point where you thought I’m right in this and I can win it?

ARNOLD PALMER: In those days, I kind of played like I could win whatever, from anywhere. And I played a little bit that way.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: Do you think you were a little bit more focused and a better player when you played from behind?

ARNOLD PALMER: Let’s just say I never ruled out the possibility of winning. Until it was figuratively impossible, I always thought I had a shot.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: I think you were playing right behind Hogan and Nicklaus during that final round.

ARNOLD PALMER: Yeah, you’re right.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: You saw Hogan hit into the water on 17?

ARNOLD PALMER: I did. I was standing in the middle of the fairway when he hit into the water.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: And then you were probably thinking a couple of pars and you’d be in pretty good shape.

ARNOLD PALMER: I knew that I had a shot if I didn’t screw up the last two holes.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: Did you like the golf course?

ARNOLD PALMER: Cherry Hills? Very much, yes.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: And 280 ended up winning the Open, after all, Arnold. You did it.

ARNOLD PALMER: Right. (Chuckling.)

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image courtesy of Golf Channel)

Afternoon Tea With Gary Player

SINCE GARY PLAYER TURNED 75 on Monday, I thought I should share a story about the Hall of Famer and one of the Big Three along with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

The problem is, I don’t have a Gary Player story. I haven’t met golf’s first globetrotter. I have seen him play on a few occasions. Author friend John Coyne had a terrific Player story, though. He told it to me when we attended the 2008 Masters and watched Player walk up one of Augusta’s fairways.

It’s 1969. You’re traveling through South Africa and decide to pick up the phone book and find the listing for Gary Player. There it is. You call and the South African golf great and five-time major winner (at that time) invites you over for tea. No kidding, that’s how it happened.

Here’s the story in John’s words:

I interviewed Gary years ago at his home in South Africa when I was visiting all the countries I hadn’t seen when I was with the Peace Corps. Gary invited me to his farm for tea one Sunday afternoon.

His father was there, a retired mine worker, as well as his step-mother. Gary’s wife was playing in a golf tournament. She, too, was a fine player, a South African women’s champ.

Gary had designed his ranch home so that each room was a collection of items he had picked up from around the world. For example, he had a Western Room full of saddles, horse gear, and wild west paintings from America. There was a Spanish Room, as well as an Asia Room.

In the doorways of his kids’ rooms he had a bar installed so that his boys (Vivienne and Gary have six children) could do one or two chin-ups entering and leaving their bedrooms. It is not for nothing that Gary is nicknamed Mr. Fitness. (He is also called the Black Knight for his history of always wearing black when playing tournaments.)

Gary was a poor kid who lost his mother when he was 8 or so, and started to play golf at 14 when his father took out a loan to buy him a set of golf clubs that he could play with. His father worked in the gold mines of South Africa. Gary had a brother who is a famous environmentalist.

Gary only finished secondary school and then turned pro. His father wrote a letter to Bobby Jones more than 50 years ago asking him to invite young Gary to the Masters, saying how great his son was, and it worked!

When I visited Gary back in 1969, he kept talking about the “winds of change” coming to South Africa as he led me around the farm and introduced me to his African workers, all of whom he knew by name. I was there, of course, during the apartheid years. It took over 20 years before apartheid finally ended in South Africa.

Player later said his views about apartheid began to change as he traveled the world. Nonetheless, many assumed that he supported the system. He had said so in his book in the mid 1960s.

At the 1969 PGA Championship in Dayton, Ohio, someone threw water in Player’s face. At the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion, he received death threats. That same year, Player invited Lee Elder to play in the South African PGA Championship in Johannesburg. It was the first integrated golf tournament in South Africa’s history.

In 2004, Charlie Sifford, the first black man inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, asked Player to handle the introduction. In his speech, Sifford called Player “my man forever.” A product of a racist system, it seems to me that Player had a genuine conversion.

Gary Player was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. He has 165 professional wins, including 24 PGA Tour victories and nine majors.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Images: Keith Allison/Flickr)

Arnold Palmer Makes an Arnold Palmer

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS? Arnold Palmer pours himself an Arnold Palmer, the half-lemonade, half-iced-tee drink he invented. The caddie is right there, too, in case Arnie needs anything. ESPN talking heads Scott Van Pelt and Stuart Scott are starstruck.

I have Arnold Palmer on the brain. Today I visited the Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History at USGA headquarters in Far Hills, New Jersey. It was my second visit to the new museum, which opened two years ago. If you haven’t been and you’re in the area, it’s definitely worthwhile. You can also tour the USGA Test Center while on site. The USGA is located just 40 miles west of New York City.

I also had the pleasure of having lunch with USGA Museum and Communications Director Rand Jerris. Rand took me to an Italian restaurant in Liberty Corner. We talked about golf history (big surprise) and how neither of us play much golf since becoming dads. We agreed that a lot has changed since our fathers’ generation.

It’s a problem for golf. Whether family life or other hobbies and interests, fewer and fewer people are willing to allot the time needed to play a full round of golf or devote the long hours to learn the game. As much as I love golf, I’m definitely in that category. It’s not that I don’t like to play; I just have other things I need to do in my current stage of life.

Back to the museum for a moment to mention a new exhibit titled “Swing With the Stars: Golf and Hollywood” that runs through Jan. 31, 2011. The exhibit features golf-related movie posters and black-and-white photographs of famous Hollywood personalities. To coincide with the exhibit, the museum is also hosting screenings of “The Greatest Game Ever Played” and “The Legend of Bagger Vance.”

Josh Flitter, the young actor who played caddie Eddie Lowery in “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” will be at the museum on October 28 at 6:30 p.m. for a question and answer session, followed by a screening of the movie.

More information:
USGA Museum on Facebook
USGA Museum website
N.J.’s USGA Museum aims to be ‘the Cooperstown of golf’ (USA Today)
The New Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History (Britannica blog)

−The Armchair Golfer

Arnold Palmer on the Ryder Cup and More

Competitions like the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup are very important for promoting the game all over the world. That’s the example I always tried to set more than anything else.
−Arnold Palmer

ARNOLD PALMER STILL PLAYS golf a couple times a week and hits balls frequently. “I still enjoy the game and my friends,” Palmer told Farrell Evans in a Q&A at Golf.com.

The King played on six Ryder Cup teams, but wasn’t eligible and couldn’t earn Ryder Cup points until five years after he turned pro in 1954. Those were the rules in the old days. Arnie was good in match play, amassing a 22-8-2 Ryder Cup record during a period when America dominated. He also bagged plenty of matches on his way to winning the 1954 U.S. Amateur.

Palmer was also the captain of two U.S. squads, in 1963 and 1975. Asked what Ryder Cup memories stood out, he said, “... Brian Barnes beat Nicklaus twice in the same day, which is a pretty unusual situation.”

About the current state of his game, Arnie said that he is still a good putter. Which helps with those friendly wagers.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image courtesy of Golf Channel)

From Tom Kidd to Tiger Woods: The Open at St. Andrews

The following is an excerpt from THE OPEN: Golf’s Oldest Major, a pictorial history of the championship that includes overview texts. To enter a free drawing for a copy of the hardcover book, email your name and address to armchairgolfer@gmail.com.

By Donald Steel
Special to ARMCHAIR GOLF

© 2009 R&A Championships Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

MOST GOLFERS’ IDEA OF HEAVEN is an Open at St. Andrews. For the players, there is certainly nothing to compare with victory over the Old Course—Jack Nicklaus maintains that “if you want to be remembered, you have to win at St. Andrews.”

There have been suggestions that every Open Championship should be held there so it is no surprise that it has housed more than any other venue. It is no surprise either that, of the three original courses used for The Open, it is the sole survivor. Recently, it has played host ever fifth year.

No course is more public than the Old in the sense that so much is visible of the start and finish from adjacent streets and buildings. The 18th green gives the feeling of being part of the town and, at the climax of an Open, is overlooked by thousands who have paid and a good few hundred who haven’t. Necks are strained from many a window. In the playing sense, it is the course of double fairways, double greens, pot bunkers, and the Road Hole—the most infamous in the world, a combination that golf course architects regard as the blueprint of their art for all students to follow and revere. Not that everyone has stood in awe.

Harry Vardon claimed that the Old is “a good course, but its bunkers are badly placed,” which may explain why none of his six Open victories took place there. George Duncan, on the other hand, remarked, “What I like about the Old Course, is that you play a very good shot and find yourself in a very bad place.” Tiger Woods’s reaction in 2000 was to avoid the bunkers altogether in all four rounds, a forerunner to victory by eight strokes that equaled St. Andrews’ biggest winning margin by J.H. Taylor exactly a hundred years earlier.

Taylor and Woods share with Jack Nicklaus, James Braid and Bob Martin the honour of winning two Opens over the Old Course but two other memories stand out. St. Andrews marked the first and last appearances of Arnold Palmer and the victory in 1964 of Tony Lema, with Palmer’s caddie on loan—one of the most remarkable of all.

Open Championships played at St. Andrews:
1873 / 1876 / 1879 / 1882 / 1885 / 1888 / 1891 / 1895 / 1900 / 1905 / 1910 / 1921 / 1927 / 1933 / 1939 / 1946 / 1955 / 1957 / 1960 / 1964 / 1970 / 1978 / 1984 / 1990 / 1995 / 2000 / 2005 / 2010

Free Drawing for ‘THE OPEN: Golf’s Oldest Major’

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP IS returning to St. Andrews this year, which also happens to be the 150th anniversary of golf’s oldest major. I have a special treat for you: a free drawing for a 304-page photographic history of the ancient golf championship.

Titled THE OPEN: Golf’s Oldest Major and published by Rizzoli, the book features black and white and color photographs from Getty Images. The rather sparse text is by Donald Steel, with a foreword by Arnold Palmer and afterword by Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A. This hardcover measures 12.3 x 9.4 x 1.4 inches and weighs 4.8 pounds. It’s hefty and gorgeous, a prized coffee table or sports den book for any armchair golf historian. (I love my review copy. I am not giving it up. The publisher is making another copy available for the drawing.)

Here are a couple of excerpts from the publisher’s news release:

THE OPEN: Golf’s Oldest Major revisits the history of the fourteen legendary links courses along the spectacular British coastline on which The Open has been played, with a chapter dedicated to each course highlighting the famous moments of victory, defeat, partnership, competition, and tradition that have come to define them.

The book brings together the classic images of the sport’s icons—from early stars such as Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones, and masters like Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus, to the exceptional talents of today, Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington.

OK, I must add three names not mentioned in the above publisher copy: Harry Vardon, Peter Thomson and Tom Watson. Because those three remarkable champions won the Claret Jug 16 times. (Vardon, 6; Thomson, 5; and Watson, 5.)

WANT TO GET IN ON THIS?

How to enter this free drawing: Just email your name and mailing address to armchairgolfer@gmail.com. I’ll blind draw the winner in a couple of weeks during the championship. Good luck!

−The Armchair Golfer

Golf Digest’s 75 Best Rivalries

GOLF DIGEST HAS PUBLISHED “Best Rivalries in Golf,” the magazine’s top 75 ranking of the game’s most intense and enduring grudge matches. I can’t argue with Nicklaus vs. Palmer at No. 1 on the list. There was a nine-year stretch from 1958 to 1966 during which Arnold and Jack captured seven Masters. Actually, Nicklaus appears in at least five of the rivalries. Besides Arnie, Jack’s other listed rivals include Tom Watson, Tiger Woods, Lee Trevino and Tom Weiskopf.

Sam Snead vs. Ben Hogan is a solid pick, as is Bobby Jones vs. Walter Hagen. I’m not buying Mickelson vs. Woods at No. 4. Tiger has had no true rival to this point. (Tiger vs. Field?) That’s bound to change. And perhaps soon.

The rankings are an interesting walk through golf history and include non-player rivalries that have impacted the game. Courses, issues, architects, countries, grasses, continents, swing coaches, college programs, magazines, baseball players, equipment and even years (1953 vs. 2000) are pitted against each other.

Take a look here.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Keith Allison/Flickr)