From Parks to Molinaris: Golf’s Greatest Brothers

FRANCESCO AND EDOARDO MOLINARI will be the first brothers to compete on a Ryder Cup team since Bernard and Geoffrey Hunt represented Great Britain in the 1963 biennial matches. Francesco, 28, qualified on points, and Edoardo, 29, was a captain’s pick after a late-season run that included wins at the Barclays Scottish Open and last weekend’s Johnnie Walker Championship.

“I don’t think I have to tell you who his [Edoardo’s] partner will be in the fourballs or foursomes,” said Colin Montgomerie, the European team captain.

The Molinaris are just the latest brother act to make a splash in professional golf. They have three European Tour wins between them, which means they’ll need to rack up a lot more titles before they catch many of the following brother tandems.

(Image: 1961 PGA champion Jerry Barber was a short-game wizard.)

Lloyd and Ray Mangrum
Hailing from the pre- and post-World War II era, the Mangrums have the most wins, 41. Lloyd, the younger brother, was a great player, winning 36 titles, including the 1946 U.S. Open in a playoff against Vic Ghezzi and Byron Nelson. Nelson called Mangrum, a Hall of Famer, the best forgotten golfer. Ray won five times between 1936 and 1946.

Jay and Lionel Hebert
With five PGA Tour titles apiece, the Heberts didn’t come close to the Mangrums. But they did something only one other brother act (that I know of) has done: they both won majors. The younger brother, Lionel won the PGA Championship in 1957. Big brother Jay won the PGA in 1960. How cool is that? Jay, I’ve been told, had a picture-perfect golf swing.

Willie and Mungo Park
Willie Park Sr. won four Open Championships from 1860 to 1875. Mungo, his younger brother, won the Open in 1874. And Jr., Willie’s son, won it twice. Talk about keeping it in the family.

Harry and Tom Vardon
The great Harry Vardon, the namesake of the Vardon grip and Vardon Trophy awarded annually to the PGA Tour player with the lowest scoring average, won the Open Championship a record six times. His older brother Tom played in the Open Championship (but never won) and later went to America to take a job as a club professional.

Lanny and Bobby Wadkins
Lanny, the younger Wadkins, had a Hall of Fame career that included 30 wins, one major and several Ryder Cup appearances. Bobby won once on the European Tour and twice on the Japan Golf Tour, but never won in a long PGA Tour career, racking up six runner-up finishes. He’s won four times on the Champions Tour.

Jerry and Willie Barber
Jerry was a great putter who won seven times on tour, including the 1961 PGA Championship, during which he made 120 feet of putts on the last three holes to tie Don January. Then he beat January in a playoff. Jerry also played on two Ryder Cup teams. Willie, his less-famous brother, was a club professional and very good player who once joined yours truly for nine holes in the California desert.

Bernard and Geoffrey Hunt
Bernard had more than 30 professional wins and played on eight Ryder Cup teams. His brother Geoffrey joined him on the 1963 team, but they didn’t play together in any matches.

Camilo and Manuel Villegas
Camilo, of course, is the rising star who has three PGA Tour wins. Manuel is his baby brother who teed it up with Camilo at the St. Jude Classic and has played sporadically on the Nationwide Tour.

MORE BROTHERS

Following are the 12 brother combinations who have won on the PGA Tour. Four of the seven Turnesa brothers won on tour, as did three Smith brothers, of which Macdonald was the star. (The year of first official victory and career wins are in parentheses.)

Alex Smith (1906/2)-Macdonald Smith (1924/24)-Willie Smith (1899/1)
Tom Kerrigan (1920/4)-George Kerrigan (1922/2)
Al Espinosa (1924/8)-Abe Espinosa (1928/3)
Lloyd Mangrum (1940/36)-Ray Mangrum (1936/5)
Jim Turnesa (1951/2)-Joe Turnesa (1924/15)-Mike Turnesa (1931/6)-Phil Turnesa (1932/1)
Lionel Hebert (1957/5)-Jay Hebert (1957/5)
Dave Hill (1961/13)-Mike Hill (1970/3)
Don Massengale (1966/2)-Rik Massengale (1975/3)
Joe Inman (1976/1)-John Inman (1987/2)
Danny Edwards (1977/5)-David Edwards (1980/4)
Curt Byrum (1989/1)-Tom Byrum (1989/1)
Brad Bryant (1995/1)-Bart Bryant (2004/3)

−The Armchair Golfer

(Sources: PGA Tour Media Guide and Wikipedia)

Will Padraig Produce the Goods?

Editor’s note: Brian Keogh is a golf correspondent for The Irish Sun and a regular contributor to The Irish Times, Golf Digest Ireland and other golf publications. The following piece is excerpted from his blog, Irish Golf Desk. 

By Brian Keogh
Special to ARMCHAIR GOLF

DESPITE HIS ERRATIC FORM over the past two years and his less than stellar recent record, it was no great surprise to see Pádraig Harrington named as one of Colin Montgomerie’s three Ryder Cup wildcards. The Scot is impressed by many things but major winners come top of the list for a man who never managed to get over the line in a grand slam event in an otherwise impressive career.

“No American wants to play Padraig Harrington. I can assure you,” Montgomerie said at Gleneagles on Sunday.

Edoardo Molinari’s brilliant victory in the final qualifying event, the Johnnie Walker Championship, made him an automatic choice for the captain, who also named foursomes specialist Luke Donald as one of his picks to the detriment of Paul Casey and Justin Rose.

(Photo: Padraig in step with Bradley Dredge / Ciarán Bohane, Flickr)

Experience is key in the Ryder Cup. So is putting. And Harrington fits the bill on both counts as far as Montgomerie is concerned. The skipper warned us in May that he might need to add experience to the nine automatic qualifiers:

“It will be very interesting to see who actually comes through and makes the team on merit and that allows me, as Corey said, for the makeup of my team to see who can fit in with that; whether I have a very experienced team and I can go with some rookies, or I have a very inexperienced team and have to some experience. All depends how the qualifying system works.”

The ball is now in Harrington’s court following his jaded performances at The K Club and Valhalla, where he managed just two halved matches from nine starts. Like Ian Poulter, who was a controversial wildcard in 2008, he will be under pressure to produce the goods.

His back is against the wall, but as Montgomerie said on Friday last: “Pádraig, when his back’s to the wall, has done awfully well in the past.”

Brian Keogh covers golf for The Irish Sun and contributes to a variety of golf publications. Pay him a visit at Irish Golf Desk.

Report: 21 Secrets to Playing Top Private Golf Courses

DID YOU KNOW IT’S possible to play about 90 percent of the private golf courses in the world without becoming, or even knowing, a member?

I can’t say I knew that nearly all private clubs could be played by pretty much anyone until Tom Fitzpatrick of Golf Vacation Insider contacted me and suggested I offer their free report to the readers of ARMCHAIR GOLF.

(Photo: Firestone Country Club. Mentioned in Secret #13.)

The 19-page report explains everything in sufficient detail, but I can tell you this much: You don’t need to be a member to play a private course. Nor do you need to know a member to play. And you don’t need to join a travel club. No strings.

There are many proven ways to get on exclusive golf courses and Golf Vacation Insider is giving away the information in their free report:

“21 Secrets to Playing the Private Golf Courses of Your Dreams”

Actually, the report is available two ways:
(1) A free PDF version
(2) A $27 hard-copy version at Amazon

The report is written by the golf travel experts at Golf Vacation Insider. They know their stuff. They have been writing about golf and travel for a very long time and have had their tips published in virtually every major golf publication.

Recently, I played Ballyhack Golf Club in Roanoke, Virginia. It was just dumb luck. A colleague invited me to play in a member-guest. He even paid for everything! Later I found out Ballyhack was ranked No. 3 in Golf Magazine’s best new private golf courses in 2009. I was impressed, and doubly glad I played it.

This report can be an eye-opener or at least a good reminder of the many ways there are to access the best private golf courses around. If there’s a course you really want to play, you don’t have to wait for an invitation like I did.

Check it out and tell me what you think. Let me know how many of the 21 secrets you already knew.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Brought to you by Golf Vacation Insider.)

(Image: Mark Vitullo/Flickr)