When It Rains In The Desert
Rain interrupted the 1978 Phoenix Open. A man wearing sunglasses won the event.
The rain delay in Saturday’s third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am fits right in with this week’s theme. We’re talking rain. Congratulations to Justin Rose for closing out the tournament on Monday.
Clip You Might Have Missed
This week the PGA TOUR leaves the West Coast and travels to the desert for the Phoenix Open. We’re going back to 1978 when Miller Barber captured the title. Scroll down to learn more. Barber had one of the most unique swings on the tour with a famously flying elbow. You can see a down-the-line view of his swing HERE, or a face-on view HERE. Both clips are from the Welty Collection and I remember watching these when I was 13 or 14 years old.
We’ve got a fun spin on our Head to Head Matchup poll. Scroll down to pick. In last week’s poll, 63% of you thought that Phil Mickelson wore a button down, long-sleeve shirt better than Sam Ryder wore joggers and ankle socks.
Our playlist this week is brand-new and it’s all about rain. Listen HERE.
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Tour Backspin Head to Head Matchup is for entertainment value only.
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If you like golf history, check out the Your Golfer’s Almanac podcast. Host Michael Duranko celebrates birthdays, milestones, and other accomplishments that occurred on the day in golf history. Listen HERE.
Congratulations to Sam Shelton for correctly answering last week’s WHAT HOLE IS IT? The featured hole was #14 at Monterey Peninsula Country Club in Pebble Beach, CA. Sam beat out six other correct answers. Check out the new 2023 leader board and scroll down for your chance to win in this week’s WHAT HOLE IS IT?
We’re playing Guess The Clubhouse this week in the Tour Backspin Quiz. Scroll down to play.
This week’s vintage ad continues on the rain theme. Scroll down to see.
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Okay, we're on the tee, let's get going.
Enjoy!
Larry Baush
The Mysterious Mr. X Triumphs In The Desert
Imagine you are a teenager and you are sitting in your living room, watching sports on TV. It’s a cold Saturday afternoon, January 16th, 1978, and it’s a big weekend for waching sports. Right now, you’re watching PGA golf from the usually warm desert in Phoenix, AZ. You are surprised that the weather was actually cool and cloudy for the third round, where the Phoenix Open was being played at the Phoenix Country Club. You plan to watch the final round the next day, Super Bowl Sunday, before tuning into the big game where the Dallas Cowboys are set to meet the Denver Broncos.
As the broadcast ends, the CBS Sports leaderboard shows a logjam of four players at the top. The leaderboards on the course show the same thing; George Knudson, Lee Trevino, Jerry Pate and Jim Simons were all tied at 9-under-par.
But wait. Knudson, playing in the final group of the day, signed his scorecard after finishing his round. He signed for a 66, 5-under-par and when he turned his card in to the PGA officials and it was all added up, it was discovered that his birdie on the 18th hole resulted in him being 10-under-par and the owner of a one-stroke lead.
But you don’t know this—you think there are four players tied for the lead. You end your day with anticipation of watching an exciting final round with so many players in contention. There were 13 players within four strokes of the lead, including Arnold Palmer who was at 5-under-par. Palmer hadn’t won a tournament since he captured the 1973 Bob Hope Desert Classic. Miller Barber was also in the mix, one shot in front of Palmer.
Yes, it was going to be an enjoyable Sunday as you plan to watch CBS Sports all day long. First you were going to watch the PGA TOUR as a warm-up before turning your attention to Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier as they call the action between the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII. You scan the sports page in your Sunday paper and you are surprised to learn that George Knudson is leading the Phoenix Open. You went to bed thinking it was a four-way tie for first place.
The rain was predicted to last at least through Sunday night, maybe longer.
Your anticipation turns to disappointment on Sunday as you learned that the final round had been washed out by a rare rainstorm in the desert. The weather report did not look good for getting the fourth-round in. The rain was predicted to last at least through Sunday night, maybe longer. If the tournament couldn’t be finished before Tuesday, the tournament regulations, and the contract with the sponsor, required that the event would go into the books as an unofficial 54-hole event.
“I’d much rather win at 72 holes and get the winner’s benefits, make it an official win.”
If the tournament was cut down to 54-holes, the winner would get only three-quarters of the first-place money (in this case, $30,000). But the winner would not get the other perks that come with winning a tournament such as a year’s exemption into tournaments, a spot in the Masters and the Tournament of Champions.
Knudson was ready to roll the dice and take his chances on a 72-hole tournament instead of hoping for the rain to continue ensuring him the $30,000.
“I’d much rather win at 72 holes and get the winner’s benefits, make it an official win,” he told reporters.
Arnold Palmer was another player who was hoping for the tournament to go the full 72 holes.
“I’d hate to see it get washed out,” he said. “I want to play. I haven’t been in a position like this in years.”
Although the rainstorm had left the course in a condition that was described by Bob Green of the AP as “slop and goo” they were able to play the fourth round on Monday. You rushed home from school, tuned in to CBS and caught the broadcast of the final round.
Players wore rain pants and sweaters to ward off the chill, and while the temperatures may have been cool, Arnold Palmer was red hot. He strung together five consecutive birdies starting at the second hole that resulted in him being tied for the lead. Another player who was hot was Miller Barber, known on the tour as “The Mysterious Mr. X,” a nickname given to him by Jim Ferree because Barber was a bachelor and never told anyone where he would be at night. He also wore sunglasses on the course adding to his mysterious persona. Eventually the nickname would be condensed to just “Mr. X.”
Barber’s play in the fourth round put him up among the leaders that included Palmer, the defending champion Jerry Pate and Lee Trevino who spent much of the round twisting and stretching his surgery-scarred back trying to get comfortable.
“I could have three-putted just as easy as I made it.”
The fans flocked to Palmer’s group to cheer him on, but his charge fizzled on the back nine. He limped home with a 67. Trevino and Pate played in the group behind Barber, and they watched as Barber stroked a 45-foot putt for birdie on the final hole. The ball traversed the green and disappeared into the hole giving him a six-under-par 65 for a four-round total of 272, 12-under-par. Trevino or Pate would have to birdie the last hole to tie him.
“I could have three-putted just as easy as I made it,” admitted Barber about the long putt on the final green. “I was just trying to get it close to the hole, and it fell in.”
Trevino never came close to the birdie he needed to tie Barber, but Pate did. His eight-foot putt for birdie came up just short.
Barber earned the full winner’s share of $40,000 and, along with his win in the late-season stop in Napa, CA, the year prior, earned him a spot in the World Series of Golf.
Although a day late, you topped off an exciting weekend of sports on television. At least the golf was closer than the Super Bowl. The Dallas Cowboys routed the Denver Broncos by the score of 27-10.
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Bonus Story
Rod Funseth, from Spokane, WA, was known as the most pessimistic player on the tour. He had self-loathing when it came to his ability to putt and claimed that his “I’ll never be able to make that shot” attitude of lowered expectations help motivate him to play better.
Funseth was the second-round leader at the 1978 Phoenix Open after shooting rounds of 67 and 65. You would think he would be ecstatic, but he wasn’t.
“I’m struggling,” he admitted to reporters after his round. He referenced putting woes, shanks and erratic long irons. He three-putted the final hole in his second round and it was the first thing he brought up.
Then he talked about working with fellow pro Jerry Barber to correct “a nasty little thing I’ve been doing that they call shanking.” He then added his dismay at his long-iron play.
“I’m not hitting them well,” he told the reporters.
Quite the woe is me from a guy who stood at 10-under-par after two rounds. He would go on to shoot a 73 in the third round and a final round 69 for a total of 264, two strokes off the winning score posted by Miller Barber.
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Tour Backspin Quiz |Guess The Clubhouse
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Singer Glen Campbell shows off his fashion that can go from the golf course to the stage.
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Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
The pictured clubhouse is at the Lake Merced Country Club circa 1930s (Photo: Lake Merced Country Club)
Your buddy Larry sent this out. I know you are on the same mailing list......
Funny I see the Pebble Beach tournament and them talking about it. I was there. I lived there. Caddied Pebble for a few extra dollars to buy golf stuff with. They called it, "The Clam Bake." Now it has grown into the AT&T. So cool.
I moved from Monterey in 1967 when I was 18 and lived in Pacific Grove about 3-5 miles from Pebble as I remember. It seemed like a long bike ride with the old bike I had. The year my mother died. Spyglass Hill just open in 1967. Never got to play it, but did Pebble and caddied Pebble when I was 14-17. $7.00 dollars per round. I remember Lynn getting like $8.00 one time and I really felt ripped off. Pebble was $25.00 on the weekends and $15.00 during the week. I remember my brother thinking it was a total rip off paying that much. He was 20 years older then me. Now it's $500 to $600 per round. That's a rip off. Brings up fun memories. I paid $7.00 per month to play my little home course of Pacific Grove. All I could play for $7.00 for the whole month. How times have changed...
—RH