The 2017 Memorial Magazine by Legendary Publishing & Media Group, LLC

For more than 60 years, Nationwide has been proud to help Nationwide Children’s Hospital become a top pediatric care and research institute. We share the same passion Jack and Barbara Nicklaus have for giving back. That’s why we’re proud of the almost $20 million we’ve raised through our partnership with the Memorial Tournament and other sports sponsorships, as well as the countless hours of volunteer work our associates have donated. Learn more at nationwide.com

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

MAKING A BIG DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF OUR LITTLE ONES

THE MEMORIAL

Nationwide and Nationwide Children’s Hospital:

MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2017

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Member FDIC. ¥® and Huntington® are federally registered service marks of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. Huntington. Welcome.SM is a service mark of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. © 2017 Huntington Bancshares Incorporated.

3/16/17 1:40 PM

ROBERT T. JONES, JR. 1976

WALTER HAGEN 1977

FRANCIS D. OUIMET 1978

GENE SARAZEN 1979

BYRON NELSON 1980

HARRY VARDON 1981

GLENNA COLLETT VARE 1982

TOMMY ARMOUR 1983

SAM SNEAD 1984

CHARLES “CHICK” EVANS 1985

ROBERTO DE VICENZO 1986

TOM MORRIS, SR. & TOM MORRIS, JR. 1987

PATTY BERG 1988

SIR HENRY COTTON 1989

JIMMY DEMARET 1990

BABE ZAHARIAS 1991

JOSEPH C. DEY, JR. 1992

ARNOLD PALMER 1993

MICKEY WRIGHT 1994

WILLIE ANDERSON 1995

JOHN BALL 1995

JAMES BRAID 1995

HAROLD HILTON 1995

J.H. TAYLOR 1995

PAYNE STEWART 2001

BOBBY LOCKE 2002

KATHY WHITWORTH 2002

JULIUS BOROS 2003

BILL CAMPBELL 2003

The Memorial Tournament Honorees BILLY CASPER 1996

GARY PLAYER 1997

LEE TREVINO 2004

JOYCE WETHERED 2004

TONY JACKLIN 2008

RALPH GULDAHL 2008

JOESEPH CARR 2014

WILLIE PARK, SR. 2014

PETER THOMSON 1998

1976–2017

BEN HOGAN 1999

JACK NICKLAUS 2000

BETSY RAWLS 2005

SIR MICHAEL BONALLACK 2006

CHARLIE COE 2006

LAWSON LITTLE 2006

HENRY PICARD 2006

PAUL RUNYAN 2006

DENNY SHUTE 2006

DOW FINSTERWALD 2007

LOUISE SUGGS 2007

CHARLES BLAIR MACDONALD 2008

CRAIG WOOD 2008

JACK BURKE, JR. 2009

JOANNE CARNER 2009

SEVERIANO BALLESTEROS 2010

NANCY LOPEZ 2011

TOM WATSON 2012

RAYMOND FLOYD 2013

ANNIKA SÖRENSTAM 2014

JIM BARNES 2014

SIR NICK FALDO 2015

DOROTHY CAMPBELL 2015

JEROME TRAVERS 2015

WALTER TRAVIS 2015

JOHNNY MILLER 2016

LEO DIEGEL 2016

HORTON SMITH 2016

TONY LEMA 2017

KEN VENTURI 2017

E. HARVIE WARD 2017

CARY MIDDLECOFF 2005

ROBERT T. JONES, JR. 1976

WALTER HAGEN 1977

FRANCIS D. OUIMET 1978

GENE SARAZEN 1979

BYRON NELSON 1980

HARRY VARDON 1981

GLENNA COLLETT VARE 1982

TOMMY ARMOUR 1983

SAM SNEAD 1984

CHARLES “CHICK” EVANS 1985

ROBERTO DE VICENZO 1986

TOM MORRIS, SR. & TOM MORRIS, JR. 1987

PATTY BERG 1988

SIR HENRY COTTON 1989

JIMMY DEMARET 1990

BABE ZAHARIAS 1991

JOSEPH C. DEY, JR. 1992

ARNOLD PALMER 1993

MICKEY WRIGHT 1994

WILLIE ANDERSON 1995

JOHN BALL 1995

JAMES BRAID 1995

HAROLD HILTON 1995

J.H. TAYLOR 1995

PAYNE STEWART 2001

BOBBY LOCKE 2002

KATHY WHITWORTH 2002

JULIUS BOROS 2003

BILL CAMPBELL 2003

The Memorial Tournament Honorees BILLY CASPER 1996

GARY PLAYER 1997

LEE TREVINO 2004

JOYCE WETHERED 2004

TONY JACKLIN 2008

RALPH GULDAHL 2008

JOESEPH CARR 2014

WILLIE PARK, SR. 2014

PETER THOMSON 1998

1976–2017

BEN HOGAN 1999

JACK NICKLAUS 2000

BETSY RAWLS 2005

SIR MICHAEL BONALLACK 2006

CHARLIE COE 2006

LAWSON LITTLE 2006

HENRY PICARD 2006

PAUL RUNYAN 2006

DENNY SHUTE 2006

DOW FINSTERWALD 2007

LOUISE SUGGS 2007

CHARLES BLAIR MACDONALD 2008

CRAIG WOOD 2008

JACK BURKE, JR. 2009

JOANNE CARNER 2009

SEVERIANO BALLESTEROS 2010

NANCY LOPEZ 2011

TOM WATSON 2012

RAYMOND FLOYD 2013

ANNIKA SÖRENSTAM 2014

JIM BARNES 2014

SIR NICK FALDO 2015

DOROTHY CAMPBELL 2015

JEROME TRAVERS 2015

WALTER TRAVIS 2015

JOHNNY MILLER 2016

LEO DIEGEL 2016

HORTON SMITH 2016

TONY LEMA 2017

KEN VENTURI 2017

E. HARVIE WARD 2017

CARY MIDDLECOFF 2005

THANK YOU FOR HELPING KIDS EVERYWHERE. Thank you to the Nicklaus family, our dedicated volunteers and Tournament presenting sponsor Nationwide for generously supporting the Memorial Tournament Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Center for Perinatal Research at Nationwide Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital. With your support, our physicians and scientists are working handin-hand to save the tiniest of premature babies. And what we learn through our research discoveries here is helping newborns everywhere. As Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest neonatal care and research network, you make it possible for us to give families what they need most. Hope. Visit us at NationwideChildrens.org/Memorial

Greg Norman 2017 Memorial Tournament Honoree

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Greg Norman 2017 Memorial Tournament Honoree

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Gabriel Born 17 weeks before his due date

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P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

CONTENTS

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

THE WEEK’S EVENTS/THE MEMORIAL ON TV

REMEMBERING FRIENDS BOTH HERE AND GONE A message from Memorial Tournament Founder and Host Jack Nicklaus

20 PROUD HISTORY OF GIVING BACK A message from Nationwide CEO Steve Rasmussen

A TIP OF THE CAP TO OUR UNSUNG HEROES A message from General Chairman Jack Nicklaus II

A VERY SPECIAL DELIVERY BY BOB BAPTIST With support from the Memorial Tournament, Nationwide Children’s Hospital continues its mission to save the lives of premature babies like Banks Stanton Parker

MILITARY APPRECIATION The Memorial welcomes our Armed Forces

THE CAPTAINS CLUB The distinguished group that guides the Memorial Tournament

40 65

MEM17_CONTENTS_3.indd 4

CLIMBING THE ETERNAL LADDER BY JAIME DIAZ

Always challenging himself to do greater things, Greg Norman continues to reach for the top long after he left behind his Hall-of-Fame playing career THREE FINE CHAMPIONS HONORED BY JOHN ANTONINI

Memorial honors three of golf’s great players

ON THE COVER: Greg Norman (left) accepts the Memorial Tournament trophy from Jack Nicklaus after his victory in 1995. PHOTO: THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT ARCHIVE

5/10/17 9:32 AM

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

118

REMEMBERING KEN VENTURI BY JIM NANTZ My colleague and friend gave so much to the game of golf, and he was, above all else, a genuine golf professional

THE MEMORIAL CLUB Securing the Tournament’s future

A PASSION FOR THE GAME BY JOHN STREGE Whether playing golf or writing about it, 2017 Memorial Golf Journalism Award recipient Jerry Tarde has a long love affair with the game 102 THE NICE GUY WHO FINISHED FIRST

BY GARY VAN SICKLE

Winning the 2016 Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide only changed William McGirt’s PGA TOUR status, not the gentleman he always has been

178

118 THAT ELUSIVE FIRST WIN BY DAVE HACKENBERG After numerous mini-tour stops and 164 PGA TOUR entries, William McGirt lands his first victory 128

6 THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

OUT OF THE DARK BY BOB BAPTIST As night began to creep over Muirfield Village Golf Club in the 1992 Memorial, David Edwards lit the way in a sudden-death playoff that was seven hours in the making

136 HOLE BY HOLE

204

COURSE PHOTOGRAPHS BY JIM MANDEVILLE

178

LEAVING A LEGACY BY JIM McCABE Outgoing Commissioner Tim Finchem brought the PGA TOUR into the modern age, increasing player purses and money for charity among other accomplishments

188

LASTING IMPRESSION BY RYAN HERRINGTON Every Sunday of Memorial week since 2007, recipients of the Jack Nicklaus Award, given to the top men’s collegiate golfers, enjoy the ultimate perk—some quality time with the Tournament Founder and Host, who also is the trophy’s namesake

202

202 A WONDERFUL LIFE, GOLF EDITION An excerpt from the autobiography of General Chairman Emeritus Pandel Savic 204 FICTION: BY THE GODS BY DAVID SHEDLOSKI

ILLUSTRATIONS BY MICHAEL WITTE

An intrepid reporter gets an unexpected exclusive on how the game really works 214 216

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1976-2016 The Memorial Tournament Past Winners REFLECTIONS A celebration of golf in verse

5/1/17 9:05 PM

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THE ORIGINAL LIGHT BEER OFFICIAL BEER OF THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Committees & Staff Founder and Host

Jack W. Nicklaus

President

General Chairman

Steven C. Nicklaus

Chairman Emeritus

Jack W. Nicklaus II

Pandel Savic

THE CAPTAINS CLUB

Peter Alliss • Paul Azinger • Judy Bell • Sir Michael Bonallack • O. Gordon Brewer, Jr. • The Hon. George H.W. Bush • Sir Sean Connery A.S. (Sandy) Dawson • Tim Finchem • Trey Holland • Juli Inkster • Hale Irwin • Tony Jacklin • Ken Lindsay • H. Colin Maclaine Charles S. Mechem, Jr. • Barbara Nicklaus • Andy North • Hisamitsu Ohnishi • Gary Player • Judy Rankin • Fred S. Ridley Johann Rupert • Carol Semple Thompson • Tom Watson Advisory Board: Lance Barrow • Peter Bevacqua • Mike Davis • Jay Monahan EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Jack W. Nicklaus • Jack W. Nicklaus II • Steven C. Nicklaus • Larry Dornisch • Lon Fellenz Nicholas LaRocca • Daniel M. Maher • Chad Mark • Andy O’Brien • Daniel P. Sullivan Emeritus: John F. Havens • Pandel Savic VICE CHAIRMEN

Donald “Ric” Baird III • Todd Bork • Chris Campisi • John Ciotola • David Lauer • Jeff Logan Nate Miles • Chip Neale • Gary Nicklaus • Dayna Payne • Tom Welker Emeritus: David L. Barnes • Alphonse P. Cincione • Richard R. Corna • James R. Fabyan John Keith • Paul B. Long, Jr. • H.M. “Butch” O’Neill • Fritz Schmidt P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

CHAIRS, DIRECTORS AND ADVISORS

Rich Aldridge • Sheriff Dallas Baldwin • JoAnn Bigler • Jeff Bordner • Dave Brooks • Lt. David Buttler • Debby Cacchio • Ann Clark Bill S. Cseplo • Tony D’Angelo • Tim Doran • John Ensign • Lt. Steve Farmer • Brett Febus • Cpl. Thomas Gallagher • Rob Geis Chief Deputy Jim Gilbert • Jay Gray • Chris Hale • Everett Hall • Paul Heller • Deputy Chief Steve Hrytzik • Chris Johnson • Bob Laird Sheriff Russ Martin • George W. McCloy • Deputy Dave McMannis • Sean Mentel • Ann Miles • Barb Miles • Chief Deputy Rick Minerd Tony Mollica • John Montgomery • Tom Nolan • Jillian Obenour • Corporal Justin Paez • Dave Peters • Ken Peters • Sgt. Marcus Pirrone Tina Quinn • Daryll Rardon • Bill Reynolds • Charles Ruma • L. Jack Ruscilli • Dr. James Ryan • John Scott • Bill Shulack Todd Sloan • Jeff Stavroff • Barb Stieg • John Stieg • Capt. Patrick Vessels • Chief Gary Vest • Chief Heinz von Eckartsberg • Jan Wallace Ike Wampler • Bob Warner • Chris Welker • Chief Deputy Pat Yankie Emeritus: Jim Bean • Mark Brown • Phil Campisi • Vern Krier • Scotty Patrick • John Pavlick • Silas W. Thimmes • Carol Young NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL COMMITTEE

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

Chair-Elect

2017 Chair

Miranda Roberts

Advisor

Christina Copeland

Paula Ferguson

Captains

Anne Bogenrief • Dick Curtis • Beth Czekalski • Angie Fallon • Julie Seiple • Erin Vinci • Marcy Williams Committee

Jennifer Bollinger • Beth Branstiter • Christy Charvet • Lisa Colosimo • Suzanne Colwell • Amanda Coulter • Dick Curtis • Patty Dixon Cindy Eckert • Beth Fitzgerald • Michelle Francisco • Jean Gans • Lauretta Godbout • Angie Goff • Courtney Grant • Terri Heaphy Ann Hunger • Michele Joseph • Travis Kerzee • Donna LeCrone • Subha Lembach • Laura Lewis • Susan Long • Nancy Minton • Jessica Ossege Marigale Rice • Kelly Rogers • Joanie Roma • Jennifer Russell • Michelle Scott • Kayra Smith • Julie Walburn • Joyce Wimmers • Sally Wood TOURNAMENT ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Director, Marketing & Community Relations

Heather M. Ditty

Tournament Coordinator

Denise McBride

Director, Sales

Executive Director

Susan Hosket Admissions Coordinator

Elaine Leffel

Director, Communications

Daniel P. Sullivan Associate, Sales

Vince Hoffart

Tournament Administrator

Thomas P. Sprouse

Executive Assistant

Mary Peterson

Chris Stiffler

Marketing Coordinator

Kristina Khalili

Operations, HNS Sports Group

Tim Heitmann

muirfield village golf club President

General Chairman

Jack W. Nicklaus

Jack W. Nicklaus II

CAPTAINS OF MUIRFIELD VILLAGE GOLF CLUB

Jack W. Nicklaus (1980-81) • Ivor H. Young (1981-82) • Robert S. Hoag (1982-83) • Pandel Savic (1983-84) • Jack Grout (1984-85) Edwin D. Dodd (1985-86) • John F. Havens (1986-87) • John H. McConnell (1987-88) • H.M. “Butch” O’Neill (1988-89) James E. Nolan, Jr. (1989-90) • Fritz Schmidt (1990-91) • Richard F. Chapdelaine (1991-92) • Ken Bowden (1992-93) • James R. Fabyan (1993-94) Dr. Russell L. Bowermaster (1994-95) • Barbara Nicklaus (1995-96) • Jack Hesler (1996-97) • David G. Sherman (1997-98) Alphonse P. Cincione (1998-99) • David L. Barnes (1999–00) • Dr. Robert J. Murphy (2000-01) • David J. Harris (2001–02) Charles R. Carson (2002-03) • Kerry F.B. Packer (2003-04) • Richard R. Corna (2004-05) • Silas W. Thimmes (2005-06) • Charles S. Mechem, Jr. (2006-07) Carol Young (2007-08) • Paul B. Long, Jr. (2008-09) • John G. Hines (2009-10) • George McCloy, Sr. (2010-11) • Phil Campisi (2011-12) Frank Bork (2012-13) • L. Jack Ruscilli (2013-14) • Jeff Logan (2014-15) • Tom Welker (2015-16) • Dr. John R. Evans (2016-17) DEPARTMENT HEADS

Director, Grounds Operations

Chad Mark

Executive Chef

Stephen Demeter

MEM17_COMMITTEES&STAFF_4.indd 10

Director, Membership

Sandi Karnes

Head Golf Professional

Larry Dornisch

Director, Villa Operations

Mike McKee

General Manager & Chief Operating Officer

Nicholas LaRocca

Clubhouse Manager

Nick Smithson

Chief Financial Officer

Assistant Manager

John Jankovic

Drew Schneider

Executive Housekeeper

Vicki Miller

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The

Memorial THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

David Shedloski CREATIVE & PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

Larry Hasak

Schedule Of Events MONDAY, MAY 29 AND TUESDAY, MAY 30

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

Practice Rounds

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

WEDNESDAY, MAY 31

Practice Rounds Military Appreciation Day Junior Golf Day Nationwide Invitational at the Memorial – 7:30 a.m. Memorial Honoree Ceremony: Greg Norman Tony Lema • Ken Venturi • E. Harvie Ward Driving Range – 3 p.m. Jack Nicklaus Golf Clinic: Driving Range – 4:30 p.m. Junior Golf Clinic: Safari Golf Club – 5:30 p.m. THURSDAY, JUNE 1

Round One FRIDAY, JUNE 2

Round Two SATURDAY, JUNE 3

Round Three

ART DIRECTOR

Matt Ellis ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Debbie Falcone PRODUCTION MANAGER

Melody Manolakis CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

John Antonini • Bob Baptist • Jaime Diaz Dave Hackenberg • Ryan Herrington Jim McCabe • Jim Nantz • David Shedloski John Strege • Gary Van Sickle PHOTOGRAPHY

Alamy Photo • AP Images • Getty Images Greg Norman Company Archive Jim Mandeville • Bo Maupin the Memorial Tournament Archive Michael O’Bryon PGA TOUR Images • Lindsey Potter Nathan Shipp • USGA ILLUSTRATION

Glenn Harrington (Honoree portraits) Michael Witte PUBLISHED BY

SUNDAY, JUNE 4

Final Round Trophy presentation at the 18th green following play

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GOLF CHANNEL

PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER

THURSDAY, JUNE 1...................2:30-6:30 p.m. (Replays 7:30-11:30 p.m.; 11:30 p.m.-3:30 a.m.)

Daniel P. Sullivan

FRIDAY, JUNE 2........................2:30-6:30 p.m. (Replays 7:30-11:30 p.m.; 11:30 p.m.-3:30 a.m.)

SATURDAY, JUNE 3................ 12:30-2:30 p.m.

SUNDAY, JUNE 4........................NOON-2 p.m.

CBS SPORTS and DIRECTV NETWORK

MEM17_SCHED&MASTHEAD_6.indd 14

MAGAZINE PRODUCTION

Heather Ditty • Kristina Khalili

SATURDAY, JUNE 3............................. 3-6 p.m. (Replays 7 p.m.-midnight; Sunday 1-6 a.m. on Golf Channel) SUNDAY, JUNE 4........................... 2:30-6 p.m. (Replays 7 p.m.-midnight; Monday 1-6 a.m. on Golf Channel)

NATHAN SHIPP

Television Viewing Times

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FROM THE FOUNDER AND HOST

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

Remembering Friends Both Here and Gone

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

I HAVE MENTIONED in these pages before that one of the most personally gratifying aspects of my competitive career in golf has been the relationships that I have forged with some of my toughest rivals. Equally pleasing has been the friendships made with players of succeeding eras, including the current era. That young players of today, some more than 50 years my junior, would come seek me out for advice or simply to chat has been very enjoyable. Although we competed against each other for a brief period, Greg Norman was not among my chief rivals, only because the difference in our ages didn’t allow for a meaningful stretch of competition between us. But I enjoyed the times we did compete against each other, and the charismatic Australian native was among the first players of the next generation with whom I forged a bond. I liked Greg from the moment we first met when we were paired together in the first two rounds of the 1976 Australian Open at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney. Greg was 21 at the time and had been a professional for only four months, but his game was impressive, despite a nervous start he recently recalled, confessing that he topped his opening tee shot. Greg was coming off his first professional victory at the time, having defeated fellow Aussies David Graham (a past Memorial winner) and Graham Marsh by five strokes in the Westlakes Classic in Adelaide. I was delighted to learn that once Greg took up the game, he became a scratch golfer in two years thanks in part to two of my instructional books. After our second round together, I sat down with Greg and told him that I thought he already was good enough to compete in the United States, and I offered to help him any way that I could. The upshot of that conversation was Greg making his PGA TOUR debut at the 1977 Memorial Tournament—our second staging of the event. That got the ball rolling for him, and, of course, he became one of the game’s most dominant players. He held the No. 1 world ranking for 331 weeks—the second longest stretch in history behind record five-time Memorial Tournament winner Tiger Woods. Greg won two Open Championships, in 1986 and ’93, a PLAYERS Championship and two Memorial Tournament titles among 20 PGA TOUR victories. He collected nearly 100 titles around the world. Not only was Greg supremely talent-

ed in his prime, but he also was exceedingly popular among fans. He is arguably one of the most prominent athletes who has been able to parlay his success into a business and brand off the course. He has shared my passion for designing golf courses and for growing the game around the world. For his many contributions to the game, Greg is a worthy, if not overdue, Tournament Honoree. Likewise, in addition to the Great White Shark, we also welcome three talented players who are being honored posthumously, and gentlemen I knew and admired. Tony Lema, Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward each had a knack for winning, though in the case of Tony and Ken, their careers could have been more decorated if not for tragedy. Tony, who won the 1964 Open Championship at St. Andrews, perished in a private plane crash in 1966. Injuries stole some good years from Ken Venturi, who won the 1964 U.S. Open at steamy Congressional, but he went on to significant fame as a longtime broadcaster for CBS Sports. Ken called the action here at the Memorial Tournament on many occasions. Harvie, an amateur golfer most of his life, was a good friend along with being a tremendous golfer. He won two U.S. Amateur titles and a British Amateur, and he was one of my teammates on the 1959 U.S. Walker Cup team, when E. Harvie Ward earned the nickname E. Mickey Mouse. Harvie never lost a match in the three years he represented America in the biennial competition. I met Harvie at the 1958 US Amateur at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. Harvie beat me 1-up in that match and needed only 23 putts. He also chipped in once. It was quite a display. This year is the 42nd playing of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, and although I look forward to another great event here at Muirfield Village Golf Club, I go in a bit subdued and certainly nostalgic. I mentioned above the friendships I have enjoyed with some of my fiercest rivals, and, of course, my greatest rival was Arnold Palmer, who became one of my dearest friends. It is still difficult to fathom that Arnold passed away in September. Few people have been a bigger part of my life. I had known Arnold since I was 18, when we played together in an exhibition in Athens, Ohio, on Sept. 25, 1958, in honor of Dow Finsterwald, who had won the PGA

WALTER IOOSS, JR.

JACK NICKLAUS Founder and Host the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide

19 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

Ohio native and graduate of The Ohio State University, Chad comes to us after serving as superintendent at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. I am confident Chad will continue the tradition of excellent superintendents we have been blessed with, and I encourage you to welcome him. From old friends to special people who continue to contribute to our success, I would like to take a moment to recognize and express my gratitude to Nationwide CEO Steve Rasmussen. It is largely because of Steve and his support for what we are trying to do at the Memorial Tournament that we are able raise meaningful charity dollars for Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation. Through our special alliance, all of the Tournament proceeds are directed towards helping children right here in Greater Columbus. Nationwide is on board as our presenting sponsor through 2021, and its support has helped to elevate our status among PGA TOUR events and help us make a real difference in the lives of children who truly need our help. Finally, we could not accomplish all of our goals without the support of our dear friends, the good people of Greater Columbus and the surrounding communities of Central Ohio. Your support as fans or volunteers is incredibly meaningful, and Barbara and I can never thank you enough for your decades of generosity and good will. We are excited to present to you another terrific week of competition and good golf here at Muirfield Village Golf Club. The field is excellent and the golf course is once again in impeccable condition. It should be fun to watch the Tournament unfold.

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

Championship that year. I bettered Arnold in a long-drive competition, but Arnold was always quick to remind me he got me on the day’s scorecard. Fifty-eight years to the day of his passing, you might say that was the genesis of our friendly rivalry. We reacquainted, competitively, in 1960 as he beat me in the U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. Two years later we squared off in a playoff for the 1962 U.S. Open at Oakmont, which I was fortunate to win for my first professional victory. We competed against each other in just about every way imaginable, but we always maintained great respect for each other, and we readily supported each other through the years. Arnold was our Tournament Honoree in 1993, and later he generously contributed as a member of the Captains Club. All of us at the Memorial Tournament will miss his counsel and friendship. I know I certainly miss my friend. Also painful were the losses of two great friends who meant a lot to me, personally and to the Tournament, Will Nicholson and Ken Bowden. Will, who was a member of our Captains Club, died during last year’s Tournament. A former president of the U.S. Golf Association, Will made many contributions to golf, including 15 years on the Masters Tournament Competition Committee. Ken was here at the formation of the Memorial Tournament and contributed in numerous ways, including the start of this publication. He also collaborated with me on more than a dozen books over the years; it was a partnership and decades-old friendship we both cherished. We also pause to thank Paul B. Latshaw for his immeasurable contributions to Muirfield Village Golf Club and the Memorial Tournament. Paul was named our Director of Grounds Operations in 2003, bringing with him an outstanding pedigree and talent. Part of Paul’s experience included a stint from 1992-99 at Merion Golf Club, where he recently returned to be Director of Golf Course Operations. A devoted family man, Paul’s difficult decision was in part motivated by the opportunity to be close to his father, celebrated Superintendent Paul R. Latshaw. Although sad to see Paul leave, he will always remain a part of the Muirfield Village family. Meanwhile, we are fortunate to welcome Chad Mark as Paul’s successor. An

A LETTER FROM NATIONWIDE

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

Proud History of Giving Back

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

WELCOME TO the 2017 Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Nationwide is proud to be part of the 42nd playing of the Tournament, and our associates and partners are excited to once again experience one of the greatest weeks in golf. For the seventh consecutive year, Nationwide is partnering with Jack Nicklaus and the Memorial Tournament to help raise funds and awareness for the life-saving care and research performed at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. It’s because of these generous contributions that the hospital is able to provide critical care for young patients here in central Ohio and across the globe. In fact, this year Nationwide’s sports marketing sponsorships, including the Memorial Tournament, will raise more than $4.5 million to benefit Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s top-ranked clinical care and transformative pediatric research. Nationwide’s support and partnership with the hospital spans more than 60 years and has touched the lives of countless children and families. This partnership is special and our support grows every year. And our longstanding relationship with the Tournament reflects Nationwide’s culture of supporting our community and making a difference in the lives of others. It’s that commitment to others that drives Nationwide’s mission to help consumers, businesses and members protect what’s most important and build a secure financial future. We demonstrate that commitment by building relationships that help improve the quality of life in the communities where our associates, partners and members live and work. With partners like the Memorial Tournament, we can have a positive impact on generations to come. Thanks for your continued support of the Memorial Tournament and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Nationwide is On Your Side®.

STEVE RASMUSSEN Chief Executive Officer Nationwide

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Nationwide and Nationwide Children’s Hospital:

MAKING A BIG DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF OUR LITTLE ONES For more than 60 years, Nationwide has been proud to help Nationwide Children’s Hospital become a top pediatric care and research institute. We share the same passion Jack and Barbara Nicklaus have for giving back. That’s why we’re proud of the almost $20 million we’ve raised through our partnership with the Memorial Tournament and other sports sponsorships, as well as the countless hours of volunteer work our associates have donated. Learn more at nationwide.com

FROM THE GENERAL CHAIRMAN

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

A Tip of the Cap to Our Unsung Heroes

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

AS WE GATHER this week here at Muirfield Village Golf Club for the 42nd playing of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, I am struck, as I am most years around this time, by what a wonderful contribution my father has made to the game of golf and to his hometown. I am in awe, actually. It never ceases to amaze me what he was able to accomplish, building this marvelous place during the prime of his record-setting playing career. I don’t know how he did it. But then, striving to do great things has been a hallmark of Jack Nicklaus’ life and career, on and off the golf course. He and my mom have poured so much passion into this place, and I have never seen their excitement and commitment wane. I think my father put it best 17 years ago this week at the Honoree Ceremony, the year he reluctantly accepted the Tournament spotlight as the 2000 Memorial Honoree, when he said, “Muirfield Village will forever stand as a representation of my love and respect for the game of golf. And hopefully, the Memorial Tournament will long represent my passion for tournament golf. Through the hard work of a lot of people, I think we continue to add chapters to a success story.” I practically grew up with the Memorial Tournament, and it has been amazing to see it evolve into a globally important event. But the Memorial has never lost its commitment to the community and to charity. I have been blessed in my decade as Chairman to see the Memorial reach new heights, most of that through the support of a like-minded partner in Nationwide. As tirelessly as my parents have worked on the Memorial and Muirfield Village Golf Club, my dad is right to point out that it has all been made possible by the hard work of a lot of people. Many of these people you might know, but many others you probably don’t—even as you see them around the grounds this week. Our volunteer corps has been integral to the success of this Tournament, and every year I feel a great sense of pride to see so many individuals in the community lend support to make this event run so smoothly.

Obviously, we honor great figures in the game of golf, but this year I want to personally acknowledge these wonderful representatives of the Central Ohio community who give so selflessly to our mission of charity and great golf. My father’s fingerprints are all over Muirfield Village and the Memorial Tournament, but it takes the many hands of our volunteers—hard-working and giving individuals— to help it along day after day, and before, during and after Tournament week. These volunteers also can take pride in what their efforts do for our charity cause. For the second year in a row, the Memorial Tournament donated more than $2 million to charity, with the lion’s share going to our primary beneficiary, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, through an alliance with the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation. Since the first Memorial in 1976, the Tournament has donated more than $28 million to Central Ohio charities. I want to congratulate this year’s Honoree and family friend, the great Greg Norman, and send my best to the families of three men we are honoring posthumously this year—Tony Lema, Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward. Recognizing people who have contributed to the game of golf is a tradition unique to the Memorial Tournament. This year, I take my hat off to the unsung volunteers who have contributed so much to one of my father’s most precious accomplishments in the game, and one for which I have growing appreciation every year. I hope you have a wonderful week and enjoy the golf.

JACK NICKLAUS II General Chairman the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide

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MEMORIAL BENEFACTION

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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SPECIAL DELIVERY WITH SUPPORT FROM THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT, NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL CONTINUES ITS MISSION TO SAVE THE LIVES OF PREMATURE BABIES LIKE BANKS STANTON PARKER

by Bob Baptist

ROM THE MOMENT she awoke that day, Bailie Parker didn’t feel quite right. There were pangs in her abdomen. Not painful enough to be cause for concern for someone 24 weeks pregnant, 16 weeks from her due date, she thought. She merely decided to stay in bed awhile longer and see if more rest would help them go away. When they did not, the professional in her—Bailie is an emergency room nurse at St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, and Mercer Health in Coldwater—figured it was time she got herself checked out. Shortly before noon she phoned her husband and asked him to come home so he could drive her to St. Rita’s. Talon Parker’s drive home to Coldwater from his job took about 20 minBanks Stanton Parker was on utes. Their drive to Lima was about an hour. a CPAP machine (opposite page) to help him breathe “I started counting,” Bailie said. “It was my first child, so I didn’t know during his time at Nationwide what a contraction was, but every four minutes I would get, I don’t know if Children’s Hospital, but he is I would call it severe pain, but I guess just cramping is how I explained it. I a happy, healthy and active toddler now. never called it a contraction. “I thought maybe I was dehydrated and was just going to get an intravenous drip. I mean, I took a shower, did my makeup, so I wasn’t in too severe of pain. I don’t know exactly why I went to the hospital; I guess just to be sure [everything was OK].” They arrived at the hospital a little after 1 p.m. that Monday, Aug. 17, 2015. Bailie, 24, still remembers the look on the face of the nurse who examined her.

ABOVE: PARKER FAMILY; OPPOSITE: NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

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“She said, ‘I can feel the water sac,’ ” and I said, ‘Oh, is that a good thing or a bad thing?’ She just looked at me with, like, fear, and went out of the room.” Bailie’s cervix already was fully dilated to 10 centimeters. Fortunately, her obstetrician, Dr. Diana Barbu, already was on her way to the hospital. “I don’t know if an angel was looking out for us or what,” Bailie said, “but next thing, she came in, did an ultrasound, said he wasn’t flipped head down because, obviously, he was only 24 weeks, and told me I was 10 centimeters and we had to go back for a Caesarean section right away.” Banks Stanton Parker was born at 3:23 p.m. He was 12 inches long and 1 pound, 14 ounces. “He could have fit in my husband’s hand,” Bailie said. Neither had the chance to hold him, however. That would have to wait a few days. They told them, “ ‘It’s a boy,’ but not with the excited tone they usually do,” Bailie said. “They kept going, because it was serious. He wasn’t breathing.” Data from the American Medical Association shows that 21 percent of babies born between 22 and 28 weeks of gestation do not survive. Banks was at 24 weeks. After delivery, Banks was immediately connected to equipment that helped him breathe and monitored his heart and blood. He was given antibiotics to help prevent infection and a drug to help his underdeveloped lungs function. “It was kind of weird,” Talon said. “They put him in a kind of Ziploc bag to keep him warm,” and from there into a box-shaped transport incubator. The doctors and nurses at St. Rita’s had done as much as they could at that point. It was time for baby Banks to be transferred. Shortly after she had first arrived at the hospital, Barbu had advised Bailie that there were several children’s hospitals within about a two-hour drive of Lima

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When Banks Stanton Parker was born at 24 weeks old, he was just 12 inches long and 1 pound, 14 ounces. Inset: Banks’ middle name is from his great-great grandfather, George Stanton, who fought in World War II.

and asked where she wanted Banks to be transferred. Bailie told Barbu to pick the best, and she recommended Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where about 4,400 babies are cared for each year in its Newborn Intensive and Special Care Units, including the Memorial Touranment Neonatal Intensive Care Unit on the hospital’s main campus. Proceeds from the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide support Nationwide Children’s via the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation. By the time Banks had been baptized and spent some time in his mother’s room that afternoon, a team from Nationwide was at St. Rita’s in a mobile unit, ready to take him to what would become his home for the next 102 days. Talon drove to Nationwide Children’s the next morning. Bailie, after persuading her doctor to discharge her early, had her sister drive her later that afternoon. But before they left for Columbus, she and Talon decided at the last minute to change Banks’ middle name to Stanton.

“We decided we needed a strong name to get this boy through,” Bailie said. One of Talon’s great-grandfathers, George Stanton, had fought in World War II, been imprisoned by the Japanese and survived the Bataan Death March—the 65-mile arduous march to prison camps that Filipino and American forces were forced to endure after surrendering the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon in 1942. “Those first couple days I really don’t remember anything. I was constantly crying,” Bailie said. “I guess he could have died at any second. “My brother was the first person at the hospital, and he said they tried to get him off the ventilator as soon as possible Tuesday morning. When my brother got there, he was on a CPAP [continuous positive airway pressure machine], and he said he knew Banks was really struggling to breathe because he could see his ribs pulling. “Those first few days are the most critical. He wasn’t able to eat. He was on TPN [total prenatal nutrition], IV fluids that give him all the nutrition he needs. Their stomachs and intestines are so sensitive, a lot of those little babies will end up with colostomies. We were just so lucky that we didn’t have many issues.”

INSET: PARKER FAMILY; NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL

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MEMORIAL BENEFACTION

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

Dr. Eneysis Pena, who oversaw Banks’ care, said it was “relatively uncomplicated” as compared to some other babies’ cases. “He didn’t have any big neurological complications, like brain bleeds, or intestinal complications. He progressed well from a nutritional standpoint.” Banks was on a ventilator for seven weeks and a CPAP for five. Doctors tried unsuccessfully several times to wean him off the machines. “He either lasted for a couple hours or a couple days and then showed signs of distress to where he couldn’t take it anymore, so they would put the ventilator back on,” Bailie said. “Three or four weeks after he was born, they made an attempt and he coded, and they had to resuscitate him.” While her baby fought to survive, Bailie was by his side day and night. She stayed at Ronald McDonald House near the hospital when she needed sleep. After the first week, Talon had to go home for work but returned on weekends. With time off from work and no other children to care for, Bailie was able to help Banks progress via a method known as “kangaroo care,” in which premature babies, even those connected to multiple medical devices, can be held skin-to-skin by a parent, usually the mother, daily for as many hours as possible. Some research done at Children’s has shown that the kangaroo care can help stabilize and improve breathing and heart rate, promote weight gain and brain development, and increase deep sleep. Babies who receive kangaroo care often go home sooner than those who don’t. Bailie “was here 20 hours a day,” Dr. Pena said,

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RESEARCH DONE AT NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HAS SHOWN THAT KANGAROO CARE CAN HELP STABILIZE AND IMPROVE BREATHING AND HEART RATE, PROMOTE WEIGHT GAIN AND BRAIN DEVELOPMENT, AND INCREASE DEEP SLEEP.

“and most of the time she was holding him. That’s good for outcomes.” Banks was discharged Nov. 27, 2015, just before his original due date, and today he is a healthy toddler. He had some restrictions at first, having to remain on portable oxygen for three months and not being

allowed to go outside for five months. Not anymore. He loves walks outside, his baths, and his two dogs, a Bergamasco sheepdog and a dachshund-papillon mutt. He likes to hammer and drill, too, like his dad, with his set of plastic tools. “He’s always happy,” Bailie said. And she said she always recommends Nationwide Children’s Hospital whenever she has the opportunity. “They saved our child’s life,” Bailie said. “I never felt like they didn’t know what they were doing. No one ever said, ‘I’m not sure what we’re going to do,’ or ‘I’m not sure what’s happening.’ Everybody was always on top of it. We can’t speak highly enough of them.” In 2015, Bob Baptist retired from The Columbus Dispatch after 37 years as the newspaper’s golf writer. He covered every Memorial Tournament from 1978-2014. One happy family: Ballie, Talon and Banks with dogs Petey and Omar.

BO MAUPIN

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

MEMORIAL BENEFACTION

5/2/17 5:26 PM

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

SALUTES

THE MILITARY MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY WEDNESDAY, MAY 31

RECOGNIZING EXCEPTIONAL PEOPLE is one of the primary missions of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. That’s why active and retired members of the U.S. Armed Forces are honored each year at Muirfield Village Golf Club with a day of free admission to the Tournament to watch world-class golf and join in the celebration of the Tournament Honorees. It also gives all of us a chance to simply say to them,

“ Thank You.” PHOTO: THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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4/17/2017 3:31:48 PM

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The

CAPTAINS CLUB, PPRRE E S ESNET N E DT B D EI O N W I D E EYDN ABTYI O N NWAI T

an international group of authorities on the game of golf, has advised on the constitution and conduct of the Memorial Tournament since its inception in 1976. One of the Captains’ primary tasks is to select the person or persons in whose honor the Memorial Tournament is played each year. For this year’s 42nd Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide they have selected Greg Norman, Tony Lema, Ken Venturi and E. Harvie Ward. All members of the Captains Club give of their time on an honorary basis, and, as always, Memorial Founder and Host Jack Nicklaus and the Executive Committee are grateful for their contributions to the Tournament’s success.

PETER ALLISS Three-time British PGA champion; eight-time Ryder Cup player; international television golf commentator.

PAUL AZINGER Winner in 1993 of the Memorial Tournament and the PGA Championship among 12 PGA TOUR titles; winning 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup captain.

JUDY BELL Former President of the USGA (1996-97); Curtis Cup player and captain.

SIR MICHAEL BONALLACK Former Secretary and Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews; five-time British Amateur champion.

O. GORDON BREWER, JR. Chairman of Pine Valley Golf Club; twice U.S. Senior Amateur champion.

THE HONORABLE GEORGE H.W. BUSH Former President of the United States of America.

SIR SEAN CONNERY Academy Award-winning actor; contributor to golf and charity.

A.S. (SANDY) DAWSON Past Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (2013-14).

TIM FINCHEM Former Commissioner of the PGA TOUR (1994-2016).

TREY HOLLAND Former President of the USGA (2000-02).

JULI INKSTER Hall of Fame golfer with 31 LPGA Tour wins, including seven major championships.

HALE IRWIN Three-time U.S. Open champion and two-time winner of the Memorial; Hall of Fame member with 20 PGA TOUR wins and record 45 senior victories.

TONY JACKLIN 1969 British Open and 1970 U.S. Open champion; member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

KEN LINDSAY Former President of the PGA of America (1997-98).

H. COLIN MACLAINE Former Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

CHARLES S. MECHEM, JR. Commissioner Emeritus of the Ladies Professional Golf Association.

BARBARA NICKLAUS Recognized as the “First Lady of Golf” and a tireless worker for charitable causes.

ANDY NORTH 1978 and 1985 U.S. Open champion; television golf analyst for ESPN.

HISAMITSU OHNISHI Vice Chairman of the Japan Golf Tour Organization; a leader in the development of Japan’s professional golf tour and founder of one of its premier events.

GARY PLAYER South African winner of more than 150 tournaments around the world.

JUDY RANKIN Winner of 26 LPGA events; member of the World Golf Half of Fame; ground-breaking television golf analyst.

FRED S. RIDLEY Former U.S. Amateur champion and former President of the USGA (2004-05).

JOHANN RUPERT Chairman of the South African Tour and Chairman of the South African Golf Development Board.

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON Accomplished amateur player and former member of the USGA Executive Committee.

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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TOM WATSON Hall of Fame golfer and eight-time major champion; ardent supporter of junior golf development.

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ADVISORY BOARD Lance Barrow Coordinating Producer, CBS Sports

Peter Bevacqua CEO, PGA of America

Mike Davis Executive Director, USGA

Jay Monahan Commissioner, PGA TOUR

RETIRED CAPTAIN James Ray Carpenter

DECEASED CAPTAINS W. Ronald Alexander • John D. Ames • J. Paul Austin • William C. Battle • Peggy Kirk Bell • William C. Campbell Sir John Carmichael • Howard L. Clark • Bing Crosby • Joseph C. Dey, Jr. • Charles Evans, Jr. • Gerald R. Ford William Ward Foshay • Isaac B. Grainger • James Grimm • Hord Hardin • Jay Hebert • Totten P. Heffelfinger Bob Hope • Frederick E. Jones • George H. Love • David Marr • Gerald H. Micklem • John D. Montgomery, Sr. Byron Nelson • Will F. Nicholson, Jr. • James L. O’Keefe • Arnold Palmer • William J. Patton • Eugene Pullia Bernard H. Ridder, Jr. • Clifford Roberts • Gene Sarazen • Harton S. Semple • Sir Iain Stewart • Philip H. Strubing F. Morgan Taylor, Jr. • Richard S. Taylor • Robert W. Willits • Herbert Warren Wind • John W. Winters, Jr.

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MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT HONOREE

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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ETERNAL LADDER Always challenging himself to do greater things,

Greg Norman continues to reach for the top long after he left behind his Hall-of-Fame playing career

by Jaime Diaz

REG NORMAN IS A 62-YEAR-OLD GRANDFATHER. He hasn’t played in an official tournament since the 2012 Senior Open Championship. He carries the battle scars of 13 surgeries, not to mention the scars from misfortunes like losing all four major championships in playoffs. On the other hand, he leads the Greg Norman Company, which operates 17 profitable ventures ranging from course design and real estate development to turf research to sales of apparel, wine, eyewear and steaks. He puts more than 500,000 miles a year on his Gulfstream V, spanning the globe for business and pleasure. He’s giving some serious thought to climbing Mt. Everest. Don’t worry, the Shark still attacks life. He even attacks rest. Ostensibly, that’s what he’s doing when he’s home on his eight-acre estate on Jupiter Island, Fla., a verdant paradise featuring understated architectural elegance within the borders of the Intracoastal Waterway to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Norman named the sanctuary “Tranquility,” but when he’s not somewhere else on earth, it’s another place to hit it hard. Six days a week, he puts in a two-hour workout in his state-of-the-art gym. Depending on which mastery urge strikes him, he’ll chase self-improvement in tennis, scuba diving, marlin fishing and even—rolling back

MICHAEL O’BRYON

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Climbing the

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the years to teenage days catching waves at famed Noosa Heads on Australia’s Sunshine Coast—surfing. The restlessness can backfire. Three years ago, Norman was trimming an unruly banyan tree when his chainsaw slipped and nearly severed his left arm at the wrist. After surgery, Norman was lucky to escape with only minor nerve damage. “Anytime I’ve ever seen Greg do anything, he goes all in, all out,” says Geoff Ogilvy, who got to know his boyhood idol when Norman captained the International Team in The President Cups of 2009 and 2011 and hosted the players at his 11,600acre Seven Lakes ranch in Colorado. “No surprise he was an expert at fly-fishing and skeet-shooting and looked like John Wayne on a horse,” says Ogilvy. “Living at Greg’s pace those few days, I’d go to bed each night satisfied that what I did today was all I could do.” These days, Norman devotes his main energy and focus to his growing company. Since his distinctive shark logo was introduced in 1989 while under contract with Reebok, he has become arguably the most successful athlete-turned-entrepreneur in history. On corporate retreats he speaks of the company’s “12-year horizon” and “200-year horizon,” because he wants his 50-some employees to share his vision for a brand that will stay relevant and endure beyond his lifetime. When he calls his 90-year-old father, Merv, in Brisbane, Australia, the elder Norman usually opens the conversation with “How’s the empire?”

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Above left: Greg Norman grew up in Townsville, Australia, until his family moved to Brisbane in 1969. Above right: Much of Norman’s youth was spent fishing and diving in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Right: Norman didn’t take up golf until age 16 when a doctor advised him to give up rugby and Australian Rules football.

At Tranquility, the emperor’s clothes are usually a tee shirt and shorts, but it doesn’t diminish the presence that for so many years popped off the television screen. As Norman strides down an elegant hallway to greet a visitor, the pale blue eyes still pierce, the hair is still flaxen and the face has retained its chiseled features. If anything, Norman seems more muscular and bronzed than during his playing days. Doubters can check him out on Instagram, along with the bronze bust of himself–commissioned by his wife, Kirsten, an interior designer—that now sits in his home office. Norman moves through bright rooms accented with modern art, under a portico-covered courtyard adjacent to his 50-foot pool, to his Polynesian-style grill house, where the cool air under dark timbers evokes a temple-like feel. “Have had some good talks here,” he says, gesturing

toward the slate table where guests from Bill Clinton to the late Seve Ballesteros to Rob O’Neill, the Seal Team 6 member who shot Osama Bin Laden, have rested their elbows. Before sitting down, Norman points out two rows of towering palms at the bottom of the property, a paean to the original carriage way that existed before the island became the relaxing refuge for Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and Fords in the first half of the 20th century. In 1991 he was living

GREG NORMAN COMPANY ARCHIVE (5)

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Above: A 1963 portrait of the Norman family taken in Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia: mom Toini, sister Janis, dad Merv, and Greg. Left: A young Norman with his first car, a Holden Torana.

about 20 miles south in Lost Tree Village in North Palm Beach, when his neighbor, Jack Nicklaus, told him about a special oceanfront property that a friend was putting on the market. “I drove up, saw it and bought it that afternoon for $4.9 million,” says Norman. Today it’s priced at $55 million. It was one of the several times Nicklaus would help shape Norman’s life, most recently by giving him the news that the twotime winner of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide had been chosen the 2017 Tournament Honoree. “Jack has always been there for me,” says Norman. “When I started playing golf in 1971, I watched him on television

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

— GREG NORMAN —

Above: Norman played in the 1973 Australian Open as an amateur, finishing tied for 35th place. Right: The 1976 Westlakes Classic was Norman’s first professional victory, which he won at age 21, just five years after taking up the game.

in every major championship, right through his best years until I first met him in 1976. I was always following his game to refine my own game, and then following him for what he did in the business world. That roadmap, along with the friendship with him and his kids, has gone on for more than 40 years, which makes it very meaningful to receive Jack’s award.” Waxing nostalgic puts Norman in a suitably reflective mood as he leans back in a rustic wooden chair, ruminating on his particular yin and yang. On one hand, he parlayed physical talent with an aggressive and self-trusting mindset developed as a nature boy free-diving in the supercharged ecosystem of the Great Barrier Reef. Sharks were ever present in the ocean, and recounting his close encounters with Great Whites to the press at his first Masters in 1981 was how Norman got his nickname. “I got to know their behavior, so that I could deal with an

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individual fish, even the Oceanic White Tip [known as the “Dark Knight of the Ocean”], mano a mano,” Norman says evenly. Sensing that last phrase would require some explanation, he adds, “When a shark feels some kind of metal object, which gives off a little electricity in salt water, they take off like a scalded cat.” Winning such staredowns bred a deep inner confidence. “My youth in the ocean, where I didn’t fear the unknown, made me into the golfer that I became,” he said in a

Golf Digest profile in 2011. “Every time I jumped in, I was in exploratory mode. So with golf, I just went, ‘Golf, I love golf, I think I’m pretty good at it. OK, I’m going to try and be the best I can.’ Then all of a sudden, bam! There was no barrier in my mind about getting better and better and better.” The ocean also gave Norman a surfer’s physique, and he employed the broad shoulders and dynamic balance to produce incredible club head speed, which was clocked at 130 mph in the late ’70s. As Lee Trevino once observed, “Norman makes the rest of us look like we’re hitting tennis balls.” Rather than temper his power, Norman, in effect, doubled down, certain that he could remain accurate. Ogilvy, who grew up next to Royal Melbourne and watched Norman compete there several times, vividly remembers the reckless abandon with which his hero played. “Driver every hole, and driver off the deck into par 5s,” Ogilvy says. “Drivers on holes where no one else hit driver. Full swinging, leaving nothing on the table, 300 yards down narrow fairways with a persimmon driver and the old, spinny ball. No one else in that time had that gear. It’s difficult to imagine that anyone has ever been that far ahead of his peers off the

GREG NORMAN COMPANY ARCHIVE (2)

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

“MY YOUTH IN THE OCEAN, WHERE I DIDN’T FEAR THE UNKNOWN, MADE ME INTO THE GOLFER THAT I BECAME. EVERY TIME I JUMPED IN, I WAS IN EXPLORATORY MODE. SO WITH GOLF, I JUST WENT, ‘GOLF, I LOVE GOLF… I’M GOING TO TRY AND BE THE BEST I CAN.’ ”

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MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT HONOREE

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

— GREG NORMAN —

Above: Norman and Jack Nicklaus at the 1976 Australian Open, which Nicklaus won. Below: A young Great White Shark soon would get used to hoisting trophies in victory.

tee, which has to make Greg the best driver ever.” “Greg was basically playing a different game,” says Lanny Wadkins, who played many practice rounds with Norman. “His gift for driving the ball very long and very straight, and especially on major-style set ups, that gave him a huge advantage over the rest of us.” Norman knew it. “I would hit driver when other guys laid up,” he says. “The persimmon driver I used for years—a MacGregor Tommy Armour 693 [which Nicklaus also used]—you had to hit it solid or it wouldn’t really go, not like today’s clubs. My swing speed in the late 1970s, with a 43 1/4 inches long, X400 steel shaft, was clocked at between 128 and 132 mph. With a lighter, longer club and a more rebounding club face, I’d hit it 330 or 340 yards with that swing now, and straighter than I used to. Some of today’s guys hit it that long, but not many straight.” Such aggression was Norman’s yin. But the yang was a strong methodical streak. Norman didn’t end up a beach bum because he intuitively understood—perhaps from the example of his father, a successful electrical engineer—that true improvement requires structure. Reinforcing this quality

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was his first teacher, Charlie Earp, the head pro at Royal Queensland Golf Club, where Norman was a trainee. Earp had two pet acronyms—DIN (do it now) and DIP (do it properly)—that Norman still lives by. He also says “due diligence” a lot. Norman needed structure and discipline to make up for not taking up golf until he was 16, after doctors advised him to give up rugby and Australian Rules football (he had represented the state of Queensland in both) because of some serious injuries to his mouth and jaw. He started by playing with his mother, Toini, a multiple club champion at the Virginia Golf Club in Brisbane, but

soon would devote himself more to solitary hours on the practice range. “I was determined to commit beyond anybody else, and I followed that well into the ’90s,” Norman says. “If I saw somebody hit balls for six hours, I’d do it for eight. Somebody hit 500 balls a day, I’d hit 800. I knew the only way to get ahead of anybody was to work harder than anybody.” Says Wadkins, “Greg had a work ethic that was just ridiculous. In his era, no question he worked the hardest. He earned his game.” Norman also eschewed shortcuts. Although he won on the Australasian Tour at the Westlakes Classic in only his third

GREG NORMAN PRODUCTION COMPANY (2)

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

“I WAS DETERMINED TO COMMIT BEYOND ANYBODY ELSE, AND I FOLLOWED THAT WELL INTO THE ’90s. IF I SAW SOMEBODY HIT BALLS FOR SIX HOURS, I’D DO IT FOR EIGHT. SOMEBODY HIT 500 BALLS A DAY, I’D HIT 800.”

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MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT HONOREE

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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kind of weather and grass and sand and be comfortable with all the cultural differences.” More than just a long hitter, Norman emerged a well-rounded player. He is particularly proud of his short game, which was heavily influenced by sessions with Ballesteros, a past Memorial Honoree. “Seve was very instrumental in the success of my career,” says Norman. “In my early days in Europe we would play practice rounds, and he’d say, ‘Greg, you drive it so good, show me.’ And I’d respond, ‘OK, but you show me some short game stuff.’ And I’d try to absorb that genius like a sponge. Our relationship cooled in the mid-’80s, but we got closer later on. He’d come to the house, we’d talk about life. My kids loved him. A lot of people didn’t get to see it, but he was such an open guy in so many ways.” With a blend of both power and touch that has keyed the dominance of greats from Jones to Woods, Norman built a

NORMAN’S BEST GOLF WAS ELECTRIFYING. HE SHOT MORE 62s AND 63s AND 64s ON DIFFICULT COURSES THAN ANYONE, EVEN JOHNNY MILLER, MANY IN CLOSING ROUNDS.

Hall of Fame record. It includes 91 victories worldwide, including 20 on the PGA TOUR, 14 on the European Tour and 31 on the Australasian Tour. His two major championship victories were both virtuoso performances. His consistency at the top allowed him to stay No. 1 in the world a total of 331 weeks, the most of anyone (Nick Faldo is next with 91 weeks) since the ranking was Left: Norman, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer joke during a practice round at the 1990 Masters. established in 1985 not named Below: Children Morgan Leigh and Gregory traveled to Woods. England to see their dad win the 1986 World Match Play Beyond the raw numbers, at Wentworth that year. Norman’s best golf was electrifying. He shot more 62s and 63s and 64s on difficult courses than anyone, even Johnny Miller, many in closing rounds. His record 24-under par performance at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course to win the 1994 PLAYERS Championship is the prototype of power golf subduing a harrowingly confined layout. Norman put together a 63 in the second round of the Open Championship at Turnberry in 1986 on a day when only 15 players broke par, and when only a 3-putt from 28 feet on the last hole kept him from becoming the only player to shoot 62 in a major. At Royal St. George’s in 1993, Norman trailed Faldo by one at the start of the fourth round, but shot a 64, hitting all 14 fairways

LEFT: GREG NORMAN COMPANY; TOP: AP PHOTO/BOB DAUGHERTY

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

professional tournament in 1976 at age 21, Norman decided he needed five years of playing around the world on the Australasian Tour and European Tour before testing himself full time in America. He won 15 times combined on those tours before joining the PGA TOUR in 1983, where he got his first win, at the Kemper Open, the next year. “Waiting was the best thing I ever did,” Norman says. “I wanted to experience every

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MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT HONOREE

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

as a superstar was built more on his game than his charisma. Not to say Norman wasn’t magnetic. “This sounds crazy, but you could feel when Greg got to the golf course before you saw him,” says Ogilvy, recalling his teenage experiences watching Norman in Australia. “People would be running and you’d hear voices getting louder. You couldn’t help but be drawn into it. It was beyond the golf. This guy who looked like a surfer was more like a movie star. And he’s doing what I love to do, and now I want to be like him. An incredible influence.” But even if Norman had been a tour clone, his relentless excellence would have set him apart. Using strict comparative performance criteria, Golf World magazine in 2014 ranked Norman behind only Woods as the best player in golf since the PGA TOUR began keeping extensive statistics in 1980, far ahead of next-best Phil Mickelson.

— GREG NORMAN —

Norman says he got there by not comparing himself. “I really didn’t care about being ranked No. 1,” Norman says. “My goal was always to be the best I could be. Early in my career, I didn’t obsess about

Above: Early in his career, Norman sought out advice from the late Seve Ballesteros on his short game while they toured in Europe. Right: Norman hoists the Claret Jug in triumph after his 1986 Open Championship victory at Turnberry, his first major win.

and 16 greens, to win by two. That round included a missed 18-inch par putt on the 71st hole. “Anybody who doesn’t believe Greg wasn’t one of the best players the game has ever seen only needs to look at that tournament,” says Butch Harmon, Norman’s coach from 1992 through 1996. “The last round is to this day the best round of golf I’ve ever seen in my life. There was a 25-mph wind that day. Greg never missed a shot, had complete control with every club. That was the perfectionist being perfect.” The depth of Norman’s reservoir of ability was better appreciated after the 2008 British Open at Royal Birkdale. At age 53, with a game eroded by time, disuse and injury, Norman began as a 500-1 shot at the start of the week. But with inspired play, he negotiated some of the highest winds ever seen at a major championship to take a twostroke lead into the final round. Though he eventually finished third, the performance was a final validation that Norman’s status

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LEFT: SIMON BRUTY /ALLSPORT; ABOVE: PHIL SHELDON/GETTY IMAGES

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

“I REALLY DIDN’T CARE ABOUT BEING RANKED NO. 1. MY GOAL WAS ALWAYS TO BE THE BEST I COULD BE. EARLY IN MY CAREER, I DIDN’T OBSESS ABOUT THE TOP OF THE LADDER. INSTEAD, IN MY MIND, I MADE THE LADDER THE ETERNAL LADDER, RIGHT?”

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MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT HONOREE

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

Left to right: Norman’s 91 international victories include the 1990, ’93 and ’96 Doral-Ryder Open, the 1990 and ’95 Memorial Tournament, and his five Australian Open wins in 1980, ’85, ’87, ’95 and ’96.

the top of the ladder. Instead, in my mind I made the ladder the eternal ladder, right? How do you get to the top? Well, the top is never there.” Unfortunately, it made for falls from greater heights. And it’s beyond dispute that relative to his successes, Norman suffered more close losses than any great player in history. Competitively, the ledger of fate never came close to evening out. Norman was most stunned by Larry Mize’s chip-in from off the 11th green at Augusta to defeat him on the second hole of sudden death in 1987 at the Masters, the tournament he most coveted, where he would finish third or better six times but never win. Making it harder to take was that in the previous major, the 1986 PGA Championship at Inverness, Norman had lost when Bob Tway holed a sand shot on the 72nd hole. “The two unluckiest breaks ever in a major, two majors in a row,” says Ogilvy. “Those two chips don’t go in, Greg’s story would be very different, I think.” Indeed, Tway’s shot came only two weeks after Norman had won his first major at Turnberry. Because he’d failed to hold 54hole leads at the Masters and U.S. Open that year (Norman is the only player ever to lead

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five straight majors—the 1986 Masters to the 1987 Masters—after 54 holes), his victory at Turnberry had augured for a future of majors in bunches. After Norman won at Royal St. George’s, a crushing playoff to lose to Paul Azinger at the PGA Championship (again at Inverness, where Norman lipped out on the 18th hole in regulation and in sudden death), seemed to reverse momentum again. In the history of golf, no player who got there as often in major championships was ever rewarded less. Norman’s 30 career top 10s in majors—more than contemporary rivals Faldo and Ballesteros—ranks 11th all time. But of the 10 players with more,

“TO ME, THE INCREDIBLE QUALITY OF HIS GOLF OVER A VERY LONG TIME SHOULD GIVE HIM THE EQUIVALENT STATUS OF A 10-TIME MAJOR WINNER. BUT IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY.” — G E O F F O G I LV Y —

all have at least seven majors except for Phil Mickelson, who barely exceeds Norman with 31 top-10s, and whose supposedly hard-luck career has nonetheless produced five majors. In all, Norman held the fourth-round lead or a share of that lead in 14 majors— the Masters in 1986, 1987, 1989, 1996 and 1999; the U.S. Open in 1984, 1986 and 1995; the British Open in 1986, 1989, 1993 and 2008; and the PGA in 1986 and 1993. The first 14 times Tiger Woods had the lead or a share in a major on Sunday, he won all 14. The eight times that Norman shared or had the 54-hole lead alone, he only won once. In evaluations that judge the historical significance of players by their number of majors, Norman suffers the most. It’s hard not to conclude that he didn’t underachieve. “If Greg had won three or four more majors, I think history would recognize him where he should be recognized,” says Ogilvy, whose admitted national bias is offset by his astute grasp of golf history. “But unfortunately, we all get the blinders on about majors in golf, where they become the only things that really matter. Which isn’t true. But because Greg won only two majors, he goes next to all the guys who won two majors. Which is not even close to right. To me, the incredible quality of his golf over a very long time should give him the equivalent status of a 10-time major winner. But it doesn’t work that way.”

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P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT HONOREE

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

Above: Norman shakes hands with Fred Couples during The Presidents Cup in 2011 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club when he captained the International Team and Couples led the U.S. Left: Norman poses with Harris English (left)

Norman admits to his share of dark nights of the soul, but after reconciling the pain of his loss at the 1996 Masters, where he entered the final day leading by six but would lose on an excruciating Sunday to Faldo, he resolved to look on the bright

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side. “My best memory of my career is the resiliency of me,” he says. “Resilient because some of the stuff that happened to me hasn’t really happened to any other individual in the game’s history. But I put my blinkers on and kept going.”

At the same time, he has ruminated on what might have been missing. Vulnerability under pressure is a tough subject with any professional athlete, but especially the very best. Norman acknowledges that he wasn’t sufficiently ironclad at winning time. “It’s funny about pressure, because people often assume I didn’t welcome it,” he said in 2011. “In those situations … I liked it for some stupid reason. But, obviously, the recipe wasn’t quite right. I’ve analyzed it, big time, and I see more now. Because I’ve opened myself up to the realization that I wasn’t perfect, even though for so long I tried to be perfect and was sort of blinded

ABOVE: MARK DADSWELL/GETTY IMAGES; LEFT: CHRIS TROTMAN/GETTY IMAGES

and his teammate Matt Kuchar after the pair won the 2016 QBE Shootout, formerly the Franklin Templeton Shootout, at Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Fla. This year will mark the 28th staging of the Shootout.

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“MY BIGGEST MISTAKE IN MY GOLF CAREER WAS THINKING I COULD DO IT MYSELF. I WAS SO DETERMINED TO DO IT GREG’S WAY, I WAS DETRIMENTAL TO MYSELF.” — GREG NORMAN — Above and below: Greg Norman Estates, launched in 1996, is one of the many businesses under the umbrella of the Florida-based

by fear of failure to admit flaws. I’ve opened myself up to admitting I made mistakes. I still became the No. 1 player in the world for other reasons, but I did some things wrong.” According to Harmon, “Greg had a tremendous amount of guts. He wasn’t afraid of any shot, and that was one thing that hurt him, especially in majors. You can’t be that aggressive in majors all the time and get away with it.” Norman doesn’t disagree that he “lived by the sword and died by it,” and sees the reason as the flip side of the independent mind that was vital to his greatness. “My biggest mistake in my golf career was thinking I could do it myself,” he says. “I was so determined to do it Greg’s way, I was detrimental to myself. I truly believed in myself so much, but sometimes that total belief can misguide you, your biggest strength becomes a liability, and you become your worst enemy.” Norman now believes he should have been more open to advice from others and employed a full-time sports psychologist, trainer and masseuse. But a traumatic event early in his career made him wary of the judgment of others. “I lost all my money in the early ’80s through some bad management, and I’ve never forgotten,” says Norman. “And then I had problems with the Australian taxation office. Bank accounts parked around the world, that I thought were fine but weren’t.

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Just as I hit No. 1 in the world in 1986, I had to do a massive amount of unraveling. So I became very guarded the rest of my life. Even to this day, in a business situation, my antennae can go up, and I won’t trust.” Norman has come to see that the roots of being a lone wolf were sown in an emotionally distant relationship with his father Merv, a stern man whose high expectations restricted the flow of compliments to his only son. He disapproved of Greg’s decision to pursue a career in golf, recommending

instead that he join the Royal Australian Air Force and train to fly F-111 fighter jets. “My father and I, we had a father-son relationship, but we didn’t have a fatherguidance relationship,” Norman says. “But I saw his parents and the way they were with him. It was tough love, but I didn’t really understand that at the time. After I turned pro, especially as an international player, with just your suitcase, your clubs and your briefcase, you have to build this tough outer layer. I would have loved to have been able to say, ‘Hey dad, can we have a beer? I need to tell you about this.’ But it didn’t happen that way in my world.” Perhaps not coincidentally, the two grew closer as Norman’s competitive career waned. “Once I stopped asking myself why we weren’t closer—because there was really no answer—it was better,” he says. “And I have a great relationship with my dad now. He probably still thinks he was right, but for the last 15 years or so, we can talk about what we went through with each other.” Norman doesn’t deny that his desire to prove his worth to his father provided immense fuel for his exploits, and his own son Gregory Jr. agrees. “Probably my dad’s relationship with my grandfather got him to No. 1,” says the younger Norman, who runs a wakeboarding park in South Carolina in partnership with his father. “Because he wanted to prove to him that he could do it.” Norman doesn’t disagree, but also says, “As I told Gregory once, ‘I want to break

MICHAEL O’BRYON (2)

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MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT HONOREE

Above: Surveying property for a new golf course

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

for Greg Norman Golf Course Design. Below left: Norman and Kirsten wed in 2010. Below right: Norman travels in a Gulfstream V.

the chain.’ So when he accomplishes something, I give him a huge hug and say, ‘I’m so friggin’ proud of you.’ ” One of the few people Norman did trust was Nicklaus. It began when he made Golf My Way, written by Nicklaus in 1974 with Ken Bowden, the foundation of his fundamentals. After Norman got his first victory, by five strokes at the 1976 Westlakes Classic, organizers paired him with Nicklaus in the Australian Open the following week. With his blond hair and big game, Norman was hyped by the Australian golf media as “the Bear Cub.” “When somebody on Tuesday told

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me I’d be paired with Jack, I was a bag of nerves,” Norman says. “The first tee at The Australian is elevated, and because of Jack, the fairway was lined with people. I had to take a deep breath just to get the ball on the tee, but I had no chance and cold topped it. The ball skimmed a low bush in front of the tee and went no more than 60 yards, and only because it was downhill. Total silence from the gallery. I shot 80 that day.” After he recovered with a second-round 72, “Jack sat down next to me on a bench in the locker room, told me he was impressed with my game and my demeanor, told me I should play in America, and slapped me on the leg. That was a bolt of confidence.” Nicklaus gave more than encouragement 10 years later after the third round

at Turnberry, with Norman holding a one-stroke lead. In the hotel dining room, Nicklaus approached Norman’s table and asked if he could offer some advice. “I knew Greg hadn’t finished it off on Sunday at the Masters or the U.S. Open,” Nicklaus remembers. “I had seen that under pressure he had a tendency to push the club outside on the takeaway and get laid off, causing a push to the right. I told him, ‘You have a fault in your swing that I think you can correct with a conscious effort that isn’t going to bother you.’” The easy fix was a reminder to keep grip pressure light in the last round, which Norman said he consciously did. “Whether I had any influence on Greg winning or not, maybe I did,” says Nicklaus. “He seems to think I did. And so that’s nice.”

TOP AND RIGHT: MICHAEL O’BRYON; BOTTOM LEFT: LINDSEY POTTER

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

5/2/17 4:17 PM

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MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT HONOREE

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Norman’s favorite conversation with Nicklaus came before what he calls his fondest victory, the 1992 Canadian Open, which broke a 16-month winless patch in which Norman said he had lost his enthusiasm for the game. Along with a continuing series of tough losses in majors, Norman in 1990 had been beaten by a holed 7-iron for eagle on the 72nd hole by Robert Gamez at Bay Hill, and a holed 40-yard sand shot by David Frost on the 72nd hole at New Orleans. “I was lost, so I called Jack up, and he said to come over. He was outside in his driveway when I arrived. So we stood there by my car, talking for a long time, about stuff like when he went through his slump, how he got out of it, what I’ve got to work on, am I digging in the right place, and how deep do you dig. He also talked about when you’re at the top, people want to beat you, and they might do something extraordinary to beat you, and that you have to accept that. We got so engrossed that it started raining and we didn’t notice until we were soaking wet. “From there I drove to Old Marsh, where I practiced. Before I got in the gate, I pulled over on the side of the road. It had stopped raining, so put the roof down on my convertible, put the seat back, looked up at the clouds and asked myself a simple question, ‘What’s wrong with your game?’ And the answer came back: ‘There’s nothing wrong with your game. But there’s something wrong with your attitude.’ I realized that I was foggy because I had created my own fog. I went to the driving range and came off a totally new golfer. And I went to Canada and won. “The point is, Jack opened my mind up. Jack really was great at giving a message by allowing you to think about it, and let you learn in our own way. He understood me.” Says Nicklaus, “I always knew Greg would have great success, and I enjoyed encouraging him. A lot of things we talked about over the years he used in his life and the way he did things. I think he does things in a lot of ways better than I have.” As he’s gotten older, Norman has been more open to searching within. Every two years, he and his wife go on a trip to a place they’ve never been. Last year, it was the Kingdom of Bhutan, high in the Himalayas. “Kiki picked it,” says Norman. “Somehow,

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THAT I WANT TO CLIMB THAT MOUNTAIN. [MT. EVEREST] AND I BELIEVE I STILL CAN. WE’LL SEE.” — GREG NORMAN —

she knew it would be good for me.” At the swift confluence of the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu rivers, Norman entered the “Palace of Great Happiness,” a 17th century architectural marvel of gold pillars and hand-carved wood where Bhutan’s kings are crowned. The sensation he experienced was so moving that, on the flight home, he wrote a six-page entry in his journal, which said: “As I stepped inside the Kuenray room and the throne of Je Khenpo, I was awestruck by what my eyes, then soul, absorbed. So incredible, so magnificent, so captivating. My body experienced for the

first time ever, 100 percent eruption of goose bumps from head to toe. Just this one moment was enough to make our trip to beautiful Bhutan worth every second.” “It definitely changed me,” he says. “Now when I’m driving in traffic, and I get a little impatient because I have to get somewhere, I actually go back to that moment. It’s stayed with me, and I am different.” Perhaps. But before his visit to the palace, Norman had strapped himself into a helicopter that rose to 20,000 feet for a spectacular aerial tour of Mt. Everest. “It was crystal clear, and if it hadn’t been for very strong winds we would have gone higher,” he says. “What was I thinking? That I want to climb that mountain. And I believe I still can. We’ll see.” Would reaching the summit be the ultimate moment? Probably not. Remember that for Greg Norman, who never stops climbing, the top is never there. Jaime Diaz is a senior writer for Golf Digest and a past winner of the Memorial Golf Journalism Award.

Norman with his now-grown children Morgan Leigh and Gregory at his Florida home.

LINDSEY POTTER

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

“WHAT WAS I THINKING?

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THE POWER OF POSITIVE ENERGY

Norman after his second major victory: the 1993 Open Championship at

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AP PHOTO

Royal St. Georges.

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greg norman’s career record MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORIES

1986

Open Championship

1993

Open Championship

PGA TOUR VICTORIES

Kemper Open, Canadian Open

1986

Panasonic-Las Vegas Invitational, Kemper Open

1988

MCI Heritage Classic

1989

THE INTERNATIONAL, Greater Milwaukee Open

1990

Doral-Ryder Open, the Memorial Tournament

1992

Canadian Open

1993

Doral-Ryder Open

1994

THE PLAYERS Championship

1995

the Memorial Tournament, Canon Greater Hartford Open, NEC World Series of Golf Doral-Ryder Open

1997

FedEx St. Jude Classic, NEC World Series of Golf

EUROPEAN TOUR VICTORIES

1976

Westlakes Classic

1977

Kuzaha Open

1978

Caltex Festival of Sydney Open, Traralgon Classic, NSW Open

1978

South Seas Classic

1979

Hong Kong Open

1983

Hong Kong Open, Kapalua International

1985

Dunhill Cup

1986

Grand Slam of Golf, Dunhill Cup

1989

Chunichi Crowns

1993

Taiheiyo Masters, PGA Grand Slam of Golf

1994

PGA Grand Slam of Golf

1997

Andersen Consulting World Championship

1998

Franklin Templeton Shootout (with Steve Elkington)

1979

Traralgon Classic, Queensland PGA, Martini International

1980

Australian Open

1981

Australian Masters

1983

Australian Masters, Stefen Queensland Open, NSW Open

1984

Victorian Open, Australian Masters, Australian PGA Championship

1985

Australian PGA Championship, Australian Open

1986

Stefen Queensland Open, NSW Open, West End Jubilee South, Australia Open, Western Australian Open

• Jack Nicklaus Award (PGA TOUR Player of the Year) 1995

1987

Australian Masters, Australian Open

• Arnold Palmer Award (PGA TOUR Money Leader) 1986, ’90, ’95

1988

Palm Meadows Cup, ESP Open, Players Championship, NSW Open

• Vardon Trophy 1989, ’90, ’94

1977

Martini International

1979

Martini International

1980

French Open, Scandinavian Open, World Match Play Championship

1981

Martini International, Dunlop Masters (England)

1989

Australian Masters, Players Championship

1982

Dunlop Masters (Wales), State Express Classic, Benson & Hedges International

1990

Australian Masters

1995

Australian Open

1996

Ford South Australian Open, Australian Open

1983

Cannes Invitational, World Match Play Championship European Open, Suntory World Match Play

1988

Italian Open

1994

Johnnie Walker Classic

• No. 1 in Official World Golf Ranking 331 weeks (second most all-time)

• First player to surpass $10 million in PGA TOUR earnings • Australasian Tour Order of Merit 1978, ’80, ’83, ’84, ’86, ’88 • European Tour Order of Merit 1982 • The Presidents Cup 1996, ’98, 2000 • The Presidents Cup captain 2009, ’11 • Founder and host of QBE Shootout • Designer of more than 100 golf courses • BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, 1986, ’93 • Inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame 2001

AP PHOTO

1986

1998 Greg Norman Holden International

OTHER CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

1996

OTHER VICTORIES

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

1984

PGA TOUR OF AUSTRALASIA VICTORIES

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MEMORIAL HONOREES

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

65 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

THREE FINE CHAMPIONS HONORED

ILLUSTRATION BY GLENN HARRINGTON

by John Antonini EDITOR’S NOTE: In an effort to ensure that prominent and accomplished golfers who are deceased receive the recognition they deserve from the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, the Captains Club has identified several distinguished figures from the past for designation as Tournament Honorees over the next several years. This year, the Captains Club has chosen to honor Tony Lema, Ken Venturi and E. Harvie Ward. Lema and Venturi won major championships—Venturi the 1964 U.S. Open, Lema the ’64 Open Championship. Venturi further distinguished himself with his 30-plus years as lead golf analyst for CBS Sports. Ward was a top amateur who won both the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur among a number of achievements. The following pages briefly chronicle their accomplishments, which were significant not only as personal achievements, but also as contributions to the rich history of the game of golf.

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MEMORIAL HONOREES

“CHAMPAGNE” TONY LEMA

TRAGEDY STRUCK JUST AS THE CALIFORNIAN WAS COMING INTO HIS OWN

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

HERE ARE few people alive today under the age of 60 with vivid memories of “Champagne” Tony Lema. To an entire generation, Lema is an enigma. A picture in books or words on the Internet. An athlete gone too soon. Lema died in a plane crash in July 1966 at the age of 32. A gregarious, outgoing star on the professional tour, Lema won the 1964 Open Championship among 11 victories between 1962 and 1966. How good was that? Dustin Johnson finished the 2016 season at the same age Lema was when he died, with 12 wins and one major. Among Americans enshrined in the World Golf Hall of Fame, Davis Love III had 12 wins and one major before age 33. Hale Irwin and Ben Crenshaw each had 10 wins with one major victory. Lema was born in Oakland, Calif., on Feb. 25, 1934. His father died when Lema was 3, and his mother struggled to raise Tony and three siblings. Lema learned golf on the Bay Area’s municipal courses, and after a military stint he landed a job as an assistant pro in San Francisco. He played his way onto the PGA TOUR in 1957, where Sports Illustrated said Lema was “a long way from the Oakland canneries, shipyards, juvenile gangs and nimble golf hustles that marked his hardly serene youth.” Like many others who came from nothing, Lema struggled to handle success. Henry Longhurst said Lema was “absolutely in the Hagen tradition of not wanting to be a millionaire, but possessed of a strong determination to live like one.” One of golf ’s most eligible bachelors, Lema tried to enjoy life to the fullest. Not

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GETT Y IMAGES

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

by John Antonini

5/2/17 4:30 PM

MEMORIAL HONOREES

tony lema’s career record MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORIES 1964 Open Champioship PGA TOUR VICTORIES 1962 Orange County Open Invitational, Mobile Sertoma Open Invitational 1963 Memphis Open Invitational P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

1964 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, Thunderbird Classic, Buick Open Invitational, Cleveland Open Invitational 1965 Buick Open Invitational, Carling World Open 1966 Oklahoma City Open Invitational

68 THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

OTHER VICTORIES 1957

Above: Tony Lema enjoying a glass of his signature drink, champagne.

Imperial Valley Open

Below: Lema beat Jack Nicklaus by five strokes in the 1964 Open Championship at St. Andrews.

Idaho Open

1958 1961 Mexican Open

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1962 Sahara Invitational, Mexican Open 1964 World Series of Golf

Palmer offered Lema the services of his Open caddie, Tip Anderson, and also lent Lema his putter. Lema won by five strokes over Jack Nicklaus. Tony Lema died on July 10, 1966, when the private plane he was traveling on to a tournament in Illinois crash-landed on a golf course on the Indiana-Illinois state line two miles from the airport. The pilot, co-pilot, and Lema’s wife Betty also died in the crash. What would Lema have accomplished had he lived? Were 20 victories and a Hall of Fame plaque in his future? We will never know. But Tony Lema was someone we should always remember.

BOTTOM: GETTY IMAGES

surprisingly, his golf game suffered and he found himself in debt to his backers. By 1962, Lema lost all confidence. He found his savior in television producer Danny Arnold, who is best known as the creator of the Emmy Award-winning comedy “Barney Miller.” Lema stayed with Arnold and his wife, who became surrogate live-in psychiatrists for the golfer. “He built up

confidence in myself and my game. He convinced me that … if I stayed calm and kept the ball in play, the breaks would come my way,” Lema told SI. The breaks did come. Lema won the unofficial Sahara Invitational in September 1962. One month later, he earned his nickname after his first PGA TOUR victory at the Orange County Open in California in a playoff. Lema famously bought champagne for the press after that win, but told SI “all the sportswriters there couldn’t have drunk as much as I did that night.” More victories followed, highlighted by the 1964 Open Championship at St. Andrews. Lema had never played a links course in Great Britain and only entered upon the recommendation of Arnold Palmer, who didn’t compete that year.

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MEMORIAL HONOREES

KEN VENTURI

THE 1964 U.S. OPEN CHAMPION EXCELLED AS A GOLFER AND A BROADCASTER

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

100-degree heat and humidity during the 36-hole final day. It was one of two major inspirational highlights in his life. Venturi was born on May 15, 1931, in San Francisco and learned golf at Harding Park Golf Course. He won the California Amateur in 1951 at age 20, won the tournament again in 1956, and received national attention for finishing second to Jack Burke, Jr. in that year’s Masters. Venturi led by four strokes entering the final round, but inexperience and cold, windy conditions took their toll, and he shot 6-over par on the back nine to finish with an 80 and lose by one.

Venturi turned pro at the end of 1956 and won 10 times from 1957 to 1960. He tied for fourth in the 1958 Masters and was second again in 1960, but he hurt his back and ribs in that 1961 car accident and struggled for three years. Nearly broke—he earned less than $11,000 combined in 1962 and ’63—but unwilling to return to his fallback career as an automobile salesman, a resolute Venturi turned his game around. His life changed on one remarkable day in June 1964. Trailing by six strokes going into Saturday’s final 36 holes in the U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda,

GETTY IMAGES

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

NE WAY to measure greatness in an athlete is his ability to overcome obstacles during the limited time he competes at his peak. Another measurement of greatness is to weigh the impact said performer has on his sport after his career fades. In both of these tests, Ken Venturi distinguished himself. After almost winning the Masters as an amateur in 1956. Venturi’s pro career took an unfortunate turn due to an automobile accident in 1961. He rebounded in 1964, winning the U.S. Open in such oppressive conditions that he nearly collapsed in the

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MEMORIAL HONOREES Ken Venturi, amid stifling 100-degree weather, captured the 1964 U.S. Open at Congressional.

ken venturi’s career record MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORIES

Below: Venturi and his first wife Connie.

1964 U.S. Open PGA TOUR VICTORIES 1957 St. Paul Open Invitational, Miller High Life Open 1958 Thunderbird Invitational, Phoenix Open Invitational, Baton Rouge Open Invitational, Gleneagles-Chicago Open Invitational 1959

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

Los Angeles Open, Gleneagles-Chicago Open Invitational 1960 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, Milwaukee Open Invitational 1964 Insurance City Open Invitational, American Golf Classic 1966 Lucky International Open

AMATEUR VICTORIES

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

1950 San Francisco Amateur 1951

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California Amateur 1953 San Francisco Amateur 1956 California Amateur, San Francisco City Amateur OTHER CAREER HIGHLIGHTS 1953 Walker Cup team 1956 Low Amateur in the Masters 1956 Low Amateur in the U.S. Open 1964 PGA Player of the Year

Sports Illustrated Sportsman

of the Year 1965 Ryder Cup team 2000 Presidents Cup captain 2013 Inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame

ABOVE: GETTY IMAGES; BELOW: AP PHOTO

Md., Venturi shot a third-round 66 for the lead amid temperatures that soared past 100 degrees. But Venturi was so dehydrated that he lay prone on the clubhouse floor between rounds and doctors suggested he withdraw. He declined, and he courageously triumphed over the heat and humidity, plus a tough field. His afternoon 70 was good for a remarkable four-stroke victory. “I was so focused on playing I didn’t take one drink of water [in the morning],” Venturi told Golf Digest in 2004. “At the break I drank iced tea, which has caffeine

in it, which is bad for you in hot weather. The doctor who followed me around kept feeding me salt tablets. We know today that taking salt tablets on a hot day can further dehydrate you. In the end, I beat a tough golf course and a great field, but I also overcame my own mistakes.” Venturi’s three-win 1964 season was his last hurrah, though it was a grand one as he won PGA Player of the Year honors and was named Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the Year.” Though he won again in 1966, carpal tunnel syndrome eventually forced him off the tour, and he took a job as golf analyst with CBS Sports in 1968, a stunning development for someone who stuttered so badly as a youth that he couldn’t even say his own name when he was 12. Once again, Ken Venturi’s unshakable determination helped him overcome an impediment, and he stayed on the air for more than 30 years. He retired in 2002 and died from complications of a spinal infection and pneumonia on May 17, 2013, two days after his 82nd birthday.

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MEMORIAL HONOREES

E. HARVIE WARD

THE BRILLIANT AMATEUR CARVED OUT HIS OWN DISTINCTIVE CAREER

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

GA TOUR newcomer Bryson DeChambeau has a quirky practice of naming his clubs after golf legends. His 60-degree wedge is called “King,” after the late Arnold Palmer, winner of the 1960 Masters. His 50-degree club is “Jimmy” for 1950 Masters champ Jimmy Demaret. But when it came to naming his 55degree wedge, DeChambeau didn’t choose

that year’s Masters winner, he chose its low amateur. DeChambeau calls that club “Ward,” for Harvie Ward, who tied for eighth at Augusta National in 1955. It’s as if he is saying, “I know who Harvie Ward was, and so should you.” In the long history of tournament golf, E. Harvie Ward, Jr., is the only player to win the British Amateur, the U.S. Amateur, Canadian Amateur and NCAA Champion-

ship. That quartet only speaks to a portion of his career accomplishments. Born in Tarboro, N.C., on Dec. 8, 1925, Ward learned golf at local Hilma Country Club. He won the Carolinas Junior Championship in 1940 and 1941, before a stint in the U.S. Army. After his military service, Ward made his bones on the amateur circuit in and around his home state. After winning the 1949 NCAA Championship as

AP PHOTO

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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MEMORIAL HONOREES e. harvie ward’s career record

Harvie Ward was the low amateur in three Masters and in the 1955 U.S. Open.

NOTABLE AMATEUR VICTORIES 1949 NCAA Division I Championship 1952 British Amateur 1954 Canadian Amateur 1955, 1956 U.S. Amateur OTHER VICTORIES 1940 Linville Invitational, Carolinas Junior

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

1941 Carolinas Junior 1948 North and South Amateur 1949 Carolinas Amateur, Tournament of Golf Champions 1950 Carolinas Amateur 1952, 1953 Dogwood Amateur 1955 San Francisco City Championship PROFESSIONAL VICTORIES

a member of the North Carolina golf team, he eschewed professional golf, instead putting to use his economics degree. “The money was so much different back then,” Ward later explained. “Turning pro wasn’t an easy choice like today.” It was the right decision. Ward won the British Amateur in 1952, and then the Canadian Amateur in 1954 and consecutive U.S. Amateur’s in 1955 and ’56. He finished tied for 14th in the 1953 Masters, joint eighth in 1955, and was even better in 1957, when he earned his third silver-gold cup as low amateur by finishing fourth, three strokes behind winner Doug Ford. He was “the most talented amateur of the decade, no question about it,” wrote golf historian Herbert Warren Wind. For all his wins, the biggest match Ward played took place at Cypress Point in 1956 with only bragging rights on the line. San Francisco businessman Eddie Lowery owned the car dealership where Ward and fellow amateur Ken Venturi worked. Lowery, who at 10 years old caddied for

MEM17_POSTHUMOUS_v7.indd 76

surprise winner Francis Ouimet in the 1913 U.S. Open, also backed their golf and boasted the pair could beat any comers. A game was quickly arranged against golf royalty: Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan. The result is considered the greatest fourball match in history. Venturi later said, “It was the best golf I’ve ever seen. And that’s the only team who ever beat Harvie and me.” For the record, Nelson and Hogan were 1-up victors, but the winning aggregate—anywhere from 55 to 60—depends on which source you believe. It’s widely accepted that Nelson and Hogan finished at 17 under and won by matching their opponents’ birdies on the last four holes. It was reported that Hogan shot 63, Venturi 65, Nelson 67 and Ward 67. In 1957, Ward was stripped of his amateur status because it was determined that Lowery incorrectly claimed income tax deductions on the money he was spending to sponsor Ward, but the ruling was reversed a year later, because Ward himself had done nothing wrong.

1977 North Carolina Open 1980 U.S. National Senior Open OTHER CAREER HIGHLIGHTS 1953, 1955, 1957 Low Amateur in the Masters 1955 Low Amateur in the U.S. Open 1953, 1955, 1959 U.S. Walker Cup team member 1965 Inducted North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame 1981 Inducted North Carolina Golf Hall of Fame

Ward became a golf professional and instructor in the mid-1970s. Among his pupils was two-time U.S. Open champion Payne Stewart. Ward died of liver cancer at age 78 on September 4, 2004. John Antonini is a researcher and writer for Golf Channel and golfchannel.com.

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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ESSAY

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

KEN VENTURI MY COLLEAGUE AND FRIEND GAVE SO MUCH TO THE GAME OF GOLF, AND HE WAS, ABOVE ALL ELSE, A GENUINE GOLF PROFESSIONAL RIGHT UP TO THE END by Jim Nantz

EN VENTURI, one of the men being honored this week here at Muirfield Village Golf Club, was, in my mind, one of the biggest contributors to golf in the long history of this wonderful game. I might seem biased by that assessment, since I had the pleasure—and the honor—of working with Ken for 17 years, but when you consider that his entire life was dediKen Venturi enjoyed cated to the game, you reach a whole a successful term as new level of appreciation for my late U.S. captain in The Presidents Cup in friend and colleague. 2000, leading the I’m sure most people remember U.S. to a 10-point Ken for his long broadcasting career victory over the International Team with CBS Sports, and rightfully so at Robert Trent because he performed his duties with Jones Golf Club in great distinction and as a true profesLake Manassaas, Va. sional for 35 years. But Ken Venturi also was a genuinely fine player, distinguishing himself first with a decorated amateur career before winning 14 times on the PGA TOUR, including a memorable U.S. Open title in 1964 at Congressional. Had he not seen his career cut short by a severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome, compounded by post-operative complications, his record likely would be more impressive. Then again, had he continued to play

MEM17_NANTZ_ESSAY_5.indd 80

AP PHOTO

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

Remembering

5/4/17 11:18 AM

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5/4/17 11:18 AM

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

Jim Nantz and Ken Venturi had an on-air partnership for 17 years on CBS Sports as well as a friendship that lasted until Venturi’s death in 2013.

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

competitively we might not have enjoyed his body of work as a broadcaster. Ken liked to repeat a line that he attributed to broadcaster Jack Whitaker, that “fate has a way of bending a twig and fashioning a man to his better instincts.” One door closed and another opened, and Ken Venturi became a consummate professional in two areas of the game. When I think about Ken and how fate played a role in our relationship and in my career, I go back to the 1986 Masters Tournament. The date in particular that is seared in my mind is April 13, 1986. I’m working my first broadcast from Augusta National Golf Club for CBS, and as a rookie I was hyper concerned that I’m in over my head. I was assigned to call the action at the 16th hole, so early that day I made my way down there to see where the flagstick was going to be positioned. This was in the day before pin sheets. The hole was cut in the traditional Sunday location, back-middle portion on the left side off the slope. It occurred to me that there was going to be a lot of action around that hole, and perhaps even a hole in one. You can’t help but ask yourself what you might say if someone made an ace, and I learned quickly when I got back to the compound exactly what I should say. Frank Chirkinian, our legendary producer, looked at me cross ways and said,

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WHEN I THINK ABOUT KEN AND HOW FATE PLAYED A ROLE IN OUR RELATIONSHIP AND IN MY CAREER, I GO BACK TO THE 1986 MASTERS TOURNAMENT. THE DATE THAT IS SEARED IN MY MIND IS APRIL 13, 1986.

“This is a visual medium son. You say nothing. Don’t ruin the pictures that I’m going to be delivering, if that’s the case.” Tough love. It was fantastic. Of course, as the day wore on there were all of these marvelous things unfolding, the biggest being the charge of Jack Nicklaus at 46 years of age. He had just eagled 15, and now here he was stepping on the tee at 16, and sure enough Jack hit that 5-iron shot that spun back and flirted with the cup. I said nothing, as instructed. Jack made the putt, and I finally opened my mouth and said, “The Bear’s come out of hibernation.” I don’t know where that line had come from.

I had not preplanned it, but it seemed like the right thing to say. Jack went on through, but we still had other pairings behind him, including those with Tom Kite and Greg Norman, who could still pass Jack. After they completed the 16th, I elected to stay in my tower with my headset on, listening to the broadcast and watching it to the end. I also watched the Green Jacket ceremony and was thoroughly moved by the sight of Jack putting on that jacket for a sixth time. Finally, I climbed back down the ladder and began walking towards the compound. It’s a healthy hike. You walk across 17 and the edge of 7 green, 8 tee, and all of a sudden you make your way over to 18. As I approached the Jones Cabin, a cart came in a rush to my side. Ken was behind the wheel, and he told me to hop in. I got in the seat next to him, but before we started to go, he looked at me. I could tell he was still in disbelief at what he had watched. And he said, “I’ve got a question for you, son. How old are you?” I didn’t know where he was going with this. And I said, “I’m 26.” He said, “I’m going to make a prediction, Jimmy. One day you’re going to be the first to broadcast 50 of these. And I can promise you one thing— you will never live to see a greater day than this around Augusta National.” What happened at that moment was a variety of things that have come to mean a great deal to me. I’ve analyzed and broken down that little scene in my life a hundred times over. First of all, I was appreciative that Ken not only called me Jimmy, because that was reserved for my closest friends and my family, but also that he called me son. There was affection there, and he was treating me in a fatherly way. He wanted me to know the significance and the weight of the moment. Ken had such a deep appreciation for what Jack accomplished, and he was emotional about it an hour earlier when Jack and his son, Jack II, walked off the 18th green arm in arm. “It’s beautiful, it’s beautiful,” he kept repeating, touched by what he was watching, but no doubt also thinking about his own sons, Matt and Tim. And then, for whatever reason, he saw, I suppose, a modicum of talent in me. Within his observation about Jack he made this

GETTY IMAGES

REMEMBERING KEN VENTURI

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I CAN TELL YOU THAT HE WOULD BE EQUALLY THRILLED BY HIS BEING AN HONOREE OF THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE. HE LOVED THIS TOURNAMENT AND WHAT JACK HAS DONE IN HIS HOMETOWN.

on their father’s behalf. I can tell you that he would be equally thrilled by his being an Honoree of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. He loved this Tournament and what Jack has done in his hometown. Ken was there from day one; CBS had the broadcast rights the very first year in 1976. He knew how special the Memorial Tournament is in the golf world. Ken always had a sense for the things that mattered. He also was a man who loved the routine of being a golf professional. On one of my many visits to Palm Springs after he retired in 2002, I requested of Ken to allow me to spend a day immersed in his usual daily routine. He said, “Good, we’ll get started his crowning achievement. He was incredearly.” We began at 7 a.m., hopping into ibly disappointed to not be able to attend Ken’s golf cart with our clubs. Ken owned the ceremony as he battled complications a customized golf cart that looked like a from pneumonia, and it was Bentley. It had four speakers, leather seats a shock to all of us that he and plenty of other amenities, including died 11 days after his inducseatbelts because it could go up to 45 miles tion. He passed away on May per hour. We started our day by going to 17, which happens to be my the back of the range at Thunderbird. Near birthday. the end, Kenny didn’t let a lot of people see I was honored to be his him play golf. He got tremendous joy and presenter at the Hall of Fame satisfaction out of simply hitting balls, even ceremony that day, and his though his hands were compromised by the sons, Matt and Tim, were carpal tunnel and age. We hit wedges and 9 there to accept the award irons and 8-irons. Perfect conditions, great grass, no one around. Above: Clifford Roberts, After about 15-20 minutes Ken Venturi, Lloyd Mangrum we hopped back in the cart, and and Arnold Palmer play off we sped to a course called cards during the 1959 Masters Tournament. Morningside. We found another Left: Venturi (second from isolated place, and we hit middle right) was a member of the irons for about 20 minutes. Then 1965 Ryder Cup team. off we went again for a five-minute drive to a place called The Springs, and we hit our 3-woods and drivers. We’d gone through the golf bag at three different driving ranges in the span of about an hour and a half. We were back at the house by 8:30 with his wife Kathleen greeting him at the door with his morning protein shake. That’s how he would start his day. He was a golf professional to the end. Now, he didn’t play. He was content with just practicing and preparing for the next

BOTTOM: ALAMY IMAGES; TOP: AUGUSTA NATIONAL/GETTY IMAGES

preposterous prediction about me, that one day I might work 50 Masters Tournaments. At that very moment Ken didn’t know it, but he defined for me my career goals. I just worked my 32nd Masters in April. Ken told me I might do 50 of them. So that has been my goal since that cart ride decades ago. Ken was a really proud man, extremely dignified. And when he was recognized, it meant a great deal to him. He was the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1964, the year he played so courageously to win the U.S. Open while battling heat exhaustion. I know that win fulfilled him because it ran in perfect symmetry with the life that he led, having to overcome significant odds and obstacles in both his playing and broadcasting careers. Being elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2013 was

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P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

REMEMBERING KEN VENTURI

exited the stage. And he talked to the world of golf for 35 years. And now there he was near the end of his life, and he’s off on a range, three different ranges, actually, in the morning, and he’s hitting balls just like he did as a kid. In total isolation. And I don’t know what game he was playing in his mind, what he was preparing for, but he was always preparing. He was always trying to perfect his game, he was always fastidious about the things he did right up to the end. One day not long after Ken passed, his son, Tim, called me, and he asked me if I would like to have Ken’s golf cart. And I

said of course I would—for a multitude of reasons. First, of course, is because of the importance of that first Masters for me in 1986, which was won by Jack Nicklaus, and when Ken Venturi pulled up in a golf cart

Above: Nantz speaks at Venturi’s World Golf Hall of Fame induction in 2013. Venturi’s sons Tim (left) and Matt accepted the award on his behalf when he was unable to attend. Right: Venturi busy in his office in his California home.

BELOW: GETTY IMAGES; TOP: WORLD GOLF HALL OF FAME

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

tournament that, of course, would never come. But he was in the routine of getting ready, like he did when he was a little boy hitting balls at Harding Park in San Francisco. And, mind you, he was a little boy who couldn’t talk. So he went off to a corner of the range where he wouldn’t have to try to converse with anyone, and he could avoid that awkward moment of stammering. But here was a little guy, the only child of Fred and Ethel Venturi—and, by the way, Ken was adopted—who could barely talk, and the doctor told his mother it was incurable, her son would never be able to communicate with people. So, he would stand on a range hitting balls, and in his mind he was speaking perfect sentences. And he was telling himself over and over again, “I’m going to make it, someday I’m going to win the U.S. Open.” Well, some day he did go out and win the U.S. Open. And some day he did learn how to talk. And he talked to all of us on a very personal basis. He let his guard down and let his heart come out with it, like he did that day in 1986 when Jack and his son

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PENINSULA WAS THE PLACE WHERE HE PLAYED THAT FAMOUS MATCH IN 1956 AT CYPRESS POINT WITH HARVIE WARD... AND THOSE TWO GREAT AMATEUR PLAYERS TOOK ON BYRON NELSON AND BEN HOGAN AND NEARLY BEAT THEM.

Point, and Ken would earn a few dollars as a caddie. So, when Tim said, “My dad would want this to belong to you,” I was honored

beyond belief. When I’m driving Ken’s cart, I feel a rush of pride and a sense of joy that I can’t fully express, especially when someone makes a comment about it. That gives me an opportunity to say, “This cart belongs to Ken Venturi.” Then I point out the personalized license plate that we left in place: “64 OPEN.” I can’t help but get a sense that Ken Venturi is back at one of his favorite places in the world, riding in the seat right next to me. His words come flooding back to me on a loop like the music of his pal Frank Sinatra that is programmed in the cart stereo. I recall so many great pieces of wisdom and insight. Mostly, though, I hold dear those prophetic words from our first cart ride together at the Masters all those years ago. Jim Nantz is an award-winning broadcaster for CBS Sports.

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P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

IN 1986 THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT ENDOWMENT was established to allow the Tournament to plan prudently for the future and to continue the development and maintenance of needed facilities. Funds generated from the endowment are used to provide new and better facilities for spectators and fans and to assure the Tournament’s support of several worthwhile charities. The members of the Memorial Club are:

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

EVAN J. ANDREWS HAROLD P. ANDREWS STEPHEN P. ANDREWS GREGORY ANTHES WILLIAM E. ARTHUR ABNER H. BAGENSTOSE DONALD “RICK” F. BAIRD DONALD “RIC” F. BAIRD III CURT BANGLESDORF DAVID L. BARNES TIMOTHY J. BATTAGLIA C. RICHARD BECKETT WILLIAM BRADLEY BENNETT ROBERT W. BOICH TODD E. BORK BARRY G. BOYLES GEORGE P. BRAY JAMES G. BROCKSMITH, JR. FRED C. BROWN JAMES B. BURKE CHAD N. CACCHIO RONALD E. CALHOUN THOMAS L. CAMPBELL PHILIP D. CAMPISI CRAIG CASSADY RICHARD F. CHAPDELAINE ANTHONY T. CHAPEKIS JOHN J. CHIMENTO JOSEPH A. CHLAPATY GRANT CHRISTMAN RALPH R. CIOFFI DAVID CLARK STEPHEN B. CLARK PETER M. CLARKSON JOSEPH P. COCHRAN RICHARD T. COCHRAN JACK J. CONIE III RICHARD R. CORNA JEG A. COUGHLIN, SR. WILLIAM P. CSEPLO MILLARD M. CUMMINS DOMINIC J. CURCIO ARTHUR J. DeCRANE SCOTT E. DeSANO JON P. DIAMOND JAMES DIDION ALVA N. DOPKING, JR. THOMAS B. DYER JAMES L. EHRET DANIEL G. EMMENEGGER, JR. JOHN S. ENSIGN JOHN R. EVANS T. WILLIAM EVANS PHILIP G. FANKHAUSER BRETT A. FEBUS S. TREVOR FERGER

LARRY J. FOX WILLIAM H. FRANZ TAKEO FUKUI ROBERT P. GARDNER R. WILLIAM GARDNER JOSEPH J. GASPER JOHN B. GERLACH, JR. CATHY GERRING LEONARD GORSUCH THOMAS A. GOSNELL KIM D. GREAVES LOWELL "ROCKE" GREER BRUCE R. HAGUE FRANK D. HARMON JOHN R. HARPER ALBERT J. HART, JR. THOMAS A. HASSFURTHER W. HENRY HAUSER JOHN F. HAVENS LEO J. HAWK LAWRENCE J. HAYES PAUL G. HELLER MILAN B. HERCEG KOKI HIRASHIMA WILLIAM E. HOBAN RALPH E. HODGES THEODORE J. HOST J. PATRICK HUBER JOHN B. HUTCHENS J. LAWRENCE HUTTA JAMES T. HUTTA MARTIN INGLIS VICTOR D. IRELAN PETER J. JOCHUMS C. LEE JOHNSON JILL EVANS JOHNSON THOMAS B. JOHNSON FRITZ KAISER JAMES R. KARPAC KEN ARMEN KAZARIAN NEIL E. KELLEY JOHN P. KENNEDY JOHN W. KESSLER BENJAMIN T. KING JACK E. KING SAMUEL B. KING JAMES M. KOSTELAC THOMAS C. KRUSE JOHN KUCHARCZYK ROBERT A. LANDTHORN RICHARD S. LANGDALE DAVID P. LAUER PETER J. LAVERTY LARRY L. LIEBERT JEFFREY D. LOGAN PAUL B. LONG, JR.

PAUL B. LOYD, JR. CHERYL W. LUCKS JACK E. LUCKS CHRISTIAN D. MAHER DANIEL M. MAHER DONAL H. MALENICK STEPHEN J. MANGUM JAMES P. MANOS ROBERT J. MASSEY JAMES A. MAXWELL, JR. MICHAEL W. McCARTY GEORGE W. McCLOY RUSTY McCLURE JOHN P. McCONNELL DAN R. McFARLAND JOHN W. McKITRICK LAWRENCE A. McLERNON ROBERT D. McNEIL JOHN T. McNICHOLAS ROBERT S. MEEDER URBAN MEYER VAIL K. MILLER CAMERON MITCHELL DAVID J. MLICKI JACK MOLL THOMAS E. MOSURE SIGMUND MUNSTER MICHAEL R. MURNANE MASAO NAGAHARA DENISON “CHIP” NEALE, JR. BARBARA NICKLAUS JACK W. NICKLAUS JACK W. NICKLAUS II STEVEN C. NICKLAUS DANIEL M. O’BRIEN H.M. “BUTCH” O'NEILL RICHARD G. ORLANDO TERENCE A. OSBORN NILES C. OVERLY PETER PARAS, JR. WILLIAM D. PARKER JOHN W. PARTRIDGE, JR. MICHAEL C. PASCUCCI ROBERT D. PATRELLA DAYNA PAYNE DARYL L. PETERMAN LOYAL M. PETERMAN CECIL J. PETITTI II MARK PHELAN PERRY E. PIPES BENJAMIN B. PRICE WILLIAM B. PRICE GARY L. RACEY H.R.“BUSS” RANSOM STEPHEN S. RASMUSSEN MERWIN J. RAY

FRANK R. RAYMOND C. MICHAEL REARDON WILLIAM E. ROBERTS JEFFREY A. ROBY BRADLEY H. ROSELY ANDREW J. ROTH THOMAS A. RUMFOLA L. JACK RUSCILLI LOUIS V. RUSCILLI ROBERT A. RUSCILLI, JR. MICHAEL D. RYAN BRIAN P. SAVAGE PANDEL SAVIC MARTIN L. SAVKO RONALD E. SCHERER FRITZ SCHMIDT GREGORY E. SCHNEIDER GARY L. SCHOTTENSTEIN JOHN J. SCOTT III KEVIN SHANAHAN STEVEN P. SHEPARD J. ROBERT SIERRA CHARLES M. SIMON WILLIAM E. SLOAN SAMUEL E. SMILEY DOUGLAS A. SMITH JEFFREY H. SOPP SCOTT W. STEARNS DAN STERGIOU ERIC STEWART JEFFREY L. STEWART JOHN C. STIEG NORMAN C. STRAKER JOSEPH W. TAYLOR DAVID T. TERRY RAYMOND J. TESNER JERRY L. TRABUE CHARLES C. UNGUREAN BRUCE L. VOR BROKER WAYNE C. WALKER RAY C. WASIELEWSKI THOMAS B. WEIHE ALFRED J. WEISBROD KENNETH J. WESTERHEIDE RANDY WILCOX JEFF WILKINS EVAN A. WILLIAMS R. MAX WILLIAMSON JAMES L. WILMERS JOHN O. WINCHESTER MICHAEL A. WOLCOTT JIM D. WRIGHT TROY WRIGHT

JAMES M. BEARD ’12 • MICHAEL J. BERKELEY ’01 • L. JOHN BISHOP ’13 • MICHAEL D. BLOCH ’16 • MICHAEL BOICH ’01 • KEN BOWDEN ’17 RUSSELL L. BOWERMASTER ’16 • DAN C. BROWER ’15 • CHARLES R. CARSON ’12 • L. PHILIP CARSTENS ’08 • CHARLES P. CONRAD ’01 FREDERICK DeMATTEIS ’01 • TERRY A. FRIEDMAN ’04 • LOUIS M. HALEY ’06 • ZEMPEI HATTORI ’01 • JOHN G. HINES ’14 • ROBERT S. HOAG ’13 KENNETH HOULE ’98 • JEFF KEELER, JR. ’05 • RICHARD A. LANG ’02 • JOHN H. McCONNELL ’08 • JOHN D. MONTGOMERY, SR. ’07 • ROBERT T. MURNANE ’07 JAMES E. NOLAN, JR. ’14 • HAROLD T. PONTIUS ’15 • S. BRADFORD RYMER ’04 • KEIZO SAJI ’00 • DAVID A. SCOTT ’03 • DAVID G. SHERMAN ’10 SAM S. STALLWORTH, JR. ’03 • JAMES R. THOMAS ’12 • KENNETH D. THOMAS ’13 • R. DAVID THOMAS ’02 MICHIO TORII ’11 • DALE WADE ’98 • IVOR H. YOUNG ’15 • RICHARD S. ZIMMERMAN ’02 DECEASED MEMBERS:

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5/2/17 12:12 AM

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THE MEMORIAL GOLF JOURNALISM AWARD

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

WHETHER PLAYING GOLF OR WRITING ABOUT IT, 2017 MEMORIAL GOLF JOURNALISM AWARD RECIPIENT JERRY TARDE HAS A LONG LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE GAME by John Strege

ERRY TARDE knew what he wanted to do in life virtually as soon as golf wrested control of it, not long after his father introduced him to the game on a Jersey shore beach by hitting balls at trash barrels at 6 a.m. Two-dollar matches with “the hooligans,” as he calls them, at the muni just a few blocks from the Philadelphia row house in which he grew up set the golf hook, and then the tandem of Jack Nicklaus and Dan Jenkins reeled him into its journalistic overlapping grip. “At about age 16, I decided I wanted to be the editor of Golf Digest,” he said. Tarde had read both Jenkins’ Sports Illustrated story about Nicklaus’ victory in the 1972 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach as well as his book, The Dogged Victims of Inexorable Fate. “I had no idea sports writing could be that good,” he said, while also quickly concluding that it was a standard to which he aspired but could not achieve. An oblate priest, meanwhile, citing the inability of most folks to devote full attention to more than a single endeavor, forced

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him to choose between the debating team and editing the high school newspaper, in reality a choice between law school and journalism. He opted for the latter. He studied journalism at Northwestern University, joined Golf Digest at 21 and became its editor at 28. “That decision,” he said, “set the course for the rest of my life.” The benefit that golf journalism has received from that decision is being recognized this week at Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Tarde is the latest recipient of the Memorial Golf Journalism Award, which is especially

gratifying for Tarde, given his affection for Nicklaus and his wife Barbara, as well as his respect for past honorees. “The great disappointment of my youth was Lee Trevino robbing Jack of his Triple Crown at Muirfield in the 1972 Open,” Tarde said. “As a kid I idolized Nicklaus for the way he conducted himself on and off the course. And then later, when I got to know them, I found out that Jack wasn’t even the best Nicklaus in the family. Barbara is. “I’m honored to be considered in the class with the past honorees. One of my prized possessions is my dear friend Peter Dobereiner’s Memorial Tournament plaque, which his widow Betty gave to me. It hangs on my office wall at home.” Dobereiner was among a group of Golf Digest writers who comprised what Tarde considered the golden age of golf writing. Others included Charles Price, Peter Andrews and Jenkins, the latter of whom was his first hire as editor of the magazine. Though in his considered opinion he was not good enough to qualify as the next Dan Jenkins, Tarde has been good enough to have won four Golf Writers Association

DOM FURORE

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

A PASSION FOR THE GAME

5/2/17 12:24 AM

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THE MEMORIAL GOLF JOURNALISM AWARD

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS OF THE MEMORIAL GOLF JOURNALISM AWARD

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

1982 Bernard Darwin Herb Graffis O.B. Keeler Henry Longhurst Grantland Rice 1983 Charles A. Bartlett Pat Ward-Thomas 1984 Tom Scott Herbert Warren Wind 1985 Charles Price 1986 Will Grimsley 1987 Leonard Crawley 1988 Bob Harlow 1989 William D. Richardson 1990 Percy Huggins 1991 Dick Taylor 1992 Jack Whitaker 1993 Peter Dobereiner 1994 Dan Jenkins 1995 Jim Murray 1996 Bob Green 1997 Furman Bisher 1998 Michael Williams 1999 Bob Drum Ronald Heager Peter Ryde Lincoln A. Werden

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Jerry Tarde (third from the front, right side) and members of the Golf Digest staff during dinner at Winged Foot Golf Club following last year’s Editor’s Putter, a golf competition Tarde started in 1980.

2000 Dave Anderson Renton Laidlaw Nick Seitz 2001 Leonard Kamsler Michael McDonnell Tom Ramsey Robert Sommers 2002 Kaye Kessler 2003 Al Barkow 2004 Marino Parascenzo 2005 Jim McKay 2006 Sadao Iwata 2007 Frank Chirkinian 2008 Ken Bowden 2009 Dai Davies Tom Place 2010 Ron Green, Sr. 2011 Art Spander

2012 Dave Kindred

2013 Bob Verdi

2014 Jaime Diaz 2015 Doc Giffin 2016 John Garrity Rhonda Glenn

of America writing awards, two for features written for the New York Times (in 1988 and 1990) and two for Golf Digest columns (in 1997 and 2011). Moreover, he edited a Golf Digest series on discrimination at private golf clubs that won the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award in 1991, and he also was the recipient of the PGA of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism in 2011. His success is fueled by a passion for the game that is legendary among friends, including David Fay, the former executive director of the United States Golf Association and Tarde’s frequent playing partner. “I remember once playing with [former USGA executive director] Sandy Tatum at Cypress Point,” Fay said. “The weather was absolutely miserable, rain coming at you sideways. Sandy had a relatively small bag, and on the sixth hole, drenched, I thought he was doing something to call it a day. Instead he pulled out another rain suit and put it on. He said to me, ‘Fay, I only have a finite number of golf games left in my life, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to miss out on one of them.’ “I think that would be one of the expressions that would apply to Jerry. There’s nobody better to play golf with than Jerry Tarde. He really has a joy for the game. He loves playing golf, and it doesn’t matter what the course is. It could be one of the greats in the world, and he’s played most of them, or it could be a place no one ever

heard of or wants to play. “For him, it’s all about the game, the camaraderie, the competition. He loves to compete. He comes up with all these crazy wild gambling games. And he is a competitor. I can’t count the number of times he’s made a key putt to win it all. He pulls out that [Dave] Pelz Three-Ball putter, you know good things are going to happen.” Tarde, partnering with another former USGA executive director, Frank Hannigan, won the Somerset Hills Country Club Member-Guest in Bernardsville, N.J., using a Pelz Three-Ball. Though high on the list, he does not count it as his greatest achievement in golf. Aside from the Memorial Tournament Journalism Award, he said, No. 1 is winning the 2017 Gin Rummy Championship at Burning Tree Club in Bethesda, Md. Gin Rummy and editing, incidentally, are similar in one regard. No matter how well you do either, few outside your immediate circle are likely to know. Tarde is fine with that. “Success without fame,” he said, “is the sweetest life of all. I’m a rock star only to my two daughters and, occasionally, to my loving wife.” John Strege of Golf Digest is the author of six books, including a collaboration with Nathaniel Crosby, the New York Times bestseller, 18 Holes with Bing: Golf, Life, and Lessons from Dad.

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P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

WINNING THE 2016 MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE ONLY CHANGED WILLIAM M cGIRTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S PGA TOUR STATUS, NOT THE GENTLEMAN HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN by Gary Van Sickle

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

102

William McGirt and his son Mac after winning the 2016 Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide.

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5/2/17 10:00 AM

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

103 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

HE MISSISSIPPI SKY is a crystal blue canvas with scattered puffy clouds arranged like a cotton-ball flotilla, perfect for an autumn afternoon. It is Wednesday, pro-am day on the PGA TOUR, when pros slog around 18 holes with a team of amateur hackers. This is no ordinary Wednesday on TOUR, however. The proof is William McGirtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pro-am team battling its way up the finishing hole at the beautiful Country Club of Jackson. McGirt makes a nice up-and-down to save par, then one of the amateurs holes a medium-length putt that must be meaningful because he gives it a Tiger-worthy fist pump and trades high-fives with McGirt and his teammates. Handshakes ensue, followed by a few autographs and snapshots. McGirt promises to join his new friends for lunch as soon as he changes shoes and fulfills a quick PHOTO: RYAN YOUNG/PGA TOUR/GETTY IMAGES

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5/2/17 5:09 PM

PROFILE McGIRT MAY LEAD

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

Below: McGirt was just 8 years old when he won the 14-and-under division of the first Robeson County Junior Optimist Golf Championship at Pinecrest Country Club.

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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media obligation—this writer. I walk with him as he climbs the sharp slope to the clubhouse, where a security guard asks for his ID. McGirt shrugs. His badge is stowed in his golf bag, which is already en route to the parking lot via his caddie. “He’s a TOUR player,” I say, “he’s OK.” The guard frowns but we blow past him. McGirt may lead the league in badge checks. He doesn’t fit the modern PGA TOUR player mold—young, lanky, muscled and pedigreed. McGirt is 37, short and squat with a freckled face and curly reddish-blond hair. He looks a lot more like a baseball catcher, which he was once upon a time at his high school in tiny Fairmont, N.C., population 2,500. He was good enough to draw a few scholarship offers, but he opted for golf, his other sport, even though he didn’t play his first tournament until he was 16. McGirt would get out of school by 1:30, drive three-fourths of a mile to the local course and practice golf for two hours. Then he drove back to school, put on his Golden Tornadoes gear and practiced with the baseball team. He worked at the golf course on weekends and would practice at first light before his shift started. You don’t need Google maps to find Fairmont, by the way, just a ruler. “If you draw a line between Pinehurst and Myrtle

MEM17_MCGIRT_6.indd 104

Beach,” McGirt says, “it’s about halfway.” McGirt was born in nearby Lumberton, founded in 1787 to ship lumber downriver for the Navy. His golfing pedigree is earned. He found his own secrets in the dirt. McGirt’s career at Wofford College, home of the Terriers, was good—three tournament wins, including a conference championship—but a pro career never seemed to be in the cards. McGirt took three years off to help his father run a junior golf tour, improve his skills and save enough money to pursue professional golf. After he turned pro in 2004, it was seven more years of long drives (between mini-tour stops) before he beat the odds and advanced through the Web.com Tour to the PGA TOUR.

THE LEAGUE IN BADGE CHECKS. HE DOESN’T FIT THE MODERN PGA TOUR PLAYER MOLD— YOUNG, LANKY, MUSCLED AND PEDIGREED. McGIRT IS 37, SHORT AND SQUAT WITH A FRECKLED FACE AND CURLY REDDISH-BLOND HAIR.

This sunny day in Jackson is no ordinary Wednesday because McGirt is not even supposed to be in Mississippi. He validated his place by winning last year’s Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. He joined an elite club, that of PGA TOUR winners. But McGirt is not supposed to be here, at the Sanderson Farms Championship, on this fall afternoon. His elevated status from his Memorial win earned him a spot in the HSBC Champions in Shanghai. It is a World Golf Championship event, a big-money ($9.5 million), no-cut event for the world’s elite golfers. Yet McGirt is taking a pass. He is physically and mentally drained after the grind from June’s U.S. Open through September’s FedExCup Playoffs. Once he was back at his current home in Spartanburg, S.C., the idea of traveling halfway around the world and, even worse, spending another week away from his wife and two adorable kids was unthinkable. He is, in his own words, spent. A PGA TOUR rule prohibits McGirt from skipping a WGC event to play in an opposite-field event, so he was ineligible to tee it up in the Sanderson Farms Championship. Still, he is a small-town guy who wants to support the sponsor of the small-town tournament where he scored his first top-10 finish. So McGirt requested permission to come to Jackson to attend Tuesday night’s pro-am pairings party and play in the Wednesday pro-am. He was flying home that night after entertaining

MCGIRT FAMILY

Left: William McGirt was a “little shadow” to his aunt, Bev Capps, who was the first to hand him a golf club.

5/2/17 10:00 AM

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his amateur pals. Here’s that believe-it-ornot sentence again: McGirt came to Jackson to play in the pro-am, NOT to compete in the Sanderson Farms Championship. Who does that? Not Tiger Woods. Not Phil Mickelson. Probably not anybody in PGA TOUR history. Only McGirt. His authentic zeal to support one of the TOUR’s smallest but best-run events makes the clubhouse security guard’s ID request that much more ironic. As soon as we enter the player dining area, McGirt’s trip to the locker room takes a detour. A group of assorted Sanderson Farms Championship officials are lunching at a large round table. McGirt resumes his good Will mission. “Are these greens any good?” he asks the ensemble with a laugh. “I was almost salivating out there, they were so perfect. This tournament is way-yyy too good to be an opposite-field event, Tim.” Tim is Tim West, a silver-haired veteran with a hearty voice whose task is running the TOUR’s Monday qualifying tournaments, thus his moniker as Mister Monday. McGirt goes on earnestly about how much he loves this event and this sponsor, how much the area hospitals need the $1 million or so the tournament raises for charity and the “huge difference” that money makes. West blinks and pauses for a moment before he can speak. “You’re a class act, ’Girt.” McGirt chuckles. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that,” he jokes. There is more laughter. West adds, “Just so we’re on the same page, that’s the last time I’m ever going to say that.” The group erupts in a roar, McGirt gives them a wave, and we head into the locker room. Each TOUR player in the field has his name on a locker, arranged in alphabetical order. I slow down when we arrive at the ‘M’s to flip open my notebook for our brief interview. When I look up, McGirt isn’t there. Puzzled, I go around the corner and find him in the next aisle, pulling his street shoes out of an unmarked locker. “I don’t have a locker this week,” McGirt says. He’s grinning. He knows he fooled me. I nod in defeat. How could I have forgotten? Will McGirt is not supposed to be here.

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✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ A TALL PINE STANDS like a sentinel at the far end of the practice range at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club, oblivious to the 90-degree-plus heat and humidity. It is mid-afternoon in September and the Georgia sun still has plenty of fire. A handful of people watch from the pine’s shade as Will McGirt and two other TOUR players hit balls. This is no ordinary Wednesday on the PGA TOUR. This is the TOUR Championship, the climax of the FedExCup Playoffs. The top 30 players on the points list battle for $10 million. McGirt is here, which means he truly has arrived, literally and figuratively. His journeyman past is history, along with the Honda Passport on which he once racked up 215,000 miles before it died and its successor, a Honda Accord he drove for another 100,000. “I’ve never been afraid to get behind the wheel and go,” he says. McGirt is driven to succeed and for all those mini-tour years, he did the driving himself. All the glamor of being at East Lake is missing at this moment, however. McGirt’s shirt is drenched in the sweltering heat. He stops between swings to remove his shades and towel off his perpetually flushed

“I DON’T HAVE A LOCKER THIS WEEK,” McGIRT SAYS. HE’S GRINNING. HE KNOWS HE FOOLED ME. I NOD IN DEFEAT. HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN? WILL McGIRT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE.

face. Then it’s back to work, pounding balls. After a while, he and caddie Brandon Antus decide to break up the practice monotony and see if McGirt can skip a ball off the lake in front of the range and up onto the nearest target green. McGirt’s first few tries are low shots that carry completely over the lake. He hits one that skips off the water and onto land but well short of the green. He tries a few more swings. Finally, he strikes a beauty. The ball takes one big skip, careens onto the target green and then checks hard, almost magically darting left before it trickles to a stop. Mission accomplished. While it appears that McGirt is simply William McGirt (right) shakes hands with Zach Miller on the 18th green during the final round of the 2010 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament at Orange County National in Winter Garden, Fla.

GETTY IMAGES/ SCOTT HALLERAN

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fooling around, he is actually working on his shot-making skills. That Ben Hogan gent was all about shot making, if you recall. There is always one “Hardest Working Man in Golf,” the guy who’s on the range relentlessly pounding balls. It started with Hogan, who invented practice in the modern era, and the mantle was passed to Tom Kite, Vijay Singh, then Tiger Woods and now, our man McGirt. This may be another McGirt first—his name in the same sentence with Hogan and Woods. McGirt hits another half-bucket of full swings, then carries his launch monitor and remaining range balls toward the practice green. Two fans hold out flags for him to sign along the way. Spectators are sparse at East Lake on a sizzling Wednesday, and they’re not usually thick around McGirt, anyway. He is not a household name like Spieth, McIlroy or even Maytag. Around the chipping green, McGirt is

“ALL THESE GUYS WORK HARD, GRANTED, BUT FOR THE 12 YEARS I’VE BEEN ON THE PGA TOUR, WILLIAM IS THE HARDEST-WORKING AND MOST-COMMITTED PLAYER, BY FAR. I THINK IT TOOK HIM SO LONG TO GET HERE THAT HE DOESN’T WANT TO GIVE IT BACK.” — BRANDON ANTUS —

impressive. He lofts 25-yard pitch shots, some high, some low. They’re crisp, and they all land soft as caramel, rarely outside 5 feet from the flagstick. He hits two dozen

bunker shots, all expertly, except one. Wow, this man can save shots. “All these guys work hard, granted, but for the 12 years I’ve been on the PGA TOUR, William is the hardest-working and most-committed player, by far,” said Antus, who has notably caddied for Rocco Mediate, among others. “I think it took him so long to get here that he doesn’t want to give it back. So he puts in the time.” They first worked together at the Sony Open in Hawaii in 2011. McGirt was a range regular who hit balls incessantly until Antus told him what he’d learned about top-level golf—a great short game is the most important thing. “The next week in Palm Springs, he was out there until dark working hard on his short game,” Antus remembers. “I had to drag him off the course every night. He’s never stopped doing that. William is crazy good with his wedge now.”

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traveling so much easier, but I remember thinking, ‘Four hundred bucks? I don’t know about this.’ ” That’s a galaxy away from McGirt’s 2016. Not only did he win $3.6 million, he solidified his spot in the world rankings’

RYAN YOUNG/PGA TOUR

William McGirt coaching a youngster during the 2016 PGA TOUR Wives Association Wiffle Ball Classic presented by Krispy Kreme at Frederica Academy in Sea Island, Ga.

When he won last year’s Memorial Tournament, McGirt hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation during the final round—OK, one was technically on the fringe—but in the playoff against Jon Curran that lasted two holes, McGirt missed both greens. He saved pars. That’s what won him the Tournament. “That shows you what Will McGirt is made of because he made them look easy and they weren’t,” Antus said. “Jack Nicklaus even told him afterwards, ‘You’ve got one set of guts, son.’ That was a pretty cool statement coming from the greatest of all time.” The victory was worth $1.53 million. McGirt’s only previous professional win in an event that wasn’t a one- or two-day tourney came in the Tar Heel Tour’s Cabarrus Classic in 2007. He received $16,000. “My God, I thought I was rich,” he recalls. “I made a big purchase then to get a GPS so I didn’t have to print out a road map every week. It was the biggest thing I’d ever bought, really. It was awesome, it made

THE VICTORY WAS WORTH $1.53 MILLION. McGIRT’S ONLY PREVIOUS PROFESSIONAL WIN IN AN EVENT THAT WASN’T A ONE- OR TWO-DAY TOURNEY CAME IN THE TAR HEEL TOUR’S CABARRUS CLASSIC IN 2007. HE RECEIVED $16,000.

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top 50, played his first British Open, and befriended Memorial Tournament Founder and Host Jack Nicklaus. “I’m washing my hands in the locker room bathroom at the Memorial, Jack is at the sink beside me, and he doesn’t know my name,” McGirt said. “He says, ‘How’d it go out there?’ I say, ‘Ah, 2 under, I didn’t kill myself.’ We just chit-chatted. It was funny that on Thursday, he didn’t know my name, and Sunday he handed me the trophy.” In August, McGirt played a pro-am in Detroit in which Nicklaus was the honoree. During a group photo session, Nicklaus spots McGirt and says, “Hey, everyone—it’s the Memorial Tournament champion!” McGirt was moved by the pride in Jack’s voice. “I looked at him and said, ‘You know, that never gets old,’ ” McGirt says. “And it never will.” ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶

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THICK CLOUDS MUTE the colors of fall, which are building to a spectacular climax in New England. This is an ordinary Wednesday on the PGA TOUR. It’s a work day for McGirt, who empties bag after bag of balls on the TPC Boston practice range as he preps for the Deutsche Bank Championship (now the Dell Technologies Championship). Something is amiss, though. His slight right-to-left draw is stubbornly not cooperating today. When he wraps up his frustrating session, we walk across the parking lot and find two lounge chairs in the sumptuous clubhouse locker room. McGirt is just back from football homecoming weekend at Wofford, his first return to his alma mater during homecoming in eight years. The Terriers faced archrival Citadel. “Ah, we got beat in overtime,” McGirt says. McGirt attended because Wofford wanted to recognize him at halftime for his Memorial Tournament win. McGirt didn’t see much of the game because his three-and-a-half-yearold son, Mac, (real name Miles), found a hill at Gibb Stadium and a little sled. “He’d slide down the hill, walk back up and slide down it again,” McGirt says. “He had a blast.” Wofford is where McGirt met his wife Sarah. She was the quiet, stay-in-the-dorm-room type while McGirt played the come-on-down-to-the-party role. Their first date featured his Geo Prizm, with 190,000 miles and an awkward dinner at O‘Charley’s, but things soon progressed better. “It was kind of love at first sight for me,” McGirt says. “It took some convincing on her part.” They married a few years later on Memorial Day weekend in 2004 and after a brief honeymoon, McGirt relocated to Myrtle Beach to play the Gateway Tour and continue his golfing apprenticeship. Mac was born in January of 2013 and Caroline was born last year. They live in Spartanburg, Sarah’s hometown. Becoming a father was a key part of how McGirt went from a journeyman to a PGA TOUR winner. Until Mac was born, McGirt realized, golf consumed him. “Before we had kids, golf

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was my whole life,” he says. “Now, as soon as I walk in the door the kids don’t care if I shot 65 or 85, they’re just glad Daddy’s home. Golf does not define me. This has been a heck of a year, even without the win, and I attribute a lot of it to simply having more fun.” Success breeds fun, which reminds McGirt about the Wofford halftime show. He’s got a video on his cell phone, which he pulls out. He presses a button and there he is, Wofford legend William McGirt, lining up in front of 11,000 fans during halftime to try a 40-yard field goal—using a lob wedge to hit the football instead of his foot. Whaaaat?? The ball is down, McGirt swings the club and… the football splits the uprights. It’s good! The crowd cheers. This is McGirt in a nutshell. A shot that seems extraordinary turns out to be a product of practice. The day before, McGirt

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“...AS SOON AS I WALK IN THE DOOR THE KIDS DON’T CARE IF I SHOT 65 OR 85, THEY’RE JUST GLAD DADDY’S HOME. GOLF DOES NOT DEFINE ME. THIS HAS BEEN A HECK OF A YEAR...” — WILLIAM McGIRT —

experimented with two grossly under-inflated footballs that went nowhere went struck by a lob wedge. He switched to a fully inflated leather football and attempted a modest extra-point from the 10. He shockingly hit the football into the parking lot. He moved back to the 20 and nearly reached the parking lot again. Another try from the

30, he says, “would’ve been good from 50.” It’s the McGirt formula: Practice, work, succeed. After his kick, or whatever you call it, McGirt signed a handful of souvenir footballs and lob-wedged them into the stands. “It was fun,” McGirt says of a halftime that was like no other. So, who is the second-most famous Wofford alum, I ask? McGirt shakes his head and shoots down my presumption that he’s No. 1. No, he says, it has to be Jerry Richardson, owner of the Carolina Panthers. He also mentions NBC broadcaster Craig Melvin. “Oh, and Wendy Nix at ESPN,” he adds. “I’m definitely behind her.” Maybe not, I suggest, after 2016. McGirt smiles like he may never stop. “Best year ever,” he says. Gary Van Sickle has covered golf since 1980.

William McGirt Tournamnent trophy and his wife Sarah, daughter Caroline and son Mac, along with Jack and Barbara Nicklaus after winning the 41st Memorial.

GETTY IMAGES/ CHRIS CONDON

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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AFTER NUMEROUS MINI-TOUR STOPS AND 164 PGA TOUR ENTRIES, WILLIAM McGIRT LANDS

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THAT ELUSIVE FIRST WIN by Dave Hackenberg

William McGirt raises an arm in triumph on the 18th green at Muirfield Village Golf Club last year after his breakthrough victory in the 41st Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide.

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119 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

ILLIAM MCGIRT walked to the first tee at the 2016 Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide as one of the many players on the PGA TOUR who has plenty of talent but not much name recognition. Oh, he’d played in Jack Nicklaus’ grand event a few times in previous years, with a missed cut and two 72-hole scores far down the list of finishers. Needless to say, McGirt was not among those summoned for a pre-Tournament press conference— although post-round interviews were about to become part of his future. It wasn’t something he was used to doing. His last victory was in 2007 at Cabarrus Country Club in North Carolina on something called the Tar Heel Tour. That was mixed in there with the Hooters Tour, the Carolina Mountains RYAN YOUNG/PGA TOUR/GETTY IMAGES

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JUST A COUPLE WEEKS SHORT OF HIS 37TH BIRTHDAY, IN HIS 165TH START ON THE PGA TOUR— AND HUNDREDS OF OTHER STARTS ON MORE TOURS... McGIRT HAD THAT ELUSIVE FIRST VICTORY AND A PAYCHECK WORTH $1.53 MILLION.

than even he could remember off the top of his head—McGirt had that elusive first victory and a paycheck worth $1.53 million. And so much more. He remembered that first-place finish on the Tar Heel Tour in ’07 had paid $16,000, “and I thought I’d hit it big. It seems like it was yesterday, but it seems like it has been a lifetime ago. I think you have to get your nose bloodied some to learn how to handle it, and I definitely had my nose bloodied a few times. “It’s one of those things that even once I got here [2011] I didn’t really know if I belonged. Finished 141st [on the money list] my rookie year and got my card back at Q-school. I kept it the next year and almost won in Canada, and it was like, ‘OK, you

belong out here now.’ ” After his Memorial finish, there would be no further questions. But McGirt’s opening-round 70 was an afterthought on a day when yet another little-known player, Hudson Swafford, made the turn in 29 and had people thinking about that magic number.

Matt Kuchar (left), winner of the 2013 Memorial, and McGirt walk up the 18th hole during the final round of regulation play.

RYAN YOUNG/PGA TOUR/GETTY IMAGES

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Tour, the All-Star Tour, the Carolinas Pro Tour, the Gateway Tour and others. “Yeah, I need some help,” he would say later about his mini-tour affiliations. “I don’t have enough fingers and toes [to count them]. It was a lot.” When McGirt strode off the No. 10 tee to begin Thursday’s opening round last June, only a scattered few fans joined in the march to follow him and his playing partners Roberto Castro and Patrick Rodgers. McGirt birdied that first hole, but was uneven from there. With a pair of bogeys after making the turn, the South Carolinian was 1-over par after 12 holes. His gallery wasn’t exactly growing. Three days later, however, all eyes at Muirfield Village Golf Club and those watching from home on TV were on him and, after two holes of a sudden-death playoff with another largely unknown professional, Jon Curran, McGirt was the last man standing. Just a couple weeks short of his 37th birthday, in his 165th start on the PGA TOUR—and hundreds of other starts on more tours

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After sinking a 7-foot par putt on the second playoff hole, William McGirt celebrates.

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“With this back nine, 59 is pretty tough. You’ve still got to shoot 30,” said Swafford, who ended up playing defensively on the greens and settled for a 66, even with world No. 1 Jason Day, a Muirfield Village member, and two shots behind the red-hot Dustin Johnson, who would win the U.S. Open a few weeks later at Oakmont. Matt Kuchar, the 2013 Memorial winner, shot a pair of 66s to sit atop the leaderboard with Brendan Steele at 12-under 132 after two rounds. Periods of light rain on Saturday left Muirfield Village even more defenseless, and McGirt took dead aim at some pins. He went low with a sterling 64 to jump into a three-way tie with Kuchar and Gary Woodland at 14-under 202. On Sunday, all those bloodied noses would pay off for McGirt. He had been on the brink of winning before, including at the 2012 Canadian Open, his first runner-up finish. A few weeks later,

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Tiger Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava, saw McGirt on the putting green at the PGA Championship at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island and congratulated him on his near miss. “I only have one regret,” McGirt told LaCava. “I never looked at a leaderboard all day.” Woods, practicing nearby, snapped his head up and said, “What?” McGirt explained it was his first time in title contention and that he didn’t want to get caught up at watching the scoreboards and having it mess up how he was thinking and playing. “And Tiger said, ‘Kobe doesn’t look at the scoreboard with a minute to go in the game?’ ” Lesson learned. So there were no mysteries for McGirt as the final round, interrupted by a 90-minute, mid-afternoon weather delay, unfolded. McGirt’s only birdie of the day came at the par-5 fifth hole (he played it in 5-under over four days, including a third-round eagle) to get to 15 under par. Down the stretch he watched as Woodland and Kuchar both spun out, with each shooting 73, while Johnson, who had been lurking throughout the week, played the back nine in 2 over par and settled for a 71 and third place. Rory McIlroy’s late birdie flurry gave him a 68 and a share of fourth place at 275 with J.B. Holmes, who had a 69. “I won half of my golf tournaments watching everyone else self-destruct,” said Tournament Founder and Host Jack Nicklaus. “I didn’t win them. They just self-destructed. And today the only guys who didn’t self-destruct were Will and Jon. They both came right down the stretch playing well.” Curran, a second-year player appearing in his first Memorial, also had been hanging around from start with rounds of 68-67-68

ABOVE: RYAN YOUNG/PGA TOUR; LEFT: ANDY LYONS/GETTY IMAGES

Below: Jon Curran fired a final-round 70 to tie McGirt at 15-under 273, one stroke ahead of Dustin Johnson.

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2016 MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT RECAP

LESSON LEARNED. SO THERE WERE NO MYSTERIES FOR McGIRT AS THE FINAL ROUND, INTERRUPTED BY A 9O-MINUTE

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2016 FINAL RESULTS

1 2 3 4

William McGirt Jon Curran Dustin Johnson Rory McIlroy J.B. Holmes Gary Woodland Matt Kuchar 8 Patrick Reed Keegan Bradley Kevin Streelman 11 Marc Leishman Tony Finau Charl Schwartzel Byeong Hun An Roberto Castro John Senden Webb Simpson Emiliano Grillo Adam Hadwin 20 Smylie Kaufman Kyle Reifers Brendan Steele Matt Jones Phil Mickelson Robert Streb Soren Kjeldsen 27 David Lingmerth David Hearn John Huh Jason Day Scott Brown Zac Blair 33 Jason Dufner Geoff Ogilvy Lucas Glover Brian Harman Russell Henley

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70 68 64 71 71 68 66 68 68 67 69 70 68 71 70 69 69 67 70 71 71 65 71 68 68 71 68 66 69 66 69 69 68 68 70 68 68

68 67 71 66 68 65 66 71 69 68 71 69 69 70 70 70 70 66 66 67 67 67 68 69 73 69 73 73 69 71 67 67 70 69 67 70 70

64 68 68 70 67 69 70 69 70 69 69 70 72 69 71 68 66 70 67 71 71 75 68 69 64 64 68 72 67 68 69 68 70 70 73 69 69

71 70 71 68 69 73 73 68 69 72 68 68 68 67 66 70 72 74 74 69 69 71 71 72 73 74 70 68 74 74 74 75 72 73 70 73 73

273 $1,530,000 273 $918,000 274 $578,000 275 $334,688 275 $334,688 275 $334,688 275 $334,688 276 $246,500 276 $246,500 276 $246,500 277 $158,667 277 $158,667 277 $158,667 277 $158,667 277 $158,667 277 $158,667 277 $158,667 277 $158,667 277 $158,667 278 $88,643 278 $88,643 278 $88,643 278 $88,643 278 $88,643 278 $88,643 278 $88,643 279 $59,075 279 $59,075 279 $59,075 279 $59,075 279 $59,075 279 $59,075 280 $45,900 280 $45,900 280 $45,900 280 $45,900 280 $45,900

and then made a crucial birdie on the 17th hole on Sunday to complete a 70 and tie McGirt at 15 under. When McGirt navigated a twoputt from 65 feet on the final hole to save par, the two headed for overtime. Curran watched a birdie putt burn the edge of the cup on the first playoff hole, then returned to No. 18 once again and had an 8-iron shot out of a fairway bunker go long and left—he suggested the wind and a little adrenaline caused him to “smash” it—and it led to a bogey. McGirt also missed the green, but he converted a sweet up-anddown, nailing his par putt from 7 feet and ending it. It marked the Memorial Tournament’s third straight playoff, producing a third consecutive first-time PGA TOUR winner. It was a bloody good show. Dave Hackenberg is a retired golf writer and sports columnist from The Blade in Toledo, Ohio.

McGirt celebrates his Memorial Tournament win with his son Mac.

ANDY LYONS/GETTY IMAGES

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

WEATHER DELAY, UNFOLDED.

5/3/17 6:59 AM

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RETROSPECTIVE: 1992 MEMORIAL

25 years ago…

OUT the DARK AS NIGHT BEGAN TO CREEP OVER MUIRFIELD VILLAGE GOLF CLUB, DAVID EDWARDS LIT THE WAY IN A SUDDEN-DEATH PLAYOFF THAT WAS SEVEN HOURS IN THE MAKING

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by Bob Baptist

HEN OFFICIALS of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide persuaded the PGA TOUR to slide the Tournament’s dates back a few weeks in 1992, to June, all concerned hoped they finally had outmaneuvered Mother Nature, who had besieged the event with rain and cold for four of the previous five years. As usual, she laughed last. “I’m not sure we finished any of the rounds on the proper day,” David Edwards said recently. They did, actually. Twice. But considering that Edwards needed 20 holes and more than seven hours before defeating Rick Fehr in near-darkness on the final day at Muirfield Village Golf Club, don’t blame him, 25 years later, for being fuzzy Greens softened by on the details. June rains helped David Edwards win “I don’t know if you’re even thinking at that point,” said Edwards, who the 1992 Memorial finished off Fehr on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff with the Tournament. clock approaching 9 p.m. EDT. “You’re just kind of playing. You’re a little bit numb.” Edwards, then 36, had wondered whether he’d win again on the TOUR; it had been eight years since his last victory at the Los Angeles Open (now the Genesis Open). “I’m sure there were times I was fairly close and had a chance and didn’t [win], but that’s just the way golf always was for me,” he said. “I wasn’t a great junior golfer. I wasn’t winning all the time. I was used to not winning. That wasn’t the end of the world for me. I just always worked hard and tried to win, but it came when it came.” On a course as large as Muirfield Village, a short hitter such as Edwards was not considered a threat. But persistent rain that delayed play four times softened the greens to the point where Edwards could fire his longer approach shots at the pins with the same impunity as his stronger competitors did.

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT ARCHIVE

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He and Fehr, a 29-year-old from Redmond, Wash., began the final round tied for sixth place and five strokes off the pace set by Joey Sindelar, a former Ohio State All-American and crowd favorite who had received a special exemption to play in the Tournament. But Sindelar squandered all of a three-stroke lead when he played his first four holes 4 over par. The meltdown became water torture as rain began falling after Sindelar’s opening bogey and idled him and his pursuers for 2 hours, 20 minutes. The TOUR’s decision to resume play at 4:50 p.m., was controversial. Some players felt much of the course—especially the low-lying fifth, 11th and 14th fairways—was too wet, and “if one hole was unplayable, then the course was unplayable,” Mark Brooks said. The alternatives were to postpone the round until Monday or, because half of the field had not finished, cancel it, revert to the 54hole scoreboard and declare Sindelar the winner, as Greg Norman had been two years earlier. They decided to press on, and as Sindelar came back to the field, six others held at least a share of the lead over the next four hours. With two holes to play, Fehr had it alone at 16 under par. But he missed a 6-foot par putt on No. 17 to fall into a tie with Edwards, who had birdied the last two holes with 20- and 12-foot putts to finish at 15-under 273. “Joey was behind us and had a chance to tie,” Edwards said. “It was getting close to dark by this time, so they put us in a cart and ran us out to 16 and said if Joey [birdied] 18, they were going to bring him out there. He missed [a 10-foot putt], so they said, ‘OK, flip a coin, here we go.’ ” Both men parred 16 and were told before teeing off 17 that it would be the last hole. Another tie meant returning Monday. But Fehr stumbled again at 17. His drive stopped in a fairway puddle from which he received relief. But his free drop sank into the spongy turf to the point it appeared embedded, he said. A tour official ruled otherwise. His approach came up 25 yards short of the green, in heavy rough. He chopped out to 12 feet but missed the par putt, and Edwards two-putted from 20 feet for the victory.

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT ARCHIVE

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Scenes from the 1992 Memorial Tournament included the traditional appearance of The Ohio State University Marching Band as well as the Tournament Founder and Host signing autographs.

5/2/17 5:33 PM

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THE 1992 MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT FINAL RESULTS 1 David Edwards 71 65 70 67 273 $234,000 2 Rick Fehr

69 70 67 67 273 $140,400

3 Payne Stewart 72 70 66 66 274 Joey Sindelar 69 65 67 73 274

$75,400 $75,400

5 Nolan Henke

65 69 71 70 275

$49,400

67 68 69

Mark Brooks

7 David Frost Larry Mize

71 275

$49,400

72 70 69 65 276

$37,830

73 66 69 68 276

$37,830

74 67 67 68 276

$37,830

Vijay Singh

73 68 66 69 276

$37,830

Bob Gilder

71 67 68 70 276

$37,830

12 Lee Janzen

74 70 67 66 277

$28,600

71 67 66 73 277

$28,600

14 Steve Elkington 75 66 70 67 278

$22,100

Billy Andrade 72 72 69 65 278

$22,100

Andrew Magee 71 67 71 69 278

$22,100

9 Tom Kite

Jeff Maggert

Tom Purtzer

70 69 69 70 278

$22,100

Paul Azinger

68 67 71 72 278

$22,100

19 J. Gallagher, Jr. 70 69 72 68 279

$16,315

Davis Love III 70 68 72 69 279

$16,315

Joe Ozaki

$16,315

73 69 68 69 279

Curtis Strange 72 67 68 72 279 23 Dillard Pruitt

$12,480

Fred Funk

68 72 70 70 280

$12,480

Don Pooley

68 67 70 75 280

$12,480

26 Tom Watson

72 70 70 69 281

$8,847

Fuzzy Zoeller 74 69 69 69 281

$8,847

28 Bruce Fleisher 71 70 70 70 281

$8,847

76 68 68 69 281

$8,847

Duffy Waldorf 74 71 67 69 281

$8,847

Jim Woodward 71 69 70

David Gilford

71 281

$8,847

71 72 71 67 281

$8,847

Greg Norman 69 73 67 72 281

$8,847

Brian Claar

$8,847

David Toms

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71 69 68 73 281

Bob Baptist retired from The Columbus Dispatch in 2015 after 37 years as the newspaper’s golf writer. He covered every Memorial Tournament from 1978 through 2014.

$16,315

71 70 70 69 280

Looking back on his nearly 30 years on TOUR, Edwards said winning the Memorial and finishing third in the Masters in 1984 were his most memorable moments. “I always felt like the Memorial was close to a major as far as the condition of the course and the field,” he said. “Nobody else calls it a major, but to me, it’s very similar.” Now 61, he has disappeared from professional golf since a brief stay on the PGA TOUR Champions from 2006-09, during which he won one title and more than $2.5 million. The only reason he played the senior circuit, he said, was to replenish losses from a disastrous business venture in his 40s that cost him “a good bit” of the nearly $5 million he had won. “I didn’t really play to be in the limelight,” Edwards said. “I played to make a living” and finance his hobbies, which once included auto racing and flying his own airplane and now center around racing remote-controlled cars. Otherwise, he is content being home in Stillwater, Okla., with his wife Jonnie and their daughter, Rachel Lewis, and helping raise their three-year-old granddaughter Nyla, whose mother Abby, the Edwards’ younger daughter, died in an automobile accident three years ago. Rachel and her husband have custody of the child, and David and his wife help care for Nyla three days a week while Rachel, 33, attends graduate school. Edwards said he played golf four or five times last year, mostly in scrambles. He doesn’t miss the game because he always enjoyed the competition more. “The best analogy I can make is, have you ever sat down and played blackjack with no money? It becomes kind of pointless,” Edwards said. “That’s how golf feels to me now.”

Edwards celebrates his Memorial victory with his daughter, Rachel.

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT ARCHIVE

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

RETROSPECTIVE: 1992 MEMORIAL

5/2/17 5:33 PM

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

MUIRFIELD VILLAGE GOLF CLUB Hole-by-Hole

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

137 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

C O U R S E P H OTO G R A P H Y BY J I M M A N D E V I L L E

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

139 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 4 YARDS 470

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

4.077 7TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.128

AVERAGE SCORE

8TH

DIFFICULTY

A SLIGHT DOGLEG RIGHT FROM AN ELEVATED TEE to a wide fairway, which slopes from right to left. Bunkers in the driving area can catch a sliced or pushed drive, and a hook or pull might find a creek threading through the woods that line the left side of the hole. The green is the largest on the course, with four bunkers guarding it at left, right and rear.

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5/4/17 11:58 AM

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

141 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 4 YARDS 455

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

3.954 11TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.169 2ND

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

A CREEK FLANKS THE ENTIRE RIGHT SIDE of the hole from 100 yards out and abuts the right edge and rear of the green, but challenging the right side of the fairway is the best play because trees impede the approach from a drive hit too far left, and the green is bunkered at front right and rear left. Accuracy is at a premium on one of the tougher par 4s.

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

143 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 4 YARDS 401

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

3.856 14TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.060 14TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

A DOWNHILL DRIVE to a generous fairway, then an approach over a lake to a small, two-tiered green cut into a hillside. A drive too far left might find a creek running along the woods line, leaving nowhere to drop that permits a clear shot to the green. Water awaits the weak approach and sand the over-bold shot. One of Muirfield Village Golf Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most scenically spectacular holes and tougher than it looks. TH E M EM O R IA L

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143

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

145 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 3 YARDS 200

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

3.085 6TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

3.165

AVERAGE SCORE

3RD

DIFFICULTY

THIS FIRST OF THE FOUR par 3s slopes gently downhill to a long, narrow, heavily bunkered green cut into a hillside. The disaster area is the depression left of the green. Rolling hillsides framing the entire right side of the hole offer ideal viewing areas for spectators. A strong test of medium- to long-iron play.

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5/4/17 11:58 AM

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

147 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 5 YARDS 527

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

4.598 16TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.749 17TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

DOWNHILL AGAIN from the tee, between wooded hillsides to a wide, level fairway. Some 300 yards out, a creek bordering the left side of the hole swings into the fairway, which it then bisects all the way to the green. The creek finally becomes a moat around the entire left side of the green, which is bunkered at right and left rear. The green is small and one of the most undulating on the course.

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5/4/17 11:58 AM

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

149 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 4 YARDS 447

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

3.918 12TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.091 12TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

A CLUSTER OF BUNKERS cut into the left hillside and a strategically placed fairway bunker to the right puts a premium on the tee shot. The ideal line is the left-center of the fairway, leaving a clear shot over water and sand to a medium-size green. A challenging hole that can require a long-iron or even a metalwood second shot when it plays against the wind. TH E M EM O R IA L

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149

5/4/17 11:58 AM

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

151 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 5 YARDS 563

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

4.482 18TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.771 16TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

AN EXPOSED, ELEVATED, bunker-lined, double-dogleg hole, reachable in two by only the longest hitters. A rough-grassed swale sweeps in from the right side across in front of the green. Bunkers guard the front left, right and rear right of the putting surface, which breaks severely off to the left towards a wooded ravine. Not an easy hole to birdie, but the farther left the conservative player is on his second shot, the easier his third becomes.

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5/4/17 11:58 AM

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

153 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 3 YARDS 185

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

2.985 10TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

3.079 13TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

BACK TO WOODED COUNTRY, this time dogwood, beech and hickory trees almost completely surround the shortest of the par-3 holes. The tee shot is appealingly downhill, but the plateau green is almost entirely surrounded by sand, including a pot bunker guarding the back left. The valley between tee and green adds to the difficulty of club selection by making the hole look longer than it is.

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

155 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 4 YARDS 412

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

4.064 8TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.108 11TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

ONE OF MUIRFIELD VILLAGEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S most challenging driving holes. Too far right from the tee and trees block the approach. Too far left and a steep, wooded hillside threatens even more serious trouble. The tilted green is spectacularly framed by a lake, a creek and a bold hillside and must often be approached from an angled lie, even off a good drive. TH E M EM O R IA L

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155

5/4/17 11:58 AM

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

157 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

10 H O L E

PAR 4 YARDS 471

2016

4.103

AVERAGE SCORE

S T A T I S T I C S

5TH

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.156

AVERAGE SCORE

5TH

DIFFICULTY

COMPARATIVELY OPEN terrain and, along with the 15th hole, one of only two uphill drives at Muirfield Village. Sand guards both sides of the driving zone and a large, many-ďŹ ngered bunker fronting the green threatens the under-hit approach. A rugged hole demanding both power and precision, and one of the toughest par 4s on the second nine, especially when played into the wind. TH E M EM O R IA L

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157

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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11 H O L E

PAR 5 YARDS 567

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

4.740 15TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.902 15TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

RUNNING THE LENGTH of a lovely valley between high, wooded hills, this hole is the arena for a huge amphitheater capable of accommodating a great many spectators. The drive is enticingly downhill to a wide fairway, but a creek cuts diagonally across the fairway at about 320 yards from the tee, then hugs it on the right before swinging left again in front of the small, elevated green. An inviting hole to gamble on, but two perfect shots are necessary to get home.

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

161 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

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PAR 3 YARDS 184

2016

3.134

AVERAGE SCORE

S T A T I S T I C S

4TH

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

3.142

AVERAGE SCORE

7TH

DIFFICULTY

MUIRFIELD VILLAGE GOLF CLUB’S favorite hole among photographers features the course’s largest lake. The tee shot is played from a wooded hillside entirely across water to a two-tiered, kidney-shaped green cut into another hillside and set diagonally to the line of play. Bunkers flank the right front and rear left of the green. Miss it and the ball will generally ﬁnd either sand or water.

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

163 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 4 YARDS 455

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

3.997 9TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.114 10TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

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165 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 4 YARDS 363

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

3.894 13TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.118

AVERAGE SCORE

9TH

DIFFICULTY

ANOTHER DOWNHILL TEE SHOT, once again into a wide, tree-lined valley. About 245 yards from the championship tee, a creek emerges from the left woods to border the fairway for some 40 yards before angling across it and then on down to flank the right side of the green. The green is long and narrow and heavily guarded left by several bunkers. A definite birdie opportunity, but only for the very accurate player. TH E M EM O R IA L

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165

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

167 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 5 YARDS 529

S T A T I S T I C S

2016

4.585 17TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.685 18TH

AVERAGE SCORE

DIFFICULTY

AN INTRIGUING PAR 5 cut arrow-straight through the heart of a forest. The ideal drive is to the crest of the hill, from where the long hitter should be trying to get home in two. Thwarting him will be the steep slope fronting the green, a couple of deep bunkers and the small size of the targetâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not to mention the trees crowding in left and right. There will be many birdies here, but there also will be some disasters.

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

169 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 3 YARDS 201

2016

3.232

AVERAGE SCORE

1ST

S T A T I S T I C S

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

3.149

AVERAGE SCORE

6TH

DIFFICULTY

REDESIGNED IN 2010 for The Presidents Cup 2013, Jack Nicklaus turned a fine par-3 into a more challenging and visually intimidating hole featuring a pond guarding the length of the green on the left. The putting surface is smaller than the original, and it has been turned horizontally to the teeing ground. A front hole location is very difficult sitting between the water and two bunkers.

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

171 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 4 YARDS 478

2016

4.137

AVERAGE SCORE

S T A T I S T I C S

3RD

DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.157

AVERAGE SCORE

4TH

DIFFICULTY

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171

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173 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

H O L E

PAR 4 YARDS 484

2016

4.147

AVERAGE SCORE

S T A T I S T I C S

2ND DIFFICULTY

1976-2016

4.239

AVERAGE SCORE

1ST

DIFFICULTY

AN INVITING DOWNHILL DRIVE leads to an ample fairway, though bunkers threaten at the corner of the dogleg to the right. A long drive hit too far left can find the creek threading the tree line or can be blocked by a cluster of black walnut trees. The approach is uphill across a swale to a large two-tiered green bunkered at front left, front right, left and rear right. A spectacular finishing hole capable of accommodating more than 20,000 spectators.

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12 11

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

174

PAR AND YARDAGE HOLE PAR YARDAGE HOLE PAR

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 OUT

4 470 4 455 4 401 3 200 5 527 4 447 5 563 3 185 4 412 36 3,660

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 IN

4 5 3 4 4 5 3 4 4 36

YARDAGE

471 567 184 455 363 529 201 478 484 3,732

72 7,392Â

5 7

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

175 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

4 1

Gary Player | Class of 1974

Arnold Palmer | Class of 1974

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Jack Nicklaus | Class of 1974

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Leaving a

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178

LEGACY OUTGOING COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM BROUGHT THE PGA TOUR INTO THE MODERN AGE, INCREASING PLAYER PURSES AND MONEY FOR CHARITY AMONG OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS by Jim McCabe

T THE HEART OF GOLF are numbers. They tell stories. They tell you who won, where tournaments were lost. They also scream history and significance. For instance, 18 is the gold standard. You hear 18, you think of Jack Nicklaus’ total of major championships. All you need to do is mention 63 and the mind focuses in on Johnny Miller’s epic closing round to win the 1973 U.S. Open. There are others who’ve joined the club, of course, but 59 should make you say, “Al Geiberger,” the first to conquer the magic barrier. Onward we could go, from 11 (Byron Nelson’s incomparable winning streak) to six (green jackets won by Nicklaus) to 15 (Tiger Woods’ record margin of victory at the 2000 U.S. Open). But, if a couple of other numbers were introduced—say, $56.4 million and $338.8 million—likely folks would be stymied. Understandable, too, though if you’ve been a member of the PGA TOUR the last 20 years or so, you should have an inkling what those numbers are and why they speak volumes for the job Tim Finchem did as PGA TOUR commissioner. PHOTO: CHRIS CONDON/PGA TOUR

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P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

LEAVING A LEGACY

Tim Finchem, speaking at the podium, is surrounded by members from The Presidents Cup 2013 teams who were honored during a reception hosted by President Barack Obama (right of Finchem) at the White House in June 2014.

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

FedExCup and TOUR Championship winner Rory McIlroy holds the trophy with Tim Finchem after the 2016 TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club.

What $56.4 million represents is the total prize money for the PGA TOUR season when Finchem began his tenure in 1994. And $338.8 million is what the prize money is for 2016-17, his exit season. By any measure, that is massive growth, the type that should be at the focal point of Finchem’s legacy, only you won’t get any fuel from him. “When you use the word ‘legacy,’ I think you have to stick with Deane Beman,” Finchem said, referring to the man who was his predecessor. In Finchem’s mind, Beman still is owed the greatest share of credit for the growth of the PGA TOUR,

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“because when he took over in 1974 the net worth of the PGA TOUR was $150,000.” In all due respect to Finchem’s humility and the job that Beman did as the TOUR’s second commissioner (1974-1994), there are talking points that go beyond the incredible growth in purses. When one assesses Finchem’s 22-year command—which officially came to an end Jan. 1 of 2017 when Jay Monahan succeeded him—it should be remembered how he navigated the PGA TOUR into the era of World Golf Championships (1999) and the global golf explosion, how he oversaw

WHEN ONE ASSESSES FINCHEM’S 22-YEAR COMMAND …HE OVERSAW THE INTRODUCTION OF THE FEDEXCUP PLAYOFFS ... HE MADE IT A PRIORITY TO MAKE MASSIVE UPGRADES TO THE PRESIDENTS CUP, THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP, AND THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP; … (AND) HE HELPED PAVE THE WAY FOR THE FIRST TEE PROGRAM.

the introduction of the FedExCup playoffs; how he made it a priority to make massive upgrades to The Presidents Cup, THE PLAYERS Championship, and the TOUR Championship; how he helped pave the way for The First Tee program. Most significantly, however, it should

STAN BADZ/PGA TOUR (3)

180

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With Tim Finchem’s retirement, has big shoes to fill— and he’s just the man for the job

T IS REASSURING, PERHAPS, that Jay Monahan, who is just the fourth commissioner in PGA TOUR history, is an avid golfer—a Division II Academic All-American at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., (Class of ’93) who favors a rightto-left ball flight and fashions soft hands on deft greenside shots. But what shapes the well-rounded flavor of Monahan’s personality and the depth of his character and business acumen are experiences with other corners of the sports world. Ice hockey, for instance. “He had a feisty streak to him,” said John Dunham, Monahan’s hockey coach at Trinity. There’s an adventurous streak, too. Monahan joined three Trinity classmates in a bike ride from Maine to Seattle in 1993, and in 2015 he went with then-commissioner Tim Finchem on a nine-day walk in the Himalayas. Then there is America’s national pastime. Monahan was up close and personal with Major League Baseball as an executive with Fenway Sports Management, a marketing agency beneath a business umbrella that includes the Boston Red Sox. Had he stayed on that tract, Monahan likely would be a Red Sox executive, but the pull of golf was too strong, so in 2008 he accepted an offer to become executive director of THE PLAYERS Championship. Within a year, Monahan was promoted into business operations, and by 2012 it was pretty clear to PGA TOUR insiders that Finchem had decided on his successor. “He doesn’t have a negative moment in his day,” said Finchem, who was 47 when he became commissioner in 1994 and liked the symmetry. Monahan was 46 when named, and like Finchem, had also been in business affairs, then COO and deputy commissioner. But unlike Finchem, Monahan possesses grassroots tournament knowledge. He worked as EMC’s lead man when it sponsored the World Golf Championships-World Cup in 2000-02, and in 2003-04 he was director of the Deutsche Bank Championship. Monahan also strikes a warmer, people-friendly side, as players and caddies have already discovered. After Monahan offered a congratulatory handshake to Mayakoba winner Pat Perez, the 16-year PGA TOUR veteran told a radio interviewer, “I don’t think I’ve ever even met Tim Finchem.” Monahan inherits from Finchem a mega-rich PGA TOUR with an assortment of issues that require his attention—a changing media, a jam-packed schedule and global expansion, among other things. Some would say they are challenges, but Monahan smiles and shakes his head. Jay Monahan (left), the new PGA TOUR Commissioner, “I see them as opportunities,” he said, that half-full with his predecessors Deane glass held firmly.

181 P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

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JAY MONAHAN

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

never be overlooked how in the face of all the gloom and doom that was predicted for the PGA TOUR after the economic downturn of 2008, Finchem not only kept things afloat, he also moved things forward. Impressively, too. “He’s built the TOUR and grown the sport,” said one of Finchem’s biggest fans, Jack Nicklaus, the aforementioned record holder in major victories and Founder and Host of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. “Not only here [in the U.S.] but around the world.” In Nicklaus, Finchem said he had a priceless source of reason and perspective. When he looks back on his career, Finchem said that his relationship with Nicklaus will be something he cherishes. “It has been an honor to work closely with Jack Nicklaus on a number of projects. One of the most gratifying, personally, has been to work together to elevate the status of the Memorial Tournament, giving it a higher profile befitting a legend of the game,” Finchem said. Nicklaus also can appreciate Finchem’s leadership on two fronts. As a former competitor, Nicklaus knows financial opportunities were increased exponentially for players on Finchem’s watch. (In 1995, nine PGA TOUR pros earned at least $1 million in prize money; in 2015-16, 107 golfers cracked that figure and 46 surpassed the $2 million mark.) But so, too, did the Golden Bear say that Finchem “has been very responsive to the sponsors” and spread himself productively. “One of the things that has led me to always think so very highly about Tim is that Tim has never missed the Memorial Tournament,” Nicklaus said. “He’s been part of what we’ve done.” You might hear that from tournament directors from Maui to East Lake, too, because Finchem’s quiet but business-like demeanor has produced unprecedented growth not only with purses, but also with exposure for the PGA TOUR via network television and a partnership with the Golf Channel. All of it very bullish stuff from the son of a Marine who went to the University of Richmond on a debate scholarship and whose formative years showed no connection to golf whatsoever. And then from the

Beman and Tim Finchem.

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LEAVING A LEGACY

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

182

Top: The Presidents Cup 2013 host Jack Nicklaus, President George W. Bush and Tim Finchem on hole No. 1 during the first day of the matches at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Middle left: Finchem with Arnold Palmer. Middle right: Finchem and Byron Nelson at The Presidents Cup 1994. Bottom: During the 1995 Bob Hope Classic, from left, President Gerald Ford, tournament host Bob Hope, President Bill Clinton, Tim Finchem, defending champion Scott Hoch, and President George H.W. Bush.

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University of Virginia School of Law to a firm that specialized in maritime law to two years working for the Carter Administration as an advisor in the office of economic affairs, Finchem weaved quite a circuitous route on his way to golf. It took another direction in 1980 when in the aftermath of Jimmy Carter losing the White House to Ronald Reagan, Finchem started a market research firm. In 1984 he added the PGA TOUR to his list of clients, and his first connection to golf was solidified even further in 1987 when Finchem accepted Beman’s offer to become vice president of business affairs. Not that Finchem ever envisioned working at such a meteoric pace—he told Forbes in a 2013 article that “I figured I’d do a few years at the TOUR, then see what happened”—but in 1989 he was promoted to deputy commissioner and COO. When Beman, who had been a quality player on both the amateur and professional level, stepped down after 20 years, the Board of Directors chose the 47-year-old Finchem, who had never been a player. Some in golf were surprised, but not Finchem. “I think the word would be relieved, more than surprised,” he said the day he was named. Instead, the surprise was left for those who didn’t think Finchem was right for the job. He’s proven to be one of the best commissioners in sports. “Tim has helped other tournaments grow, while not really hurting the other tournaments,” Nicklaus said. “That is a pretty difficult balancing act.”

CHRIS CONDON/PGA TOUR; STAN BADTZ/PGAT TOUR; PGA TOUR; GETTY IMAGES/J.D. CUBAN

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

INSTEAD, THE SURPRISE WAS LEFT FOR THOSE WHO DIDN’T THINK FINCHEM WAS RIGHT FOR THE JOB. HE’S PROVEN TO BE ONE OF THE BEST COMMISSIONERS IN SPORTS.

5/3/17 5:27 AM

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LEAVING A LEGACY

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

184

Above: Finchem has never missed a Memorial Tournament during his tenure. Below: Tim and Holly Finchem with their daughter, Carey.

Though Finchem spent just two years in the Carter Administration, as PGA TOUR commissioner he demonstrated diplomatic skills that would have led you to believe he was a lifelong ambassador in the mold of Henry Kissinger. True, Finchem as the leader of a players’ association didn’t face collective bargaining agreements that are necessary evils for the commissioners of the major team sports, but he surely faced sensitive challenges. On the one side, Finchem weighed the wants and needs of title sponsors and powerful CEOs, while at the other end he had to take stock of players’ egos that were made even larger by enormous amounts of prize money. As ripe for Catch-22 scenarios as it might have been, this clash of powerful sides rarely presented Finchem with anything he didn’t handle with quiet resolve. Seizing upon the PGA TOUR’s unique tax-exempt status, Finchem polished a business model that revolves around charitable giving so that massive amounts of money are awarded to local and national causes. In 2016, it was announced that the PGA TOUR had surpassed $2 billion in charitable giving, a huge percentage of that during Finchem’s reign. Rarely over his 22 years overseeing the TOUR did Finchem show emotion, a point that he knows the media had fun

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with. Showing brilliant self-deprecating humor at his final TOUR Championship press conference last September, Finchem read fictitious comments he suggested media types might have written about him, including this: “He never looks more stiff than during his press conference appearances, at which he hides in plain sight behind lawyerly circumlocutions.” Yes, the media could chuckle, but the truth is, Finchem’s controlled demeanor served him well. Never one to get caught up in hyperbole, neither did Finchem become engaged with the media in their obsession for speculative missives. Most popularly, it was suggested that Finchem

owed his success to the phenomenon called Tiger Woods, and that once the former world No. 1 inevitably started to slip with age, the good times for the PGA TOUR would, too. Finchem would always insist—quietly and without a rush-to-judgment mentality—that golf was well equipped with young stars, and that the future of the PGA TOUR was bright. He was proven correct, of course, which was a common theme throughout his 22-year run. Veteran golf writer Jim McCabe recently joined the staff at the PGA TOUR.

ABOVE: THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT ARCHIVE; BOTTOM: PGA TOUR/ STAN BADTZ

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

IN 2016, IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT THE PGA TOUR HAD SURPASSED $2 BILLION IN CHARITABLE GIVING, A HUGE PERCENTAGE OF THAT DURING FINCHEM’S REIGN.

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

THE JACK NICKLAUS AWARD, GIVEN TO THE TOP MEN’S COLLEGIATE GOLFERS,

189

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT ARCHIVE, OPPOSITE: FELICIA MARX

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

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OU CAN FIND Justin Thomas’ Jack Nicklaus Award in his father’s golf shop at Harmony Landing Country Club in Goshen, Ky. There, it is proudly displayed among other keepsakes that provide a visual timeline of the Above: Noah Ratner (Guilford, Division 24-year-old’s nascent yet already impressive III), Nathan Anderson (Texas Wesleyan, NAIA) and Jimmy Kozikowski (South competitive golf career. Mountain, NJCAA), winners in 2012, Mike Thomas is a PGA of America club chat with Jack Nicklaus. professional, as was his father, Paul, who was head professional for a Opposite: Justin Thomas’ Jack Nicklaus Award is on display at Harmony number of years at nearby Zanesville Country Club, so golf has long Landing Country Club in Goshen, Ky. been part of the Thomas family DNA. Among the lessons passed down to Justin—in addition to a keenly efficient golf swing—was an appreciation for the game’s iconic figures. Which explains why Justin becomes somewhat introspective when talking about this particular trophy and where it resides. “To win something named after Mr. Nicklaus,” he says, “that means you’ve accomplished something. Something big.”

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That is certainly the case in college golf. Since 1988, the Golf Coaches’ Association of America (GCAA) has given the Jack Nicklaus Award annually to the top men’s player in the country. Starting in 2008, separate awards have been handed out to the leading collegians at the Division II, III, NAIA and junior college levels. Past recipients include several names familiar to galleries at Muirfield Village Golf Club, if not anyone who follows professional golf: Phil Mickelson (1990-92), David Duval (1993), Justin Leonard (1994), Stewart Cink (1995), Tiger Woods (1996), Luke Donald (1999), Hunter Mahan (2003), Bill Haas (2004), Ryan Moore (2005), Thomas (2012) and, most recently, Jon Rahm (2016). Winning the award was humbling for Thomas, who still remembers the first time he met Nicklaus, having gotten the Golden Bear’s autograph as a seven-year-old at the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club near Louisville. As a freshman at the University of Alabama, Thomas didn’t know about the award until midway through the 2011-12 season. At that time, he had already claimed the first of the four tournaments titles he’d win that year, later adding the SEC Championship and NCAA

Athens Regional to his résumé, to put him in contention for national recognition. Once Thomas learned of it, the Nicklaus Award quickly became a target the ’Bama golfer locked on. Five years later, now an accomplished professional with four PGA TOUR victories to his credit (as of January of this year), Thomas says his appreciation for the honor has only grown. This in part stems from the relationship he has developed with the award’s namesake. After turning pro in the fall of 2013 and earning his PGA TOUR card in 2014, Thomas reached out to Nicklaus in hopes of getting advice on pointing his career in the right direction. Twice Thomas has been invited to Nicklaus’ Florida home (not far from where Thomas lives in Jupiter) for two-hour visits. “He has become a mentor,” Thomas says. “He’s so willing to help, which is so cool to me. I don’t know if he knows how much it means to me, but it means a lot to be fortunate to get to pick his brain.” ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ PICKING JACK’S BRAIN is something all Nicklaus Award recipients have a unique

The Jack Nicklaus Award was presented to Stanford University golfer Tiger Woods by Nicklaus himself in 1996.

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“[JACK] HAS BECOME A MENTOR. HE’S SO WILLING TO HELP, WHICH IS SO COOL TO ME. I DON’T KNOW IF HE KNOWS HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO ME, BUT IT MEANS A LOT TO BE FORTUNATE TO GET TO PICK HIS BRAIN.” — JUSTIN THOMAS —

chance to do, as the winners (along with a family member and college coach) are brought to Columbus and recognized on the Sunday of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide during a press conference at Muirfield Village’s media center. It’s a practice that began in 2007 and has become a gratifying Tournament tradition for everyone involved. “He looks like the pied piper with these guys,” says GCAA CEO Gregg Grost, of watching Nicklaus hold court with the winners. “And the players are like little puppies. They’re all in their element.” In addition to the press conference, the routine usually includes a tour of the locker room, a visit inside the 18th-hole TV tower and lunch in the clubhouse (where players have been known to indulge themselves with one of the Tournament’s famous milkshakes). “At the end of the day, Jack has all those responsibilities on Sunday,” Grost says, “but to carve in and make plans to do this, it’s a big thing.” Last year’s Division I winner, Rahm, had made it a goal to earn the Nicklaus Award during his senior year after hearing about the experience from Pac-12 foes (and off-course friends) Patrick Rodgers and Maverick McNealy of Stanford, who had won the honor the preceding two seasons. Anxiously anticipating the opportunity to talk to Nicklaus for the first time while at Muirfield Village Golf Club, Rahm, a native of Spain who became a standout player at Arizona State with 11 career titles, took the

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT ARCHIVE

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opportunity to try and glean some immediate, practical advice. “When I was with him, I asked for a recommendation from a past champion on how to play Oakmont Country Club, because I was going to be playing in the U.S. Open soon after,” Rahm recalls, apparently not realizing that Nicklaus had won the 1962 U.S. Open at the famed Pittsburgharea course for his first professional title. “He shared some things with me about that. It was awesome.” The one regret Thomas had about winning his award was that he couldn’t make it to the presentation at Muirfield Village; it was held the same day that Alabama was playing in the final match of the NCAA Championship at Riviera Country Club outside Los Angeles. (Even worse was the fact that the Crimson Tide lost the title that day to the University of Texas, led by Thomas’ close friend, fellow freshman Jordan Spieth.) Another player who missed out on the opportunity to attend was Oregon’s Eugene Wong, who won the Division I award in

“...FOR THE GUY IN DIVISION III OR JUNIOR COLLEGE [THE AWARD PRESENTATION] MAY BE THE ONLY TIME THEY GET TO MEET MR. NICKLAUS.” — GREGG GROST —

2009. Wong’s conflict was that he had a final the next day in Eugene. Wong was upset he might offend Nicklaus by being a no-show to the ceremony, but his fears were assuaged when Nicklaus reached out to him to say don’t worry, he made the right decision. Most of the Division I winners will turn pro and those who earn PGA TOUR cards are likely to return to Muirfield Village to play the Memorial on a regular basis. “But for the guy in Division III or junior college,” Grost notes, “[the award presentation] may be the only time they get to meet Mr. Nicklaus.”

Peter French, the 2016 NAIA winner, hopes that’s not the case, yet if it is, he has a memory he’ll never forget. The 22-yearold senior from Florida’s Johnson & Wales University wasn’t old enough to see Nicklaus play, but had a natural affinity for him thanks to stories his grandfather told of once playing in a pro-am with Jack at the Loxahatchee Club in Florida. French’s final year of college was made all the more challenging when mid-season his father, Michael, who had started him in the game on a family built public course in Bellingham, Mass., was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In the spring, Michael underwent both chemotherapy and stem-cell treatments to address the golf-ball-sized tumor found in his brain. Knowing the fight his father was facing, Peter was determined to work hard on the course to make him proud, winning three times and posting a 72.17 stroke average. When French learned he was the NAIA recipient, there was a bit of sadness in knowing his father couldn’t attend the ceremony in Columbus. But French surprised

From left to right: Tain Lee (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Division III), Abraham Ancer (Odessa College, NJCAA), and Brett Munson (North Alabama, Division II), pose proudly with the Golden Bear in 2010.

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Clockwise from top left: Patrick Cantlay, Michael Kim,

TO HIS SURPRISE, KIM RECALLS NICKLAUS BEING AWARE OF WHAT HAPPENED AND ENCOURAGING HIM TO HANG IN THERE. THE MESSAGE PROVED UPLIFTING; THE NEXT DAY KIM PLAYED IN A U.S. OPEN SECTIONAL QUALIFIER AND SHARED MEDALIST HONORS...

Kevin Chappell and Jaime Lovemark are all past winners of the and current PGA TOUR players.

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his dad when he had Nicklaus join him in taping a get-well-soon video they sent to Michael in his hospital. “The experience overall was kind of surreal,” says French, whose father’s treatments were successful, thankfully—he’s been cancer-free since last August. “It’s one of those things where you can’t really explain. It’s definitely something that will stick with me forever.” ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ WINNING THE JACK NICKLAUS AWARD

requires a golfer play well not just for a few days at a single tournament, but the entirety

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of a nine-month college schedule. Needless to say, it’s a skill that often translates to success after college. According to the GCAA, award recipients have combined for more than 200 pro victories worldwide and have claimed 22 major championships. Recent winners are doing their older fraternity brothers proud. Since the award started to be handed out at Muirfield Village in 2007, seven of the nine D-I recipients who are out of college—Jaime Lovemark, Kevin Chappell, Patrick Cantlay, Thomas, Michael Kim, Rodgers and Rahm—currently have TOUR cards. Five of these (Lovemark, Thomas, Kim, Rodgers and Rahm) were ranked inside the top 50 in

FedExCup points through early February. “It gave me all the confidence in the world to think I might be able to do this for a living,” says Kim, of the boost he received from earning the D-I honor as a sophomore at Cal-Berkeley in 2013. The 23-year-old Kim, now in his second full year on the PGA TOUR, says this knowing the somewhat awkward circumstance of him receiving the award. That season, Cal had won 11 titles in 13 starts. A victory at the NCAA Championship would have secured the Golden Bears the label of greatest college golf team of all-time. Like in Thomas’ case, the final match was set for the same Sunday the Nicklaus Award was being given at Muirfield Village, so when Kim learned he had won, he realized he might be otherwise preoccupied. (The timing of the NCAA Championship has since changed.) As it turned out, Cal fell to Illinois in the NCAA semifinals a day prior, allowing him and his college coach, Steve Desimone, to head to Columbus—albeit with mixed emotions. To his surprise, Kim recalls Nicklaus being aware of what happened and encouraging him to hang in there. The message proved uplifting; the next day Kim played in a U.S. Open sectional qualifier and shared medalist honors to grab a spot into the major as an amateur. Two weeks later, his name was on the leader board on the weekend at Merion, where he finished T-17.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: STEVE DYKES/GETTY IMAGES; STEVE DYKES/GETTY IMAGES; CHRIS CONDON/PGA TOUR; CHRIS CONDON/PGA TOUR

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Kim was given a sponsor’s exemption into the 2014 Memorial Tournament. Practicing the Sunday prior to the Tournament at Muirfield Village, Kim noticed Nicklaus hitting balls on the range. Before Kim could approach, however, Nicklaus came to him and reintroduced himself, eventually inviting Kim to play a practice round with him. “It was one of the coolest rounds of golf I’ve ever played,” Kim says.

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✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ distinction of having your name on the Nicklaus Award, there are some short-term benefits that come to recipients. The Division I honoree traditionally earns an exemption the next year into the Memorial. And starting in 2015, all Nicklaus winners compete against one another in the Barbasol Shootout, an 18-hole competition held Saturday of the Memorial Tournament at nearby Scioto Country Club. The golfer with the low score that day earns an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s Barbasol Championship. “It’s really the only award that can [get you into multiple events],” said Rahm, who won the Shootout last year only to pass up the Barbasol invite after qualifying for the British Open, which was held the same week. “It’s a thing that calms you down, knowing you have a couple opportunities [if you’re turning pro].”

BESIDES THE LONG-TERM

AFTER HANDING OUT THE AWARDS, NICKLAUS HAS MENTIONED OCCASIONALLY THAT HE’LL BE “WATCHING YOUR CAREER.”

Given the success of the past winners, there is the potential for recent recipients to feel a certain amount of pressure to live up to their legacy, much less the legacy of Nicklaus himself. (After handing out the awards, Nicklaus has mentioned occasionally that he’ll be “watching your career.”) Yet Rahm, who less than a year after winning the honor had locked up a PGA TOUR card and won his first title, the

Farmers Insurance Open, says he doesn’t think that’s really the case. “I wouldn’t say pressure,” Rahm says. “The way I looked at it, there have been some great champions that have succeeded after this, so why wouldn’t I be the next? I know it’s kind of happening really fast right now, actually for a lot of us. But if they’ve been able to do it, why couldn’t I do it, too? Why would I think less of myself?” “You just feel a lot of pride,” Thomas says. “To know you have done that and received the award, knowing the challenge it is to win it, there’s a sense of accomplishment.” One that Thomas and his family relive every time they step into that golf shop at Harmony Landing and see that trophy on display. Ryan Herrington is the deputy editor of GolfDigest.com. He has covered college and amateur golf for Golf Digest and Golf World since 1997.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a short excerpt from “A Wonderful Run at Life— The Stories of Pandel Savic.” Savic, 91, was an integral member of the team that helped Jack Nicklaus with the establishment of Muirfield Village Golf Club and the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Savic was the first General Chairman of the Memorial Tournament and served in that positon for nearly thirty years, and he is now General Chairman Emeritus. Published in 2016, Savic’s book chronicles his amazing life story. In 1935, at nine years old, Pandel bravely traveled alone to America from Macedonia. He fought as a Marine in the South Pacific in World War II, and later he attended The Ohio State University and quarterbacked Ohio State to its first Rose Bowl victory in 1950. The Savic and Nicklaus family stories are interconnected throughout the book, which is available in the Muirfield Village pro shop during the Tournament. Proceeds help support the Alzheimer’s Association.

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HEN I WAS GROWING UP in Girard, Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats seemed like magic to me. To this day, I can actually see the President speaking. His reassuring radio speeches crackled into our living room on the wings of pure hope in the depths of the Great Depression. I don’t know how he did it. FDR seemed to be right there with us. My dad sat in his high backed easy chair. Stubby and George took to the couch on either side of mother Margaret. Helen and I crossed our legs on the rug right in front of the big Philco. Those memories followed me to Pebble Beach. Janice and I always stayed with Jack and Barbara at a home right by the ocean. It had a wonderful stone fireplace. Waves crashed along the shore all day and all night. We really enjoyed those trips. It was Janice’s favorite excursion each year. And Pebble Beach was Jack’s favorite course in all the world. It was that great hearth with a fire blazing at night that drew me back to those days in my family’s living room back in Girard. On one trip early on those flames helped start a tradition of sorts: Pandel Savic’s Pebble Beach Fireside Chats. With all the Nicklaus children, the ones who were there for the tournament, gathered around on the floor, I’d sit in a broad armed chair by the fire and tell stories. I told football ones about our march to the Rose Bowl. I talked about some of my heroes from the war. I traced my journey to America for them. I extoled the virtues of Alexander the Great. But most of all I tried to sound presidential. Jack, Barbara, and Janice liked to tease me about it as they pulled up chairs towards the end of my yarns. Young Jackie Nicklaus seemed enthralled which gave me a real thrill. He especially liked my perpetual closer. “If you’re going to fight in the North Atlantic, you have to train in the North Atlantic!” Jackie, now the second chairman in the history of the Memorial, likes to throw his long arm around my shoulder, give me a hug, and say those words to me whenever our paths cross. I can’t tell you how much that means to an old man who looks back a bit more nowadays than he used to.

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A WONDERFUL LIFE, GOLF EDITION

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GODS BY THE

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AN INTREPID REPORTER GETS AN UNEXPECTED EXCLUSIVE ON HOW THE GAME REALLY WORKS by David Shedloski Illustrations by Michael Witte

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ORE LEFT!!” I heard the warning a bit too late. I turned my head, but not quick enough to avoid absorbing the blow of a wayward tee shot right in the middle of my noggin. There I was at Royal Troon for the 146th Open Championship, walking along the left side of the third fairway, when all of a sudden a tee shot by 2013 champion Phil Mickelson veered in my direction and turned me into an embedded lie. It was the second round of the 2016 British Open, and I was following along to see how Mickelson would follow up on his marvelous firstround 63—or 62½ as we could fairly call it because of the way his last putt appeared to all but go in the hole before cruelly lipping out. I suddenly noticed that I was on the ground. Concerned faces were staring down at me. Then I must have blacked out for a few

seconds, because when I looked up again, I saw nothing but blue sky. I felt like I should have a headache, but I felt strangely … at peace. Oh, gosh, am I dead? I pulled myself up and touched my forehead. No bump. No blood. No pain at all. Dang, I am dead! “That was close,” a voice said behind me. “Another few inches and it would have caught you in the nose. And with your nose … well.” Huh? I turned to my left, and a crooked old man was standing next to me, grinning. His face was bearded and weathered, his nose and cheeks bright red, his eyes the most amazing blue, piercing and bright. He had a long, dried blade of grass in his mouth. He wore a slightly tattered tweed suit, a yellow shirt, a bow tie and a brown wool cap. He was leaning on what looked like an old spoon. He smelled like … eternal summer. “I’m sorry,” I said to the old man. “Who are you?” THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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“I’m one of ‘them,’ ” he said, raising his arms and crooking two wrinkled fingers on each hand to signify air quotes. “Who ‘them’?” “You know. A golf god.” “Ha. Yeah, and I’m Ben Hogan. You must be joking.” “Oh, I assure you, this is no joke. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Inspiration.” “Your name is Inspiration?” “Yes. That is my name and that is who I am. I am one of the more popular golfing gods, if you don’t mind me saying so. People are always looking for Inspiration. Or Luck, but he’s rather wishy-washy, so it does no good to beg for his assistance. He can go either way. He’s the Harvey Dent of golf gods. Two-face. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, and watch out when he teams

“I AM ONE OF THE MORE POPULAR GOLFING GODS, IF YOU DON’T MIND ME SAYING SO. PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION. OR LUCK, BUT HE’S RATHER WISHY-WASHY…”

with Calamity, Mischief and Torment. “Then there’s that other evil genius. The great sportswriter Grantland Rice, preeminent in the days of Bobby Jones, once wrote about ‘the haunting phantom of disaster.’ Truer words never written. Except he forgot

to capitalize the name. Disaster.” “What’s he like?” “Oh, he’s a disaster.” “Uh huh.” “And if all that isn’t enough, there’s the god of Humility, who loves to pile on. He especially enjoys pulling the proverbial rug out from under, especially when someone goes super low. Feels he owes it to them to make sure they don’t get overconfident. Why do you think it’s so hard to follow up a great score with another one?” “So, you intervene?” “Oh, no, no, no. We manage. We facilitate. We regulate.” “You obfuscate, too. Why are you talking to me?” “You’re a reporter, right?” “I consider myself a journalist in the

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FICTION

“I PLAN TO STIR UP SOMETHING HISTORIC, classical sense. Observe. Report facts. SOMETHING TO GET Weave a story. Old-fashioned stuff in the THE GOLF FAN AND social media age. But I wouldn’t think that a THE CASUAL FAN conversation with a ghost is going to make OSU_1/2 PAGE AD_15.qxp_1/2 PAGE AD 5/6/15 11:56 AM Page 1 for a front-page exposé. I’m filing through TALKING ABOUT THE my mental rolodex right now for a good GAME WITH WONDER psychologist. Going to need it when I come AND GENUINE to. I mean, I assume I’m either unconscious, crazy or dead. I’m betting dead, right?” APPRECIATION. I THINK “Knock it off with the being dead thing. GOLF COULD USE I assure you that you are quite well. OK, A NIFTY MOMENT… as well as can be expected, that is. I have merely borrowed your spirit for a few moments. Look over there. See that? That’s you. Out cold. But you’re fine. You’re breathing. And that knot on your head is an improvement in my opinion. But, look, I am not a ghost. I am a god. Get your facts straight, Mr. Classical Journalist. And forget the rolodex. Just call Bob Rotella. He’s my guy.

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Highly recommended.” “OK, fine. Soooooo, what’s your story? Why are you here, and why have you kidnapped my subconscious?” “I’m about to intervene.”

“But you said …” “Never mind what I said. I’m in the mood for a good old-fashioned showdown, and I think the golf world is, too. I plan to stir up something historic, something to get the golf fan and the casual fan talking about the game with wonder and genuine appreciation. I think golf could use a nifty moment after the way the first two majors of the year unfolded. Some of the other gods are getting way too bold and pushy, and, frankly, kind of obnoxious.” “But we had good winners …” “Oh, absolutely. But look, Danny Willett was a nice story at the Masters, but Calamity really got his hooks into that finish. He made Jordan Spieth his play thing. I think Humility was hanging around, too. I mean, should anyone lead the Masters for eight straight rounds who is not named

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Nicklaus, Palmer or Woods? Then there was the U.S. Open. Destiny guided Dustin Johnson. He was overdue. But that final day at Oakmont was overshadowed by Mischief. Ball doesn’t move for five minutes on the fifth green, and then Dustin addresses it. Boom. It moves. That was, you know …” “Mischievous?” “I was going to say unfortunate. But anyway, there is nothing like a great headto-head battle. Something epic, historic.” “Yeah, those are rare. Why is that?” “Hard to coordinate,” Inspiration said. “Wait a minute, you’re a god.” “Well, sure, but our powers aren’t limitless. Except for Plausibility. He sticks his nose into everything. How do you think we got Shaun Micheel, Hillary Lunke, Orville Moody? “But, you see, my abilities usually don’t extend beyond one player for one event. See Tiger Woods, 2000 U.S. Open. Truly an inspired effort. By the way, I love it when I see that in writing—‘inspired effort.’ Nice to get some pub. “If I try to stir it up at the same championship for two players so they can engage in some epic head-to-head battle in the final two rounds, for example, I’m shot for several decades. Big ask. But, what the heck, last time I did this was almost 40 years ago.

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WATSON, HIS HANDS BEHIND HIS BACK, TURNED TO NICKLAUS. “THIS IS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT, ISN’T IT?” WATSON SAID IN EARNEST. THE GOLDEN BEAR GRINNED. “YOU BET IT IS.”

Then I had to take a hot bath and a long vacation. Except for little weekend four-ball games I didn’t take on any big stuff until the 1986 Masters.” “So, forty years ago … let’s see ... you don’t mean? …” “Oh, yes. The Duel in the Sun. That’s what they called it anyway. It was kind of a snappy title, actually. Jack Nicklaus vs. Tom Watson at Turnberry in 1977. Now that was quite the weekend. I sprinkled a little

something extra on those boys’ Wheaties and off they went. They were playing great at that time anyways. Remember their battle at the Masters earlier that year? Well, all I did was provide a booster shot, if you will. And then I let nature take its course, which gives the proceedings more authenticity. “See for yourself.” Inspiration twirled his finger over my noggin, and I was whisked back in time to an era of bad slacks and balata balls. We were at Turnberry, on the Ailsa Coast of Scotland, and there was Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, the Golden Bear and Huck Finn, in the final round of the 106th Open Championship. Boy, it was hot for Scotland. We were awash in bright sunshine and cheers from the large galleries. They were at the 16th hole, the par 4. They were tied, as they had been when they started the day. No one else was within 10 shots. So it was virtual match play. Playing

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together for the second straight day, each man had shot identical scores of 68-70-65. Jack, looking for his 15th major title, had led by as many as three shots early in the final round, but now here the golf greats were, tied at 10-under par with three holes left. I was about to ask a question, but was stymied by the god. “Shhhhh … this is my favorite exchange of the weekend between them. Listen.” Watson, his hands behind his back, turned to Nicklaus. “This is what it’s all about, isn’t it?” Watson said in earnest. The Golden Bear grinned. “You bet it is.” Inspiration had this wry smile on his face and a look of contentedness. “So, is that all it takes? How do you decide who wins?” “Oh, that’s all on them in the end. They still have to power past Doubt, shake off Mischief and just flat out bring it. In the end, Fate always seems to help decide things. What an ego he has. But I suppose that’s understandable. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone said, ‘It must be Fate.’ ” Quite the show, it was, that Saturday at Turnberry. For good measure, after missing a

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4-foot birdie to keep things tied, Nicklaus sank a serpentine 35-footer for birdie at the last hole. Then he put up his hands to quiet the crowd so that Watson would have peace for his final putt, the Golden Bear showing the sportsmanship that had marked his career as much as his conquests. Turnberry faded from view just as Watson’s tiny 2-footer at the 72nd hole went in. He thrust his arms skyward, having beaten Nicklaus by a single stroke. “That was amazing stuff, wasn’t it?” Inspiration asked rhetorically, a look of satisfaction etched on his leathery face. “Later, I would look up what Dan Jenkins wrote in Sports Illustrated about those two

days, which he called, ‘two of the grandest, most thrilling and astonishing days the sport as ever known.’ ” Then the god showed me what else Jenkins wrote about the championship. He pulled the folded pieces of slick magazine paper from his pocket: “… As single days in competitive golf went, Friday, July 8 and Saturday, July 9, 1977 had to rate right up there with such other landmarks as the last round of the 1975 Masters, when Nicklaus outlasted Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller; with the final day of the British Open in 1972, when Lee Trevino cut the heart out of Nicklaus, Nicklaus’ shot at the Slam, and Tony Jacklin; and certainly with the last 18 holes of

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with the last 18 holes of the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills when Arnold Palmer left wounded soldiers all around Denver. “History will most likely see it as better than any of those. Better than any golf—ever.” “Nice. Did you help with the prose, too?” “Nah, I stay out of literature. I’m a golf god. Not that Jenkins ever needed help anyways.” “Got it.” I blinked and we were back at Troon, with the final round underway. Mickelson and Henrik Stenson were locked in a titanic battle. I was about to ask Inspiration who would win, not that I cared that a Ladbrokes betting parlor was nearby, but then I remembered that the outcome was not fully in his hands. Stenson, 40, eventually defeated the 46-year-old Mickelson by three strokes to

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“THAT WAS AMAZING STUFF, WASN’T IT?” INSPIRATION ASKED RHETORICALLY, A LOOK OF SATISFACTION ETCHED ON HIS LEATHERY FACE.

win his first major championship. Mickelson produced a brilliant final-round 65, but Stenson fired a 63 for a record 20-under 264 total. Later, Nicklaus and Watson were among those who marveled at the fireworks the two men produced. “Well, I must be off now,” Inspiration said, pretending to dust off his hands. “Tom Morris and his son want me to do some-

thing about the golf ball. They say it goes too far, but what do they expect? I’m Inspiration. You think these club makers came up with spring-like effect on their own? And, hey, I enjoy the extra pop off my driver. I know, I know … Jack isn’t a fan. Now, don’t tell anyone, but Bobby Jones loves it, too. We have a game next Thursday, in fact.” “If you don’t mind me asking, where might you be playing?” As Inspiration began to answer, I felt a slap or two on the cheek. Then a pungent odor filled my nostrils. My head ached and I reached up and felt the ugly knot above my right eye. The god’s answer was far off, fading … fading … but I managed to catch his reply before it disappeared on the wind. “Augusta National, of course,” he said, laughing. “It’s only closed in the summer to the mortals.” Author of five books, David Shedloski is

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The Memorial Tournament Past Winners

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

ROGER MALTBIE 1976

JACK NICKLAUS 1977

JIM SIMONS 1978

TOM WATSON 1979

DAVID GRAHAM 1980

KEITH FERGUS 1981

RAYMOND FLOYD 1982

HALE IRWIN 1983

JACK NICKLAUS 1984

HALE IRWIN 1985

HAL SUTTON 1986

DON POOLEY 1987

CURTIS STRANGE 1988

BOB TWAY 1989

GREG NORMAN 1990

KENNY PERRY 1991

DAVID EDWARDS 1992

PAUL AZINGER 1993

TOM LEHMAN 1994

GREG NORMAN 1995

TOM WATSON 1996

VIJAY SINGH 1997

FRED COUPLES 1998

TIGER WOODS 1999

TIGER WOODS 2000

TIGER WOODS 2001

JIM FURYK 2002

KENNY PERRY 2003

ERNIE ELS 2004

BART BRYANT 2005

CARL PETTERSSON 2006

K.J. CHOI 2007

KENNY PERRY 2008

TIGER WOODS 2009

JUSTIN ROSE 2010

STEVE STRICKER 2011

TIGER WOODS 2012

MATTâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;KUCHAR 2013

HIDEKI MATSUYAMA 2014

DAVID LINGMERTH 2015

WILLIAM McGIRT 2016

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

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MAYBE IT’S NOT THE

LUCK

OF THE IRISH. MAYBE IT’S ALL REALLY WELL PLANNED.

EVERY THING GROWS HERE.

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REFLECTIONS

Rivalry Love of fathers strong, Midwestern men with shoulders broad, honorable and genuine. Driven by competitive hunger, in sinew and soul One worn on sleeve, one held within. What more they share is resolve, bold action, and yet immovable objects that hold P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

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New at each turn, never trite, never cold. Long shadows that stretched along greens and tees. Cosmic conflict amid respect, deep as the sea. Sportsmen, they spar and then shake hands across a gulf never fully bridged to discernable certainty. Hate, not of each other, but thought of loss. To strive, fight, grind, win, yet never once at all cost when each knows the raw brilliance of the other, when each sees the purity of the other, when gentlemen, born of common stock, become brothers. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;DAVID SHEDLOSKI

GETTY IMAGES

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

216 THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

P R E S E N T E D B Y N AT I O N W I D E

them each to each, entwined in eternal rivalry.

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THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

MAKING A BIG DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF OUR LITTLE ONES

THE MEMORIAL

Nationwide and Nationwide Children’s Hospital:

MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2017

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