- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
With the Rio Olympics commanding the sporting headlines worldwide yesterday, the greatest golfer of all-time made what will probably be his last appearance in an 18-hole event.
Jack Nicklaus played at the Greats of Golf Challenge during the second round of the Champions tour in Minnesota.
The qualifications were Hall of Famers, major champions, or winning at least 20 PGA tournaments.
Nicklaus more than qualified as a Hall of Famer, winner of a record 18 majors with 19 seconds, and 73 PGA tour victories.
In his group were Lee Trevino, Aussie David Graham, and Jerry Pate – all Hall of Famers.
Trevino won eight majors with 29 PGA tournaments, Graham two majors and eight PGA tournaments, while Pate won one major and eight PGAs.
This was the marquee group, and with Trevino on duty there was bound to be some wisecracks. ‘Super Mex’ didn’t disappoint.
With Nicklaus complaining he couldn’t make a decent strike, adding he pitched a perfect game, a “no hitter”, Trevino suggested he set the ball back about six inches in his stance.
“Why?,” asked the ‘Golden Bear’ “I’ve been hitting from there all my life”.
Trevino quipped – “But you are now 76 Jack, we are so old we can’t find our own Easter eggs”.
Nicklaus set the ball back six inches, and started finding the middle of the club.
Television commentator Lanny Watkins was watching, and complimented Nicklaus of almost taking a divot.
Pate added his two cents worth when he asked Nicklaus if he ever thought about playing golf for a living?
Also watching was Freddie Funk who had to withdraw with a bad back from the 3M Champions tournament
Dressed only in a T-shirt and shorts, Funk said, “How could I possibly miss following Jack, Lee, David Graham and Jerry Pate, I might never see them together again”.
And that was a fair comment with Nicklaus, Trevino, and Graham all well above their playing weight of the past. Well fed would be a kind description. They all needed carts.
But there were many other wonderful golfers of the past.
The next best marquee group featured Al Geiberger, the first to card 59 in 1977, along with Swede Annika Sörenstam, the only woman to post 59 (in 2001). It also featured two other LPGA legends Nancy Lopez, and Pat Bradley, the aunt of current PGA member Keegan Bradley.
Sörenstam won ten majors and 72 LPGA tournaments during her stellar career, and rightfully rated the best of the best. Now a 45-year-old mother, she remains a sweet timer of the ball who could still compete if she had the will.
Two of my favourite golfers over the years have been Hale Irwin and Fuzzy Zoeller, except for the time Fuzzy beat Greg Norman in an 18-hole play-off for the 1984 US Open.
Irwin won three US Opens and 20 PGA tournaments, but blossomed on the Champions tour with seven majors and a record 45 wins, well ahead of Trevino’s 29, and Bernhard Langer’s 28.
Zoeller wasn’t nearly as successful, but he was always the ultimate entertainer in winning two majors and ten PGA tournaments.
This Greats of Golf Challenge is a superb concept, but sadly the real greats won’t be able to play for much longer.
That’s what made yesterday so special.