Will Vijay Singh pass Slammin’ Sammy Snead in his career?
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Saw a very slim and fit-looking Vijay Singh yesterday on TV coverage of the 2016 Sony Open in Hawaii.
Singh was leading the tournament after the first round.
This made me sit up and pay attention! No one even close to Singh’s age…52 years and 11 months..has been in contention for a long time. As you all know, the majority of winners in the last 3 years have been between 20 and 28 years.
Can’t wait to see if Vijay can hang on and beat Sam Snead’s record as the oldest winner ever of a PGA Tour event.
Read these fun facts by Joel Beall for Golf Digest, illustrating the significance of Singh’s age.
As of late, Vijay Singh has made more waves off the course than on it, which isn’t necessarily surprising: A month away from his 53rd birthday, the three-time major winner is hitting an age where, historically, golfers fade into the sunset.
Yet, Singh’s name is atop the Sony Open leaderboard after Day 1. If he holds on to win, he would best Sam Snead’s record as the oldest victor in PGA Tour history. Given that golf is in the midst of a youth revolution, nothing to sneer at.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
In late April 1965, Sam Snead won the Greater Greensboro Open at 52 years, 10 months, and 8 days.
He won at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, NC. It is now known as the Wyndham Championship. This incredible Tour player is still the oldest player to win a PGA tour event and still ties the record for winning an event the most times. (8 wins at the Greater Greensboro Open)
Other interesting items about this historic win include the fact that Ed Sullivan played in the Pro-Am with Gary Player. Sullivan emceed a special banquet to honor ‘Slammin’ Sammy’ who had won the tournament 7 times since the inaugural in 1938. And, Snead pocketed his biggest check ever for the Greensboro win…. $11,000!
As sportswriter Irwin Smallwood of the Greensboro Daily News said at the time, he didn’t think Snead had a chance to win. With a tough field, all much younger than 52-year-old Sam, and temperatures in the 40’s with a little rain, a win was unlikely.
I like one quote in particular attributed to Smallwood. He said Snead “…was just a remarkable golfer. It would have been wonderful to see him play with the equipment of today.”
Sam Snead during his first win at Sedgefield. (Carol W. Martin/Greensboro Historical Museum)
GREENSBORO, N.C.
The basketball season was winding down in 1965, so sportswriter Irwin Smallwood of the Greensboro Daily News began shifting his attention to the other sport he covered – golf. He soon realized one thing.
Sam Snead’s appearance at the upcoming Greater Greensboro Open would be the 25th of his legendary career. Considering Snead had won the inaugural event in 1938 and had then won it six more times to earn legendary status in the area, Smallwood thought it would be a good idea to celebrate the silver anniversary.
It certainly seemed like the appropriate time to honor Snead. He was 52 years old and four years removed from his last PGA TOUR win. While Snead was hardly a ceremonial golfer – he’d finished third or better six times since that last win – there was no doubt he was past his prime.
Plus, most of golf’s headlines were now commanded by the Big Three:
Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus. Smallwood thought it would be nice to give Slammin’ Sammy some attention in the twilight of his career. And no place was more appropriate than Greensboro, where Snead had experienced unprecedented success.
Smallwood mentioned this to John Rendleman, the tournament chairman, and Jim Betts, the banquet chairman. The three were driving to Durham, N.C., to visit with Mike Souchak, a successful PGA TOUR pro who played collegiately at Duke.
“We should do something special for Sam,” Smallwood said, and the other two men in the car agreed.
So the plan was set. On Tuesday night during the week of the tournament, the Sam Snead Testimonial Banquet would be held at Fred Koury’s Plantation Supper Club, which was located a few miles from Sedgefield Country Club, where the GGO would be contested.
Hard to imagine a more fitting venue, either.
“Snead was known to have played the trumpet there,” Smallwood said. “It wasn’t unusual for one or two of the players to come and sit in with the band during the tournament.”
When told about the banquet, Snead appreciated that Greensboro’s golf fans wanted to celebrate his success in the area. There was one thing, though.
The final chapter had yet to be written.
Ed Sullivan, Sam Snead, and Fred Corcoran at a testimonial dinner in Greensboro in 1965. (Greensboro News & Record)
Once the Greensboro Jaycees, who sponsored the tournament, decided to honor Snead with the testimonial dinner, they had to find an emcee. At the time, Ed Sullivan was writing a “Toast of the Town” column for the New York Daily News, and Smallwood knew one of the sportswriters there.
“I said, ‘Let me try to get Ed Sullivan,'” he recalled.
Smallwood was headed to the Big Apple to cover a basketball game. His friend referred him to someone who wrote for Sports Illustrated, who was more than happy to help.
“He turned around, dialed the phone, and said, ‘Ed, I’ve got someone here who wants to talk with you,'” Smallwood said.
Once Sullivan found out who was being honored at the dinner, he said he’d be delighted to come to North Carolina. He didn’t ask for an appearance fee, just expenses, and he was a big draw at the pro-am when he played with Gary Player and a state representative named Mark Short.
“He said, call me at this number on Tuesday, and I fully expected to get a plumber from Amarillo,” Smallwood said, chuckling. “But it was him.”
Sullivan walked away with a great memory, too. He hit an 8-iron to 8 feet on the ninth hole, his last of the day, for a natural birdie.
“That’s one I’ll never forget,” he told the Greensboro newspaper.
1946-1948 winners Lloyd Magrum, Sam Snead, and Vic Ghezzi in Greensboro. (Carol W. Martin/Greenboro Historical Museum)
The banquet, attended by 800, was a rousing success.
“I’m not sure Greensboro’s had a dinner like that — before or since,” Smallwood said.
Carson Bain, who would become mayor of Greensboro two years later, presented Snead with a certificate good for hamburgers for life from McDonald’s. He and Dave Goforth, two good friends who often went hunting and fishing with Snead, gave the pro a rifle.
The tournament also gifted Snead with a $500 check for Hot Springs, Virginia, a hospital that was close to the pro’s heart.
And not surprisingly, Snead got the last word.
Just before the festivities ended, Sullivan looked out at the crowd. “Wouldn’t it be nice if old Sam could win the GGO one more time?” he asked.
“Sam squinted into the lights at the Plantation Club, and he said,
“Those young boys better watch out. I just might do it,” Smallwood recalled.
Well, it wasn’t exactly Babe Ruth pointing toward the center-field bleachers during Game 3 of the 1932 World Series just before he hit a home run in that direction — but it was close.
The president of Wilson Sporting Goods told Smallwood he’d never seen his client so touched. But Snead did not acknowledge his role in the festivities — that is until the switchboard operator at the Daily News rang his desk one day and told him a box was waiting downstairs.
“It was a set of Wilson Staff clubs,” Smallwood said. “The return address just said: Snead.”
Smallwood, who is now 89, still has those clubs in a golf bag sitting in his office.
1964 Classic Match between Ben Hogan and Sam Snead!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
The rivalry between Ben Hogan and Sam Snead was classic. The free-flowing “Slammin’ Sam” against the technical machine of “The Hawk” conjured up memories of great rivalries of the past like the Red Sox and the Yankees! Between them, they won 146 PGA Tour events and 16 Majors. This is Mohammed Ali and Sonny Liston on a golf course, ready to take the other man apart! Thanks to Al Barkow for GOLF Magazine for bringing back the past!
Photo: Golf Magazine
Hogan and Snead, both 51, tee off in their historic final face-off at Houston Country Club.
by Al Barkow
Posted: Thu Aug. 6, 2015
It was, in a sense, the Match of the Century. Two of the greatest players in golf’s long history faced off in an 18-hole stroke-play competition. Appropriately, it would be seen by one of the largest TV audiences recorded at the time for a golf event: 3.47 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Who wouldn’t want to watch Ben Hogan go mano a mano with Sam Snead?
In 1961, the first Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf challenge match aired.
1964 Classic Match between Ben Hogan and Sam Snead!
The series, which ran for nine years and was later revived for another decade, from 1994 to 2003, pitted notable players of the day against one another on courses around the globe. Not all of the showdowns had the firepower and appeal of Hogan/Snead, who combined to win 16 majors and 146 PGA Tour events.
The series’ second and third installments featured dust-ups between Ted Kroll and Chen Ching-Po and Jay Hebert and Flory Van Donck. But some—like the Gene Littler/ Byron Nelson battle at Pine Valley, in 1962—were indelible television. The Hogan/Snead match was effectively an exhibition, an entertainment. And there wasn’t much money or glory involved: $3,000 to the winner, $2,000 to the loser; no green jackets or glittering trophies; only a few column inches in the sports pages.
That took nothing away from its significance, symbolic or otherwise.
Given their larger-than-life personas and competitive records—against the pros of their generation and between each other—Hogan and Snead could have played for marbles on a muni in Muncie, Ind., and they’d have commanded the attention of even the most indifferent golf fans.
It was a given that these two proud and fierce competitors would play the match as though it were a major championship, and they did. Contested at the Houston Country Club in May 1964 and airing the following year, it marked the last time these Goliaths of the game would meet in competition. And unbeknownst to them and to everyone else at the time, the clash would have momentous consequences for the future of the game.
A bit of transparency. I was a young writer on Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, having been hired only two weeks earlier for my first job in what would become my lifetime profession. It was a baptism by fire.
The show was the brainchild of Monroe Spaght, then president of Shell USA and an ardent golfer.
Spaght was spinning off the first such made-for-television, one-on-one links series, All-Star Golf, which was produced by Chicago’s renowned public-course operator Joe Jemsek and his partner, Pete DeMet. From 1957 through 1963, they aired a series of 18-hole matches between the game’s best pros (including Snead, Gene Littler, Cary Middlecoff, Julius Boros and Tommy Bolt), with most of the battles played on Jemsek-owned tracks. The production values of the black-and-white show were primitive. Hole diagrams looked as though they’d been pulled from a pre-teen’s coloring book, and only a scant few camera shots of flighted balls were captured.
Jemsek himself said of those pioneering but crude shows, “We were making home movies.” Despite that, All-Star Golf had attracted a substantial viewership. Spaght noted the success and decided to take it a step—in fact, a few giant steps—further. The Shell show matches would be played in every corner of the world, on famous courses, whenever possible, and filmed in vibrant color.
The distinguished golf writer Herbert Warren Wind was brought in to consult.
He came up with the basic format, suggested which courses to play, and was instrumental in recruiting the storied player of the 1920s and ′30s, Gene Sarazen, as host. The Squire appeared on camera in tailored knickers, a smart sport coat, shirt and tie, and a panama hat. Spaght burnished Jemsek’s concept, and it worked. Landing the elusive Hogan only heightened the show’s luster.
Bantam Ben, who won his nine major championships between 1946 and 1953, had become increasingly reclusive in the ′60s. At most he was playing four tournaments a year, and he showed little interest in the perks that come with legend status. Designing courses, commenting for TV, or promoting a tournament in his name.
I once asked Hogan if, as a Tour player, he ever considered himself an entertainer.
His response was a curt, unequivocal “No.” So it came as a surprise that he would deign to participate in a glitzy exhibition. Shell had a coup, and, as was often the case with the stone-faced but mesmerizing Texan, Hogan became the story.
He wasn’t doing anyone a favor, mind you. Quite the opposite. To prop up a struggling line of golf equipment he had launched in 1955, Hogan had a pressing need for publicity. He also needed cash, and he got it. A $25,000 appearance fee he was paid on the side was kept secret for years. Maybe he had a payroll to make. In any case, Spaght was willing to break precedent. Everyone else played only for prize money, plus expenses.
Sam Snead wasn’t as exclusive or expensive as Hogan. Around the time of the made-for-TV match, the ageless Slammin’ Sam was still playing the Tour—and still playing it at a high level—and he would win his 82nd and final Tour title at the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open, just two months shy of his 53rd birthday. Snead just loved to play, especially against the Hawk, “because he never says anything to you, except now and then, “You’re away,”” Snead once explained.
Indeed, Hogan stayed true to form. During the Houston match, they conversed little.
Play got under way at 9 a.m. on a gray day with a forecast of heavy rain. A downpour started in the middle of the second hole, which the warriors played out. Tee shots were hit on the third, but with the arrival of thunder and lightning with a particular Texas violence, the spectators had to evacuate the course. A few of us, including Hogan and Snead, took refuge in a room just off the pro shop. Hogan sat quietly with a towel wrapped around his shoulders. Snead, on the other hand, was rarely quiet. The Virginia mountain boy was a colorful storyteller, whose yarns rapidly escalated from raunchy to filthy.
With us in the room was our script person, Edna Forde, a proper Irish woman, and Maureen Orcutt, a champion amateur golfer. Maureen, four decades earlier, had become one of the first women in the country to write about sports, when she covered golf for the New York Times. Orcutt had an air of early-twentieth-century propriety. But never mind that—Snead got hold of a banana and waved it around as a lewd prop. Not surprisingly, his suggestive groaners left the ladies limp. Hogan managed only a strained smile, then exited the room.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Rivalries have been around since Cain and Able. The rivalry is what competition thrives on.
The strongest survives! The gladiators in the arena of sports. Whether it be baseball, football, basketball, tennis, or chess, rivalries make us watch. Who watched chess until Boris Spassky played Bobby Fisher? What a great rivalry! What great trash talk!
They incite heavy interest and emotion amongst the fans.
They give the media and television networks appealing storylines to pursue from a promotional standpoint.
And whether the rivalries actually exist in the minds of the athletes or it is simply a matter of the participants knowing that a particular game or match is receiving more attention than usual, the on-field competition tends to reach a whole new level when rivals face off against one another.
Rivalries are easy to identify and become emotionally involved in when it comes to team sports.
North Carolina and Duke face off against one another at least twice per year on the hardwood.
The Red Sox and Yankees play numerous games against one another during the course of the season.
Ohio St. vs. Michigan is an event that rivals few others each and every autumn.
But what about golf?
There have obviously been a number of truly great players whose reign at the top happened to coincide with the careers of other great players.
But has rivalries in golf ever truly existed in professional golf?
In the last decade, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods have become fierce rivals!
The answer to that question may surprise you.
Let’s take a closer look at what many consider to be the greatest rivalries in the history of golf.
They say records are made to be broken – but not this one!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Sports psychologists say “The Zone” is the state where no conscious thought occurs, and everything is automatic. They also say that to get into the golf zone, where we play a shot and then have to wait five minutes between shots, is very difficult to do. Byron Nelson stayed in The Zone for an unprecedented 65 tournaments in a row! Now that is consistency!
Will anyone ever break Byron Nelson’s record!
The name Byron Nelson rings a bell for most of us golfers. Many think he is one of the greatest golfers ever. And rightfully so! The guy has an INSANE record…
For four consecutive years, Nelson never placed out of the top-10 in any tournament. That is 65 top-10 finishes in a row! 34 of those came with wins; 3 of them majors. Hot damn.
I’m going to say it right now. That’s one that will never be broken. In this day in age, the competition pool is too big. The tournaments are full of guys who all have a very good chance to win. For someone to come along and have that many consistent top-10’s pretty much seems impossible.
And if that does happen… it’s going to have to be the next person to change the face of golf – see Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus.
The Ultimate Hustler – The story of Titanic Thompson!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Even as a young man in South Africa, I had heard of the legendary Titanic Thompson.
Gambler, golf hustler, accused murderer, and more were monikers attached to this man. Titanic Thompson traveled the USA wagering at cards, billiards, shooting, golf, and more. He had extraordinary eyesight, terrific hand-eye coordination, and was also ambidextrous. The renowned pool player, Minnesota Fats, considered Thompson a genius and “the greatest action man of all time.” His ‘work’ line attracted a criminal element intent on robbing him, and Titanic killed 4 men in self-defense. There was the fifth death on a boat that the Sheriff deemed ‘iffy,’ but Thompson released the deed to the boat and left town, rather than stand trial.
Titanic Thompson didn’t start his golf career until his early 30’s, but his natural physical skills served him well.
After taking some lessons in San Francisco and playing a great deal, he became good enough to turn professional. But he replied when asked if he’d ever turn Pro, “I could not afford the pay cut.” In the 1930s, top pro golfers were lucky to make $30,000 in a year, and Thompson made that most weeks, hustling wealthy country club players!
Hall of Fame golfer Ben Hogan traveled with Titanic Thompson in the early 1930s for money games, and he later called Titanic the best shot-maker he ever saw. “He can play right or left-handed. You can’t beat him!” said Hogan. One of Thompson’s hustles was to beat an opponent playing right-handed and then offer to play the course again left-handed for double or nothing. Usually, the opponent was unaware that Titanic was an ambidextrous golfer, so you know how that went!
Many golfers, who later became famous, have left documented accounts of their matches and dealings with this colorful man.
These golfers include Bryon Nelson, Sam Snead, Lee Elder, Harvey Penick, Paul Runyon, and Ben Hogan.
Thanks to renowned golf writer Dan Jenkins for his story ‘How I Met the Ultimate Hustler’ in Golf Digest, April 2015.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
#1 and #4 surprised me most!
I always find it fascinating reading about things we did not know about famous people. Like the fact that days before Gary Player won the British Open, he broke that he could not afford a hotel. So he slept in a bunker!
Here are some more fascinating facts about our golf legends’, provided by Luke Kerr-Dineen at Golf Digest.
1. Raymond Floyd
In his teens turned down a contract to pitch for the Cleveland Indians baseball team.
2. Jack Nicklaus
Once had polio.
3. Sam Snead
His mother gave birth to him at age 49. WOW!
4. Gary Player.
Used to win bets by walking on his hands all the way around the edge of billiard tables.
Click on the link below for 13 more interesting facts.
And Ryan Ballengee of Devil Ball Golf gives us the story on Phil.
Phil Mickelson and “Bones” have been together since 1992.
5. Phil Mickelson and caddie
In 1992 Arizona State golf coach Steve Loy asked caddie, Jim Mackay, a.k.a. “Bones,” if he could suggest someone caddie for Phil Mickelson. At a Tour stop, the conversation was cut short when Mackay’s then-boss arrived, ready to work. Mackay sent a note to Loy shortly afterward, apologizing for leaving quickly and offering to be available for further conversation.
Turns out that Mickelson saw the note and was impressed. Phil hired ‘Bones’ for his professional PGA Tour debut at the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
And the rest is history! They’ve shared 41 PGA Tour wins, including 5 major titles.
Click on the link below for the rest of the story.
