The Man Behind The King ⛳
Thursday, March 25, 2021 Sign Up
The WGC Dell Match Play doesn't exactly have the historical DNA that we look to highlight in the Tour Backspin newsletter so we're taking you back to a match play tournament that Mark McCormack created; the Piccadilly World Match Play Championship. It was fitting that McCormack's first client was also the winner of his first match play tournament.
Congrats to David Aitken, a member of the Society of Golf Historians Facebook group, for winning WHAT HOLE IS IT? from last week. The hole was #4 at Lahinch Golf Club. There were 26 (!) correct answers to this "guest post" (thanks to Thomas Jackson for the awesome pic). Scroll down to test your golf course knowledge with this week's hole.
This week's vintage ad features fashions from Di Vini. They were the Peter Millar of their time.
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Okay, we're on the tee, let's get going.
Palmer and McCormack, A Match Made in Heaven
As Arnold Palmer became more successful on tour, his wife Winnie became more overwhelmed. She was, in effect, his accountant, travel coordinator and business manager. He needed a person to manage his business opportunities and he had one person in mind—Mark McCormack.
McCormack was a lawyer working out of Cleveland who teamed up with the PR man for the Carling Open, Dick Taylor, to form National Sports Management, Inc., a company that represented some of the touring pros when it came to booking exhibitions. McCormack and Palmer had met a couple of times in the late 1950s and Palmer was always impressed with McCormack's business acumen.
Palmer approached McCormack about becoming his business manager, but he had one condition; McCormack had to work exclusively for Palmer. In his autobiography, Palmer wrote that he was looking for a manager who could be his "Clifford Roberts to President Eisenhower." Roberts advised Eisenhower on everything from stock tips to national security.
After much deliberation, McCormack agreed to manage Palmer's business interests and the two shook hands on the deal. They never signed a formal contract and that handshake was their bond for decades as they built the biggest business empire that a professional golfer had achieved up to that time.
Eventually, Palmer agreed to loosen the exclusivity of the relationship and McCormack added Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player to the fold. He began to market them as "the big three" and landed lucrative deals including television shows and product endorsements. The popularity of "the big three" dominated press coverage and there was talk of bigger things to come. McCormack set up International Management Group (IMG) and began to represent more clients, both golfers and a wide range of top stars and celebrity figures.
In the early 60s, there was talk that McCormack was going to produce a tour to rival the PGA Tour. This tour would have fewer players, but they would all be the biggest names in golf. His stable of clients was now large enough that he could contemplate doing a worldwide tour. He began to test this concept with the inception of the World Match Play Championship.
Played at the venerable Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey, just southwest of London, the World Match Play Championship began in 1964 with a field of eight players that included his "big three" clients (Palmer, Nicklaus and Player) as well as fellow American pros Tony Lema and Ken Venturi. Rounding out the field were the British stars Neil Coles and Peter Butler as well as the Australian star Bruce Devlin.
Wentworth played tough and was nicknamed the "Burma Road" and the format was just as demanding; 36 hole matches each day. All the Americans were knocked out in the first round except for Palmer who defeated Peter Butler 1-up. Gary Player also advanced defeating Ken Venturi 4 & 2. Palmer and Player met in the semi-finals and Palmer shot a morning round of 69 and took a 4-up lead into the lunch break. He blistered the start of the afternoon round going 5-under in the first six holes before finishing off his fellow member of "the big three" 8 & 6. He was now set to meet Neil Coles in the final.
In the final, Palmer's putting was a victim to the jitters and he was 2-down at the lunch break. He came back in the afternoon round shooting an 8-under-par round to win the match 2 & 1. Had the match gone the full 18 holes in the afternoon, Palmer would have only needed a par on the eighteenth hole to equal Coles' Wentworth record of 65. Palmer won $14,000 for the victory. It was fitting that Palmer, the first of McCormack's clients, was the champion of the first tournament McCormack established.
Check out the bonus fact about the World Match Play Championship below.
We're going old school with the playlist this week and spinning some vinyl from 1964 Listen on Spotify.
This week's vintage ad features fashions from Di Fini from 1974. They were the Peter Millar of their day.
Want your favorite hole featured in the WHAT HOLE IS IT? photo contest? We feature a "Guest Post" the third Thursday of every month. Send your pictures of your favorite golf holes to larry@9acespublishing.com. If we use your pic for the WHAT HOLE IS IT? contest, you'll win a prize.
Enjoy!
Larry Baush
WHAT HOLE IS IT?
YOUR PICTURE COULD BE FEATURED IN WHAT HOLE IS IT?!
Send us your picture of your favorite hole and if we feature it, you win a prize.
Email to larry@9acespublishing.com.
We'll post guest submissions on the third Thursday of the month.
Our up-to-date leader board for 2021 WHAT HOLE IS IT?
Do you recognize this clubhouse? Find the answer below.
Eagle | Birdie | Par
We give you some recommendations to check out around the web.
Eagle: Congrats to Matt Jones on winning the Honda Classic. He made a hole-in-one when he was six years old and then got to meet his hero Greg Norman. Watch it HERE.
Birdie: This looks like a lot of fun. Tiger's new design of a par 3 course at Pebble Beach known as The Hay. Check it out HERE.
Par: The fastest way to improve your game is with a professional fitting. Our go-to guy in the Puget Sound region is Nelson Knight at Gregg Rogers Performance Golf. Book a fitting HERE.
Bonus Fact
The second World Match Play Championship in 1965 featured one of the great comebacks in golf history. Gary Player found himself 7-down with 17 holes to play in his match against Tony Lema (remember, 36 hole matches). Lema had scorched the back nine in the morning round coming in with a score of 32 and 6-up lead at the lunch break. It was Player's turn to get red hot in the afternoon round. He threw a slew of birdies at Lema to get to 2-down. Lema then hit his drive O.B. on the 34th hole and conceded the hole, now only 1-up. Both players birdied the 35th hole and Player birdied the 36th to square the match and head into extra holes. He won on the first extra hole. Watch it HERE.
