Rebar Stake Saves Maltbie ⛳
Thursday, June 3, 2021 Sign Up
It's hard to believe that this will be the 45th playing of the Memorial Tournament, but it is nice to see that the name has been retained over the years (except for an added "presented by"). Maybe it is Jack's clout with the Tour, but it does show the historical value of using original names for the tournaments on the Tour schedule and not doing a complete sellout to corporate interests. There must be some way to attract these sponsorship dollars without sacrificing the historical capital of the original names. It is one of the reasons we try to open up this newsletter with a reference to the historical name of the current week's tournament. For the second week in a row we have an event that is one of just five tournaments designated by the PGA Tour as invitationals (Genesis Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational, the RBC Heritage and the Charles Schwab Challenge are the other four). We're focused in on the very first installment of the Memorial. The year is 1976.
Congratulations to Mario Padilla of the Washington Golfer Facebook Group for winning the WHAT HOLE IS IT? contest from last week. Mario correctly identified #17 at Bandon Trails and then beat out 10 other correct answers in the random drawing.
The updated WHAT HOLE IS IT? leader board has Rob Noble holding on to a pretty good lead. We'll have some sort of prize for the leader at the end of the year. Scroll down to test your golf course knowledge with this week's hole. You could win a signed copy of Uncorked, The Life and Times of Champagne Tony Lema. Want your picture featured in a "Guest Post" (every third Thursday of the month)? Send us your pic to larry@9acespublishing.com and if we use your pic, you'll win a prize.
We have some special features coming for US Open week. We'll mix in some great historical stories with a comtempory feature. Be sure to check it out during Open week.
MacGregor had a pretty good 1973 as this week's vintage ad will attest.
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Okay, we're on the tee, let's get going.
Rebar Helps Maltbie Win Inaugural Memorial Tournament
Oh-oh, thought Roger Maltbie on the third playoff hole of the first Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in 1976. He overcooked his approach shot, a shot he was attempting to hook but the ball flew further left than he intended. He and his playoff opponent, Hale Irwin, then saw the ball ricochet back onto the green.
Maltbie was afraid that he had hit a spectator in the head, but instead, his ball hit a rebar stake that secured the gallery ropes and took a very friendly (for Maltbie) bounce.
"I was terribly scared at first that I had hit somebody in the head as quickly as the ball came back on the green," Maltbie told reporters. Maltbie, wearing a garish patchwork quilt pants, was able to match Irwin's par and then he secured the victory on the fourth playoff hole, the 18th hole at Muirfield Village, with a birdie. He took home a check for $40,000, the winner's share of the $200,000 tournament purse.
Muirfield Village was designed by Jack Nicklaus and it proved to be a stern test for the players. Irwin and Maltbie tied at 288, even par, the highest score on the tour up to that point in 1976. Nicklaus' vision was to have this tournament develop into a major and take its place alongside the Masters, US Open, PGA Championship and The Open Championship.
Nicklaus used the tournament to honor golfing immortals by dedicating the tournament as a memorial, which quickly became a tradition. Bobby Jones was honored in the inaugural year. With these lofty goals it was somewhat puzzling why a large chunk of the upper echelon of players chose to take the week off. Missing from the action were Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Master's champion Ray Floyd, The Open Champion Tom Watson, Gene Littler and Billy Casper.
Nicklaus actually played well despite the challenges that were presented to him as host. He recorded six birdies and one eagle in the first round yet could do no better than a one-under 71. His second round 75 did not put him out of contention and he was three-under through 11 holes on Saturday before a quadruple bogey at the par-3 12th (what Nicklaus envisioned as his postcard hole) ended his hopes for the week.
This was a recurring theme for a lot of players that week; a steady round suddenly upended by a disaster hole that results in a double or triple that sabotages the round. For the week there were 40 rounds in the 80s compared to just seven in the 60s. Hubert Green was the 36-hole leader after rounds of 69 and 72 before skying to a 79 in the third round.
Muirfield Village had trouble everywhere with trees, sand and water requiring pinpoint accuracy and the greens were diabolically slick with slopes that were difficult to read. Maltbie was able to navigate these difficulties and, with the aid of a fortuitous bounce off a pole, secured his third victory in just 16 months of being a touring pro. Much better than knocking a shot off someone's noggin.
Check out the bonus story on the Memorial below.
1976 saw punk come on the scene plus some great albums with the L.A. sound. We've got The Ramones, AC/DC, Blondie, Dylan, The Eagles, Jackson Browne and Rainbow. Something for everybody. Listen on Spotify.
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Larry Baush
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Eagle | Birdie | Par
We give you some recommendations to check out around the web.
Eagle: As the final group made the turn from the front nine and teed off on the tenth hole at the Memorial in 2020, crews began to tear up the greens on the front nine. Nicklaus was going to redesign Muirfield Village. Read and watch his thinking in this Golf Magazine documentary. Watch HERE.
Birdie: Roger Maltbie has led a very colorful life. Read seven classic Maltbie stories compiled by Golf Digest HERE.
Par: You can apply for 2022 Masters tickets. Click HERE and if you get chosen, you know who you need to invite to go with you.
Bonus Fact
The Memorial Tournament in 1976 used a new format for a playoff if one was needed. Sure enough, it was put into play that same year. With the idea of eliminating the outsized role that "fate" can play in a sudden-death playoff while at the same time avoiding the nightmare scenario of a Monday 18 hole playoff, The Memorial debuted a 3 hole cumulative score playoff.
The change was made to appease television as the 18 hole Monday playoff did not work well for networks that wanted to crown the champion of an event on Sunday evening. The 18 hole playoff often lacked drama and the excitement of having a large crowd of fans on hand as fans and volunteers had to return to work. But, many felt that luck played too large a part in a sudden-death playoff.
As noted, that first playoff under the new format still had to be decided by a sudden-death playoff that Maltbie won on the first extra hole. And luck played a huge role in the 3 hole playoff when Maltbie's ball hit the rebar stake and bounded onto the green on the third playoff hole.
The Open Championship utilizes a 4 hole playoff, followed by a sudden-death playoff if needed, the PGA Championship uses a 3 hole playoff followed by sudden-death if needed, while the Masters is a sudden-death playoff and the US Open conducts a 18 hole playoff with a sudden-death playoff if needed to crown their champions.
The 18th green at Muirfield Village during the inaugural Memorial Tournament. (photo courtesy of John Kenney, Sports Illustrated.)