Al Geiberger Tames Colonial to Win 1975 Tournament Players Championship

Holds off hunting buddy Dave Stockton with a tournament record score

Mar 10, 2022

The PGA TOUR stages its biggest event this week at the Player’s Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, it was first played in 1974 at the Atlanta Country Club, it moved to Colonial Country Club in 1975, and then to Inverrary Country Club in 1976. In 1977 it moved to Sawgrass Country Club before moving to the Stadium Course at TPC at Sawgrass in 1982. We’re going to focus in on the second year of the tournament, 1975, when Al Geiberger fought off his hunting buddy Dave Stockton.

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Al Geiberger Sets Scoring Record at 1975 Tournament Players Championship

When Dave Stockton left USC to join the PGA TOUR in 1964, his golf coach, Stan Wood, asked fellow USC alum, Al Geiberger, to mentor Stockton and show him the ropes on the road. The Geiberger and Stockton families grew close as they traveled the tour together. Stockton and Geiberger partnered together, and won, the CBS Golf Classic twice and the two became hunting buddies, as well.

In August of 1975, at a baked out Colonial Golf and Country Club where temperatures hovered around 100 degrees, the two battled in the Tournament Players Championship, the precursor to the Players Championship.

After shooting a 63 in the Wednesday pro-am, Geiberger opened with a 66 in the first round. Jack Nicklaus was cruising along nicely late in his first round but found trouble on his 17th hole where he hit his drive into deep rough.

“I think we should have rough, but this stuff was awful,” Nicklaus complained after his round. “I don’t see how people walk through it. You could lose small children in the stuff.”

Nicklaus was the pre-tournament favorite as he had racked up an amazing record for the season. He played in 14 events, won four of them, and finished in the top 10 all but once. He missed his goal of winning the Grand Slam by a total of three strokes. But still, he had never won at Colonial.

Nicklaus took a double bogey on the 17th and posted a 67, one stroke behind Geiberger. Arnold Palmer shot a 71, as did Gary Player, and Dave Stockton was another shot back after opening with a 72.

“I played a funny round of golf,” Geiberger said after his round. “I was two over par early and playing defensively. I was thinking that I had really wasted a round when I shot that 63 in the pro-am.”

Geiberger managed to work his way back to even par with five holes to play and then caught fire. He birdied four of his last five holes and he did it at the height of the afternoon heat.

Geiberger posted a 68 in the second-round while managing to avoid the thunderstorms that required 36 players to return Saturday morning and finish their rounds. Nicklaus also avoided the storms but dunked a shot into the water on his last hole, scored a double bogey, and dropped to six strokes off the lead.

Dave Stockton charged up the leader board with a 64, the second lowest competitive score ever shot at Colonial and sat two shots off his good friend’s lead. He was tied with Bob Dickson who was trying to fight his way out of a two-year slump.

Hubert Green was one of the players who was unable to finish his round before the thunderstorms and returned on Saturday morning to complete his round. He finished with a 65 that put him into the mix. Green became a father just hours after he lost a playoff at the Sammy Davis Jr. Greater Hartford Open the week before the Tournament Players Championship.

In Saturday’s third round, Geiberger calmly shot a 67 and set a 54-hole scoring record for Colonial. Stockton kept the pressure on his mentor by shooting a 68, three strokes off the lead.

Stockton wasn’t going to give up without a fight in the final round. Geiberger was able to build his lead to four by the fourth hole. Geiberger then bogeyed three holes and Stockton birdied twice grabbing the lead.

“I was so tired from the heat,” Geiberger explained after his round, “but I said to myself ‘you’ve come this far this week, you can’t just throw it away.’”

Geiberger steadied himself and made crucial birdies at the 13th and 15th holes while Stockton knocked his tee shot into the trees on the 14th resulting in a bogey and then three putted the 16th for another bogey. That was enough for Geiberger to coast to a three-stroke victory. Watch the final hole broadcast HERE.

“As tough as this course is, I would have to say it was the best tournament I have ever played,” Geiberger declared after shooting a tournament record score.

“It’s an unbelievable score,” Stockton admirably said. “I don’t know what Al is on. I’ve got to find out what he is taking and take some of it myself.”

Geiberger won $50,000 and along with his winnings from the Tournament of Champions earlier in the year, he sat in sixth place on the money winning list with a total of $170,957 in winnings.

Al Geiberger’s scorecard from 6/10/1977 at the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, the first 59 shot on the PGA TOUR. He played with Dave Stockton. (photo from WorthPoint)

Check out the bonus fact below for more on Colonial Golf and Country Club.

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Bonus Story

Along the first tee at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, is a beautiful Wall of Champions that displays every winner of a PGA Tour event held at the course. The wall is engraved with the winner’s name and score starting with the 1941 U.S. Open. Winners of the Colonial, now known as the Charles Schwab Challenge, and Al Geiberger’s Tournament Players Championship are included on the wall.

The wall was constructed before the start of the 1975 Tournament Players Championship. It was designed to display 50 names and was later updated to accommodate 100 names.