Bobby Mitchell Beats Jack Nicklaus in Tournament of Champions Playoff

Mitchel won his second, and last, PGA TOUR title in the Tournament of Champions

Jan 06, 2022

Welcome to 2022 and the first PGA TOUR event of the calendar new year; the Sentry Tournament of Champions. This tournament was first played in Las Vegas in 1953 and the winner (Al Besselink) was awarded his cash prize in silver dollars. The tournament moved to La Costa in Carlsbad, California in 1969 before moving to the present location, The Plantation Course at the Kapalua Resort near Lahaina on the island of Maui, Hawaii. Our story comes from the year 1972 when the tournament was at La Costa.

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Pro’s Second, and Final, Win Comes at the Tournament of Champions

Bobby Mitchell, of Danville, Virginia, dropped out of high school at the age of 15 and turned pro. He won the Virginia State Golf Association Open, the Virginia State PGA Open and the Carolinas PGA Championship, and played in the 1966 U.S. Open, before joining the PGA TOUR in 1967.

He won his first PGA TOUR event in 1971 at the Cleveland Open where he finished seven strokes ahead of the second-place finisher, Charles Coody. The victory earned Mitchell the perks that come with being a PGA TOUR winner including an invitation to the 1972 Masters and Tournament of Champions.

Mitchell was disappointed with his performance at the Greensboro Open the week prior to the Masters and arrived in Augusta with low expectations. Even so, his game came together right from the start of the tournament, and he played well in all four rounds.

He entered the final round in a four-way tie for fifth place, four shots behind the leader, Jack Nicklaus. He shot a 73 in the final round during difficult conditions that included slick greens. The low round of the day was a 71 and Mitchell’s score moved him up into a tie for second and he won $15,833. Nicklaus won his fourth green jacket. Watch the final round HERE.

Two weeks later, Mitchel was playing in his first Tournament of Champions. In 1969 the Tournament of Champions moved from Las Vegas to the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California. Mitchell played well opening with a 71 in the first round and followed up with a 65 in the second round. His third round 74 put him two-strokes behind Nicklaus.

In the fourth round, Mitchell played steady golf and shot a two-under 70 while Nicklaus could do no better than an even-par 72 and the two finished tied atop the leader board after the regulation 72 holes. They headed out to the 14th hole to begin a sudden death playoff.

The 14th was a 202-yard par-3 and Nicklaus missed the green with his 3-iron. Mitchell also hit a 3-iron and he put his shot on the putting green. After Nicklaus chipped up to within six feet, Mitchell calmly stepped up and drained his putt for birdie and the win.

“I thought I played good enough to win but somebody else played better,” Nicklaus said after the playoff.

Mitchell wore a bucket hat with the Amana logo on it and did not remove it to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd after making his winning putt. He wore a toupee under the hat and did not want to risk removing the hair piece accidentally.

The Tournament of Champions was Mitchell’s second, and last, win on the PGA Tour. That’s a record that he is ensured of not being beaten, only tied. Mitchell finished inside the top 60 on the tour in only three years; 1969, 1971 and 1972. In 1991 Mitchell began annual trips to Finland to teach golf and continued making the trip every year for 25 years.

Press Badge for the 1972 Tournament of Champions

Tournament of Champions history from 1953 to 1979

Check out the bonus fact below for more about when the Tournament of Champions was played at La Costa.

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Bonus Story

The Tournament of Champions was moved from Las Vegas to the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsburg, California, in 1969. In 1984, Carl Welty opened a golf school at the course. Welty revolutionized the use of video, and other technology, to analyze the golf swing.

At La Costa, Welty built a state-of-the-art indoor hitting studio that used high-speed video that gave players immediate feedback and used side-by-side displays to compare swing positions. When the PGA TOUR pros came for the Tournament of Champions, they all wanted to visit the studio and try the various “toys” that Welty had.

One “toy” was developed with the help of a scientist friend and recorded the club speed and launch angle. It was the first launch monitor, and the pros were entranced with it. They would visit Welty’s studio to see what their club speed was and how they could increase it.

Welty would instruct a player to swing as if they were on a very tight driving hole and they had to hit the fairway. He would then compare this swing speed to one where he would tell the player they were now on a reachable par-5 and to “let the shaft out” swinging as hard as they could. He discovered that there was about a 5 to 15 mph difference between the two swings.

Greg Norman came in to measure his clubhead speed. Welty gave him the same experiment to see the difference between a shot that had to hit the fairway and one that could be bombed. Norman’s readings between the two shots? The exact same. The Shark had only one speed.