Champagne Versus Milk
Champagne Tony Lema battles Art Wall down the stretch in San Diego
Jon Rahm has been on fire. He’s won four of his last six starts, including last week at The American Express. All of this fine play has resulted in him shooting up the OWGR from #4 to . . . #3.
Kudos to rookie Davis Thompson who finished runner-up in just his 20th start.
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This week the PGA TOUR moves to San Diego for the Farmer’s Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Course) in San Diego, CA. This tournament started in 1952 as the San Diego Open, morphed into the Corvair-San Diego Open in 1955 before becoming the San Diego Open Invitational in 1959. In 1968, Andy Williams lent his name to the event which became the Andy Williams San Diego Open Invitational. It then went through a number of sponsorship changes while retaining the tie to Andy Williams before Shearson Lehman took over the sponsorship in 1986. Williams was dropped from the title in 1989 and then Buick took over the sponsorship in 1992 as the tournament became the Buick Invitational of California. Then it was known as the Buick Invitational until 2009 and became the Farmer’s Insurance Open in 2010.
Today, Thursday, is the second round of the tournament, a move the PGA TOUR made so as not to compete with the Divisional Championship matchups in the NFL on Sunday.
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We’re turning back to 1963 when Art Wall held off a charging Tony Lema to capture the San Diego Open. Scroll down to learn more.
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We’re playing San Diego Open Trivia this week in the Tour Backspin Quiz. Scroll down to play.
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Art Wall, Jr. Promises Milk For Press
You’re a sportswriter and it is Sunday, January 12th, 1964, and you are covering the San Diego Open for your local California newspaper. Even though your professional standards require you to cover the story in an unbiased way, without a rooting interest in any one player, you can’t help yourself. You’re rooting for Tony Lema, a California glamour boy from San Leandro in the Bay Area. When he wins, he treats the press corps to champagne, so how can you not root for him?
Lema is trying to chase down Art Wall, Jr., a veteran of the PGA TOUR who hasn’t won since the 1960 Canadian Open. Wall won the 1959 Masters and was named PGA Player of the Year that same year winning the Vardon Trophy (lowest scoring average) and the money title.
“Can’t Tell San Diego Open Leaders At All”
The week had gotten off to a rocky start as frost delayed the start of both the first and second rounds. The delays resulted in players who were unable to finish before darkness requiring them to return to the course in the morning to finish their previous rounds before playing in the next round. This made for a confusing leader board and it was your job to make things clear for your readers.
The story you had filed with your office for the Saturday edition was not unlike the UPI story carried by many of the nation’s newspapers. It ran under the headline “Can’t Tell San Diego Open Leaders At All” and documented the confusion that the frost delays caused.
The leader on the leader board that Saturday morning was Wall. But there were 42 players who didn’t finish before darkness and needed to return that morning to finish their rounds. One of these players was Bob Rosburg who had to quit his round after only 12 holes and was five under for the round. If he parred in, he would be the leader.
Wall was particularly pleased with his round as he finished with four straight birdies.
“I guess that was the best round I’ve shot in a year,” he said after his round.
On Saturday morning, Rosburg came back to finish his second round and displaced Wall from the top spot on the leader board. Gene Littler and Tommy Bolt, also finished their second round and were tied with Rosburg, one stroke ahead of Wall. Tony Lema sat two strokes in arrears of the leader.
“I hope I can shoot a 70. I think I can win.”
Saturday’s weather was bright and windy without any of the frost that plagued the first two rounds. The hilly Rancho Bernardo Country Club featured extremely large greens that Wall negotiated well the entire week. He shot a third round 68 and held a two-stroke lead at the end of the day. Rosburg was two strokes back and Littler, playing his home course, was another stroke back. Bolt went out-of-bounds on the 17th hole, recorded a triple-bogey eight and withdrew from the tournament citing an injured right arm. Lema shot a 72 and was five shots off Wall’s pace.
Before setting out on Sunday’s final round, Wall felt confident.
“I hope I can shoot a 70,” Wall told his caddie. “I think I can win.”
After nine holes, Wall, playing carefully, extended his lead to four shots. Other players who started the day near the lead fell by the wayside. Lema, who was playing four groups in front of Wall had a bad front nine shooting a 37, but he caught fire on the back nine with a barrage of birdies.
“I hit a 3-iron about eight feet from the cup and sank it for a birdie.”
When Wall reached the 13th hole, he perused the leader board and learned that Lema had caught him, and they were now tied for the lead. Wall did not panic instead bearing down on the par-3 14th hole.
“I hit a 3-iron about eight feet from the cup and sank it for a birdie,” Wall recounted for reporters after his round.
Your heart sank as the veteran regained the lead and your dreams of a champagne toast were put on hold.
After finishing the 14th hole, Wall discovered that a mistake had been made concerning Lema’s score. He’d shot a 37 on the front nine, not the 33 that was reported. With the extra cushion, Wall played safely home, especially the 18th hole where he played away from trouble and secured a bogey that gave him a two-stroke victory over Lema, who finished the back nine with a score of 30.
Wall joked that he would buy you and the other reporters milk, but it just wasn’t going to be the same as champagne. Little did you know that you would only have to wait a week before you would be enjoying that champagne at Pebble Beach after Tony Lema won the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am.
Learn more about the life of Tony Lema in Uncorked, The Life and Times of Champagne Tony Lema by Tour Backspin’s Larry Baush. Buy it on Amazon.
Art Wall was forced to make changes in his travel schedule after winning the San Diego Open. Find out why in this week’s bonus story.
We’re going back to 1964 for the hits on this week’s playlist. Listen HERE.
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Larry Baush
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Bonus Story
PGA TOUR pros, including Art Wall, were changing their plans to play the Caribbean Tour. The Caribbean Tour was a popular offshoot of the PGA TOUR that traveled through Latin America that attracted young players, as well as veterans, because of the no-cut, guaranteed payouts that the tour offered. It was a relaxing few weeks where players could work on their games before returning to the regular tour. But not all was well in 1964 as the first event of the tour on the schedule was the Panama Open. The tournament featured a $11,000 purse.
In early January, grievances between the native Panamanians and “Zonians”, or Americans residing within the U.S.-controlled Canal Zone, boiled over into a series of anti-American riots. The disturbances resulted in the evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Panama City, widespread looting, and dozens of deaths.
The disturbances were enough to scare some of the PGA TOUR pros scheduled to play in the Panama Open. Art Wall, Jr. and Dow Finsterwald were two of the scheduled players who decided to withdraw from the tournament.
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Tour Backspin Quiz |San Diego Open Trivia
Who is the only player to win the San Diego Open as an amateur? For extra credit, what year did he achieve this feat?
Answer below
What is Hip?
Golf Fashions in 1964. Look at those prices!
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Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
Gene Littler won the San Diego Open, in his hometown, as an amateur in 1954. His prize was a five-piece tea set. He finished runner-up in the tournament in 1969, 1974 and 1978.
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