Change in Venue Due To The Clubhouse
The clubhouse at Rancho Park was deemed to not be up to PGA TOUR standards so the L.A. Open is moved to Brookside Golf Course
The wind added an unexpected condition to the WM Phoenix Open. The first full-field “designated” event featured a fantastic tournament. It more than made up for the weakness in the field at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am which was not an “designated” event.
While this tournament was an unqualified success, the pros and cons of the new “designated” event structure to the tour are still up in the air. You can weigh in with your opinions in this week’s poll. Congratulations to Scottie Scheffler who put the hammer down on the last three holes to secure the win. Also, congratulations to Nick Taylor (go Dawgs!) for his fine play and a second-place finish that won him $2.2 million.
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CBS cameras did not pick this up, but a fan with a smartphone did.
It’s back to the coast for this week’s PGA TOUR event. The Genesis Invitational has DNA roots that go back to 1926 when the tournament was known as the L.A. Open. In 1971 Glen Campbell added his name and the tournament became known as the Glen Campbell L.A. Open until 1984 when it returned to being the L.A. Open. It then became the Los Angeles Open presented by Nissan (1987 and ‘88), the Nissan Los Angeles Open (1989 to 1994), the Nissan Open (1995-2007), the Northern Trust Open (2008-2016), the Genesis Open (2017-2019) and, finally, the Genesis Invitational in 2020.
And Tiger is playing!
We’re going back to 1968 when the tournament moved from Rancho Park to Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena, in the shadow of the Rose Bowl. Scroll down to see how the move played out with both players and fans.
Weigh in on our poll question regarding the “designated” events on the PGA TOUR schedule this year. Scroll down to vote. In last week’s poll, 67% of you thought that Macklemore wore it better than Justin Bateman.
We’re replaying our second volume of hits from 1968. So many great songs we’ll have to come up with a volume three soon. Listen HERE.
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POLL
How Do You Like The New “Designated” Events On The PGA Tour?
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Congratulations to Mike Kemppainen for correctly answering last week’s WHAT HOLE IS IT? The featured hole was #11 at We-Ka-Pa Golf Club, Saguaro Course in Fort McDowell, AZ. Mike was the only player to come up with the correct answer. Check out the new 2023 leader board and scroll down for your chance to win in this week’s WHAT HOLE IS IT?
We’re playing L.A. Open Trivia this week in the Tour Backspin Quiz. Scroll down to play.
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Larry Baush
The Move Was Made Because of the Clubhouse?
It is Monday, January 22nd, 1968 and Vic Stark, executive director of the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce is as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. It’s Los Angeles Open week, a week where the Chamber sponsors one of the oldest tournaments on the PGA schedule, one that attracts all the big names. And this year’s event has an added component to the excitement—a new course would be played for the venerable event.
The event had been played at the Rancho Park Golf Course in Los Angeles in the years 1956 to 1967 but in 1968 it moved to Brookside Golf Course in the shadow of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. According to Dick Zehms of the Pasadena Independent Star News, one of the main reasons for the move was the refurbished clubhouse at Brookside. Was this just the local pride of a newspaperman who celebrated the move from the city of Los Angeles out to Pasadena? Apparently, the pros liked Rancho Park, but the clubhouse was well below their standards. Brookside had invested in an upgrade of the course as well as the clubhouse. While the sumptuous clubhouse met with rave reviews, the course did not.
“The course doesn’t seem quite ready and it is a little thin in spots.”
The reviews started coming in on the Monday of tournament week. Arnold Palmer won the L.A. Open in 1963, 1966 and 1967, all at Rancho Park, played his practice round at Brookside on Monday. Over 2,000 people came out to watch. The defending champion did not have much to say about the course, but some of the other players did.
Dave Marr played with Palmer and he said, “The course doesn’t seem quite ready and it is a little thin in spots.”
The course had been remodeled by Desmond Muirhead who was an interested spectator during Monday’s practice rounds. He predicted that Brookside would take its place as one of the finest municipal courses in the L.A. area, but also said that it was far from a finished product because of the rush job to prepare it for the L.A. Open. The redesigned course now measured more than 7,000 yards.
In the Monday qualifying tournament, held over four courses including Riviera, Jerry Mowlds of Portland, OR, and Dave Eichelberger of Waco, TX, shared medalist honors with both shooting 71.
The swanky new clubhouse would play host for the pro-am pairings party on Monday night. On Tuesday night, Arnold Palmer, Doug Sanders, Billy Casper, Gene Littler, Al Geiberger, and Dave Stockton were in attendance at the 2nd Annual Pro-Celebrity Dinner at the Coconut Grove restaurant that was put on by the Southern California section of the PGA to raise funds for local high schools. The event was hosted by Jim Backus, the voice of Mr. Magoo and featured the entertainers Mel Torme and Myron Cohen.
The pro-am was played on Wednesday and the tournament kicked off with the opening round played on Thursday. Ready or not, Brookside was about to take center stage.
The first round was played under warm sunny skies and the scoring was low. Four players shot opening rounds of 67; Al Geiberger, Gene Littler, veteran Jimmy Clark and Monday qualifier Dave Eichelberger. Six players, including George Archer and Dave Marr were another stroke back while a group of four players, including Arnold Palmer was another stroke back.
“The greens are uneven and there seem to be some places where the greens are almost unplayable.”
More reviews of Brookside were coming in after the first round. Palmer, understandably so due to his three wins there, preferred Rancho Park to Brookside.
“The ball seems to squirt for me on the greens,” he observed. “The greens are uneven and there seem to be some places where the greens are almost unplayable.”
Dave Marr agreed with Palmer saying, “I think Rancho is a fine course and I was disappointed when we didn’t play there. There’s more trouble there, it’s more difficult.”
Of course, one of the leaders, Gene Littler, found little wrong with the course.
“These are not the worst greens I have played on,” he began, “nor are they the best. Since Tuesday when I played a practice nine, I have said that the winner will be the best putter because there are more three-putt greens out there than some suspect.”
The leaderboard after the second round was even more crowded than it was after the first round, but Al Geiberger was the only one that was at the top both days. He added a second round 70 to his first round 67 and was joined at the top by Billy Casper (70-67), Dave Marr (68-69), George Archer (68-69), and Dave Stockton (70-67).
The weather turned dark and bleak during the second round and the crowd of 7,021 struggled to stay warm in the temperatures that registered in the low 50s. Rain was predicted for Saturday’s third round.
First round leaders Littler and Eichelberger backed up with Eichelberger shooting a 71, one stroke behind the leaders and Littler shooting a 72, one stroke further back. Palmer added a second round 71 and was three strokes off the lead.
The forecasted rain did not materialize on Saturday, but the temperatures remained cold, the wind picked up and the sky was overcast. Billy Casper handled the conditions well shooting a 68 to take the lead. He had to hold off a very hot John Schlee who fashioned a six-under-par 65. Casper led by one-stroke over Schlee and Geiberger, who shot a third round 69. Arnold Palmer shot a 69 and now sat four shots off Casper’s lead.
The weather held up for Sunday’s fourth round. Casper held off a patented Arnold Palmer back nine charge shooting a final round 69 to take the title. Palmer shot a 68 to finish three strokes back of Casper while Geiberger shot a final round 72 to finish another stroke back.
So what was the final consensus about moving the tournament from Rancho Park to Brookside? The fact that it returned to Rancho Park in 1969 is probably the most definitive answer to that question. Tournament organizers believed that more was needed than just a better clubhouse to host the event. Rancho Park hosted the tournament until 1972 before it moved to Riviera Country Club. In 1983 when Riviera was preparing to host the PGA Championship, the L.A. Open returned to Rancho Park before returning to Riviera the next year. It was played, for one year, at Valencia Country Club, in 1998 while Riviera was being prepared for the U.S. Senior Open. Otherwise, the tournament has been played at Riviera since—which has a very nice clubhouse.
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Bonus Story
Dave Eichelberger made the most of his Monday qualifying for the 1968 Los Angeles Open. He was tied for the lead after his first round 67. He followed that up with a second round 71 that put him just one stroke off the lead.
A third round 72 kept him in view of the leaders and his final round 74 gave him a total of 284, ten strokes off the lead. The finish was good enough to earn a $2,000. He finished 1968 with a total of $15,473 in money earnings, good for the 94th place on the money list.
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Tour Backspin Quiz |L.A. Open Trivia
Billy Casper captured the 1968 L.A. Open in this week’s featured story. How many times did he win the L.A. Open? In what years?
Answer below
Check it Out
Everything that the Firepit Collective does is great, but this interview with Joel Dahmen (Go Dawgs!) is a great listen. Go inside what it takes to play the PGA TOUR today. Joel also dishes on behind the scenes stuff from the Netflix documentary series Full Swing. Be sure to stay for the story from panelist Geoff Ogilvy. Listen HERE or watch on YouTube HERE.
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Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
Billy Casper won the 1968 L.A. Open and the 1970 L.A. Open.
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