Crenshaw Captures National Title
Crenshaw holds off Raymond Floyd to win 1981 Mexican Open on a Percy Clifford designed course
Another Signature Event is in the books for the PGA TOUR and one of the stars of the event was Riviera Country Club. The back nine on Sunday was wild with Hideki Matsuyama putting on a Sunday charge for the ages. We’ve got the recap and the clips you might have missed below.
This week, the tour goes international with the Mexico Open at Vidanta in Vallarta, Mexico. And we’ll have Bones Mackay in the booth as an analyst for NBC! We’re going back to the 1981 Mexican Open for our feature story this week. The Mexican Open was not an official PGA TOUR event, but it did attract a fine field. The 1981 event featured Lee Trevino, Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, and in their first year on tour, Tommy Armour III and Fred Couples. We caught up with the winner, Ben Crenshaw, and ESPN Deportes golf reporter John Sutcliffe, who grew up within a half-block of Club de Golf Chapultepec where the event was held.
Both men registered a bit of disbelief that someone would want to write about the 1981 Mexican Open.
“I can’t believe you’re writing about the 1981 Mexican Open,” Crenshaw began our conversation with a chuckle before recalling his memories of that week.
“I’m just curious, why do you want to write about the 1981 Mexican Open?” Sutcliffe asked.
After being tuned into the whole concept of Tour Backspin both men then recalled memories that they hadn’t thought about for quite a while, and as it turns out, it’s a pretty good story. Scroll down to read and don’t miss the part about the helicopter ride.
Club Pro Guy is ready for the Mexican Open.
If you want more Mexican Open stories, check out our archives. We’ve written about the 1966 event HERE, the 1962 event HERE, and the 1973 event HERE.
In last week’s Tour Backspin Poll, we asked you if after seeing what happened on Saturday at the WM Phoenix Open with the crowds made it more, or less, likely that you would attend a PGA TOUR event. A whopping 88% of respondents said it would be less likely as that day didn’t look fun while 13% of respondents are party animals and they not only thought it was more likely they would attend, but they are planning their outfits now.
CBS debuted some new technology in their golf coverage last week and it got us thinking. Who does better at PGA TOUR television coverage? Let’s us know your thoughts in this week’s Tour Backspin Poll.
Tour Backspin Poll
This time of year a Mexican vacation with golf sounds great. Just fill out the coupon to get started in this week’s Vintage Ad. Scroll down to view.
Love to watch Ben Crenshaw’s swing. Check it out in the Swing Like a Pro feature.
One of my guilty pleasures is David Lindley. I’ve loved him since he was Jackson Browne’s sideman. But it was when he left Brown’s band to perform with the backup band El Rayo-X that his true virtuosity came shining through. Plus the outfits. Check out this week’s Tour Backspin Music. Listen HERE.
Do you know what happened today in golf history? Or which famous golfer has a birthday today? Me, neither. But I do know where to go to find out. Check out the Your Golfer’s Almanac podcast. Host Michael Duranko celebrates birthdays, milestones, and other accomplishments that occurred on the day in golf history. Listen HERE.
We’re playing Mexican Open Trivia in this week’s Tour Backspin Quiz. Scroll down to play.
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It would have been Tony Lema’s 90th birthday this Sunday. Celebrate with a copy of my book, Uncorked, The Life and Times of Champagne Tony Lema. Order it on Amazon HERE.
Okay, we're on the tee, let's get going.
Enjoy!
Larry Baush
Crenshaw Holds Off Floyd To Win 1981 Mexican Open
It is Thursday, December 10th, 1981, and the first round of the Mexican Open at Club de Golf Chapultepec has just wrapped up and there is excitement in the air as Mexican golfer Rudy Asbun shot a 6-under-par 66 to take the first-round lead. Ben Crenshaw was in second-place, two strokes back at 68 while Ray Floyd was further down the leaderboard after shooting a 72.
Players had respect for the Club de Golf Chapultepec located a few miles outside of Mexico City. The course was originally designed by Scotsman Willie Smith during the Mexican revolution, but before it could be completed, Smith died and his brother, Alex Smith, finished the job in 1921.
Willie Smith suffered injuries during the revolution when he refused to leave his post at the Mexico City Country Club and was found trapped under a fallen beam after Emiliano Zapata’s troops ransacked the clubhouse. The revolutionaries viewed the golf course as symbol of the corrupt ruling class.
“Our course is very hilly, hilly greens that could be 12 on the Stimpmeter.”
Renowned designer Percy Clifford, who designed more than 40 courses in Mexico, renovated Chapultepec in 1972. The par-72 course measures 7,267 yards from the furthest back tees, but the course is located at more than 7,800 feet above sea level, so it plays much shorter.
Tour Backspin caught up with ESPN Deportes golf correspondent, John Sutcliffe, who grew up a half-block away from Chapultepec and worked the 1981 Mexican Open as the head of marshals—as a 12-year-old.
“Our course is very hilly, hilly greens that could be 12 on the Stimpmeter,” Sutcliffe, who still is a member at the club, informed us.
In the second round, Crenshaw matched his opening round 68 to take the lead at 136. The Mexican fans were disappointed as Asbun could not keep pace with his first-round heroics and skied to a 77. Floyd marched up the leaderboard into second place after scorching the course for a 65 giving him a 137 and was tied for second with Dan Pohl.
“I still remember the 1981 Mexican Open as the head of marshals at 12 years old.”
On Saturday, Crenshaw added a 69 and sat tied for the lead with Floyd who fired a third round 68. Crenshaw made a bogey at the 212-yard, par-3, seventh hole and made the turn at one-over-par. He then made three straight birdies to start the back nine. Floyd made birdies at the second and eighth holes to turn in two-under-par and added another pair of birdies on the back before making a bogey on the tough par-5 15th hole. Pohl lost ground with a third-round 73.
The stage was set for an exciting Sunday finish and Sutcliffe had a front row seat.
“I still remember the 1981 Mexican Open as the head of marshals at 12 years old,” Sutcliffe recalled. “I imagine I had to take care of about eight other kids to carry the scoreboards. So, obviously, I was in charge, so I got to carry the scoreboard for the last group the last two days.”
Crenshaw started poorly with a bogey on the first hole but then turned it on with four birdies and an eagle on the front nine.
“And I remember Ben making putts from everywhere to beat Raymond Floyd.”
Sutcliffe remembers the eighth hole saying, “Ben Crenshaw, on the eighth hole, a par-5, he hit a driver and 3-iron and made eagle. That propelled him to play well.”
Floyd could not keep pace as he was on his way to a 72. Crenshaw coasted home on the back nine to finish with a 69 and a four-round total of 273, four strokes in front of Floyd. Dan Pohl was in third place at 278.
“Down the stretch it was Ben Crenshaw and Raymond Floyd,” Sutcliffe recalled, “And I remember Ben making putts from everywhere to beat Raymond Floyd.”
Tour Backspin recently spoke with Crenshaw to explore his memories of that week in Mexico.
“It was one of the few times that I beat Raymond Floyd,” he recalled. “Raymond was such a competitor; it was a feather in my hat that I beat him.”
Crenshaw also paid his compliments to the golf course.
“It was a very good golf course,” he said. “There was a guy down there, Percy Clifford, a very fine architect. He did most of his work in Mexico. A very distinguished career down there. Chapultepec was a very good golf course.”
Crenshaw went into a slump before winning again, in 1983 at the Byron Nelson Golf Classic and won his first major the next year at the Masters. But he won his only national championship, on a golf course that he loved, just outside Mexico City.
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BONUS STORY
When we spoke with John Sutcliffe of ESPN Deportes about Ben Crenshaw’s win at the 1981 Mexican Open, one of the first questions he asked me was, “did he tell you about the helicopter?”
Yes. Yes, he did.
Crenshaw readily recalled that his transportation from the golf course to the airport was a helicopter that lifted off from the first tee.
“The flew me in a helicopter,” he marveled recently talking with Tour Backspin. “I’ll never forget it. The pilot asked me if I wanted to see the El Ángel statue and I said ‘sure.’ We must have been only 500 feet above the statue.”
John Sutcliffe also remembered the spectacle saying, “I remember, at the first tee, him getting on the helicopter and then years later, he told me the story that they took him to see the Ángel and he was so afraid of flying over the Ángel.”
BONUS STORY II
John Sutcliffe was super-excited about the 1981 Mexican Open being played at his home course Club de Golf Chapultepec. One thing that had the 12-year-old excited was meeting his idol, Lee Trevino.
We spoke with Sutcliffe, now the golf reporter for ESPN Deportes for this week’s Tour Backspin and he recalled his memories of that week.
“I have a picture with Lee Trevino somewhere. He was, you know, Supermex. When I became a reporter, I got to know that Lee wasn’t necessarily the guy I should have loved, to be honest. But we had no Mexicans on the PGA TOUR, so Lee Trevino was the idol of the Latinos. Supermex, no?
A former caddie from my club was his caddie for that week. So, I’ll never forget, my school was about a 10-minute walk from the course, and I showed up in the practice round and Lee was on the practice tee.
‘Juan,’ he said—he called me Juan, ‘I’ve been waiting to meet you all day.’
And then he gave me a golf ball. It meant a lot to me in 1981 that Lee Trevino said hello to me.”
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WHAT HOLE IS IT?
Are you on the leader board?
Congratulations to Al Oppenheim who correctly identified #16 at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, CA, in last week’s WHAT HOLE IS IT? contest. Al beat out seven other correct answers in the random drawing and a prize pack is on the way to him. Submit your answer for this week and get yourself into the race for the Herbert C. Leeds Trophy, our new perpetual trophy for the annual winner.
PGA TOUR Wrap-Up | Genesis Invitational
What a final round Hideki Matsuyama put together to win the Genesis Invitational at beautiful Riviera Country Club. Matsuyama fired one of the great final rounds in PGA TOUR history and posted a 62 making up six shots on the third round leader, Patrick Cantley. He then held off Will Zalatoris and Luke List to win by three and in the process, he overtook K.J. Choi to become the winningest Asian golfer of all time.
It was disappointing that Tiger Woods could not complete four rounds because of illness and that Jordan Spieth did not make the weekend due to signing an incorrect scorecard.
Check out the fourth round highlights from the PGA TOUR.
Clips You Might Have Missed
This is how you shoot a final round 62.
Now this is a walk-and-talk.
Here’s how you make your caddie happy. The ace won a car for Will and another one for his caddie.
I think I saw some shoes that will go with that bag last week.
Here’s the caddie content you need for this week.
This is interesting:
Tour Backspin Quiz | Mexican Open Trivia
How many tours have conducted the Mexico Open/Mexican Open (including the other name iterations)?
Scroll down for answer
Swing Like a Pro
Ben Crenshaw’s beautiful swing.
Blind Shot
Click for something fun. 👀
Just one more thing to make Riviera one of the coolest golf courses on the planet. Bunker bling from Golf Magazine.
I’m not sure what’s going on here, but the footage is pretty cool. From the DP World Tour.
Rick Gehman of RunGood RunDown takes on the idea of men’s professional golf going global with a World Golf Tour. It made my head spin.
Tour Backspin Music
One of my favorites, David Lindley and El Rayo-X. Check out the great rendition of “Mercury Blues.”
Uncorked, The Life and Times of Champagne Tony Lema tells the story of one of the tour’s biggest stars in the mid-1960s. A fascinating glimpse into the traveling caravan that was the PGA TOUR during an era where the fields were full of “Mad Men” era personalities. From a hardscrabble youth spent on the “wrong side of the tracks” in the Oakland suburb of San Leandro, to the temptations of Elko, Nevada, to the bright lights of the PGA TOUR, Uncorked tells a story of determination, redemption and, above all else, a love story that documents how Betty, Tony’s new wife, provided the direction and motivation for him to become a top star. Order on Amazon.
WHAT IS HIP?
Was it the shorts, or the socks in 1981?
Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
The Mexican Open was played under the supervision of the Federation of Mexican Golf until 2002. The Tour Latinoamérica conducted the event from 2003 to 2006, with the event co-sanction in 2004, 2005, and 2006 by the Challenge Tour, a developmental tour of the European Tour. The Nationwide Tour sanctioned the event from 2008 until 2011 when the Web.com took over and conducted the event for 2012. The tournament then fell under management of PGA Tour Latinoamérica until 2022 when it became a PGA TOUR event. That makes a total of seven different tours.
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Final Thoughts
Too bad about Chapultepec being so exclusive, I’d love to play that course. Just think how far you could drive the ball at 8,000 feet.
If you didn’t click on it, click on this week’s music. AND TURN IT UP!
Is Hideki’s caddie the most chill caddie on earth? Remember when he bowed to the 18th at Augusta after his man won the Masters?
This post was edited at 10:02 am on 2/22/2024 to correct the spelling of Jim Nantz