Dave Stockton Has Sam Snead's Number in 1974
After beating Snead in the L.A. Open in early 1974, Stockton prevails again at the Quad Cities Open in the summer
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This week the PGA TOUR is in Silvis, IL, for the John Deere Classic. This tournament started as the Quad Cities Open in 1971 before it became the Ed McMahon-Jaycees Quad Cities Open, the Miller High Life QCO, the Lite Quad Cities Open, the Hardees Golf Classic, then to the Quad Cities Classic, before settling in as the John Deere Classic in 1999.
We’re turning the clock back to 1974 when Dave Stockton found his summer form and beat Sam Snead for the second time during the season. Scroll down to read how Stockton won.
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Dave Stockton Enjoys the Hot Summer Weather at the Quad Cities Open
Dave Stockton rolled into Bettendorf, IA, in July of 1974, with a solid record for the year. He won the Glen Campbell Los Angeles Open in February outdueling Sam Snead down the stretch. He added a second-place finish at the Masters in April and notched a total of five top ten finishes. His winnings totaled nearly $40,000. And he loved playing the courses of the Midwest in the summer months. The heat of the summer months seemed to be the only thing that would relieve the pain in his back.
“I’ve always liked the smaller cities,” Stockton recently told Bruce Devlin and Michael Gonzalez on their Fore The Good of the Game podcast. “I enjoyed the Milwaukees, and I enjoyed the Quad Cities, and I enjoyed a lot of the smaller towns.”
“It was not fun.”
After playing in The Open Championship in 1971 and 1972, Stockton decided that the trip wasn’t for him. It was too expensive, and he couldn’t take his family with him.
“It was not fun,” Stockton recalled.
And so, this is how it came to be that he was in Bettendorf, IA, the same week that The Open Championship was being held at Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s.
“You want the truth? It’s terrible.”
The pro-am on Wednesday was interrupted by rain and the threatening skies on Thursday kept the crowds away. The tournament organizers were disappointed with the 3,000 spectators who showed up on Thursday. Not only did the weather cancel the pro-am, but it also cancelled a clinic that was to feature Snead and Bert Yancy. With some spare time on his hands due to the cancellation, Snead held court in the clubhouse lounge as reporters lobbed questions at him.
“Well, what do you think of the course?” one reporter asked.
He curtly replied, “You want the truth? It’s terrible.”
Apparently, his putting had put him into a bad mood.
Dave Stockton opened with a 68, two strokes off the lead set by Bob Eastwood. Sam Snead was one stroke further back at 69. In the second-round, Snead, 62-years-old, shot a 65 and was two shots off the leader, Ed Sneed, who followed a first-round 67 with a second-round 65. Stockton added another 68 and sat four shots off the lead.
“My goal was to shoot 65 today, then get after ‘em tomorrow,” Snead quipped to reporters following his round while holding his side-saddle putter. “If I could get this thing hot for one week and average 30 putts per round . . . ”
After Saturday’s third-round, Snead convinced many observers that he could win his first title on the PGA TOUR in nine years. Snead fired a 69 and held a share of the lead tied with Mark Hayes at 203. Stockton shot a 71 and was at 207, four strokes off the lead and tied with six other players including Gary McCord and Bob Eastwood. Bruce Fleisher followed a second-round 63 with a 71 and was one-stroke off the lead.
“She said someone would come out of the pack and shoot a 64 or 65 to take it.”
While the third round was underway in Bettendorf, Gary Player was hoisting the Claret Jug after capturing The Open Championship at Royal Lytham and Saint Anne’s. He beat Peter Oosterhuis by one stroke and Jack Nicklaus by two.
The weather for Sunday’s final round was hot and sultry. Fleisher’s wife made a prediction in the morning before Bruce left for the golf course.
“My wife put it on me this morning,” Fleisher told reporters. “She said someone would come out of the pack and shoot a 64 or 65 to take it.”
And she was exactly right.
“I went out today to play it hole by hole, hoping to make some birdies,” Stockton said after his round in which he indeed made some birdies. He proved Mrs. Fleisher prescient by shooting a seven-under 64 and overtook several challengers to reach the top of the leader board.
“I’ve never been in a playoff, I looked forward to it and I anticipated it. I thought for sure that the way he hits he would make birdie.”
He finished his round and then watched as the only player who could tie him, Bruce Fleisher, played the final hole. He needed a birdie to tie Stockton and force a playoff. Fleisher reached the par-5 in two shots and faced a 40-foot putt for an eagle.
Stockton felt sure he was headed to a sudden-death playoff, and he looked forward to it.
“I’ve never been in a playoff,” he admitted after the round. “I looked forward to it and I anticipated it. I thought for sure that the way he hits he would make birdie.”
But Fleisher didn’t make birdie.
“I hate to use the word choke—I don’t think I did—but I did feel the pressure.”
“I was only 40 feet away,” Fleisher explained to reporters after his round. “I tried to lag it up there. I hit the hole with my first shot. I actually thought I had it, but it slipped by. I had no excuse. I just missed it. I hate to use the word choke—I don’t think I did—but I did feel the pressure.”
“I hit 17 greens and I couldn’t have hit it better from tee to green, but, oh this putter. I had 37 putts today and there’s no way you win with that total.”
Stockton captured his eighth (out of 10) PGA TOUR title and, for the second time in 1974, held off Sam Snead to capture the title reprising his results from the L.A. Open. Snead’s putter was the culprit for his demise in the final round.
“I hit 17 greens and I couldn’t have hit it better from tee to green, but, oh this putter. I had 37 putts today and there’s no way you win with that total.”
Once again, Stockton found success in the Midwest during the summer months and prevailed over Sam Snead.
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Bonus Story
In 1967, Dave Stockton teamed up with Laurie Hammer to win the Haig and Haig Scotch Foursome, a tournament that featured teams that played the Scotch Foursome, or alternate shot. The Haig and Haig began in 1960 and usually featured teams made up of one player on the PGA TOUR and another from the LPGA Tour.
In 1967, the tournament featured a $115,000 purse and paid a first-place prize of $22,000 that the winning team split. This was also the year, the only year, where the tournament dropped the LPGA Tour partnership and featured teams made up of PGA TOUR players only.
But you wouldn’t know that from just looking at the names of the top team on the leader board. Dave Stockton and Laurie Hammer sat atop that leader board. The tournament reverted back to a co-ed event in 1968 and remained so up to its last year, 1999, when it was known as the JC Penny Classic.
While the prize money was official for the 1967 season, the PGA TOUR later downgraded the event from an official event to a non-official event.
It was evident that this did not sit well with Dave Stockton when he talked about it with Bruce Devlin and Michael Gonzalez on the For The Good of The Game podcast. Listen to it HERE.
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Tour Backspin Quiz | Buick Open Trivia
Through the history of the Quad Cities Open as it evolved into the John Deere Classic, two men have won the title three times. Who were they?
Scroll down to for answer
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From the Carl Welty Library. Dave Stockton, hitting a driver with a draw.
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Take a deep dive into how the PGA TOUR planned to use Tiger Woods at a player’s meeting before last June’s Travelers Championship. Documents from the antitrust suit against the PGA TOUR show the talking points written for Woods as well as a response from Tiger. Read it from Golf Magazine HERE.
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?
White street shoes for the summer!
Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
D.A. Weibring (1979, 1991, and 1995) and Steve Stricker (2009, 2010, and 2011) are the only three-time winners of the John Deere Classic (what started as the Quad Cities Open).
If you’re not already a paid subscriber and you’re enjoying Tour Backspin, I hope you’ll consider upgrading your subscription. I understand that not everyone can or wants to buy a paid subscription. I’m happy to have you here either way. I’m glad you feel that the stories of these players from one of golf’s “Golden Ages” are important to document before it is too late. Thanks for reading.
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Final Thoughts
The Haig and Haig must have been fun as it teamed PGA TOUR players with LPGA players. The two tours are going to combine for an new event this December. Check out the Grant Thornton Invitational HERE.