Football Players Star In Miami
Three football players shared the limelight at the National Airlines Open, but only one brought home the hardware
How much fun is it to watch the Genesis Open at Riviera? The beautiful blue skies and those cool “ghost” trees. The layout at Riviera is so great, it just makes it fun to watch the action. Plus, as an elevated event, the field was stellar. Congrats to Jon Rahm for outlasting Max Homa on Sunday.
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It’s time to move to Florida for the PGA TOUR with the Honda Classic being played this week at Palm Beach Gardens at the PGA National Resort, on the Champion Course. This is not a elevated event so there will be fewer marquee stars in the field than we’ve seen the last couple of weeks. The tournament has DNA that goes back to the National Airlines Open in 1969 before becoming the Jackie Gleason’s Inverrery Classic in 1972, then for one year in 1973 it became the Jackie Gleason Inverrery - National Airlines Open. From 1974 until 1980 it was the Jackie Gleason Inverrery Classic before Gleason elected to end his sponsorship. It was then known as the American Motors Inverrery Classic for one year before becoming the Honda Inverrery Classic for two years, 1982 and 1983. It became The Honda Classic in 1984 and remains that to this year.
We’re going back to first year it was held in 1969 as the National Airlines Open. Three football stars made news during that rainy and cold week in Miami. Scroll down to learn more.
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Larry Baush
Player Uses The Same Focus to Win in Miami That He Developed Kicking 50 Straight Extra Points.
It’s pro-am day, Wednesday, March 26th, 1969, at the Country Club of Miami where the lucrative National Airlines Open was being held, and it’s cold and rainy. The rain got so bad that the round was cancelled, and all the pros shared the pro-am prize money.
There was one group in the pro-am that garnered all of the attention, even though they only got nine holes in before the rain. The foursome included Arnold Palmer, Jackie Gleason and Joe Namath. Gleason and Namath had a grudge match going on and were throwing barbs and insults at each other. The loser of the grudge match was required to donate five thousand dollars to charity and the two celebrities hammed it up for the gallery. A wealthy doctor from Hawaii paid ten thousand dollars to charity for the privilege of filling out this celebrated group. Namath would be the first football reference in a week that would be full of football references.
“Even if this tournament is for $200,000, we’d all be a lot happier if the course were as impressive as the purse.”
Frank Beard, in his book Pro Frank Beard on the Golf Tour, wrote that the Country Club of Miami was not really ready to host a PGA TOUR event.
“The course is too young to be in first-grade condition,” he wrote. “I imagine it’ll be great in four or five years. I’ve always argued that we ought to play right down the middle of Saigon if the price is right, but I’m starting to change my mind. We’ve reached the point now where we can be a little bit selective. Even if this tournament is for $200,000, we’d all be a lot happier if the course were as impressive as the purse.”
The 1969 TOUR had been plagued by rain in the first few months of the schedule and it was no different in Miami. Young DeWitt Weaver grabbed the first-round lead by pummeling 300-yard drives on his way to shooting a course record 66. The son of the head football coach at Texas Tech, Weaver was an understudy quarterback behind Don Meredith at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.
Weaver held a one-stroke lead over Sam Snead and a two-stroke lead over a group of players, including Frank Beard and Butch Baird, who came in with 68s.
“A portly, part-time watermelon salesman from Bartow, Florida.”
Bunky Henry, who kicked 50 straight extra points for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team, opened with a round of 69. Arnold Palmer and Gary Player also shot 69 in the opening round.
Temperatures were still chilly enough to require sweaters and jackets for Thursday’s second round. Bob Murphy, who the AP described as “a portly, part-time watermelon salesman from Bartow, Florida,” equaled the new course record of 66 to grab a one-stroke lead over Dale Douglass who shot a second straight 68 and stood at 136. DeWitt Weaver fell down the leader board after a 73 which put him five strokes off the lead.
Butch Baird and Lionel Hebert were another stroke back. Henry was headed in the wrong direction with a second round 73 and was seven-strokes off the lead. He was tied with Arnold Palmer who struggled with his grief following the death of his friend Dwight D. Eisenhower who passed on Friday.
Murphy continued to hold the lead after Saturday’s third round, a grey and windy day. Murphy shot a four-under-par 68 and held a three shot lead over Lionel Hebert while Butch Baird and Dave Stockton were another shot back. Stockton played like a machine on his way to shooting a 67.
“I couldn’t do a thing right.”
Henry shot the round of the day equaling the course record of 66 and sat just five strokes off the lead. Frank Beard shot a 76 in the windy conditions falling out of contention.
“I couldn’t do a thing right,” he wrote in Pro.
Bunky Henry, whose largest paycheck to date on the 1969 tour was $322.50 at the Monsanto Open a few weeks prior to the National Airlines Open, survived a wacky final round to win his first PGA tournament. Henry had to overcome a triple bogey, and a protest movement, to overtake Bob Murphy.
Despite that triple bogey, Henry shot a 70 in the final round while Murphy stumbled in with a 76 giving Henry a one-shot margin. Henry opened his round with five birdies in his first six holes but then triple bogeyed the eighth hole after putting two shots into the water.
The final round was interrupted twice—once by a rainstorm as the leaders made the turn, and the second time by a protest demonstration. After Henry and his playing partner, Dale Douglass, hit their shots to the 17th green, a half dozen striking mechanics leaped onto the green with placards and started yelling and waving their arms. The two players waited for about 10 minutes while police restored order.
Henry won $40,000 while Murphy, along with Dan Sikes, Bruce Crampton, and Dave Stockton, won $13,650 for second place. Butch Baird shot a final round 73 and won $7,200 for sixth place.
“We’ll finish one-two.”
On Tuesday, before the tournament started, Bob Murphy told his friend Bunky Henry that he felt good about their chances for the week.
“We’ll finish one-two,” Murphy predicted with himself in the first position.
“On the putting green, before the final round, I kidded with Murf saying, ‘I’m going to lick you,’” Henry explained to reporters after the final round. “Bob laughed and said, ‘Don’t forget the order is me one and you two,’”
Henry tapped into the kind of concentration it takes to make 50 straight extra points to catch, and then overtake Murphy for one of the largest purses up for grabs on the 1969 PGA TOUR schedule.
Namath beat Gleason, DeWitt Weaver was the first-round leader, and Bunky Henry captured the title. Not a bad week for football players.
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Bonus Story
The Dade County police moved in after striking airline mechanics stormed the 17th green to protest against National Airlines. The demonstration caused a 10-minute delay in the final round.
The protesters stormed the green waving signs and banners that said, “Don’t Fly National” and yelled slogans. The police moved in and began removing the demonstrators from the green.
One protester, claiming he was injured by the police, staged a sit-down protest planting himself on the putting surface. The crowd around the green had seen enough.
“Throw the bums in jail,” some yelled to the police. “Get them out of there. Take those guys away.”
After ten minutes, order was restored and Bunky Henry and Dale Douglass were then able to resume their round.
The airline mechanics had been on strike for three months and picketed at the front gate at the Miami airport and in the skies using small planes.
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Tour Backspin Quiz |1969 PGA TOUR Trivia
Bunky Henry became the fourth first-time winner on the PGA TOUR when he won the National Airlines Open the last week of March (fifth if you count Dick Lotz at the alternative Alameda County Open event). Can you name the three that came before Henry? How many first-time winners were there in total in 1969?
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Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
Tom Shaw, Ken Still, and Jim Colbert won their first PGA TOUR titles in three straight weeks in 1969 before Bunky Henry won the National Airlines Open for his first PGA TOUR victory. There were a total of 12 players who won for the first time on the 1969 PGA TOUR.
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Final Thoughts
I’m willing to trade a guest day at Rainier Golf and Country Club for one at Riviera.
Is there a player on the PGA TOUR today who has kicked an extra point, let alone 50 straight?
I’m reading Pro by Frank Beard for, like, the 1,000th time. Thinking I’ll work it into a buddies trip. High score has to read one of the diary-like entries from a day that Frank had a bad round. Think this would be fun? Misery loves company.