Jacobsen Wins First PGA Title
Peter Jacobsen wins the 1980 Buick-Goodwrench Open
We flashback to 1980 and the Buick-Goodwrench Open where Peter Jacobsen put on a Sunday charge to capture his first PGA TOUR victory. Scroll down to join us on our journey through the past as we take you inside the ropes for that week.
We’ve written about the Buick Open in 1965 when Tony Lema defended the title he won in 1964 and the 1979 Buick Open where John Fought relied on clutch putting to win his first PGA TOUR title and he did it in a playoff. Click on the links for more historical coverage on this tournament that dates back to 1958 when Billy Casper defeated Arnold Palmer and Ted Kroll to win the first Buick Open.
I’ve dropped some hints about a documentary movie I’m involved in based on my book about Tony Lema. We now have a website that features a trailer. Check it out.
Okay, that was a chaotic finish to the Travelers Championship, but even a climate protest couldn’t stop Scottie Scheffler from winning his sixth tournament of the year. It’s the first time a player has won six titles in a year since Tiger Woods did it in 2009. Want to bet he’ll win a few more? Scroll down for a tournament wrap-up, a few thoughts from me, and the Clips You Might Have Missed.
We want to hear from you in the Tour Backspin Poll, and this week’s Music Clip goes back to 1980 with Bob Marley who wants you to get up, stand up. Peter Jacobsen’s swing in 2015 is featured in the Swing Like a Pro feature and we bring you another tip from Tony Lema. Take a shot at this week’s WHAT HOLE IS IT? Presented by Rota Golf and you may just win a golf swag prize pack. Rota Golf has a cool way to map out your bucket list journey of playing the top 100 courses in the U.S. We’ve got some links for you in the Check it Out section and a comfy 19th hole scene in this week’s Vintage Ad from 1980. Scroll down to view.
The latest episode of The Tour Backspin Show dropped last week for our annual paid subscribers that features Lee Trevino receiving the Legacy Award from the Robert Trent Jones Society, and discussing his illustrious career. Early access to The Tour Backspin Show is one of the benefits of being a paid subscriber to Tour Backspin. Free subscribers will have access to this episode of The Tour Backspin Show next week.
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In last week’s Tour Backspin Poll we asked what you thought of the television coverage of the U.S. Open. Were you able to navigate the different broadcast and streaming options? There were 70% of respondents who gave the coverage a thumbs down because of too many commercials while 33% thought the broadcast was just fine.
I just took seven pairs of golf shoes to the Goodwill. I still have at least ten pairs, with three in steady rotation (I know, I’m a sicko—don’t even get me started with 1/4 zips). How many pairs of golf shoes do you own? Let us know in this week’s Tour Backspin Poll.
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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 this day in golf history. Listen HERE.
We’re playing Travelers Championship Trivia in this week’s Tour Backspin Quiz. Scroll down to play.
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Larry Baush
Peter Jacobsen Makes a Sunday Charge to Win First Title
It is Tuesday, August 19, 1980, and players are arriving at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club, a 7,001-yard, par 72 course in Grand Blanc, MI, for the Buck-Goodwrench Open. Grand Blanc is located about 60 miles from Detroit, and about 9 miles from Flint. From the late 1950s until 1969, the Buick Open was an important stop on the PGA TOUR and featured a past champion list that included Tony Lema, Julius Boros, Billy Casper, Jack Burke, Jr., Phil Rogers, Dave Hill, and Tom Weiskopf.
After the 1969 event, the event fell from the PGA TOUR schedule replaced by various pro-am events before returning for the 1977 tour schedule with Bobby Cole of South Africa winning. In 1978 the name was changed to the Buick-Goodwrench Open.
While the top 32 players of the PGA TOUR were in Akron, OH, for the World Series of Golf at Firestone Golf and Country Club, the organizers of the Buick Open, and the local Detroit press, touted the strength of the field in Grand Blanc that week. The field included many former champions, including the defending champion, John Fought. But the highest ranked golfer on the money list, at number 16, in the field was Bill Kratzert. This field would be contending for a purse of $250,000 with the winner getting $45,000.
“I guess you can call it a sophomore jinx.”
Still, there was no doubt that the alternate event featured a somewhat diminished field being played opposite the World Series of Golf. The winner of the World Series of Golf would take home $100,000, more than twice what the winner of the Buick-Goodwrench would earn. Even though it was an alternative event, the winner would enjoy the perks that come with winning a PGA TOUR event. The prize money was official, as were the exemptions into the Masters and from Monday qualifying.
John Fought, who won the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic in Napa, CA, the week following his victory in the Buick, tallied $108,427 in winnings for 1972 but arrived in Grand Blanc in a slump.
“I guess you can call it a sophomore jinx,” Fought admitted to Jack Saylor, a sportswriter for the Detroit Free Press. “
The proceedings in Grand Blanc got started on Wednesday with a pro-am that featured a diverse collection of amateurs including Governor Jim Rhodes of Ohio, Frank Broyles, athletic director of the University of Arkansas, and Digger Phelps, the basketball coach for Notre Dame.
“My best round of the year. I’m very pleased, but I’ll settle for a 280 on Sunday.”
Dave Hill, winner of the 1969 Buick Open, shot a 66 to take low pro honors in the pro-am, while the team led by Mike Nicolette, an alternate playing in his first PGA TOUR pro-am, and the team led by veteran Tom Shaw, tied for first-place honors on a warm and humid day.
“My best round of the year,” Hill said after his round. “I’m very pleased, but I’ll settle for a 280 on Sunday.”
Randy Erskine, a Michigan native, who had quit the tour earlier in the year before getting into the field at the Buick-Goodwrench, fired a 68 in the early wave of players and then eyed the darkening sky warily. He feared that rain would arrive and wash out his fine round.
He told Saylor of the Free Press of his thinking out on the course at the 15th hole as the weather approached saying, “I was four-under at the time and I was only worried they’d wash the sonofagun out.”
The rain arrived just before noon and dumped more than two inches of rain on the course, making the greens soft, and play was delayed. The rain delay lasted just over three hours and two players who had a hot round going, Rex Caldwell, a native of Everett, WA, and Barney Thompson of West Virginia, had to sit out the delay before completing their rounds. In addition to Erskine, both players hoped that the first round could be resumed and not cancelled. To their relief, tournament supervisor, Wade Cagle, gave the go-ahead to resume play at 3:20 pm.
Caldwell returned to the course and completed his seven-hour round shooting a six-under-par 66. Thompson matched Caldwell’s 66 after resuming his round. Both players enjoyed a one-shot lead over David Eger of Maryland. At 68 were five players including Weiskopf, Tom Kite, Erskine, Lance Ten Broeck, and Tommy Valentine.
“If they had more tournaments up here, I could make a living.”
The players who returned to the course after the rain delay struggled through the gloom of the afternoon with 24 players unable to finish their rounds and would return Friday morning to complete the round before heading right back out to play their second rounds.
“If they had more tournaments up here, I could make a living,” Caldwell, who had finished third in the 1978 Buick Open and led the 1979 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills after three rounds before finishing second. “Michigan’s been a good state for me.”
“I got here at 10:30 this morning and it made for a long day,” Thompson, who was spending the week at his friend, Erskine’s house, said. “I waited five hours before teeing off, but after it turned out like it did, I didn’t mind the wait.”
Caldwell, a non-winner in five years on the tour and described as happy-go-lucky, scored eight birdies in his round and couldn’t wait to return to the course for the second round.
“This is a good course for me,” he said. “I’m playing to win. I don’t play to make the cut. I haven’t learned how to win, I guess, because I haven’t won. But I feel good about my game. I’m comfortable.”
Peter Jacobsen opened with a 70, behind fellow Pacific Northwest players Caldwell and veteran Kermit Zarley, who came in with a 69. Fought, also from the PNW, fired a first-round 72.
“I never made that many birdies in two days in my life.”
The rain of Thursday was replaced by warm sunshine on Friday for the second round and Rex Caldwell kept his play as hot as the temperatures shooting his second straight 66 for a 132 total and a five-stroke lead over Weiskopf and Kite who had identical scores of 68-69. Caldwell had his eyes set on the tournament scoring record of 14-under-par 274 set by Julius Boros in 1963. His five-stroke lead was the largest 36-hole lead on the PGA TOUR for 1980. His two-round total of 132 broke the two-round scoring record at the Buick set in 1964 by Tony Lema.
Caldwell made 15 birdies in two rounds.
“I never made that many birdies in two days in my life,” Caldwell remarked after his round while sipping on a beer. “It’s kind of phenomenal. Today was twice as good as yesterday. I gained confidence. I hit it solid all day long. I feel like I even putted better than yesterday—I just didn’t have to make as many long ones.”
While it was perfectly sunny on Friday, the rains from Thursday had left the greens soft and the course was suspectable to low scores. Tom Purtzer fired a tournament single-round record tying 65 for a total of 139. There were 51 players under par and the cut came at 145, just one-over-par.
“The greens won’t dry out this week. We’ll be throwin’ darts at ‘em for the next two days.”
Caldwell ran off four birdies in a five-hole stretch starting at the fifth hole where he drained a 30-footer. He three-putted the 11th hole for his only bogey of the day but then birdied the 13th, 14th, and 18th holes.
Caldwell credited the soft greens for his low scoring and predicted that they would remain soft saying, “The greens won’t dry out this week. We’ll be throwin’ darts at ‘em for the next two days.”
Jacobsen shot his second-straight 70 for a 140 total, eight shots behind the leader.
In Saturday’s third round, Caldwell got off to a poor start with a cold-topped drive on the first hole that led to a bogey. He got the stroke back with a birdie on the 4th hole. After hitting into a bunker on his approach on the 9th led to another bogey, Caldwell made the turn one-over-par at 37.
Weiskopf mounted a charge getting to within three-strokes of Caldwell on the front nine before he bogeyed the 7th and 8th holes.
Caldwell re-ignited his round on the back nine with a birdie on the 11th hole, a hole he had bogeyed in the two previous rounds. He then made two more birdies, at the 13th and 14th holes, and got into the clubhouse with a round of 71 for a total of 203.
Barney Thompson put together a fine round of 69 and sat at 207, alone in second place. With a third-round 67, Zarley was another stroke back tied with Purtzer (69), and Ten Broeck (69). Weiskopf was seven shots back after a third-round 72, tied with five others including Kite.
“He got off to a bad start today, but he recovered. He doesn’t look like he’ll fold so he’ll be tough to catch. He’s doing something right.”
Peter Jacobsen fired a third-round 69 for a total of 209 that jumped him up the leaderboard where he was tied with Weiskopf, Jaimie Gonzalez (70-69-70), Bill Britton (70-68-71), Mark Pfell (71-72-66), and Victor Regalado (73-70-66). Pfell and Regalado had the low rounds of the day.
The other players were impressed with Caldwell’s play. From his perch in third-place Tom Purtzer admitted that Caldwell had the tournament well in hand.
“He got off to a bad start today, but he recovered,” he said. “He doesn’t look like he’ll fold so he’ll be tough to catch. He’s doing something right.”
Zarley agreed saying, “Rex is really an improved player. He’s close to being the best iron player out here.”
“This ties the best I ever shot in competition. This is, by far, the best course I ever shot 64 on.”
After three straight 72s, John Fought came out hot in the fourth round firing a 64. It was amazing how he got to eight-under for his round as he was only one-under at the turn. After missing a five-foot birdie putt at the 10th, he went on a tear reeling off seven straight birdies, one short of the PGA TOUR record for consecutive birdies. His 64 broke the single round scoring record at the Buick previously held by Dr. Cary Middlecoff, Don Fairfield, Homero Blancas, and R.H. Sikes.
“This ties the best I ever shot in competition,” Fought said after his round. “This is, by far, the best course I ever shot 64 on.”
Peter Jacobsen wasn’t going to let his fellow Oregonian Fought have all the fun shooting a low Sunday round. Jacobsen had been driving the ball well all week missing only four fairways, but it was his putter that heated up on Sunday. He recorded seven birdies in his round.
Caldwell, who could not buy a putt during his round and had bogeyed three of the first eight holes, was caught by Jacobsen on the 13th hole. Bill Kratzert gained a share of the lead at the 16th and Mark Lye joined the party at the 17th.
“And I think I probably jumped 15 feet in the air.”
Looking for his first PGA TOUR win, Jacobsen faced a tricky 15-foot putt for his seventh birdie of the day at the final hole, and the outright lead. He stroked the putt in for a final round 67.
“And I think I probably jumped 15 feet in the air,” he said after his round.
He watched as Lye and Kratzert failed to catch him. Kratzert had seven birdies in a ten-hole stretch, but a bunkered approach at the 18th hole resulted in a bogey for a round of 66 and total of 277, one stroke behind Jacobsen. Lye shot a 67 but also came up one shot shy of tying Jacobsen.
“I feel great,” Jacobsen said with a wide grin on his face as he accepted the $45,000 first-place check, as well as the keys to a brand-new Buick which was his to use for one year.
“This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” he said with satisfaction.
Caldwell slipped to a final round 75 and finished at 278 and a tie for fourth place.
“This was a goal of mine. I don’t think you really have made it out here until you win two or three times and win a major.”
The wild and whacky finish to the 1980 Buick-Goodwrench Open provided plenty of excitement even if the golf world was more focused on the World Series of Golf being played, and won by Tom Watson, in Akron. For Jacobsen, the victory was an accomplishment that was important to his development as a tour pro.
“This was a goal of mine,” he informed the press after the award ceremony. “I don’t think you really have made it out here until you win two or three times and win a major.”
He checked off one of his goals during that week in Grand Blanc.
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BONUS STORY
The World Series of Golf, played at Firestone Country Club drew more attention from the golf world than the alternative event, the Buick-Goodwrench Open played the same week. The World Series of Golf featured an elite field of the top 32 players on the PGA TOUR, after all.
It also provided some exciting competition as Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, and Craig Stadler entered the final round tied at 205. Watson pulled away from the field with a final round 65 to win the title by two shots over Raymond Floyd and all but clinched his fourth straight player of the year title.
“Pro golf has a long history here. The players love this course. I hope it works out, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t.
But the competition, and the fan turnout, at the Buick-Goodwrench Open convinced Deane Beman, the PGA TOUR commissioner, that the tournament deserved to be more than an alternate event. There were 15,846 fans who swarmed over the grounds of Warwick Hills Country Club for the final round and a total of 30,567 who attended the tournament for the week.
On Friday, at Warwick Hills, Beman announced that the Buick-Goodwrench Open would become a fixture on the PGA TOUR schedule and that they wouldn’t have any opposition from other events. In 1981 it would be played one week before the World Series of Golf.
“Pro golf has a long history here,” Beman, who played in the Buick Open in 1968 and 1969, said. “The players love this course. I hope it works out, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t.”
With the elevation on the schedule, the purse rose from the $250,000 offered in 1980 to $350,00 in 1981. The winner’s share went from the $45,000 that Peter Jacobsen won in 1980 to the $63,000 that Hale Irwin won in 1981.
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WHAT HOLE IS IT?
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PGA TOUR Wrap-Up | The Travelers Championship
That was the craziest finish to a golf tournament I can remember. It was a great leaderboard with five golfers tied at -19 at 2:20 local time and Tom Hoge was already in the clubhouse at -18. As the back nine played out, Scotty Scheffler and Tom Kim came to the 72nd hole with Scheffler holding a one-stroke lead.
Kim almost holed out his approach shot, which would have won the tournament. Scheffler’s approach was on the fringe short and to the right of the pin. Scheffler was in the process of lining up his putt when all hell broke out. A group of five protesters stormed the green throwing colored powder on the green before getting tackled, handcuffed, and dragged out by police.
After a lengthy delay to clean the green, Scheffler putted to tap-in range and Kim would have to make his 10-foot birdie putt to force a playoff. Somehow, he was able to compose himself and drained the putt.
Before the two returned to the 18th tee to start the playoff, officials selected a new hole position and informed the players. Scheffler hit the green with his approach shot while Kim under-clubbed and his approach went into a bunker resulting in a fried egg lie. Scheffler was able to two-putt for his sixth tour victory of the year, the first player to do so since Tiger Woods in 2009. He also became the first player to amass six tour wins in a year, before the month of July, since Arnold Palmer in 1962.
Watch the highlights here:
Read a recap of the tournament by David Dusek of Golfweek HERE.
Clips You Might Have Missed
Another 59 this week and it wasn’t even a tournament record.
So close to an ace on a par 4.
Friends who share the same birthday end up in a playoff
Interesting take on the protest at the 72nd green
Don’t try this at home if you’re trying to qualify for a PGA TOUR event.
And Kevin Kizner wants in on this action.
P.S. The Tour did not pair Bienz with Kisner.
Meanwhile, in Nashville.
Let’s check in with Club Pro Guy, shall we?
Tour Backspin Quiz | Travelers Championship Trivia
What year did General Motors pull the plug on their sponsorship of the Buick Open and what event replaced it?
Scroll down for answer
Swing Like a Pro
Peter Jacobsen swing in 2015.
Audio excerpts from the book Champagne Tony’s Golf Tips by Tony Lema with Bud Harvey.
(Click on player and scroll down when page opens)
It's more important to worry about your head, as I keep telling missionaries who are leaving for the Congo. A lot has been written and said about not moving the head. This is misleading. The head does move during the swing. It has to, as we'll see when we get into a discussion of the swing itself. But the head doesn't move during the backswing. From the moment you stand up to that ball until the clubhead approaches its peak speed on the downswing, your head is the one part of your body that is not in motion. It's the stabilizer, the built-in gyroscope around which all the various forces are grouping for the big explosion.
*AI generated voice
Blind Shot
Click for something fun. 👀
Joel Beall of Golf Digest takes you inside the chaotic finish at the Travelers Championship.
Another one from Jack Hirsh at Golf.com. How would you like to see a caddie-player tournament?
Tour Backspin Music Clip
Jah, Rastafari with Bob Marley, live in 1980.
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.
PROS FAVORITE RECIPES
WHAT IS HIP?
The early ‘80s could be so dark, yet still be hip (Photos: Golf Magazine / Photo Montage: Tour Backspin)
Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
General Motors ended its sponsorship of the Buick Open after the 2009 tournament. It was replaced on the PGA TOUR schedule by the Greenbrier Classic at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
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Final Thoughts
I believe in the right of free speech and protest, but your protest should achieve something. Raising awareness, shining a light on injustice, or recruiting support. What happened on Sunday was just performative and achieved none of those goals.
I caught the One Love movie over the weekend and just had to use Bob Marley for this week’s music clip. If you haven’t watched it, check it out.
Valuable lesson from Club Pro Guy. Now get out there and build up your pro shop credit.
The sportswriters compared Rex Caldwell to Barry Manilow. Can you see it? Might have led to the nickname, “Sexy Rexy.”