Journeyman Pro Wins In Front of Hometown Crowd
Jim Jamieson wins his only PGA Tour event in front of family and friends at the Western Open
After a military stint that included a deployment to Vietnam, Jim Jamieson set out to make a name for himself on the PGA Tour in 1970. The 5-foot 10-inch, 270-pound Jamieson aimed to build on his All-American status at Oklahoma State where he helped the Cowboys win a national championship in 1963.
1972 was the best year of his PGA career and included a 5th place finish in the Masters, a runner-up finish in the PGA Championship and a win the week following the PGA in the Western Open. He added two more runner-up finishes and won $150,000 for the year.
In 1972, the Western Open, the third oldest continually run tournament on the PGA Tour at the time of its demise in 2006, was played at Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northfield, IL., on the outskirts of Chicago. Jamieson’s hometown was Moline, just under 200 miles from Northfield and he would enjoy the support of many of his hometown fans during the week.
In Thursday’s opening round, bitterly cold winds kept the scores in check. Jamieson and R.H. Sikes were able to navigate the winds to post 68 and a one-stroke lead. In the second round, Jamieson birdied five of his first ten holes before the wind picked up causing him to struggle. The result was two bogeys, but he saved his round with scrambling pars making putts of 7, 8, and 10 feet and posted a 67. He enjoyed a two-stroke lead over hard-charging Doug Sanders and a three-stroke lead over Sikes.
“I’m very pleased with the round, considering the conditions,” Jamieson said after his round. “By the time we got in the middle of the back nine, it was really getting cold, the greens weren’t holding, and they were really spiked up.”
The Associated Press reported on Jamieson’s third round by first taking a shot at Jamieson’s weight.
Jamieson, the Moline, Ill., fat man who has been close to winning several times already this year, began the day with a two-shot lead, birdied the third and fourth holes in successionand from there he was never challenged.
Wow. Could you imagine that being written today? Never mind that Jamieson was one of those pros who always had a smile on his face and was always willing to help with an exhibition for a good cause. He took the unkindly remarks about his weight in stride.
“They call me cherubic,” Jamieson explained to the columnist Murray Olderman.
With another 67 in the third round, he had an eight-shot lead over Tommy Aaron who also shot a 67 that helped him overcome a first round 78. Five players sat at 211, 9-shots off Jamieson’s pace.
Jamieson felt relaxed the night before the final round, and he felt relaxed as he drove to the course and while he warmed up on the driving range. But once he got to the practice putting green the nerves hit him like a ton of bricks.
“When I got to the practice putting green and when I got up on the first tee, I felt the pressure,” he said to reporters following his round.
He ducked hooked a couple of drives and bogeyed two of the first three holes before getting his nerves back under control. He was then able to fashion a round of 69 and won by six-strokes which was the largest winning margin on Tour so far that year.
He won his first PGA Tour title in front of family and friends from Moline, and they were never far from his mind.
“I couldn’t let them down,” he said after the round while he choked down his emotions.
Jim Jamieson at the Western Open in 1972
Bonus Fact
It was during a delay in play caused by lightning at the 1975 U.S. Open at Medinah that Lee Trevino used his “even God can’t hit a 1-iron” joke. USGA officials instructed Trevino and playing partner Bobby Nichols to take refuge in the clubhouse (Tom Watson, the third player in the group had already unilaterally declared the lightning rule and went inside). Trevino asked the officials what all the fans around the tee were supposed to do. Apparently, the fans were on their own as far as their safety was concerned. Trevino did not approve of the situation and stated that he would remain outside with the fans.
Trevino was turning the whole situation into a comedy act of sorts. Officials were concerned for his safety and Trevino said, “Don’t worry about it. “I’ll just take my 1-iron out and hold it up. Not even God can hit a 1-iron.”
After the Open, won by Lou Graham in a playoff with John Mahaffey, the Tour moved on to the Western Open – and so too, did the brutal weather with hot, muggy, thunderstorms. Karma came back on Trevino who was struck by lightning, along with Jerry Heard, his playing partner, while they attempted to wait out the storm. They were sheltering under a tree along the shore of a lake on the course and they were using the metal framed umbrellas of the era. Their shoes also featured metal spikes.
Trevino experienced health issues relating to the strike for the rest of his career while the lightning effectively ended Heard’s career. On another part of the course, Bobby Nichols, who was with Trevino on that tee at Medinah a week earlier, was also struck by lightning.
Read about that day and the lasting effects on the player’s career HERE.