Oldest Man In The Field Wins Tournament of Champions
Lee Trevino, the oldest man in the field, wins at the 1981 MONY Tournament of Champions.
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The PGA TOUR is in Maui this week for The Sentry which is what the Tournament of Champions has evolved into. The field features more than just the champions of the past 12 months and is played on the picturesque Plantation Course at Kapalua making for spectacular television viewing.
The Tournament of Champions began in 1953 and was held in Las Vegas. The tournament featured a relaxed week for the pros and novelties such as the first place prize money being awarded in a wheelbarrow full of silver dollars. Arnold Palmer taught Jack Nicklaus the intricacies of shooting craps one year.
In 1975 the tournament moved to the La Costa Hotel and Spa and then relocated to Maui in 1999. This week, our journey through the past lands in 1981 when Lee Trevino battled, as the oldest man in the field, captured his first win in California. Scroll down to read.
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Lee Trevino Scores First Tour Victory in State of California
It is Friday, April 10th, 1981, and Lee Trevino has just completed his Masters tournament in maddening fashion. With consecutive rounds of 77, he missed the cut in a tournament that he admitted was not his favorite. After finishing in a tie for 40th in his first Masters in 1968, he then finished in tie for 19th in 1969. And he made it plain that he was not a fan of the tournament, or the course.
“Don’t talk to me about the Masters,” he told reporters after the 1969 tournament. “I’m never going to play there again. They can invite me all they want, but I’m not going back. It’s just not my type of course.”
In addition to his dislike of the course, Trevino was uncomfortable with the atmosphere, and the tyrannical way in which Clifford Roberts, chairman of the tournament, ran the event. Trevino did not accept invitations to the 1970, 1971, and 1974 tournaments. In 1972 he played but did not use the locker room choosing instead to use the trunk of his car to store his clubs and change his shoes in the parking lot.
Trevino later said that his boycott of the Masters was, “the greatest mistake I’ve made in my career.”
So, after his back-to-back rounds of 77 and missing the cut in the 1981 Masters, Trevino moved down the road to the next stop on the PGA TOUR, the MONY Tournament of Champions at La Costa Country Club in Rancho La Costa, CA. This tournament was also vexing to Trevino since he had never won a tournament in California.
“It was important to me to win the Masters, but that’s history. Now, I’m looking ahead to the Tournament of Champions.”
Tom Watson, on the other hand, was going into San Diego riding a wave of confidence. He’d just won the Masters, holding off Jack Nicklaus in the process, and he was the two-time defending champion in the Tournament of Champions. His win in 1980 set off a string of three straight tournament wins capturing both the Greater New Orleans Open and the Byron Nelson Golf Classic in the weeks following the TOC (he did not play in the Houston Open).
“The letdown hasn’t set in,” Watson told reporters upon his arrival in San Diego before a practice round on the 7,080-yard, Par 72, La Costa course. “It was important to me to win the Masters, but that’s history. Now, I’m looking ahead to the Tournament of Champions.
Trevino was also looking ahead to the Tournament of Champions telling reporters that he had completely recovered from the back pain he experienced at the Masters the week before.
“You’ve really accomplished something when you beat all the other champions from the past year,” Trevino said at La Costa.
“Those finishing holes are as good as any I’ve ever played anywhere.”
There were 29 players in the field, nine of them multiple winners with Watson having won six events. The champions were playing for a $54,000 first prize check at La Costa.
In the first rounds it was “the last mile,” the last four holes on the course that measure exactly a mile, that was the stage for the dramatics of the day.
“Those finishing holes are as good as any I’ve ever played anywhere,” said Lee Trevino who birdied three of the final four holes to post a round of 67.
Curtis Strange clipped Trevino for the lead by birdieing all four of the final holes to post a 66. And Tom Watson played the final four holes in two-over-par and posted a disappointing 74. Jack Nicklaus posted an even-par 72 while Johnny Miller shot a 71.
“I played a terrific round of golf. The first 16 holes might have been the best round of golf I ever played.”
For the second straight day, La Costa was bathed in cool sunshine and like the weather, Trevino was a model of consistency as he shot his second straight 67. He felt like he was playing some of the best golf in his life and told reporters, “I never hit a bad ball,” in the first round.
Raymond Floyd was also overflowing with confidence after following a first round 69 with a second round 67 and was two shots off Trevino’s lead.
“I played a terrific round of golf. The first 16 holes might have been the best round of golf I ever played,” Floyd said after his round. “I’ve played a lot of these rounds lately. I’m driving long and that makes it easier.”
Watson shot an even par round in the second round and sat at 146, 12-strokes behind Trevino. Nicklaus shot a 69 keeping his hopes alive as he was seven shots behind Trevino. Curtis Strange sat at 139 after a second round of 73.
Saturday’s weather was cool again, and the winds had picked up. Trevino maintained his two-shot lead over Floyd for most of the day, but a three-putt at the final hole left him with just a one-stroke lead at the day’s end.
“I’m not going to fold up or give the tournament away or anything like that.”
Because of that three-putt, Trevino believed that Floyd had the momentum on his side.
“I’m not going to fold up or give the tournament away or anything like that,” Trevino insisted. “And I’ve got a one-stroke lead, but he’s got the momentum going a little bit.”
Floyd fought a balky driver in the third round.
“As good as I drove it yesterday, I was just that bad today,” Floyd admitted to reporters after his round. “I hit only five fairways. And when you hit five fairways and get out with a 69, well, I feel like I came off the battlefield without a flak jacket. I got away with murder.”
Bruce Lietzke was four shots off the pace while Bill Rogers was another stroke back at 209. Strange was at 210, tied with Larry Nelson. Nicklaus was out of contention at 215 after a round of 74.
“I kept striping it down the middle.”
The course was rain-soaked for the final round. Floyd managed to erase the one-stroke lead that Trevino started the day with by the time the two players, playing together, made the turn. It was lining up to be an action-packed back nine.
Floyd again began to experience trouble with his driver off the tee and Trevino kept the pressure on.
“I kept striping it down the middle,” Trevino said after the round.
Floyd bogeyed the 10th hole giving Trevino a one-stroke lead. The big turning point came at the 13th hole when Floyd again drove the ball into trouble resulting in a bogey. Trevino hit his 8-iron approach shot to five feet and made the putt for a birdie and a two-shot swing. Floyd was able to shave a stroke off that lead, but Trevino got that stroke back and held on to win by two strokes.
“I ain’t no 77 shooter. Besides, I didn’t want to finish second again. I’ve been second here four times.”
Trevino’s total of 273 was 15-under-par and set a tournament course record for the 41-year-old, the oldest player in the field. Watson finished with a total of 284 while Nicklaus finished at 286.
The win for Trevino, his first in the state of California, helped take the sting from missing the cut at the Masters.
“I ain’t no 77 shooter,” Trevino said about his rounds at Augusta earlier in the month. “Besides, I didn’t want to finish second again. I’ve been second here four times.
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BONUS STORY
The organizers of the New Orleans Open offered a special incentive to the winner of the tournament on the schedule directly proceeding their event, the MONY Tournament of Champions. They offered a bonus of $100,000 to the winner of the TOC if they could back that win up with a victory in New Orleans.
Lee Trevino liked the idea, even though he had a prior commitment to play in a charity event in Tucson the week of the New Orleans Open.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t make it,” Trevino told the disappointed tournament officials in New Orleans after winning the Tournament of Champions.
Still, he liked the idea of a bonus for a repeat winner—with a few tweaks.
“I think the incentive bonuses are fine,” Trevino said. “Anyone who wins two in a row should get something extra. But I think the bonus should be awarded on a point system instead of one of us having to win both.”
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Tour Backspin Quiz | Tournament of Champions Trivia
What year did Jack Nicklaus win his first Tournament of Champions? Who finished second and how many strokes did Nicklaus win by?
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Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
Jack Nicklaus won his first Tournament of Champions in 1963 beating Arnold Palmer and Tony Lema by five shots.
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