Rogers Prevails Over Good Friend
Bill Rogers defeats good friend Ben Crenshaw in sudden-death playoff
The journey through the past that Tour Backspin embarks on each week is dialed into 1981 and the Texas Open won by Bill Rogers over his good friend, Ben Crenshaw. Scroll down to see how the action inside the ropes played out that week.
PAST TOUR BACKSPIN ARTICLES ON THE TEXAS OPEN
Phil Rodgers outduels Johnny Pott in 1963 Texas Open. “It was a real rip-snorter.”
Final round ace helps Butch Baird to the winner’s circle in the 1976 Texas Open.
Californians Ron Cerrudo and Dick Lotz battle for San Antonio Title.
Enjoy the golf this week from San Antonio, TX. The Valero Texas Open dates back to 1922 and is the sixth oldest professional golf tournament worldwide.
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Another great finish on the PGA TOUR where an apparent runaway by Min Woo Lee turned into a nail biter after an errant tee shot on the 16th hole. We’ve got some of the action in the Clips I Loved, and I also give my take on the tournament in the PGA TOUR Wrap-Up.
What was going on with Alejandro Tosti in the final round? We rarely see players on the tour resort to “mind games” in such an obvious manner. Did it affect Lee, or did it affect Tosti’s game? Let us know in this week’s The Tour Backspin Poll. We’ve got Queen and David Bowie doing “Under Pressure” live in 1981 in this week’s Music Clip. Watch the theatrical trailer for the 1981 film, “Cutter’s Way” starring Jeff Bridges and John Heard in the Tour Backspin Goes To The Movies.
Enjoy the mashup of Bill Rogers as he hits a driver, an iron, and a putt in the 1981 Australian Open from the ABC broadcast in this week’s Play Like a Pro. A cure for golfer’s hangover is highlighted in the Vintage Ad from 1981. Scroll down to view.
Check out the Tour Backspin Golf Shop Masters Sale going on now through Monday, April 14th, 2025. Visit the Golf Shop HERE.
The golf world lost a pioneer in the study of the short game when instructor Dave Pelz passed away last week in Texas after a short illness. He was 85 years old.
The former nuclear scientist used scientific methodology to teach short game shots and counted Phil Mickelson as a student. He will be missed.
Read the obituary in Golf Business News.
The latest episode of The Tour Backspin Show has dropped. Host Larry Baush (me!) talks with Bruce Devlin and Mike Gonzalez about their podcast Fore The Good Of The Game. It’s a video podcast and is available on Substack and YouTube. Please subscribe to The Tour Backspin Show on YouTube and help us reach the threshold of subscribers needed to qualify for revenue.
The Tour Backspin Poll
In last week’s Tour Backspin Poll we asked you what you watched the first weekend of March Madness. Did you fit some golf into your viewing? There were 50% of respondents who watched the Valspar Championship while 25% watched the basketball games. Another 25% watched both utilizing their DVR.
This week we want to know what you thought about Alejandro Tosti’s antics during the final round in the Texas Children’s Houston Open. Was he playing “mind games” or is he just a jerk. There has been some jerk-like moves in the past. Let us know what you think in this week’s Tour Backspin Poll.
We’re playing Texas Open trivia in this week’s Tour Backspin Quiz. Scroll down to take the challenge.
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Okay, we're on the tee, let's get going.
Enjoy!
Larry Baush
Bill Rogers Needs Playoff to Beat Good Friend Ben Crenshaw
It is the start of October 1981, and there are only four tournaments remaining on the PGA TOUR schedule, known during this era as the TPA Tour. The race for the leading money winner title is tight with Tom Kite leading Ray Floyd, $355,724 to $354,886. Kite also leads in the Vardon Trophy standings, an award given to the lowest scoring average on tour.
Bruce Lietzke is also in the running for the top spot with winnings of $334,991. Both Kite and Lietzke are entered into the Texas Open that is starting at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, TX, while Floyd had prior overseas commitments and was not entered. Still, five of the top 10 money winners are entered as was Lee Trevino, the defending champion, who was trying to shake a year-long slump.
Trevino loved playing in San Antonio and admitted he was buoyed by the support he usually enjoyed in the predominantly Latino city.
“I haven’t played well this year,” Trevino admitted to the Associated Press. “I feel at home here in San Antonio, though, and that makes all the difference in the world.”
In addition to Trevino, Kite, and Lietzke, Ben Crenshaw and Bill Rogers, two close friends, rounded out the “favorite son” Texas contingent in San Antonio that week. Crenshaw won his first PGA TOUR title at the 1973 San Antonio Texas Open. Rogers was sixth on the money winning list with $270,411 in 1981. He won four times during the year including the Sea Pines Heritage Classic, The Open Championship, the World Series of Golf, and the Suntory Open in Japan.
The Oak Hills Country Club measured 6,525 yards and played to a par of 70. The Texas Open featured a $250,000 purse with $45,000 going to the winner.
“I made more than my share of birdies. I hadn’t played but six holes in two weeks.”
In the first round on Thursday, Craig Stadler, who was returning to the tour from a two-week layoff, set the pace with a seven-under 63, good for a one-shot lead over Lietzke. Stadler had nine birdies, most of them from close range, and two bogeys.
“I drove the ball well and putted good, which is about all you have to do on this golf course,” Stadler said after his round. “I made more than my share of birdies. I hadn’t played but six holes in two weeks. I don’t think I’ve ever made the cut here.”
Lietzke told reporters that he had never played Oak Hills well but that he had “probably my best putting round all year.”
Ben Crenshaw, Charles Coody, Bill Britton, Bob Eastwood, and Roger Maltbie were bunched at 65. Bill Rogers came in with a round of 67. Defending champion, and crowd favorite, Lee Trevino came in with a 71 and would need a better round on Friday to make the cut which was estimated to come at even par. More than a third of the field bettered par in ideal weather conditions.
“I collected $537.50. I called everybody I knew. I called more people than I did when I won my first tournament in 1969.”
Jim Colbert, a veteran of the tour, posted a six-under 64 in the second round for a total of 10-under 130 that placed him in a tie for the lead with Stadler who carded a 67. Three players were tied two strokes behind, including Crenshaw and Coody, who both shot 67, and Jim Thorpe who fired a 64.
Colbert had warm feelings for Oak Hills and the Texas Open as it was where he won his first check as a touring pro in 1966. He still remembered the exact amount of the check.
“I collected $537.50,” he related to reporters. “I called everybody I knew. I called more people than I did when I won my first tournament in 1969.”
Colbert was pleased with his round saying, “I did two things every golf pro wants—didn’t make any fives, and didn’t make any bogeys.”
Stadler was not pleased with his round even though he made three birdies and no bogeys.
“I had a lot of 20- and 30-footers,” he said. "The three birdies were not very good shots. Other than that, it was just ugly par golf.”
Bill Rogers, with a second round 66 was at 133 tied with Bob Eastwood, Wayne Levi, Tommy Valentine, and Bobby Clampett. Lee Trevino roared back with a second-round 64 and sat at five-under 135, tied with Bruce Lietzke who could do no better than a one-over 71.
The second round was again played under ideal weather conditions. The cut came at 139, one-under-par.
“Craig and I both let the field come to us. We’ve got a horserace tomorrow.”
If you listened to the co-leaders after Saturday’s third round, you would have thought that the wheels had come off for both players. But both Stadler and Colbert came in with a 69s and held on to a one-shot lead.
“Craig and I both let the field come to us,” Colbert told reporters including Melanie Hauser, staff writer for the Austin American-Statesman. “We’ve got a horserace tomorrow.”
Stadler was unhappy with “ugly shots” and told reporters after his round, “I played real good golf for six holes. Then I just played like a dog. I didn’t hit very good shots and when I had birdie putts, I didn’t make those.”
Both leaders struggled with the gusty conditions which also made it difficult for their pursuers to make up much ground.
The crowd of players chasing Stadler and Colbert included stars and unknowns. Rookie Tim Norris was one of the unknowns and he had the low round of the day, a 65, shared by Tom Kite and Tom Purtzer. Norris trailed the leaders by one shot while Kite, Bobby Clampett, little-known (at the time) Tim Simpson, and Don Lavin, who got into the tournament as the 10th alternative, were another stroke back at 201.
Crenshaw came in with an even-par 70 and was tied at 202 with four other players including Trevino, who recorded a 67, and Lietzke who also had a 67. Bill Rogers was another stroke back at 203 after a round of 70.
Stadler looked forward to Sunday’s final round saying, “I definitely think if another 69 wins tomorrow, it’ll have to be bad weather. We were just fortunate to have a three or four shot bulge to begin with.”
The struggles of the third round for the leaders were a harbinger of things to come in the final round. Both Stadler and Colbert could do no better than even par 70s and that was not going to hold off the two hottest players on the course that Sunday—Crenshaw and Rogers.
The two Texans put on quite the exhibition as they lit up the course and chased down the leaders. Rogers came in with a seven-under 63 for a total of 266, while Crenshaw fired a 64 also finishing at 266. It would take a playoff to decide the winner.
Crenshaw had been struggling during the 1981 season, missing the cut five times including twice in his last two tournaments and was looking at the Texas Open to turn things around. He grabbed the lead with a birdie at the 16th hole sinking a 14-foot birdie putt. Rogers then tied things up by making a six-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole.
“I was fortunate to get into the playoff. That putt did a lot for me. It’s one you don’t expect to make twice in 30 tries.”
Crenshaw played the final hole, a par 3, loosely hitting his tee shot into the thick rough above the green. He then hit a poor chip that left him facing a 20-foot putt for the par he needed to make the playoff.
“I was fortunate to get into the playoff,” Crenshaw admitted to Hauser of the Austin American-Statesman. “That putt did a lot for me. It’s one you don’t expect to make twice in 30 tries.”
The playoff lasted only one hole as Rogers hit a crisp wedge and watched as it finished 12 feet from the hole. Crenshaw’s shot was not as good leaving himself a 35-footer and he left his first putt short by about a foot. Crenshaw marked his ball, stepped back, and watched Rogers drill his 12-footer for the win.
“I’m excited about winning, but there’s a little something taken away when I have to beat one of my best friends to do it,” Rogers admitted after the playoff. “We’re such good friends and I respect him so much that I wish it had been someone else.”
Crenshaw had similar feelings about competing against a good friend.
“I’m not worth a damn in playoffs—I’m 0 and 5,” he said to Hauser. “I never have enjoyed match play and here I’m playing a guy I’ve known all my life.”
Rogers won $45,000 for his win while Crenshaw took home a check for $27,000.
Bob Murphy matched Crenshaw’s 64 and shot up the leaderboard to capture a tie for third place along with Colbert and Stadler. Each won $13,000. Tom Kite finished with a 69 for a 270. Lietzke blew up to a 75 and a total of 277 helping Kite retain his lead in the Vardon Trophy Race, as well as holding the top spot in the leading money winner race. But he didn’t have a prayer for The Player of the Year Award that Rogers all but wrapped up with his four wins on tour for the year.
The local fans enjoyed a very exciting week in San Antonio with a good showing by the “favorite sons” of Texas, especially the two good friends, Bill Rogers and Ben Crenshaw.
Coming Next Week: Charles Coody wins the 1971 Masters while his caddie tries to avoid television cameras
BONUS STORY
Bill Rogers had a career defining year in 1981 with four wins in The Open Championship, the World Series of Golf, The Texas Open, and Sea Pines Heritage. He finished fifth on the leading money winning list and was named Player of the Year.
After winning The Open Championship his career and life shifted into high gear. Winning the World Series of Golf seven weeks later sent it into the stratosphere. Tournament invitations with appearance fees, endorsement opportunities, and other offers poured in. Rogers took advantage of every opportunity. It changed his approach and focus on the game as he wrote in a column for Links Players in 1995.
I had no plans to be a world-beater or the best in the game. I just loved to play golf and play it well, never dreaming of that kind of success. But all of a sudden it hit, and my focus began to change.
The measuring stick for success on the Tour is money earnings and rankings. I totally bought into that system. I was the first one to get to the newspaper Monday morning to see how much money I made last week. I was completely tuned into how much I’d won and where I stood against the other players.
He put more pressure on himself, and it took its toll. He lost his competitiveness and often found himself wishing he was anywhere else other than on the golf course playing a tour event.
It finally came to a head at the 1988 Texas Open, one of the events he won back in 1981 (see feature story). Frustrated with the state of his game, he walked off the third green in the second round and his tour career was over. He did play a few more events and won the 2002 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf with partner, and fellow University of Houston golf team alum, Bruce Lietzke.
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WHAT HOLE IS IT?
Congratulations to Jim Deaton, winner of the WHAT HOLE IS IT? contest. He correctly identified #4 at the Champions Golf Club, Cypress Creek course in Houston, TX. Jim beat out six other correct answers in the drawing and we’ve got a gift discount code to The Tour Backspin Golf Shop coming his way. We are sending discount codes to the winners of WHAT HOLE IS IT? in 2025 so that they can choose their prize from the offerings in The Tour Backspin Golf Shop, including the Tour Backspin 19th Hole Hot Sauce. Multiple winners can combine their discount codes to use on a single order, and the codes never expire. When the code is redeemed, the prize will be sent with free shipping, so getting your prize will not cost you anything. Check out The Tour Backspin Golf Shop HERE.
The Herbert C. Leeds Trophy has been sent to the 2024 winner, Doug Posten, and we expect a picture of his victory pose soon.
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We told you about getting our hands on a treasure trove of film that we are cleaning up and digitizing for the Tony Lema documentary. Some great footage of Tony in action and even home movies. Below is a clip from the Howard Cosell Champagne on the Green interview with Tony. (clicking on link will open this post on the web, scroll down to video player).
Click on image to view on the web.
You can now support the induction of Tony Lema into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Sign the online petition HERE.
Clips I Loved
Classy move by Adam Hadwin following his unclassy move of destroying a sprinkler head at the Valspar Championship.
This is just sick.
This is the ruling that took so long it blew Tosti’s mind.
Min Woo Lee did this before tapping in the winning putt . . .
And Scottie’s reaction . . .
You know it’s your day when this happens.
I hope I catch some of this action on the Wednesday I’m going to the Masters.
PGA TOUR Wrap-Up | Texas Children’s Houston Open
It was another week with an exciting finish on the PGA TOUR at the Texas Children’s Houston Open where Min Woo Lee took a four stroke lead into the final round. He was up by as much as six shots during the round, but the final few holes provided fireworks and excitement.
Lee hit his drive at the 16th hole very wide to the right and it went into the hazard forcing him to re-tee. While he was doing that, Scottie Scheffler was up ahead on the green stalking an eagle putt. Sheffler missed, settling for his fourth consecutive birdie to get to 19-under.
Gary Woodland, who had his best finish since brain surgery in 2023, earlier made eagle at the 16th hole and finished with course record tying 62 and was in the clubhouse at 19-under.
Lee was able to salvage a bogey on the 16th, then missed the par-3 17th green but managed to get up-and-down to save par. He came to the final hole needing a par to win, and after lagging a 79-foot putt from just off the green to less than two feet, he had some fun by using Aimpoint to line up the tap-in before making it official by sinking the shorty.
The win moved Lee from the World No. 55 to No. 22. He and his sister, Minjee, became just the third pair of siblings to win on the PGA TOUR and the LPGA Tour.
Read more from Cameron Jourdan Golfweek HERE.
Here are the highlights of the final round:
Tour Backspin Quiz | Texas Open Trivia
What did Al Brosch achieve at the 1951 Texas Open?
Scroll down for answer
Play Like a Pro
A drive, an iron shot, and a long putt from Bill Rogers. Click on image to open player on the web.
Blind Shot
Click for something fun. 👀
Tour Backspin Music Clip
David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, and Queen doing “Under Pressure” live in 1981. A great song for the week before the Masters.
Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
Al Brosch achieved the first round of 60 on the PGA TOUR at the 1951 Texas Open.
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Vintage Ad
Final Thoughts
I had something else in mind when I read “How To Relieve a Golf Hangover.”
Is Alejandro Tosti just a jerk, or what?
How cool was it to see Gary Woodland finish in tie for second last week?
If you haven’t done it yet, scroll back up to the link for the online petition to get Tony Lema inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. He’s deserving of the honor.