Ruling Dispute Does Not Detour Ballesteros and Pinero in World Cup
Ernesto Pérez Acosta wins individual title at the end of a magical year and earns entry into World Series of Golf
The PGA Tour was off last week but returns this week with the World Wide Technology Championship in Los Cabos, Mexico. This will be the first PGA TOUR event to be played on a Tiger Woods designed course.
Nice tip of the hat by Tiger to Stanford with the name of El Cardonal.
The World Wide Technology Championship started in 2007 as the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun and was won by Fred Funk. Since there isn’t any history from the 1960s or 1970s, we’re going back to 1976 when Ernesto Pérez Acosta of Mexico had a great year—one that would get him to the World Series of Golf on the PGA TOUR. Scroll down to read.
In other Tiger news, the logos and names of two of the teams in the TGL golf league were released. What do you think?
Nice to see a happy ending to one of these. How much was left over after buying drinks?
Winning a letter one way or another . . . at Cypress Point, no less.
In last week’s Tour Backspin Poll, 57% of respondents thought that the DP World Tour providing spots to PGA TOUR players that finished with a rank of 126th to 200th, making them a feeder tour, would diminish the DP World Tour. The other 43% of respondents felt it was a smart move.
It’s that time of year when the top 100 courses lists come out and it seems there is some controversy this year concerning Golf’s rankings. David Jones, AKA “UK Golf Guy” led the charges of favoritism to some designers and courses that aren’t even open for play ranking highly. He also points out his displeasure in Cape Wickham Links, which ranked at #70 in the list last year, but has fallen out of the top 100 this year.
Garrett Morris of The Fried Egg takes a deeper dive into the controversy and you can read that HERE.
All of this brings up the question of how much faith do you put in these course ratings and rankings that the magazines do? Weigh in on this week’s Tour Backspin Poll.
Tour Backspin Poll
Clip You Might Have Missed
Robert MacIntyre with the hole out.
This is brutal. Apparently, that wasn’t even his caddie reacting.
Winter and rain are coming. This week’s Vintage Ad will help you get prepared.
We’re continuing with our live music playlist project and we have a really great one for you this week. Bob Marley and the Wailers in London in 1976. Marley is in great form and the Wailers sound tight. Thank you to pastdaily.com (click on the links or the album cover we created) or click HERE. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Jerry Pate’s swing, down the line, is featured in this week’s Swing Like a Pro feature. Scroll down to view.
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If you like golf history, check out the Your Golfer’s Almanac podcast. Host Michael Duranko celebrates birthdays, milestones, and other accomplishments that occurred on the day in golf history. Listen HERE.
Congratulations to Bob Corteway who correctly identified #18 at Bel Air Country Club in Los Angeles, CA. Bob beat out seven other correct answers in the random drawing. Check out the 2023 leader board and scroll down for your chance to win in this week’s WHAT HOLE IS IT?
Save The Date! The next meeting of the Tour Backspin Show Book Club will be on December 14th at 5:30 (PST). We will be talking with the author of The Age of Palmer, Patrick Hand. This is a great book right in the wheelhouse of the era we cover here at Tour Backspin. You can buy the book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble and then join us For FREE, to talk about it with Patrick on the 14th. Sign up HERE.
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Larry Baush
Ernesto Pérez Acosta Captures World Cup Individual Title For Mexico
It is Wednesday, December 8th, 1976, and it is pro-am day at the World Cup being played at the par 72, 7,381-yard Mission Hills Country Club in Palm Springs, CA. The assembled press has focused their attention on the American team of Dave Stockton and Jerry Pate.
Pate was the sure pick for Rookie of the Year after winning the U.S. Open at the Atlanta Athletic Club. He arrived in Palm Springs hot off his win at the Japanese Masters which, along with his victory at the Canadian Open in July, had him displaying trophies from the most important tournaments in three different countries on his mantelpiece.
Stockton won the PGA Championship at Congressional in August and had built up his career earnings during the year to the point that he was less than $100,000 from being a golfing millionaire.
“My game isn’t what is was last summer. I’m not worried, though. I think after I play a few rounds things will be coming back into place.”
It was little wonder that the American team were “solid favorites” according to the UPI. They were favorites in both the team portion of the event and in the individual portion known as the International Trophy. But if one looked closely, there were cracks in the home team.
“My game isn’t what is was last summer,” Pate admitted. “I’m not worried, though. I think after I play a few rounds things will be coming back into place.”
“You don’t get too many chances in life to represent your country. It would be nice to wind up as the low individual, but if we don’t win the team, it won’t mean a thing.”
Stockton had been idle for more than two months before playing in the Japanese Masters and said that he would be ready once the competition for the World Cup got underway. While Stockton was interested in the individual title, it was the team title that mattered most.
“You don’t get too many chances in life to represent your country,” Stockton said. “It would be nice to wind up as the low individual, but if we don’t win the team, it won’t mean a thing.”
Stockton went on to identify the toughest competition as far as the team event was concerned. He listed South Africa represented by Bobby Coles and Dale Hayes, the team from Japan, Takashi Murakami and Yoshitake Yamamoto. Pate weighed in on the toughest teams naming Spain, with Seve Ballesteros and Manuel Pinero as the strongest challenger.
Since being changed in 1976, the individual winner of the International Trophy would win a spot in the World Series of Golf. The format for the World Series of Golf had been changed in 1976 from an exhibition between the winners of the four majors to a limited field of 20 and it became an official PGA TOUR event.
There was one player under the radar who felt he had a shot to win the International Trophy and the spot into the World Series of Golf—Mexico’s Ernesto Pérez Acosta of Mexico. 1976 had been a helluva year for Acosta as he won the Mexican Open, the Mexican Masters, the Mexican Tournament of Champions, and the Mexican PGA Championship. He came into the Coachella Valley brimming with confidence.
The first round got underway on Thursday under bright sunny skies and warm temperatures. The team from Scotland, Brian Barnes and Sam Torrence grabbed the lead with a 143 and led the American team by one-stroke. The team from Taiwan was tied with the Americans while Taiwan and Australia, who had a young Greg Norman on the team, were another shot back at 145.
“I want to win so bad, I’m getting really angry with myself.”
Pate had held the individual lead until he finished bogey-bogey to shoot a two-under-par 70, one back of Acosta and Kuo Chie-Hsuing of Taiwan. Barnes, Park Jung Ung of South Korea, and Craig DeFoy of Wales were tied with Pate at 70. The only other players to break par were Seve Ballesteros, Bob Shearer of Australia, and New Zealand’s Simon Owen.
Stockton was clearly frustrated after the first round.
“I want to win so bad,” Stockton fumed to reporters after shooting 74. “I’m getting really angry with myself.” He was particularly vexed by the greens saying, “And the scores aren’t going to get better. These greens are so big and so fast, it’s a challenge just to keep from three-putting.”
Spain, taking advantage of a beneficial ruling (see this week’s Bonus Story below), surged into the team lead after Friday’s second round. Ballesteros shot a 72 while his teammate, Pinero, shot a 70 and the Spaniards sat at 288, three-strokes in front of the American team.
Chie-Hsuing of Taiwan took sole possession of the lead after shooting a 71 for a total of 140. Owen, of New Zealand, was at 141, Murakami, of Japan, was at 142. Acosta shot a 74 and fell to three shots off the lead, tied with Ballesteros at 143, while Pate, who also shot a 74, was another shot back at 144.
“Jerry three-putted two times and I missed one from two feet. We kind of refused to let ourselves run away with it.”
A bright sunny and warm morning greeted the golfers at Mission Hills for the third round and the Americans were ready to establish their dominance as they forged into the lead. Pate shot a 69 and Stockton added a 71 despite both players experiencing putting problems.
“Jerry three-putted two times and I missed one from two feet,” Stockton lamented to reporters after the round. “We kind of refused to let ourselves run away with it.”
The Americans sat at 437, one-under-par, and enjoyed a one-stroke lead over the team from Spain. Ballesteros shot a 72 as did his teammate Pinero.
“I don’t even know who’s leading or how many par he is or where I stand in the individual competition. We came here to win the team title and that’s all we’re interested in.”
Chie-Hsuing clipped two more shots off par with a round of 70 and held the individual lead at 210 and the team from Taiwan was just one-stroke back of the Spanish team. Owen kept pace with his own round of 70 and sat at 211, one shot in front of Acosta who fashioned a 69. Pate was at 213 and Ballesteros was at 215 after shooting 72.
Pate was unconcerned about the individual title saying, “I don’t even know who’s leading or how many par he is or where I stand in the individual competition. We came here to win the team title and that’s all we’re interested in.”
In Sunday’s final round, again played under warm and sunny conditions, the World Cup was decided on the putting greens and the team from Spain answered the challenge much better than the American team. Pinero, who “putted fantastic all day,” was the hero shooting a 68 while Ballesteros shot a 74 but provided the spark for the team from Spain by chipping in for eagle on the ninth hole. The slight Pinero then stepped up and made a 12-foot putt for a birdie that gave the Spanish team a two-shot cushion over the Americans.
“We wanted to win too much. It’s just not a good feeling to lose. I’ve lost before but this is different. We were representing our country, and we didn’t play well.”
It was all over after Pate double-bogeyed the 17th hole while Stockton bogeyed it.
“That was the key,” said Pinero. “Thanks to the Americans or we could not have won. If they had made par the last three holes, we would not have won.”
“We wanted to win too much,” Stockton said. “It’s just not a good feeling to lose. I’ve lost before but this is different. We were representing our country, and we didn’t play well.”
One player who did play well was Acosta who shot a final round 70 for a total of 282 and won the International Trophy, along with the exemption into the World Series of Golf, and the $1,000 first-place check. He won by three strokes over Pinero, Pate, Chie-Hsuing, Barnes, and Dale Hayes of South Africa.
“Sure, I’m excited about winning here,” Acosta said. “This is very important, not only for my country, but for my future. A lot of things now will open up for me. But I’m not complaining. I won about $60,000 on the Mexican Tour this year and my wife and three children are happy.”
As well they should be. Acosta finished off a fantastic year with an individual title on a world stage. His successful year led to him signing with the famous sports agent, Mark McCormick, who secured invitations for Acosta into the World Match Play at the Wentworth Club in England, the King Hassan World Open in Morocco, and the Memorial Tournament in Ohio. All of this, along with being the first Mexican to win the Mexican Open, made Acosta one of the most successful, and popular players in Mexico.
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Bonus Story
Seve Ballesteros and his partner Manuel Pinero hit their drives on the sixth hole at Mission Hills Country Cub during the second round of the 1976 World Cup into the rough, just inches apart. Pinero marked his ball with a tee and lifted it as it was an obstruction to Ballesteros playing his shot. This is allowed under the Rules of Golf.
Jerry Pate was watching the Spanish team getting ready to play their shots and saw something that shocked him as Pinero took his marked ball and handed it to his caddie.
“The caddie had a towel in his hand and the ball was in the towel,” Pate told reporters after the round.
While Pinero was allowed to mark his ball to get it out of the way for Ballesteros to play his shot under the Rules of Golf, he was not allowed to clean it.
Pate, and his partner, Dave Stockton, called for a rules official as they saw this as an infraction of the rules by the Spanish team. Robert Dwyer of the U.S.G.A., and a member of the tournament’s rules committee arrived. He listened as the players recounted what had happened, and then asked Pinero if his caddie cleaned his ball. Pinero said that he did not. Dwyer then ruled that there would not be a penalty assessed, in this case, a two-stroke penalty.
Stockton and Pate were beside themselves with the ruling.
“The man picked up the ball and flipped it to his caddie to clean,” Pate vented to reporters. “I always play by the rules and in my mind, he should have been charged two shots. But when the official asked him if he cleaned the ball, he said no, and his caddie said the same, so no penalty.”
Spain won the World Cup, over the American team, by two strokes.
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Tour Backspin Quiz | World Series of Golf Trivia
Who won the last World Series of Golf when it was a four-man invitational and who won the first World Series of Golf when it became an official event with a limited-field of 20 players?
Scroll down to for answer
Swing Like a Pro
Jerry Pate’s swing viewed down the line. (photo: Leonard Kamsler | Popperfoto via Getty Images)
Blind Shot
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Everything you want to know about the javelina destruction at Seven Canyons Golf Club in Sedona, AZ. Learn more HERE from Golf Digest.
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.
What is Hip?
In 1976 you could of landed an airplane on those collars.
Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
Tom Watson won the last of the four-man invitational World Series of Golf events in 1975 while Jack Nicklaus won the World Series of Golf in 1976. That year, the event featured a limited field of 20 and became an official PGA TOUR event.
Reader Feedback
Hi Larry-
Good stuff with Frank Beard. Your interview was conversational and you got some great stories out of him. Well done.
— Michael D. on our latest episode of The Tour Backspin Show podcast. Listen HERE.
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Fascinating, particularly the part about the Japanese women caddies. I had no idea.
— Patrick H. via comment section on the October 19th Tour Backspin issue.
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I love all of the references to 1957 :-)
— Cary D. via comment section on the October 19th Tour Backspin issue.
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Final Thoughts
Not only are the Wailers really tight on our live playlist this week, but so are the I-Three, the backup singers consisting of Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths, and Judy Mowatt. You really should take the time to LISTEN to this.
Was your freshman year at college anything like Colson Brown’s? If so, tell us about it in the comments section.
I didn’t even know what a javelina was before the destruction at Seven Canyons. Yikes!