Trevino and Moody Play For Country in Singapore
The two friends teamed up in the 1969 World Cup Competition
Last week, the PGA TOUR got the 2022/2023 season underway in Napa, CA, with the Fortinet Championship at Silverado Resort and Spa (North Course). Now, it takes a break to conduct the President’s Cup matches at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, NC. How much will the defections to LIV Golf affect these matches? This event really needs a win by the international team to give it some relevance, but that will be a tall order this week.
The Presidents Cup dates back to only 1994, so we’re going to look at a different international team event from 1969. Lee Trevino and Orville Moody teamed up for the World Cup matches. This competition featured a team event, with the winners getting $1,000 each, and an individual competion that also paid the winner $1,000. It’s quite clear that Trevino and Moody were playing for national pride and not for the money.
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Trevino Gets as Hot as the Temps in Singapore in Final Round of The World Cup
Lee Trevino and Orville Moody in 1969 (photo: Getty Images)
It’s Saturday, October 4th, 1969, and it’s hot, brutally hot with temperatures in the 90s, on the Bukit Course at the Singapore Island Country Club in Singapore, the site of the 1969 World Cup (formerly known as the Canada Cup). Lee Trevino has just completed his round, the third round, with his partner Orville Moody.
Both Americans swore that they had never played in such heat, even in Texas, as they experienced that day during the third round. Trevino complained that a light rain had turned the Bukit Course “into a sauna bath,” after shooting a 69. Moody, the reigning U.S. Open champ, shot a 71 and the two Americans had a three-round total of 418, two shots behind the team from Taiwan (then referred to as Formosa).
Hsieh Yung-yo and Hsu Chi-san made up the team from Taiwan and got off to a fast start in the matches. This was not unusual for the duo as they had either held the lead or shared the lead for the first three rounds in the 1968 World Cup before folding in the final round to finish fourth. The two were mastering the hilly Bukit Couse and were adept at hitting the small, hard-to-hold, greens.
The teams from the Asian countries, players whose pinpoint short games made up for their lack of distance off the tee, held an advantage at the Bukit Course as it was an annual stop on the Asian Tour.
“Sure, I could make a lot more back home, but this is something special, an honor, a chance to play for my country.”
This was the 17th playing of the World Cup that was both a team event and an individual event. It was also one of those international events where players played for country more than prize money. The top prize was only $1,000 for the individual champion and the winning team split a $2,000 prize. Just to put things in perspective, Trevino arrived in Singapore late, using the opening pro-am as his practice round. He arrived after blowing a six-stroke lead in the super-rich Alcan Golfer of the Year tournament in Portland OR, at that time, the richest purse in golf history. He finished second, collected a check for $15,000, which was a far cry from the first-place check of $55,000.
But he was excited to play for the USA in the World Cup.
“Sure, I could make a lot more back home,” Trevino stated upon his arrival in Singapore, “but this is something special, an honor, a chance to play for my country and meet a lot of nice foreign folks. I’d play the World Cup every year if they asked me, and pay my own way, too, if I had to. I was supposed to play a round in the CBS TV Classic in Akron this week, but I told them the World Cup came first with me, and if they couldn’t change their schedule, then forget about me. They changed.”
One of the biggest surprises at the Bukit Course was the unknown team from Thailand. The team was made up of Sukree Onchum, 26 years old, and Suchin Suwanapongs, 22 years old, who were the pros at the 5,400 par-64 Royal Bangkok Sports Club, a course mainly confined to the infield of racetrack. They had a three-round total of 419, three off the lead of the team from Taiwan. Despite never being in contention in a major event outside Thailand, they momentarily grabbed the lead midway through the third round. They ran out of gas, though, and settled for being in third place behind the team from Taiwan and the Americans.
“We’ll catch them tomorrow, for sure.”
Hsieh at 205, held the individual lead over Sukree Onchum of Thailand by two-strokes. Orville Moody was another stroke back at 208 while Trevino was at 210, five strokes off the lead.
Trevino was confident about both the team honors and individually because he recalled the collapse of the Taiwan team in the final round of the World Cup in Rome the year before.
“We’ll catch them tomorrow, for sure,” he predicted.
Trevino backed up his confident prediction the next day as he and Moody blanketed the team from Taiwan under a blizzard of birdies. After six holes, it was over as the American team was far out in front and eventually won the team event by eight strokes. The Japanese finished strongly to take second while Argentina, on the strength of Roberto De Vicenzo’s course record setting 65, finished in third. Thailand and Taiwan finished tied for fourth.
Sukree Onchum hung tough through the round and came to the final hole with a chance to win. He was tied with both Trevino and De Vicenzo coming down the 18th hole but hit his approach into a trap and could do no better than a bogey. Trevino made a 30-foot birdie putt to match De Vicenzo’s new course record and won the individual title by one stroke.
Onchum was the favorite of the 6,000-plus gallery and both Trevino and Moody were fans. After Onchum holed out, the two American hoisted the Thai golfer on their shoulders and carried him off the 18th green in triumph.
Trevino donated $2,000 (the $1,000 he won in the individual competition and the $1,000 he won with Moody in the team event) to establish a scholarship fund for the caddies at the Bukit Course. With the donation, Trevino gave proof that he was playing in the World Cup not for money, but for national pride.
Orville Moody at the 1969 U.S. Open (photo: Getty Images)
This week’s Bonus Story highlights why it is important to have medical professionals in the vicinity. Scroll down to see.
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Tour Backspin Quiz | 1969 PGA TOUR Trivia
Who topped the money list in 1969? Who won Player of the Year? Who won the Vardon Trophy for being the scoring leader?
Answers below
Pro Pointer
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Bonus Story
Mrs. L.L. Ross of San Jose, CA, was camped out on the right side of the 458-yard, par four, dogleg seventh hole to watch the action in the 1969 World Cup. The team from the United States was playing the hole and Orville Moody was hitting his approach shot. The next thing she knew, she was waking up to a crowd of onlookers who were bent over her.
Moody’s shot hit Mrs. Ross right in the forehead and knocked her unconscious. She blinked her eyes open regaining consciousness and then asked one of the men crowded around her, “are you a doctor?”
“Yes, ma’am,” came the reply. “And so is he, and he, and this man is a surgeon.”
If you’re going to get hit in the head by a golf shot, it is nice to have plentiful medical care immediately on the scene.
Moody, looking sheepish, approached the crowd around Mrs. Ross, who recognized him.
“It was the first time I’ve hit a person on the golf course,” Moody said.
“All right,” Mrs. Ross said. “Now go out and win.”
“And I made up my mind to win the tournament for the lady,” Moody told reporters after the round.
Great story about playing with your balls, cancer and family. Read it HERE.
Blind Shot
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Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
The money winner in 1969 was Frank Beard with $175,223. The winner of the Player of the Year Award was Orville Moody and the winner of the Vardon Trophy was Dave Hill.
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