Vegas, Baby!
Archer comes back from the abyss with a win in Vegas
So we had some fun golf to watch this past weekend. Did you watch Ryan Fox win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, or Mackenzie Hughes win the Sanderson Farms Championship or Bryson DeChambeau come in second at the Professional Long Drive Championship? Or, did you watch baseball and football? 😊 No wrong answers.
This week, the PGA TOUR is in Vegas, baby! It’s the Shriners Children’s Open, a tournament that was founded in 1983, which puts it just outside our 60s and 70s lane. But, we’re going to backspin to the Sahara Invitational that was played in Las Vegas from 1958 to 1976. We’re going to focus in on the 1976 tournament when George Archer resurrected his career after a three year slump that was caused by injury. Scroll down to see how he did it.
Speaking of George Archer, I’m playing in the Stroke of Genius Pro-Am Golf Tournament to benefit the George Archer Memorial Foundation for Literacy again this year. These people do something for all us—raise funds to support tutoring programs for people afflicted by learning disabilities when it comes to written communications. They teach people how to read. It’s a great cause and if you’d like to help me raise funds, donate HERE.
In our poll question from last week, 65% of you said that adding women to the Presidents Cup was a good idea, while 36% were opposed. I would put myself in the group that thinks it would help the event. The difference in average world ranking would be more in line once LPGA players were added to the rosters, especially the International team. Thank you to all who responded and we’ll do a poll from time to time.
We love to get feedback! Let us know what you think about Tour Backspin and the stories we tell. Email me at larry@tourbackspin.com.
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Congratulations to Mike Kemppainen for correctly answering last week’s WHAT HOLE IS IT? The featured hole was #5 at Bandon Dunes in Bandon, OR. Mike beat out five other correct answers in the random drawing. The photo was a Guest Post submitted by John Lewis. Submit a “Guest Post” picture for WHAT HOLE IS IT? and if we use it, you’ll win a prize and also be credited with a correct score on the leader board. Send your pic to larry@tourbackspin.com. Scroll down for your chance to win in this week’s WHAT HOLE IS IT?
The vintage ad just reminds you of how cool Dave Marr was. Scroll down to see.
We’re playing 1976 PGA TOUR Trivia this week on the Tour Backspin Quiz. Scroll down to play.
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George Archer Ends a Brutal Three-Year Slump at the Sahara Invitational
George Archer retrieves his ball from the cup on the 18th hole at the 1976 Sahara Invitational (photo: SUNfoto by Stan Clawson, Las Vegas Sun)
It is Saturday, October 3rd, 1976, and George Archer has just finished his third round in the Sahara Invitational. He has signed his scorecard for a round of 69, and when combined with his first round 67 and second round 66, his total of 202 is just one stroke behind the leader, Don January. For the past three years, Archer had wondered if he would ever get back to this point.
Three years earlier, during a practice round in New Zealand, he had torn a tendon in his wrist that all but ended his career. After winning more than $100,000 in each of the years of 1968, 1969, 1971 and 1972, Archer’s earnings and wins disappeared. He’d won less than $30,000 in the last two years and his best finish was a ninth place at the 1975 Sea Pines Heritage Classic. How did he battle back from the abyss to go into the final round at the Sahara in contention, just one stroke off the lead? Let’s backspin to find out.
The 1976 Sahara Invitational did not feature an all-star field. Johnny Miller, the winner of the Open Championship withdrew on the eve of the tournament citing a sore back. Al Geiberger withdrew after his wife gave birth to baby boy on the Monday before the tournament. U.S. Open champ, Jerry Pate, Masters champion, Ray Floyd, and PGA winner Dave Stockton all chose to take the week off. As did Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin and Hubert Green. Still, the Sarhara had a purse of $135,000 and a first-place prize of $27,000.
Temperatures reached 91 degrees during Thursday’s first round. There were 47 players, in the field of 144, who broke par over the 6,800-yard Sahara-Nevada Country Club course. With a lack of stars in the field, it was a couple of unheard-of players who topped the leader board. Stan Altgelt, a 27-year-old rookie who earned his tour card on his fourth try, shot a 64 and was tied with Wally Armstrong, a 31-year-old playing in his fourth year on the tour.
At two strokes off the lead sat Don January, a 41-year-old veteran of the tour, tied with the 1974 U.S. Open champion Lou Graham and Bruce Lietzke, who was playing in his second year on tour. George Archer sat tied with a logjam of players at 67.
“I’ve been in position but faltered the last couple of holes when the pressure was on me,” he admitted to reporters after his round. “I hope I have learned from the experience.”
On Friday, the morning half of the field played in a rare, but steady, drizzle while the afternoon groups played in occasional showers. George Burns, a former University of Maryland football player who had won $80,771 so far in his rookie season on tour, shot a six-under-par 65 and grabbed the lead. Bruce Lietzke was one shot back, tied with George Archer.
Despite never winning, Burns was not unaccustomed to being on top of the leader board. He’d held the lead earlier in the year at the Houston Open and the American Golf Classic before fading to third place.
“I’ve been in position but faltered the last couple of holes when the pressure was on me,” he admitted to reporters after his round. “I hope I have learned from the experience.”
The 35 miles per hour winds that greeted the players for the third-round complicated matters and led to higher scores. George Burns had one double bogey and could do no better than a 73 that left him four shots back of Don January. January eagled the last hole, a par-5, for a four-under-par 67 and a one-stroke lead over George Archer who shot a 69.
“Oh, I’m just gonna go play my game tomorrow, try to play well. If I do, fine. If I don’t, I’ll just pack my bags and go to Dallas.”
January had his own comeback story to tell in 1976. After being away from the game for three years, he had amassed $150,285 in winnings including the $45,000 first-place check at the MONY Tournament of Champions in April. He’d already won more money for the year than any other year that he played the tour.
He was relaxed going into the final round. “Oh, I’m just gonna go play my game tomorrow, try to play well,” he said. “If I do, fine. If I don’t, I’ll just pack my bags and go to Dallas.”
Archer was in the clubhouse with the lead before January made his eagle on the final hole.
“I didn’t think I would win this year. I was hoping maybe next year . . .”
The weather for the fourth round was sunny, mild and breezy. Three players, Dave Hill, Gil Morgan and Bruce Lietzke, all fired four-under-par 67s to get themselves into contention. Dave Hill vaulted into a tie for second, tied with Don January who bogeyed three consecutive holes, starting at the seventh hole. Gil Morgan’s 67 secured a tie for fourth and Lietzke wound up in a tie for sixth.
But it was George Archer who completed a comeback that he didn’t see coming by shooting a final round 69 to win by two shots. His sand wedge approach shot to the final green that ended up inches from the hole secured the victory. The win was not only a relief for Archer, but it was also a surprise.
“I didn’t think I would win this year,” Archer said. “I was hoping maybe next year . . .” His voice trailing off.
The torn tendon he incurred three years prior in New Zealand finally required surgery and combined with a back ailment, Archer had seriously considered quitting the tour. After three torturous years with little to show in the way of winnings, those thoughts were long gone with one of the most triumphant wins in his 13-year career. Only his Masters win in 1969 could rank in front of this win.
The Archer family in 1968. Wife Donna (l) daughter Elizabeth (lower center), George, daughter Marilyn (in George’s arms)
In this week’s Bonus Story, these players were honest about what it was like coming down the stretch in the fourth round of the 1976 Sahara Invitational. Scroll down to see.
Our playlist this week is something special. Earl’s Closet, The Lost Archive of Earl McGrath is a compilation of demo tapes and home recordings and perfectly captures the genre-blurring that went on in music in the 1970s. Earl McGrath was a record man and you can hear early Hall and Oates, Delbert McClinton and David Johansen. This will take you back to the 70s for sure. Listen HERE. Read the story of how journalist Joe Hagen stumbled across these tapes, literally in a closet, after McGrath’s death HERE.
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Larry Baush
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WHAT HOLE IS IT?
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Tour Backspin Quiz | 1976 PGA TOUR Trivia
Who won three tournaments, back-to-back-to-back in 1976?
Answers below
Pro Pointer
(Third in a three part series, click HERE for part one, click HERE for part two)
Bonus Story
Gil Morgan, Bruce Litzke, and Dave Hill all shot 67 in the final round at the 1976 Sahara Invitational. Despite the great finishing rounds, they were all brutally honest about why they didn’t win.
Hill prefaced his comments with the admission that, “George (Archer) just got it up and down. Anytime he made a mistake, he covered. He just wasn’t going to be denied.”
Morgan admitted he needed to be in a contending position more often.
“I wasn’t tight until I looked up and saw I was tied with the leaders,” Morgan said after the round. The third-year pro went on, “Then I made mistakes I shouldn’t have made. Maybe I need a little more experience. I’ve been in contention before, but experience helps and maybe I haven’t been in that situation often enough yet. But I feel I’m due.”
Lietzke identified Saturday’s third round as the reason he couldn’t secure the win.
“I’m happy with what I did in this tournament,” he said. “I had three good days and one bad day. I’d like to play Saturday’s round over. They say you don’t learn anything from a good round. If that is true, I learned a lot Saturday. I learned I have to work on my wind game. I’ve been hitting it high and when it blew here I had to change my swing. I just didn’t change it the right way.
Dave Hill also expressed a lack of confidence when he told reporters, “No, I wasn’t really confident that I would win here again. I’ve been playing in and out for five or six months. Seems I can’t keep everything together.”
Fresh off the course after shooting great final round scores, the three players were not shy about admitting what kept them from winning.
Blind Shot
Click for something fun. 👀
Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
Hubert Green (Doral-Eastern Open on March 14th, Greater Jacksonville Open on March 21st, and Sea Pines Heritage Classic on March 28th)
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