Bob West
The Port Arthur News
PORT ARTHUR —
Nostalgia buffs might want to give some serious thought to heading over to The Woodlands Saturday for the Champions Tour’s Insperity Championship. And not so much for the tournament itself but for a coup called “The Greats of Golf” pulled off by the event’s executive director Bryan Naugle.
Naugle sweet talked four of golf’s all time greats — Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Lee Trevino — into participating into a one-day exhibition that could well be the last time they all appear together at a tournament. Their respective ages, after all, are 72, 82, 76 and 72, and they are rarely actively involved in the tournament scene.
After the final pairing of the Insperity tees off Saturday afternoon, Naugle’s fabulous foursome will join five other PGA Tour stars from yesteryear — Dave Stockton, Miller Barber, Don January, Dave Graham and Gene Littler in an 18-hole Florida Scramble competition.
Going off first, at around noon, will be Stockton, Barber and January. They will be followed by the threesome of Trevino, Graham and Littler. The final pairing features what many, many years ago was known as golf’s Big Three — Nicklaus, Palmer and Player.
Maybe Vegas can post an over/under on the number of photos that will be taken.
“We wanted to do something special for the fans this year,” said Naugle. “When these gentleman agreed to participate in this relaxed but competitive format we were ecstatic. So were the players. This is an incredible opportunity that perhaps will never be matched again.”
Insperity put up $400,000 to help make the epic event happen, but it pretty much came down to Naugle being able to get Nicklaus to agree. He correctly figured that if the Golden Bear was open to such an unusual outing, none of the others would turn it down. That’s pretty much the way it played out.
“The greats of golf, they give back to the game that’s been good to them,” Naugle told the Houston Chronicle. “The young guys, they all ought to take a look at Jack and Arnold and Gary and Lee and see the way they treat the game. I’m really proud that they are coming here to Houston.”
“I simply don’t play much or any golf these days, so yes, it could very well be the last time you see all four of us tee it up together,” Nicklaus told The Chronicle’s Steve Campbell. “But I don’t look at it as an opportunity to play golf; I look at it as an opportunity to get together with old friends and hopefully have some good fun along the way.”
A lot of golfers, I’m guessing, will look at it as an opportunity to get a very special up close and personal look at four guys who provided them with countless special memories. Nicklaus, Palmer, Player and Trevino, after all, did combine to win 40 majors and 198 PGA tournaments.
By the way, admission is free. Oh, yes, there will be some pretty good players taking part in the actual tournament itself. Playing for the Insperity Championship’s $255,000 first prize are the likes of Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Hale Irwin, Tom Lehman, Hal Sutton and Curtis Strange. Brad Faxon is the defending champion.
The 54-hole tourney, played on what used to be known as The Woodlands TPC course, runs Friday through Sunday.
CHIP SHOTS: In a 2012 golf season in which holes-in-one have been few and far between, both Dennis Walsh of Groves and Donny Pope of Nederland broke through last week. Walsh’s ace came on the 100-yard, 14th at The Patch, using a wedge. Witnesses were his teammates in the Patch Seniors 50 Plus game — Ron Theriot, Bill Draughon, Mike Melancon and Benny Epperson. They went on to win the back nine with minus 6 . . . Pope got his ace at Bayou Din, with a 6-iron on 153-yard, 7th hole on the Bayou Front. The shot was witnessed by Tad Treme and Mike Rhodes . . . After a sizzling putter helped Chris Stroud open with a sizzling 66 (23 putts) in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans last week, the same flat stick kept the Lamar ex from going lower than 69 in the final round. Stroud took 30 putts and missed short birdies on three of the final four holes. Still, he finished T24 — his 7th top 25 in 11 starts this season — and won $51,840 to boost his season earnings to $719,169. Stroud is currently No. 49 on the money list, No. 47 in Fed Ex points and is at an all-time best No. 135 in the World Golf Rankings. He’ll be playing again this week at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, N.C. and again next week in The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass . . . Another pro with local ties — West Orange-Stark ex Michael Arnaud — came oh-so-close to winning on the Adams Tour. Arnaud birdied the par 5, 71st hole, then holed a 187-yard 8-iron for an eagle 2 on the par 4, 72nd but came up one-shot short of Brian Rowell in the Lions Club Open at the National Golf Club of Louisiana. Arnaud pocketed $5,750 after rounds of 67-67-76-68 for a 10-under 278. The third round, obviously, was a killer. PN-G and Arkansas ex Andrew Landry finished T6 at 284 and won $2,366. Three shots farther behind in a tie for 13th were former Lamar players Dawie Van Der Walt and Casey Clendenon . . . The Babe Zaharias DogFight changed its format a bit, going with two-man teams playing nine holes of best ball and nine holes of scramble. Billy Tucker-Butch Cross won 1st Flight in minus 7, finishing three shots clear of Hollis Whorton-Rick Pritchett and four ahead of Mark Stoger-Adam Noel. The duo of Harry Green-Tom Lawton won 2nd Flight at minus 1, besting the teams of Roger Koch-Pete Reobroi and Bryan Grant-Jim Mercer by two strokes. In 3rd Flight, Jim Cooper-Ron Overstreet won with even par. Carry Anderson-Steve Childree finished second at plus 4, with Paul Duplantis-Paul Brown third at plus 6. Closest to the pin winners were Overstreet (No. 2), Jack Pittman (No. 7), Joe Gongora (No. 12) and Roy Martinez (No. 15) . . . The Seniors at the Babe was played in a Florida Scramble. First place at minus 12 went to the foursome of Tom Lawton, Harry Green, Gary Anderson and Ken Fabre. There was a three-way tie for second at minus 11 between the team of Hilario Padia, B. Bedair, Ben Thornton and Dave Sturgal, the team of Larry Morris, Ted Estes, Ned Cole and Bernie Johnson and the team of Adam Noel, Roger Baumer, Charlie Huckaby and Ray Holston. Closest to the pin winners were Lawton (No. 2), Padia (No. 7), Anderson (No. 12) and Paul Duplantis (No. 15) . . . The Patch Seniors 50 Plus game was played in a 2 ball format. Winning the front in minus 12 was the team of Wadsworth Thompson, J. Tompkins and Walter Colvin. As was mentioned above, the Dennis Walsh team won the back . . . Jim Brown finished plus 6 to win the Monday Seniors at Belle Oaks. Mike Hebert was second at plus 5. Bill Worsham and Rufus Mier tied for third at plus 2. Hebert was the closest to the pin winner on No. 8 . . . In the Friday Seniors at Belle Oaks, Brown was part of a three-way tie for first with Barry Jackson and Major Rising at plus 5. Twyman Ash was the closest to the pin winner on No. 15.
Golf news should be mailed to rdwest@usa.net or faxed to 724-6854.
