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THE 1976 PGA TOUR

THE 1976 PGA TOUR February 1 1977

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About: 1976 PGA Tour

The 1976 PGA Tour season was played from January 8 to November 7. The season consisted of 45 official money events. Ben Crenshaw, Johnny Miller, and Hubert Green won the most tournaments, three, and there were eight first-time winners. Hubert Green's wins were in three consecutive weeks in March. Johnny Miller won the first event of the year for the third consecutive year. The tournament results and award winners are listed below.

12 - 15 Aug 1976

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• Past Results

Dates: May 27-30, 1976 Purse: $200,000 Par: 36-36=72 Yardage: 7,027 yards

Cut Notes: 72 players from a field of 92 at 13-over-par 157.

Missed Cut: Tom Aaron(81-WD), Buddy Allin (83-WD), Butch Baird (80-84-MC), George Burns (81-WD), George Cadle (78-83-MC), Bob Dickson (80-81-MC), Dale Douglass (82-86-MC), Marty Fleckman (80-81-MC), Larry Hinson (81-78-MC), Don Iverson (74-79-80-DQ), Jim Masserio (81-78-MC), Gary McCord (78-82- MC), Mike McCullough (78-80-MC), Mac McLendon (80-79-MC), Steve Melnyk (78-85-MC), Dave Newquist (82-77-MC), Ed Pearce (75-83-MC), Dean Refram (81-78-MC), Fred Ridley (79-84-MC), Sam Snead (76-83-MC), Art Wall (80-WD), Tommy Aaron (81-WD), Bud Allin (83-WD), George Burns (81-WD), Don Iverson (74-79-DQ).

Weather: Clear and sunny Thursday, cloudy and breezy Friday. Partly cloudy Saturday and Sunday.

MALTBIE STAKED HIMSELF TO A PIECE OF HISTORY

An amazing stroke of luck at the first Memorial Tournament

Understandably nervous, but unpretentiously garrulous, Roger Maltbie extended his hand to Hale Irwin as he stepped on the 15th tee at Muirfield Village Golf Club and cordially wished the former U.S. Open champion good luck.

The taciturn Irwin, absorbed by his intense competitive instincts, barely mumbled as he accepted the salutation.

The two men were set to embark on an unprecedented three-hole aggregate-score play-off for the first Memorial Tournament title. Maltbie, only in his second season on the PGA TOUR in 1976, knew he was the underdog, believed Irwin was the crowd favorite, and sensed that Irwin was irritated to be playing extra holes when he could have won Jack Nicklaus' regal new event in regulation.

Perplexed by his opponent's brusqueness, Maltbie shuffled back to his golf bag After an awkward few seconds, his caddie, Jeff Burrell, leaned over and whispered, "How about that? He thinks he's going to win."

Maltbie, the 1975 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, began to laugh.

"That helped me to relax," he says, recalling what proved to be a galvanizing moment on that memorable overcast Sunday in late May 37 years ago. "I mean, I was nervous. Hale had the record and the reputation, and we were playing this great new event on one of the finest courses we ever encountered. It wasn't just another week, and you knew it."

By day's end, everyone else knew it, too.

The two men, who completed 72 holes at even-par 288, traded birdies and pars at 15 and 16 respectively, essentially turning the playoff into sudden-death at the par-4 17th. Maltbie's fate appeared sealed when he hooked his 4-iron approach from 186 yards well to the left of the green.

Miraculously, however, his ball caromed off a gallery stake and onto the putting surface, 15 feet from the hole, from where he two-putted for par. But Maltbie still figured he was beaten with Irwin stalking a 10-footer for birdie. He removed his glove and handed it to Burrell, saying, "He isn't Hale Irwin because he misses these."

But Irwin, clearly perturbed by Maltbie's good fortune, missed the putt. Then, on the fourth extra hole, Irwin used up four strokes and broke his 5-iron on the way to the 18th green. He never holed out because Maltbie sank and 18-foot birdie putt for his third career victory, worth $40,000.

In the aftermath, a tournament volunteer retrieved the stake and gave it to Maltbie, who proudly displayed it for the media. Then he stuffed it in his golf bag as a keepsake, but, alas, didn't keep it for long. At the next stop, the Kemper Open, then held in Charlotte, North Carolina, Maltbie left it behind under his hotel room bed.

"Given my track record, that shouldn't be a surprise," Maltbie says with a laugh, referring to an episode a year earlier when he left his $40,000 winner's check from the Pleasant Valley Classic on a barroom floor in Worchester, Massachusetts.

A five-time winner with more than $2.2 million in earnings, Maltbie, 50, changed tracks after two operations on his left shoulder. Since 1991, his golf acumen and gregarious nature have served him - and television viewers - well as a broadcaster for NBC's golf coverage.

A golfer since age eight, when his father, Lin, introduced him to the game at San Jose Country Club, Maltbie had no qualms relinquishing his identity as a tournament player.

"At the end of 1994, when NBC won the rights to the USGA package, I asked myself, "Am I really going to do this full time?" Then I thought, if I was going to be the next Jack Nicklaus, I'd have done that by now," Maltbie says, "I was 43 and on the short end of my career.

"I thought there may come a time when I might regret it, but I've never wished to play more," he adds. "Live TV provides many of the same challenges and rewards as professional golf. You only get one chance to do something; there are no mulligans. When you get it right, it's like hitting one on the screws. When you screw up, you have to go on. You find these parallels. The things I love about golf I get out of broadcasting."

Maltbie, who lives with his wife, Donna, and two children in Los Gatos, California, intends to compete sparingly on the Senior PGA TOUR, solely for nostalgia's sake.

"The Senior TOUR is for fun; it's not the tour of dreams," he says. "The PGA TOUR is for dreams."

Twenty-five years ago, one of his dreams came true. He staked himself to a piece of history.

"From a satisfaction standpoint, the Memorial Tournament stands at the top of the list," says Maltbie, who joins the host as the only two players to compete in every Memorial. "It's been long remembered for how I won it, and that makes it really special. The older I get, the more special it becomes."

David S. Shedloski, of Alexandria, Ohio, is an author and award-winning golf writer.

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THE PLAYERS 1976: Jack Nicklaus

When the first tournament of his 15th PGA TOUR season, the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, included a fourth-round 82, skeptics wondered if Jack Nicklaus had lost his passion for the game. They theorized that perhaps the pile of wins — 59 in all — was enough and nothing could stoke the Golden Bear’s competitive fires.

At 36, Nicklaus had set his sights on something that did get his juices flowing — the prestige of THE PLAYERS Championship. So enamored was Nicklaus to play against the best field in golf that he stayed in Florida to practice rather than compete in The West Coast finale. When the third edition of THE PLAYERS arrived at Inverrary Golf & Country Club in Lauderhill, Fla., Nicklaus explained his thinking to the assembled media. He said that the PGA TOUR would find a permanent home for THE PLAYERS, which would make it “a classic.”

Said Nicklaus: “I’d like to have won it three or four times, so I get to count it on my record.”

Talk about a man of action, when Nicklaus broke a 54-hole tie with J.C. Snead with a birdie at the fifth and a scintillating 30-foot eagle at the par-5 15th, he had his second win in three tries in this coveted championship. (And for a second time in three years, Snead was second to Nicklaus at THE PLAYERS.)

The final-round 65 for 19-under 269 quieted the doubters. It also accounted for Nicklaus’ 60th career win and was a fitting way to usher THE PLAYERS into its new home base, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

“I’d like to have won it three or four times, so I get to count it on my record.” - Jack Niclaus

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1976 PGA Tour

The 1976 PGA Tour season was played from January 8 to November 7. The season consisted of 45 official money events. Ben Crenshaw , Johnny Miller , and Hubert Green won the most tournaments, three, and there were eight first-time winners. Hubert Green's wins were in three consecutive weeks in March. Johnny Miller won the first event of the year for the third consecutive year. The tournament results and award winners are listed below.

Tournament results

The following table shows all the official money events for the 1976 season. "Date" is the ending date of the tournament. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event. Majors are shown in bold .

External links

• PGA Tour official site
• 1976 season coverage at golfstats.com
• PGA Tour seasons
• 1976 in golf

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How driving distance has changed over the past 40 years on the pga tour.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland hits his shot from the tenth tee during the second round of the 2022 PGA Championship at the Southern Hills on May 20, 2022 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America)

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Year - average distance (yards) | leader - leader's average.

• 2023 - 297.2 | Leader: Rory McIlroy - 326.6
• 2022 - 299.8 | Leader: Cameron Champ - 321.4
• 2021 - 295.3 | Leader: Bryson DeChambeau - 320.8
• 2020 - 296.4 | Leader: Bryson DeChambeau - 322.1
• 2019 - 293.9 | Leader: Cameron Champ - 317.9
• 2018 - 295.29 | Leader: Trey Mullinax - 318
• 2017 - 292.79 | Leader: Rory McIlroy - 316.7
• 2016 - 291.06 | Leader: J.B. Holmes - 314.5
• 2015 - 290.21 | Leader: Dustin Johnson - 317.7
• 2014 - 289.85 | Leader: Bubba Watson - 314.3
• 2013 - 288.00 | Leader: Luke List - 306.3
• 2012 - 290.07 | Leader: Bubba Watson - 315.5
• 2011- 291.14 | Leader: J.B. Holmes - 318.4
• 2010 - 287.49 | Leader: Robert Garrigus - 315.5
• 2009 - 288.07 | Leader: Robert Garrigus - 312
• 2008 - 287.74 | Leader: Bubba Watson - 315.1
• 2007 - 289.08 | Leader: Bubba Watson - 315.2
• 2006 - 289.35 | Leader: Bubba Watson - 319.6
• 2005 - 288.88 | Leader: Scott Hend- 318.9
• 2004 - 287.32 | Leader: Hank Kuehne - 314.4
• 2003 - 286.30 | Leader: Hank Kuehne - 321.4
• 2002 - 279.84 | Leader: John Daly - 306.8
• 2001 - 279.35 | Leader: John Daly - 306.7
• 2000 - 273.18| Leader: John Daly - 301.4
• 1999 - 272.45 | Leader: John Daly - 305.6
• 1998 - 270.63 | Leader: John Daly - 299.4
• 1997 - 267.67 | Leader: John Daly - 302
• 1996 - 266.49 | Leader: John Daly - 288.8
• 1995 - 263.55 | Leader: John Daly - 289
• 1994 - 261.84 | Leader: Davis Love III - 283.8
• 1993 - 260.36 | Leader: John Daly - 288.9
• 1992 - 260.52 | Leader: John Daly - 283.4
• 1991 - 261.44 | Leader: John Daly - 288.9
• 1990 - 262.75 | Leader: Tom Purtzer - 279.6
• 1989 - 261.81 | Leader: Ed Humenik - 280.9
• 1988 - 263.50 | Leader: Steve Thomas - 284.6
• 1987 - 262.50 | Leader: John McComish - 283.9
• 1986 - 261.58 | Leader: Davis Love III - 285.7
• 1985 - 260.18 | Leader: Andy Bean - 278.2
• 1984 - 259.61 | Leader: Bill Glasson - 276.5
• 1983 - 258.65 | Leader: John McComish - 277.4
• 1982 - 256.89 | Leader: Bill Calfee - 275.3
• 1981 - 259.66 | Leader: Dan Pohl - 280.1
• 1980 - 256.89 | Leader: Dan Pohl - 274.3

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The 1976 Club is located on Muirfield Village Golf Club’s favorite hole among photographers and features the course’s largest lake. The tee shot is played from a wooded hillside entirely across water to a two-tiered, kidney-shaped green. Miss it and the ball will generally find either sand or water. This open-air venue features access to a large patio and flat-screen televisions.

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2024 Memorial Tournament odds, field: Surprising PGA picks, predictions by model that's nailed 12 majors

Sportsline's proven model simulated the memorial tournament 2024 10,000 times and revealed its surprising golf picks.

Many of the world's best golfers are choosing to remain competitive over resting before the third major of the year as the 2024 Memorial Tournament field includes Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele. The Memorial Tournament 2024 tees off from Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, on Thursday before the U.S. Open the following week. Scheffler continued his elite run of dominance after finishing T-2 at the Charles Schwab Challenge o as he's either won or finished second in six of his last seven tournaments. He's the +360 favorite (risk $100 to win $360) to win the 2024 Memorial Tournament. Should you include him in your 2024 Memorial Tournament bets? 

McIlroy (+800) and Schauffele (+900) are next in line in the latest 2024 Memorial Tournament odds. This will be Schauffele's first tournament since winning the PGA Championship and finally capturing his first major title, so could that increase his confidence heading into the 2024 Memorial Tournament, which is founded and hosted by Jack Nicklaus? Before making any 2024 Memorial Tournament picks, be sure to see the golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine .

SportsLine's proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed in June of 2020. In fact, the model is up almost $9,000 on its best bets since the restart, nailing tournament after tournament.

McClure's model correctly predicted Scheffler would finish on top of the leaderboard at the 2024 Masters, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and The Players Championship this season. McClure also included Hideki Matsuyama in his best bets to win the 2024 Genesis Invitational. That bet hit at +9000, and for the entire tournament, McClure's best bets returned nearly $1,000. And at the 2024 PGA Championship, the model correctly called Xander Schauffele's first major victory heading into the weekend. 

The model also predicted Rahm would be victorious at the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions and The American Express. At the 2023 Masters, the model was all over Rahm's second career major victory heading into the weekend. Rahm was two strokes off the lead heading into the third round, but the model still projected him as the winner. It was the second straight Masters win for the model, which also nailed Scheffler winning in 2022.

In addition, McClure's best bets included Nick Taylor (70-1) winning the 2023 RBC Canadian Open, Jason Day (17-1) winning outright at the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson, and Rickie Fowler (14-1) finishing on top of the leaderboard at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic.

This same model has also nailed a whopping 12 majors entering the weekend, including the last three Masters and the 2024 PGA Championship. Anyone who has followed it has seen massive returns.

Now that the 2024 Memorial Tournament field is finalized, SportsLine simulated the tournament 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard .

Top 2024 Memorial Tournament predictions 

One major surprise the model is calling for at the Memorial Tournament 2024: Collin Morikawa, who was two strokes off the lead heading into the final round before withdrawing last year, stumbles this week and barely cracks the top five. Morikawa has gone winless in his first 13 tournaments in 2024 after picking up just one win in 25 events last year. He continues to make the cut and contend in most of his appearances, but he has been unable to get across the finish line. 

In fact, he has not finished better than T-3 (Masters) this season, and he missed the cut in the Memorial Tournament two years ago. He ranks outside the top 115 on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: putting and driving distance, while also ranking 105th in greens in regulation percentage. The model does not like his chance of breaking his winless drought this week, even though he is among the 2024 Memorial Tournament favorites at +1400.  See who else to fade here .

Another surprise: Hideki Matsuyama, a +3500 longshot, makes a strong run at the title. He has a much better chance to win it all than his odds imply, so he's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. Matsuyama is ninth in the FedEx Cup standings this season behind three top-10 finishes this year, including winning the Genesis Invitational in February. The 32-year-old has made the cut in all 11 events this season after making the cut in 22 of 26 events last season.

Thursday will mark Matsuyama's 11th Memorial Tournament and he's finished sixth or better three times, including winning at Muirfield Village Golf Club in 2014 for his first PGA Tour victory. He finished 16th last year, highlighted by a second round of 65, and Matsuyama is playing much stronger golf this season. He's seventh on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained after ranking 23rd last season. Between his better play this season and plenty of experience at Muirfield Village, the model projects value in including  Matsuyama as a longshot play in 2024 Memorial Tournament bets.  See who else to back here . 

How to make 2024 Memorial Tournament picks

The model is also targeting three other golfers with odds of 25-1 or longer to make a strong run at the title. Anyone who backs these longshots could hit it big. You can only see the model's picks here .

Who will win the 2024 Memorial Tournament, and which longshots will stun the golfing world? Check out the Memorial Tournament 2024 odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected Memorial Tournament leaderboard , all from the model that's nailed 12 golf majors, including the last three Masters and the 2024 PGA Championship.

2024 Memorial Tournament odds, field

Get full 2024 Memorial Tournament picks, best bets and predictions here .

Scottie Scheffler +360 Rory McIlroy +800 Xander Schauffele +900 Collin Morikawa +1400 Viktor Hovland +1800 Ludvig Aberg +1800 Patrick Cantlay +2500 Justin Thomas +2500 Wyndham Clark +3500 Tommy Fleetwood +3500 Max Homa +3500 Hideki Matsuyama +3500 Sahith Theegala +4000 Jordan Spieth +4500 Matt Fitzpatrick +5000 Byeong Hun An +5000 Tony Finau +5500 Sungjae Im +5500 Si Woo Kim +5500 Russell Henley +5500 Corey Conners +5500 Cameron Young +5500 Tom Kim +6000 Sam Burns +6000 Jason Day +6000 Sepp Straka +6500 Keegan Bradley +6500 Will Zalatoris +7000 Shane Lowry +7000 Billy Horschel +7000 Denny McCarthy +7500 Brian Harman +7500 Tom Hoge +8000 Harris English +8000 Alex Noren +8000 Christiaan Bezuidenhout +9000 Stephan Jaeger +10000 Robert MacIntyre +10000 Kurt Kitayama +10000 Akshay Bhatia +10000 Mackenzie Hughes +11000 Lucas Glover +11000 Justin Rose +11000 J.T. Poston +11000 Thomas Detry +13000 Taylor Moore +13000 Rickie Fowler +13000 Davis Thompson +13000 Chris Kirk +13000 Ben Griffin +13000 Austin Eckroat +15000 Taylor Pendrith +18000 Patrick Rodgers +18000 Andrew Putnam +18000 Adam Schenk +18000 Adam Hadwin +18000 Lee Hodges +20000 Jake Knapp +20000 Davis Riley +20000 Cam Davis +20000 Adam Svensson +20000 Victor Perez +25000 Seamus Power +25000 Nick Taylor +25000 Nick Dunlap +25000 Mac Meissner +25000 Eric Cole +25000 Matthieu Pavon +30000 Chris Gotterup +30000 Brendon Todd +30000 Emiliano Grillo +35000 Matt Kuchar +40000 Pierceson Coody +60000 Peter Malnati +60000 Jackson Koivun +100000 Brandt Snedeker +200000  

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Jack Nicklaus Doesn't Love the Memorial Tournament's New Spot on the PGA Tour Calendar

Bob harig | 18 hours ago.

DUBLIN, Ohio — Jack Nicklaus wanted to do right by the PGA Tour. So he went along with the plan to move his Memorial Tournament to the week before the U.S. Open, even if it was something he would prefer not to do.

Now in its 49th year, Nicklaus’s tournament that was first played at Muirfield Village Golf Club in 1976 has traditionally—but not always—been played two weeks prior to the U.S. Open and in the week following Memorial Day.

The PGA Tour sought to move it as part of its signature event series. And Nicklaus said it’s a matter that will continue to be discussed.

“We would prefer the other week,” Nicklaus said Tuesday during a news conference in advance of the tournament. “However, we are here this week because the Tour asked us to help them out. They said they had a thing they wanted to do and that the players had asked for and that would we help it out, and we said yes, that we would do that this week.

“But we said we would review it after this tournament and we'll figure out how we're going to settle the schedule after that, and I said that discussion is under way.”

The Memorial is one of eight $20 million signature events the Tour put in place for this year with a qualification process that sees preceding events as one of the ways to get a spot in the smaller fields.

The Charles Schwab Challenge and the RBC Canadian Open kept a separate FedEx Cup points list for the top five players not otherwise qualified to earn their way into the Memorial field.

The idea, also, was to not leave regular events “stranded” between two signature events or a major championship. The Travelers Championship, the last signature event of the year, will follow the U.S. Open.

Nicklaus, 84, said that presented a problem for him personally. The Golden Bear, who won 18 major championships among his 73 PGA Tour titles, always preferred an off week prior to a major.

“Let's put it this way. When I played, I would rarely play a week before any major championship,” Nicklaus said. “So I'm asked to be part of putting on a golf tournament in a week that I would never play. That, to me, is the essential part from my standpoint.”

Although the Memorial name is used to signify honoring a player in the game—this year it is LPGA and World Golf Hall of Famer Juli Inkster—Nicklaus said that date has often been tied to the holiday as well.

“Yesterday, was normally a very big day gallery-wise for us because it was Memorial Day, and we had maybe a thousand people here yesterday,” he said. “From the sponsor's standpoint, I think that they get into board meetings and kids' graduations and so forth, so that's maybe not as advantageous.

“But that won't make any difference. We're going to have a good tournament this week either way, in spite of all the different things. And as I say, we did that as a favor and the Tour asked us to do that, and we said yes. So we've always been a supporter of the Tour. We want to try to continue to support what is best for the Tour, but we also want to support what's best for the Memorial Tournament. So that is to be determined.”

The Tour has said it will take this summer to review the signature events. Scheduling will be studied as well as field sizes. The original intent was to have fields capped at 80 players, which has happened only at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Most have been in the low 70s and could be filled out.

How a change to accommodate proper qualification as well as not leaving tournaments alone on the calendar would also have to be considered.

Bob Harig is a golf writer for SI.com and the author of the book "DRIVE: The Lasting Legacy of Tiger Woods," which publishes in March and can be ordered here. 

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Jack Nicklaus says discussion of returning Memorial to traditional date 'in process'

Jack Nicklaus has a message for anyone wondering why the Memorial Tournament moved off its traditional date closer to Memorial Day, and whether it might someday move back.

“That discussion (with the PGA Tour) is in process,” Nicklaus said Tuesday at Muirfield Village Golf Club. 

Translated: Nicklaus is not thrilled that the tournament he founded and has hosted since 1976 is bumping against next week’s U.S. Open. 

“We would prefer the other week,” Nicklaus said, meaning two weeks before the U.S. Open, which before the switch this year was the tournament’s spot on the tour schedule for decades. The Canadian Open filled that spot this year. “We are here this week because the tour asked us to help them out. They said they had a thing they wanted to do, and what the players asked for, and we said yes, but that we would review it after this tournament.

The “thing” the tour wanted, and pushed by top players, was bunching of the higher-money, limited field events such as the Memorial to make travel and scheduling around major championships more logistically friendly. The Memorial immediately precedes the U.S. Open while the Travelers, one of eight signature events, follows immediately after the national championship.

The tour also wanted to schedule non-signature events in consecutive weeks, both so they did not get left in the wake of the more lucrative events and to give players opportunities through the “Swing Five” format to gain enough points to qualify into the signature tournaments. 

Nicklaus understands the reasoning, but is not all-in with the result, at least when it comes to the Memorial. For one thing, the Golden Bear finds it somewhat hypocritical to expect the top players to show up in Dublin the week before a major championship when he seldom did so during his playing days.

“I would rarely play a week before a major championship,” he said. “So I’m asked to be putting on a golf tournament that I would never play, and that is the essential (issue) from my standpoint.”

But not the only issue. Nicklaus pointed out that Monday attendance at the Memorial, which was decent when the event was played the week of Memorial Day, dropped this year.

Memorial tournament director Dan Sullivan confirmed that Monday attendance dipped due to not opening on Memorial Day, but offered that Tuesday's attendance was equal to last year. The tournament does not release attendance figures.

Nicklaus added that “from the sponsor’s standpoint, Memorial Day is what the name is and we were around Memorial Day,” Nicklaus said, adding that hosting the tournament a week later in June gets into high school graduations.

Nicklaus stressed that the Memorial will thrive in spite of the schedule change.

“We did this as a favor (to the tour)," he said. "We’ve always been a supporter of the tour, and will continue to support what is best for the tour, but also want to support what’s best for the Memorial Tournament. So that is to be determined.”

Golden Bear’s 1977 Memorial win ranks high

Nicklaus has won the Memorial twice (1977 and 1984), but the first victory on the course he designed still holds a special place on his list of favorites.

“Well, ’77 was the second year of the tournament and I spent most of my time on the golf course picking up papers and cigarette butts,” he said. 

Nicklaus’ caddie, Angelo Argea , had to empty the pockets of his bib every 3-4 holes because his boss kept filling them with trash.

“I was more interested in the cleanliness of the golf course, how the players enjoyed it, how we were taking care of the players and making sure everything was as it should be,” he said of his priorities. “To do that, and that was all I was doing, and win a golf tournament with it, that was probably one of the best feats I’ve ever had in the game of golf.”

Nicklaus pleased to see Ohio State golf excelling

As a former Ohio State golfer, Nicklaus was happy to see the Buckeyes tie for third last week at the NCAA Championship in Carlsbad, California. 

“(Coach Jay) Moseley has done a good job with it. They’ve got a good golf course to play and practice on, to develop a golf game,” he said, referencing the Scarlet course. “I think a lot of guys shy from coming north to play.”

Not Nicklaus, who grew up in Upper Arlington.

“I had offers from a lot of schools to play elsewhere, and I wanted to come to Ohio State,” he said. “I loved going to the football games, the basketball games and being part of  fraternity life and school life. That was as important to me as playing on the golf team.”

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