Stat profiles for 1500 golfers
Winning the Bob Hope in 1972, with a bit of help
First on GolfObserver: January 20, 2004
I can only think of a handful of people who have not only played golf for 75 years but experienced eight different decades of competitive golf. One is Bob Rosburg, who started playing golf right around the time of Bobby Jones' heyday in the late 1920s. Rossie played on the PGA Tour during the peak of Hogan, competed and won in the era of Palmer, Nicklaus, Casper and Player, and was winning golf tournaments right around the time that Lee Trevino and Tom Watson came onto the golfing scene. After his playing days on the PGA Tour finished in the mid-1970s Rosburg became a commentator and perfected the art of being a roving announcer. He is the longest active golf announcer on television, and in his 30 years behind the mike has witnessed the ending of Nicklaus' PGA Tour career as well as the rise to prominence of Watson, Norman and a kid name Woods, who was born just after Rossie starting working for ABC Sports.
Even though Rossie won the PGA Championship back in 1959, he may be best remembered for his television work and being one of the greatest storytellers around. Every week for GolfObserver.Com, Rossie is going to give us examples of why he has the reputation as a great storyteller as he looks back at his career and all the different people with whom he has been associated.
In the story below this, Rossie had some thoughts on the legendary Bob Hope. Today Rossie tells us about his winning the 1972 Hope tournament, a victory he treasures as one of his greatest moments.
So as Dave Marr said for almost three decades, "Back to you Rossie":
- GolfObserver editors
-------------------------------------------------Winning the Bob Hope in 1972, with a bit of help
I hadn't won in 11 years; the last tournament I won was the Crosby in 1961. One thing that really helped me was that I had just gotten married to Eleanor in October of '71. We were both very happy.
I played the first couple of tournaments in '72, and I really played well I thought. I had a chance to win the tournament in Hawaii, finished sixth (with a closing round 65), and I came to Palm Springs knowing that I was playing well. Still, by then the big problem was that I didn't know how my nerves would hold up under the gun.
On the opening day of the Hope I just happened to get the first tee time at Indian Wells. It was great because there was no waiting the first nine; we just played away. We started on the 10th hole, which I think is the hardest par 4 in the whole desert. I managed to make a par on that hole, and ended up shooting 33 on the front side.
After the nine I went into the clubhouse since we had about a 45-minute wait because we played pretty fast. I went into the locker room at Indian Wells to watch a little television, and this kid that I knew, who was the bartender, asked me how I played. I told him that I was playing good, but I didn't know how my nerves would hold up.
"Let me give you a suggestion," he said. "I think I can help you with that."
"What are you telling me?" I asked.
"Well, you know, it has to do with your stomach," he said, explaining that everything in your stomach takes care of your nerves. "I'm going to give you a little blackberry brandy. You take a shot of it and see what it does."
So I took a very little shot of this blackberry brandy. You know it's not real strong; it's almost like cough medicine. I went out and my nerves were really good. I shot 33 on the back nine for a 66, and I thought, "man that's pretty good stuff. I'm going to try that again."
After the 66 Rossie shot 69-72-70 and went into the fifth and final round in 2nd place, two behind Jerry Heard. We pick up the story on the final day.
I didn't shoot a great last round, a 67. Palmer was right behind me, and Jerry Heard was leading the tournament. But Heard hit a couple of balls out of bounds, and Arnold hit one out of bounds. At that time the guys I was trying to beat were Johnny Miller and Lanny Wadkins, and their ages combined were the same as my age. They were 22 and 23, and I was 45. Things were tight after the front nine, and I was fighting those nerves again. On the other days, when you are playing with amateurs, you had time at the end of nine to go and get something; you didn't have to worry about it. But when you are out there with 20,000 people you can't say, "I'm going into the clubhouse to get me something to drink." So I sent my son-in-law in to bring out a little blackberry brandy in a Styrofoam cup and on I went. It calmed me down.
I thought I kind of lost the tournament because I didn't birdie the last hole at Indian Wells; it's a very easy birdie hole. But I ended up winning, and it was probably the best day of my life. Winning the PGA was wonderful, and winning the Crosby and everything like that. But not having won for so long and being able to win again was a great feeling.
Wadkins shot 67 to finish one back of Rossie. Miller and Heard were two back. The key to Rossie's week was that over the course of 90 holes he never drove it out of bounds and didn't have a single three-putt green. To this day all of his friends love the blackberry brandy story, and we sometimes wonder what would of happened if anyone back then had found out.
I'll admit it. I probably would have been fined if they'd known I'd done it. That's the way it went. I guess I needed the brandy. I ended up winning the tournament, and with the win it just kind of gave me new life for a little while. I really played well the rest of '72, and then it kind of caught up with me. Still, winning the Hope got me quite a few corporate outings. That helped, and it kind of showed people that I could still play a little.
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