![]() ![]() ![]() It had a surprise-if choreographed-ending on national television in which Pate pushed tour commissioner Deane Beman and course designer Pete Dye into the lake and dived in after them. ![]() A new era began in 1982 when Jerry Pate won and inaugurated the terrifyingly difficult Stadium Course and its infamous island-green 17 th hole. Perhaps it might have if the Tournament Players Championship hadn’t barreled right over it. You think that won’t make the Memorial a major?” The only place players and fans will be able to see Jack will be Muirfield Village during the Memorial. One of these years, he’s going to retire. In 1984, Baptist quoted former Memorial champ David Graham in the Dispatch: “Nicklaus is a legend who has surpassed Bobby Jones and probably everyone else. Tour players were gushing in their praise. From Bob Baptist in the Dispatch before the ’81 Memorial: “When he was asked, What do you think about the Memorial’s chances of one day being a major, Mark Hayes flatly predicted, ‘One day I think it will be bigger than Augusta.’” The course was immaculately maintained, and say, that par-3 12 th hole over water looks familiar. The Memorial was Jack’s ode to Augusta National. In that short time, they have established the Memorial as a candidate for fifth major designation.” After Roger Maltbie beat Hale Irwin in an experimental three-hole playoff in the inaugural ’76 Memorial, and Nicklaus himself won the next year, Paul Hornung wrote in the Dispatch, “The first two tournaments have been more than memorable athletic events. The hometown Columbus Dispatch jumped on Jack’s bandwagon early. Come on, of course he was! Check out the current home page: “The Memorial Tournament has grown into one of golf’s premier events, often called the fifth major.”Īctually, it isn’t. Jack Nicklaus founded it in Dublin, Ohio, and he has said that no, he wasn’t trying to build a major championship. Now to the last real contender, the Memorial Tournament. Gary picks up the thread with some ruminations about another would-be biggie. It was his fourth PGA Tour victory and his first “fifth major.” Fortunately, it was one of those “we” promises, not an “I” promise.) Kuchar, you’ll recall, won last week’s edition of THE PLAYERS. (Actually, Matt Kuchar’s second-round 68 at the HP Byron Nelson Championship reminded me that I had not posted the final installment, as promised. Bowing to reader demands that Gary Van Sickle’s The Players: NOT the Fifth Major be given an extended run, we’ve held onto his third act until this afternoon. ![]()
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