Davis Love III, 51-year old PGA Tour veteran, just now won the Wyndam Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina. Davis has now won 21 PGA Tour tournaments. By one stroke he defeated Jason Gore, who has been missing-in-action for some time. Tiger Woods finally got himself into contention after two rounds. But he failed to muster a charge, finishing even par the weekend.
Nice guy Davis Love III has a great, classic golf swing. He also was known as a long hitter in his day. I occasionally used to play in PGA Tour tournaments with his dad back in the 1960s and early 1970s. From the time that Davis Jr. was only a little tyke, Davis Sr. used to tell us Touring pros that his son absolutely was not going to be a short hitter off the tee like his dad was. And dad said he was going to make sure of that himself. I guess he did.
This Greensboro tournament used to be called the Greater Greensboro Open, and it was always held at Sedgefield Country Club. It has now returned there, where we used to play it. It is a hilly, very wooded layout. I once played with Sam Snead there. Sam won that tournament more times than any tournament won on Tour–eight times–until I think Tiger Woods tied it at Firestone C.C. But Sam had an unfair advantage. Sometimes, when his ball would miss the green, a fan would hit Sam’s ball when it was still moving and knock it on the green. The Rules of Golf have always said that is “rub of the green,” thus no penalty and you play the ball where it lies. But if a fan hit the ball after it had stopped moving, then the ball would have to dropped as near as possible to that previous location. I don’t know how many times those redneck golf fans in the Carolinas did that for their hillbilly hero from West Virginia, but it used to be a part of our pro golf lore.
I never asked Sam about that because I didn’t want to get on his bad side. I was always on his good side. Because of the nickname that Bob Hope gave me, Pro from the Moon, Sam always liked to call me Moon Man. Sam Snead was one of the most popular Tour players with the players themselves. He was very entertaining, except he could get a bit raunchy. Ben Hogan’s wife, Valerie, used to say that even though Sam and Ben were the two best players in pro golf, and certainly competitors against each other, that no one could make Ben laugh more than Sam could. But Sam’s added attraction was that Virginia drawl. I always said when he talked it sounded like he had mush in his mouth. But again, I never said that to Sam.
Tom Weiskopf got on Sam Snead’s bad side. One time they were paired at the Doral Open at the Blue Monster. Sam was a long hitter in his day, which was now passed. Due to it, he was called Slammin’ Sam Snead. The youthful Weiskopf was long off the tee too. On the first hole, a par five, Tom drove way past Sam’s drive. From then on, when Tom was about to hit his iron shots to the greens, Sam might wander over there close by and rattle coins in his pocket on Tom’s backswing. When they finished the round, bewildered Weiskopf was fit to be tied. He stormed off the course, came over to me on the practice putting green, and told me the whole story. I said that my guess was that Sam just didn’t like these young guys outdriving him.
I also remember playing with Charlie Sifford there at Sedgefield C. C. in the tournament when some of those redneck golf fans would cheer against him and pop beer cans in his backswing. Sounds as though from the telecast this weekend that those Ku Klux Klanners have repented of their past shannigans or else they’re just hiding out in the bushes these days. The crowds cheered Tiger Woods very loudly.
Talking about the Klan, I liked what the popular, inimitable, outspoken, and thus very quotable Charles Barclay once said about it. Out of college he was drafted by the NBA Philadelphia 76ers, who had NBA greats Julius Erving and Moses Malone. After eight years there, Charles and the 76ers had a departure. and he went to the Phoenix Suns here in the Valley, where I live. (I occasionally see Charles when out-and-about.) After that, the media once asked Charles if he would ever return to play for the Philadelphia 76ers. He quipped, “I can be bought. If they paid me enough, I’d work for the Klan.”
Back to Davis Love III. He was close friends with Payne Stewart. After Payne died in that tragic pirvate airplane mishap in 1999, Davis wore a wrist bracelet for sometime in honor of his friend. Payne had become a devout, born-again Christian late in life and was very public about it. Davis wore one of those popular bracelets that said “WWJD,” meaning “What Would Jesus Do?” Some golfers wonder what would Jesus do playing golf. I don’t know. Do you?
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