1970s a Wild-eyed Decade for Fashion and Golf
The 1970s brought hip-huggers and hot pants into the forefront of "fashion" at
Colonial's Spring showcase. Thankfully, some great golf made up for those
outlandish days.
The first tournament of the decade featured a determined Ben Hogan fighting a
bad left knee to compete after two years of inactivity. Gary Player and Lee
Trevino fired 66s in the first round, but it was the 57-year-old Hogan's incredible
69 that drew all the attention. By Saturday, Homero Blancas and Trevino were
dueling it out. The battle continued down to the wire Sunday, with Blancas edging
Trevino by a stroke for the title. An excited Trevino was quoted as saying "Bring
on the champagne! You've never had a Mexican winner and runner-up!" Hogan
made the cut and finished the event, but it was his last National Invitation. His
21-year Colonial record included five wins and 15 top 10 finishes, with his 1970
swan song representing the only time he finished out of the event's top 20.
In 1971 windy conditions produced an exciting race to the finish, along with the
highest winning score on Tour that year. Gene Littler's Sunday 69 gave him a
one-shot victory at three-over-par. It was the highest winning score at Colonial
since 1959, and Gary Player commented that "This is one of the three hardest
courses in the world when the wind blows like this. It's every bit as hard as
Carnoustie and Heritage (Hilton Head)."
Perfect weather and a youngster named Jerry Heard stole the show in 1972,
though it took a bogey on the final hole by Fred Marti to give Heard the trophy.
In 1974, Colonial helped introduce a new PGA Tour experiment. The NIT was
one of three "Designated" tournaments, at which all top players were required to
compete. A full field of 150 professionals replaced the normal invitation-only
assembly. CBS broadcast Colonial's event for the first time, and witnessed a great
showdown in windy conditions. A short, young Wintu Indian named Rod Curl
came down the homestretch tied with Jack Nicklaus. A bogey on #17 by the
Golden Bear cost him the tournament. Curl's caddy was the same one who helped
young Dave Stockton to the Colonial winner's circle in 1967.
More special things came to Colonial in 1975, as the PGA Tour asked Fort
Worth to host its fledgling Tournament Players Championship - in August. Yes, it
was hot, but the golf course did quite well and the full summer rough was
awesome. Al Geiberger, who only committed to play at the last minute, put on a
virtual clinic. His finishing 69 fought off Dave Stockton and set a 72-hole Colonial
record of 10-under-par.
In 1977 Tom Kite said Colonial was
playing as easy as he'd ever seen it. No wind, little rough. His school chum Ben
Crenshaw agreed, carding 11 one-putts for a first-round 65. But Crenshaw still
needed a hard-charging 31 on Sunday's back nine to steal the tournament from
leader John Schroeder. Third place Tom Watson, who lost by only two shots,
probably still remembers the quintuple-bogey nine he took at the ninth hole on
Friday.
George Burns got the 1978 event off to a memorable start by recording Colonial's
first double-eagle two on the first hole in the first round. But Lee Trevino burned
up the whole course with four sub-par rounds and a new record of 12-under-par.
His first place prize money made him the first man to win $100,000 at Colonial, as
well as the fourth man to claim more than one Colonial title.
In 1979 Geiberger took a page from Trevino's book and took his second Colonial
win. The flat-bellies took a whipping from Tour veterans as the 41-year-old
Geiberger was joined by 48-year-old Gene Littler and 49-year-old Don January
in the win-place-show categories. Littler would have won his second Colonial title
if not for a double-bogey on #17.
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The 1973 NIT turned into a match between Tom Weiskopf and Bruce Crampton,
finishing with a fierce Sunday shootout. Crampton led for three days, but
Weiskopf caught him after 13 holes in the final round. Playing in different groups,
the players volleyed the lead back and forth the rest of the way. Weiskopf finished
first, posting a 69, but still needed help. Crampton stood on the 18th tee with a
one-shot lead, then succumbed to the ghosts of 1962, when his debacle on #18
gave the title to Arnold Palmer. Crampton hooked his tee shot behind a tree,
slashed across the fairway and then found himself in a greenside bunker needing to
get up and down for a tie. His sand wedge, however, had been damaged on his
second shot, forcing him to use a pitching wedge. His blast was woefully short,
and the heart-breaking double-bogey placed him second. Weiskopf went on to
claim several more championships that year, including the British Open and
"Golfer of the Year" honors. The newspaper quoted one player as naming
Colonial "the premiere girl-watching stop on Tour. And whatever's second is way,
way back."
Local favorite Lee Trevino was the prince of 1976, grabbing the tournament lead
on Friday with a back nine record of 29. He survived a Sunday 73 for a one-shot
win, thanks to a birdie on #16. The tournament returned to its invitational format
this year after two years of full-field status.
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