1980s Was the Decade of Records and Rain at Colonial
The decade of the 1980s couldn't even get started without a rain delay, then
climaxed with one of the tournament's most exciting finishes ever. Amazingly,
Colonial had gone 15 years without losing a day to rain, but the first NIT of the
'80s actually began on a Friday, and the tournament experienced some sort of rain
delay several years of the decade. Bruce Lietzke blitzed the course with a
record-tying 63 in round one, including an ace on #16. Former champ Rod Curl
5-putted the 16th. Lietzke then tied the tourney's 36-hole record, with Ben
Crenshaw and Tom Watson breathing down his neck. The 36-hole Sunday finish
featured Lietzke and Crenshaw duking it out, and Lietzke had a precarious
one-shot lead at the mid-day break. Crenshaw birdied #12 for the lead, then
Lietzke almost aced #16 again. His birdie tied for the lead. Both parred the 17th,
but Lietzke drained a thrilling 25-footer for the win at 18. It marked the first time
in history that a Colonial champ birdied the 72nd hole for the win.
The 1981 event featured a rain-delayed second round and another 36-hole
Sunday finish. Colonial celebrated the 40th anniversary of its 1941 U.S. Open by
hosting a 9-hole exhibition featuring such memorable players as Byron Nelson,
Fred Haas, Toney Penna, Herman Keiser, Dick Metz, Henry Ransom and Johnny
Revolta - all veterans of the '41 championship. After Saturday's completion of the
second round, Fuzzy Zoeller held a slim one-shot lead over Hale Irwin. Sunday
was hot and humid, which helped Zoeller's temperamental back, but the popular
star had never played a 36-hole day in his competitive career. At the mid-day
break, he held a three-shot lead over Curtis Strange, and then expanded it to six
shots on the front nine of the afternoon round. That lead plummeted to just one
shot with seven holes left, but birdies at 12, 14 and 15 iced the win.
The 1983 tournament was a logjam from start to finish, highlighted by crazy
weather in the third round with a 21-degree temperature drop that carried wind
and rain along with it. Fuzzy Zoeller and Jim Colbert anchored a five-way tie for
first after the third round, and swirling Sunday winds guaranteed a battle for
survival. Both players held their own, but stumbled in with bogeys on #18 to tie
and force Colonial's first sudden-death playoff. A six-hole battle ensued, finally
won by Colbert when Zoeller bogeyed #18 again. Colbert then almost apologized
to Zoeller, "I didn't care about the money; I just wanted the title." To which the
former champ replied, "Why didn't you just say so!?" It is still the only Colonial
playoff not won with a birdie.
Jacobsen, who had been in that five-way tie with 18 holes to go in 1983, roared
back in 1984 with an opening 64. After settling into a two-man race with a
red-hot Payne Stewart after three rounds, he informed the public that he was
dedicating the tournament to his ill father, who had just been diagnosed with
cancer. Stewart led by two after setting a 54-hole record of 12-under 198, but
lost the lead on #6 Sunday to Jacobsen. They played tag all day, and Stewart led
by one at the 18th tee. His drive, however, strayed right and under a bridge,
allowing Jacobsen's par to tie. Jacobsen cleaned up quickly, birdieing the first
playoff hole for the win. Former champ Ben Crenshaw became the first player in
history to eagle the defiant hole #5 during the tournament.
In 1985, Mother Nature finally smiled on Colonial, and the Tour's 1984 Rookie of
the Year, Corey Pavin, took advantage. Course records fell like gimmie putts all
week as windless conditions prevailed. Pavin lowered the 72-hole course record
by three shots, carding only two bogeys the entire tournament. His 14-under total,
along with his 36-hole record of 10-under, would stand for eight years. Joey
Sindelar's eight-under 62 (with a bogey on #5) and Tom Watson's front nine 29
also hit the record books. On Sunday veteran Ray Floyd charged out of the gate
by birdieing the first five holes, but disappeared with a double-bogey on #8 and a
quad on #9. At 25 years, six months and three days, Pavin became Colonial's
youngest champion, besting Dave Stockton (1967) by four days.
Windy conditions prevailed for two rounds in 1986, bunching up the field for a
horse race. Then rain on Saturday kept the starting gates closed and forced
Colonial officials to go for a shortened, 54-hole event, as a poor forecast for
Sunday threatened the chance of getting in even 18 more holes. A cool and windy
day greeted the contestants for the final round, but thankfully the rain stayed away.
Payne Stewart fired a stout 66 and waited in the clubhouse with the lead. Tom
Watson (64) and Bernhard Langer (67) mounted fierce charges but tied for third
with Bill Rogers, two shots behind. Dan Pohl birdied #16 to tie Stewart and force
a sudden-death playoff. He then promptly birdied it again to win on the first extra
hole. Watson's finish marked the sixth time in his last eight Colonial appearances
to finish in the top five.
The third 36-hole finish of the decade, and its most famous, highlighted the 1987
Colonial tournament. Friday's play was washed out, and after the cut on Saturday
63 players were within seven shots of the lead. On Sunday, local favorite Ben
Crenshaw seized the lead after 54 holes as players teed of holes #1 and #10, and
could not re-pair between rounds. Thus unknown Keith Clearwater, who had shot
an incredible 64 that morning to tie defending champ Dan Pohl for second place,
remained in obscurity teeing off away from the leaders on #10. Davis Love III,
firing an equally hot 65 to tie for fifth position, also began the last round on the
back nine. That obscurity didn't last long, however, as both players kept up their
torrid pace all afternoon. Clearwater's winning 64-64 finish overshadowed the
awesome 65-66 performance by Love, who placed second. Clearwater was the
third player to win at Colonial on his first try, and is the only champ to finish on the
ninth hole.
If you had tried to pick the 1988 Colonial winner you would have lost a bundle.
You see, he had played the tournament so poorly in the past that he took two
years off in order to arrive with a fresh attitude. He had never broken par in 11
years and 35 rounds at Colonial, missing the cut in 1984 and '85. The tournament
was an exciting dogfight from start to finish, but a brilliant closing 65 by Lanny
Wadkins overtook Ben Crenshaw and Joey Sindelar, who finished one shot back
with Mark Calcavecchia. Wadkins' dramatic birdie on #18 averted a four-man
playoff. Crenshaw ignited the crowd with four consecutive closing birdies,
including an incredible 40-footer on 18. The ensuing roar rattled the bricks of
Colonial's stately clubhouse.
The decade closed with another surprise winner in 1989. A top Australian player
named Ian Baker-Finch, playing in the tournament on a special invitation from
Colonial, opened with a 65 to lead by one. Paul Azinger eagled #5, then whiffed a
putt on #12. After Friday, two players from another British colony, Nick Price
and David Frost, were just one back of the Aussie. But another 65 on Saturday
separated Baker-Finch from the field and he coasted in on Sunday with a
four-shot victory. He joined countrymen Bruce Devlin and Bruce Crampton as
Colonial champs from "Down Under." It was his first victory in America, but his
10th worldwide.
|
Excitement reigned in 1982 when Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus entered after
six-year absences. Both superstars broke par Thursday to highlight a crowded
leaderboard and spur the tournament to its first $1 million gate. By Saturday,
Nicklaus and David Edwards were nipping at the heels of 1978 U.S. Open
champ Andy North, who led by two. North and Edwards were tied for the lead
after eight holes Sunday, but blew up together on #9. Nicklaus claimed the lead
with a birdie on #10, but was caught by North with birdies on 11 and 12. Then,
right after missing a short par putt on #15, North saw his title hopes vanish with
the Golden Bear's dramatic, curling birdie putt at #16. At age 47, Nicklaus had
finally conquered Hogan's Alley and buried the ghosts of 1974, when he lost by
one.
|
|
|
Golf News | History | Associations | Group Planning | Shopping | Specials Chat | Forum | Site Info | Postcards | Survey | E-mail Newsletter |