May 17, 2013

Ken Venturi, a San Francisco native who learned how to play golf at Harding Park, memorably won the 1964 U.S. Open and later built a long and distinguished career as a television analyst, died Friday in Rancho Mirage (Riverside County). He was 82.

Mr. Venturi had been hospitalized for nearly two months, after developing pneumonia, infections in his back and intestines. He previously survived prostate cancer in 2000-01 and quintuple heart-bypass surgery in 2006.

“He meant so much to the game, in so many different ways,” said John Cook, a longtime tour pro whom Venturi mentored starting when Cook was 14. “Not just his great playing record but also as a transcending television analyst, and then with his philanthropic endeavors.

“Really, I can’t think of one person who has hit the game so vastly and through so many different channels.”

Mr. Venturi was an accomplished amateur golfer, but his path to prominence as a professional included several speed bumps. He overcame a severe stutter, weathered two crushing losses in the Masters, sustained lingering injuries in a September 1961 car accident and disappeared into a maddening, career-threatening slump.

So it seemed fitting, somehow, that his most triumphant moment occurred in trying circumstances, when he played 36 holes in scorching heat and humidity at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

There, on the broiling Blue Course on June 20, 1964, Mr. Venturi became an enduring symbol of perseverance in winning the U.S. Open under brutal conditions. He shot 66-70 on the final day — back then, the tournament concluded with 36 holes on Saturday — to win his only major championship.

When his final putt dropped, sealing a four-shot victory, the magnitude of the moment almost stunned Mr. Venturi. He raised his arms, mumbled, “Oh my God, I’ve won the Open!” and began crying when he saw tears streaming down the face of fellow competitor Raymond Floyd.

Mr. Venturi didn’t just win the Open – he won it in unforgettable fashion.

“I’ve seen people over the years who tell me where I won, what I shot and exactly what I did,” he said in an April 2011 interview. “There aren’t many Opens where everyone can tell you all about it.”

It already was hot for the morning round, when Mr. Venturi surged into contention. His swift pace slowed as the heat took its toll. He started shaking on No. 17 and struggled to walk off the 18th green after completing his round.

Dr. John Everett, a Congressional member, was summoned to the locker room to examine Mr. Venturi. Everett recommended he withdraw, fearing he might die if he tried to play another round. Everett walked all 18 holes in the afternoon, regularly providing water and salt tablets.

But the tale of this victory stretches beyond 100-degree heat and Mr. Venturi’s fight through dehydration and exhaustion. His career was in tatters at the time – he hadn’t won in nearly four years and, less than a month earlier, he was practically broke and on the brink of returning to the Bay Area to find a real job.

“It’s hard to express, but to come back borders on a miracle,” Mr. Venturi said in 2011. “It’s storybook. It’s fictional.”

That it did happen resurrected his career and forever changed his life. He instantly went from a solid tour pro to a major champion, with one of the most memorable victories in the long history of America’s national championship.

He won twice more in ’64 and added one last, emotional victory in the 1966 Lucky International at Harding Park, his home course. Hand problems, eventually diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome, soon ended his career.

Mr. Venturi finished with 14 wins on the PGA Tour. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in October and was inducted (in the Lifetime Achievement category) last week, though on May 6. Sadly, he could not make the trip to St. Augustine, Fla., for the ceremony.

“I was very upset and saddened to hear the news of Ken’s passing,” golf great Jack Nicklaus said. “We all knew what a wonderful player Ken was, and how he fashioned a second successful career as an announcer. But far more important than how good he was at playing the game or covering it, Ken was my friend.

“Over the years, Ken developed a circle of friends that is enormous and whose collective heart is heavy today. All those in and out of the golf community will miss him.

“If there is some sense of fairness, it’s that Ken was inducted into a Hall of Fame he very much deserved to be in … While I know he was not able to be there in person for his induction, I am certain there was an overwhelming sense of pride and peace that embraced Ken. It was a dream of his that became a reality before he sadly left us.”

Kenneth Venturi was born in San Francisco on May 15, 1931 and attended Lincoln High. He grew up in the Sunset District and worked as a caddie at San Francisco Golf Club and the Olympic Club. He played his first round at Harding Park with hickory-shaft clubs, following his dad’s advice to play quickly and count every stroke.

He shot 172.

Fred Venturi sold net and twine to fishermen along the West Coast, then retired to run the pro shop at Harding. Young Ken watched Byron Nelson win the old San Francisco Open in 1946 and immediately returned home to tell his mom, Ethyl, he wanted to grow up and be just like Nelson. They later became close friends.

Ken Venturi spoke with such a severe stutter as a child, and endured such relentless bullying from his classmates, that he embraced golf partly because of its solitude. He was 13 then and had trouble even saying his own name. Mr. Venturi never dreamed he could speak without a stutter, let alone spend 35 years on CBS. , offering cogent analysis in a low, smooth voice.

So “The King’s Speech,” the Academy Award-winning film about King George VI and his stuttering problem, had a powerful impact. He watched actor Colin Firth put a pot over his head, or his hands over his ears, and declared, “He did the same things I did!” Mr. Venturi used to put his mom’s big spaghetti pot over his head as he talked, because it helped to hear the echo of his own voice.

“I got chills watching the movie,” he said.

His feats as an amateur included winning the San Francisco City Championship three times – including the 1956 edition, when he outdueled Harvie Ward before a crowd of 10,000 people at Harding – and the state amateur twice. Mr. Venturi, who played in college at San Jose State, nearly won the Masters as an amateur in ’56, but he shot a final-round 80 in windy conditions.

He overcame that disappointment to win 10 times in his first four years on the PGA Tour (1957-60). His career began to slide downhill after the car accident in ’61, until he magically conquered Congressional in the ’64 Open. Sports Illustrated named Mr. Venturi its Sportsman of the Year in the wake of that triumph.

His status as a major champion helped open another path after his playing career. He initially declined CBS producer Frank Chirkinian’s offer to work in television, fearful of looking foolish with his onetime stutter. He overcame those fears and became an on-air fixture for more than three decades, eventually teaming with Jim Nantz, most notably at the Masters.

“He was one of the finest gentlemen the world will ever know and one of the greatest friends you could ever have,” Nantz said. ” He was a deeply principled man with a dynamic presence. He just exuded class.

“Through his competitive days and unequalled broadcasting career, Kenny became a human bridge connecting everyone from Sarazen, Nelson and Hogan to the greatest players of today’s generation. Kenny faced many adversities in his life and always found a way to win.”

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem released a statement tonight, in the wake of Mr. Venturi’s death.

“The tour joins the world of golf in mourning the loss of one of its most treasured champions and ambassadors,” Finchem said. “His impact on the tour and the game itself cannot be overstated. His tremendous accomplishments on the golf course were certainly Hall-of-Fame worthy on their own.

“But in Ken one finds a rare example of a golfer whose second career, in television, rivaled the legendary status of his competitive achievements. His unique perspective and poetic delivery as an announcer enhanced countless memorable moments in golf, making his voice and presence as indelible as the historic tournaments he covered.

“Ken will forever be remembered as a consummate gentleman, and he will be truly missed.”

Even though he lived outside the Bay Area most of his adult life, Mr. Venturi relished his roots. He returned to San Francisco in March 2012 to speak at the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner, as presenter for the late George Archer. Mr. Venturi was inducted into BASHOF himself in 1984.

He also spent three hours with The Chronicle at the Olympic Club during his 2012 visit, providing hole-by-hole analysis for the newspaper’s U.S. Open preview section in June. Mr. Venturi appeared on the cover.

“Ken loved the Bay Area and talked about it a lot,” Cook said. “It was kind of his happy place.”

Mr. Venturi is survived by his wife, Kathleen, sons Matt and Tim from a previous marriage and four adult grandchildren. Funeral services are pending.

Posted by: Ron Kroichick (Email, Twitter)

Listed under: Harding Park, PGA Tour

April 10, 2013

Silicon Valley MercuryNews.com

Staff Report

The Silicon Valley golf world officially got a boost from Augusta on Wednesday.

That’s where Masters chairman Billy Payne confirmed that winners of PGA Tour events that award full FedExCup points — including the Frys.com Open — will gets Masters invites.

That means the season-opening tournament, to be held Oct. 10-13 at CordeValle in San Martin, will offer added incentive to its winner, and should therefore benefit from a more star-studded field.

“Today is a great day for the Frys.com Open,” tournament director Jeff Sanchez said. “We were already expecting an improved field of professionals this year, but the announcement is exciting. We believe that significant opportunities such as the Masters invitation, FedExCup points, and possibly Ryder Cup points, will provide further incentive for more of the world’s top players to compete in our tournament.”

Previously fall events that followed the Tour Championship offered fewer FedEx Cup points and subsequently attracted weaker fields.

Last year, tour rookie Jonas Blixt took the $900,000 winner’s check.

April 10, 2013

Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne spoke — and, back in the Bay Area, the folks who run the Frys.com Open no doubt applauded.

As expected, Payne announced today that winners of fall tournaments on the PGA Tour, including the Frys, will earn a spot in the Masters. The new exemption begins with this year’s Frys, scheduled for Oct. 10-13 at CordeValle; the winner lands a berth in the 2014 Masters.

The Frys and five other tour events held in October and November, after the Tour Championship, previously were relegated to second-tier status. They were labeled the “Fall Series,” offered fewer FedEx Cup points than tournaments held from January through September and attracted weaker fields.

Augusta National thus excluded Fall Series winners from landing an automatic berth in the Masters.

Payne and other club officials changed their policy in the wake of the tour’s efforts to upgrade these fall tournaments. The Frys will be the opener of the tour’s reshaped 2013-14 schedule and now will award full FedEx Cup points.

“I certainly think it will be a positive, and it ties in to the way the tour set up its schedule,” said Fred Ridley, the chairman of Augusta National’s competition committees. “We thought it was important to have tournament winners in the Masters.”

The Masters, ever concerned about keeping its field relatively small (93 players this week), tweaked some other qualifying criteria. Now the top 12 players in the Masters will earn a spot the following year (instead of the top 16), as will the top four players in the U.S. Open (instead of the top eight).

Augusta National also is eliminating the exemption through which the top 30 players on the PGA Tour money list earned a spot in the Masters.

Posted by: Ron Kroichick (Email, Twitter)

Listed under: CordeValle, Frys.com Open, Masters, PGA Tour

April 10, 2013

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Masters chairman Billy Payne announced Wednesday that the winners of each of the six PGA TOUR events this fall to start the 2013-14 season will earn invitations to the Masters next year.

Last December, the TOUR announced its newly structured schedule, with the six season-opening events taking place of the former Fall Series starting this October. (Click here for more information)

All six events will offer full FedExCup points, which is why the winners will get an invitation to the Masters starting next year. The season-opening schedule starts with the Frys.com Open on Oct. 7. (Click here for 2013-14 season-opening schedule)

Payne also unveiled three other qualification changes:

> The top 12 finishers (and ties) on the Masters leaderboard will qualify for the next year’s event (a decrease from the top 16)

> The top 4 finishes (and ties) on the U.S. Open leaderboard will qualify for the next year’s event (a decrease from the top 8)

> The top 30 in the PGA TOUR’s final money list is no longer one of the qualifications.

However, the top 30 in FedExCup points who qualify for the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola continues as one of the Masters qualifications. Of the 11 players who qualified for the 2013 Masters via the top 30 money list, every one of those players would have also qualified under a different category, either by having won a full-points PGA TOUR event or reaching the TOUR Championship.

Only one player in the 2012 Masters qualified solely on the basis of his top 30 money list status (Kevin Na).

Filed under: PGA TOUR Masters Tournament

To help celebrate Dec. 12, 2012 — what, you aren’t playing 12 holes today or playing as a 12 handicap? — PGATOUR.COM offers up a dozen tidbits related to all things 12.

AUGUSTA’S 12TH

Augusta National’s 155-yard par-3 12th hole, the heart of Amen Corner, is arguably the most famous 12th hole in all of golf. It’s the shortest hole on the course, but tricky winds and the intense pressure of the Masters combines to make it, as Jack Nicklaus once said, the toughest tee shot on the course.

Tiger Woods was asked if he ever felt comfortable standing over the tee shot at the 12th at Augusta National.

“Absolutely,” Woods replied. “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.”

TOUGHEST NO. 12

Despite the terrifying tee shot at Augusta National’s 12th, the hole is not the hardest No. 12 on the PGA TOUR. That distinction belongs to the par-4 12th at Torrey Pines South Course.

In the last five years, that 504-yard hole has been the toughest 12th hole on the PGA TOUR three times (including the 2008 U.S. Open) and was ranked No. 3 the other two years. This year, it ranked first with a stroke average of 0.364 above par.

In 2008, when Torrey Pines South was the host course for the U.S. Open, it ranked first with a stroke average of 0.581 above par. More bogeys were made on that hole (210) than pars (208). The hole played to 504 yards during the U.S. Open, an increase of 27 yards from the distance it played to earlier that year at the Farmers Insurance Open.

In those last five years, players have made bogey or worse 744 times compared to just 122 birdies on the 12th.

TIGER’S 12 PLAYOFFS

During his PGA TOUR career, Tiger Woods has been involved in 12 playoffs. His most famous came at the 2008 U.S. Open when he outdueled Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines. That also happens to be the last time Woods has participated in a playoff.

Of those dozen playoffs, Tiger has only lost once — in 1998 to Billy Mayfair at the Nissan Open.

WINNING BY A DOZEN OR MORE

In terms of margin of victory, 13 PGA TOUR events have been decided by 12 or more strokes. Tiger Woods has two of those wins; so does Byron Nelson. But the biggest margin of victory is by 16 strokes, acheived three times (the last time in 1948). Here are the TOUR wins by 12 or more strokes:

DOZEN-PLUS CLUB

Eighty-four players in PGA TOUR history have won at least 12 events, led by Sam Snead’s 82. Tiger Woods needs eight more wins to tie Snead at the top of that list.

Steve Stricker is the most recent member of the Dozen-Plus Club, securing his 12th career win last January at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Of those 84 players, 10 are still active on the PGA TOUR — Woods, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Davis Love III, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, David Duval, David Toms, Justin Leonard and Stricker.

NELSON’S STREAK

Golf fans know that Byron Nelson set a record in 1945 by winning 11 consecutive PGA TOUR events. But do you remember the tournament in which he was denied his 12th straight win? It came at the Memphis Invitational in mid-August that year at Chickasaw Country Club, a William Langford-designed course that was hosting its first TOUR event. Then-amateur Fred Haas won the event by five strokes, with Nelson tying Harold McSpaden for fourth.

Nelson said he felt fatigued going into Memphis, and he struggled with his concentration; a second-round 73 forced him to play catch-up on the weekend. After shooting 66-68 on the final two days, Nelson finally rested. “When that ended the streak, I slept good that night,” Nelson recalled in the book, “Byron Nelson.”

12 INSTEAD OF 18

In order to make golf more fun and more faster for amateurs, Jack Nicklaus has endorsed the idea of playing 12-hole tournaments. Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village experimented with some 12-hole Labor Day tournaments in which players were encouraged to play one tee up than they usually do, and the size of the hole itself nearly doubled.

“I think the game is a great game and in no way am I trying to change it,” Nicklaus said when the idea was first announced. “There are few bigger traditionalists than me, but I realize we need to start thinking out of the box.”

WINNING SIBLINGS

Twelve sets of brothers have won TOUR events, with four Turnesa brothers showing the most depth among PGA TOUR-playing brothers. Here’s the list.

Brothers who have won (career wins in parentheses)
Alex Smith (2), Macdonald Smith (24), Willie Smith (1)
Tom Kerrigan (4), George Kerrigan (2)
Al Espinosa (8), Abe Espinosa (3)
Lloyd Mangrum (36), Ray Mangrum (5)
Jim Turnesa (2), Joe Turnesa (15), Mike Turnesa (6), Phil Turnesa (1)
Lionel Hebert (5), Jay Hebert (5)
Dave Hill (13), Mike Hill (3)
Don Massengale (2), Rik Massengale (3)
Joe Inman (1), John Inman (2)
Danny Edwards (5), David Edwards (5)
Curt Byrum (1), Tom Byrum (1)
Brad Bryant (1), Bart Bryant (3)

GOLF BALLS BY THE DOZEN

Bought a box of golf balls lately? Then you probably bought 12 balls (four sleeves of three balls each). That’s the standard packaging, although sometimes you can find that bonus sleeve to make it 15 balls.

So why are balls sold primarily by the dozen? Maybe the same reason why donuts or eggs are sold by the dozen. One year consists of 12 months. One foot consists of 12 inches. It was a common way to group things, and was a system of unit defined by the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824.

“That was just the way things were packaged at the time,” said Archie Baird, who runs the Heritage of Golf near Gullane Golf Club outside Edinburgh, Scotland. “The featheries were very expensive but when the gutta balls came in, they were cheaper and made by the hundreds. There was no point in buying just one or two, so you bought a dozen.”

Cheaper by the dozen, indeed.

MAKING 12 BIRDIES

Five players have shot a PGA TOUR-record 59 in a single round. Of those five, only Paul Goydos has made 12 birdies in his round (at the 2010 John Deere Classic).

Of the other four, Chip Beck had 13 birdies, while Al Geiberger, David Duval and Stuart Appleby had at least one eagle.

PLAY ALL 12

The Mission Hills Resort in China is the former home of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup. It’s also the world’s largest resort, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, with 12 courses — each designed by a different golf personality; one course is a par-3 course — on the property.

Here’s a list of the 12 courses and the course designer.

12/12 BIRTHDAYS

No current PGA TOUR player has a birthday that falls on Dec. 12 (Rickie Fowler was born on Dec. 13). But there have been a couple of notable births involving some loosely based golf ties.

Frank Sinatra, born on Dec. 12, 1915, played golf and once hosted a PGA TOUR event in 1963 called the Frank Sinatra Open Invitation. It was won by Frank Beard that year.

Bob Barker was born on Dec. 12, 1923. Seventy-three years later, he would punch out Adam Sandler in the golf comedy, “Happy Gilmore.”