(Someday soon, four-time major winner and current World No. Jim Furyk and Matt Kuchar did the same a year later, which gave way to Justin Thomas, who won with dad Mike in 2020, and this year’s rookie, Jordan Spieth, who is playing with dad, Shawn. In 2017, Johnston added a new wrinkle: sons playing with fathers as Justin Leonard, the 1997 British Open champion, broke new ground playing with his dad, Larry. Over the years, he had stretched the rules so Palmer, whose four daughters didn’t play golf competitively, could play with grandsons Sam Saunders and then Wears, Fuzzy Zoeller could play with daughter Gretchen, and Aaron Stewart, whose father, Payne, died in a plane crash, could play with Janzen and Paul Azinger. That’s when Johnston had his next bright idea. No offense, but Janzen and 2013 champ Stewart Cink and ageless wonder Bernhard Langer, a four-time champion, don’t make golf fans push off their holiday shopping for another week to crowd around the TV. Open champion Lee Janzen said.Īnd yet the event was headed for a certain death as the tournament’s biggest draws began to age out. “The biggest bonus no one talks about of winning a major is getting to play in the father-son,” two-time U.S. I could easily have 40 (teams) – without a doubt.” “It’s the one event where nobody asks me about the prize money,” Johnston said. “The waiting list is perpetual. His brainchild has exceeded his wildest expectations. “It was far more important how their kids were playing than how they were doing and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could create a tournament where the fathers and sons could play together?’ ” “They were all talking to their kids,” Johnston said. There in the locker room were three major champions lined up at a bank of phones: Raymond Floyd, Dave Stockton and Nicklaus. This was several years ago in the pre-cellphone days and he was at TPC Michigan, site of the 1994 Ford Senior Players Championship. Johnston remembers when the idea for the PNC Championship struck him. Tiger Woods and Charlie Woods react on the third green during the first round of the PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando on Decemin Orlando, Florida. “Once Tiger’s appetite for doing that went away and the money became so big that people didn’t have to play in it to make money, it lost its appeal,” Johnston once explained of the demise of the Skins Game, which was last played in 2008. He’d seen the same thing happen to the Skins Game, another event he helped bring into prominence as the once-proud king of Silly Season events. – IMG’s Alastair Johnston sensed his “baby” had outgrown its britches. But as Nicklaus neared his 80 th birthday – he last played in 2018 with grandson G.T. Seeing The Golden Bear, who was usually paired with Lee Trevino, play 36 was worth the price of admission and carried TV ratings. The King played with grandson Will Wears in 2012, but then he passed the torch to Jack Nicklaus. This week marks the 25 th playing of the PNC Championship, but this 36-hole team event, which pairs 20 winners of prestigious titles alongside a family member in a scramble competition, had just about run its course until Charlie got the golf itch.ĭon’t believe me? This event wasn’t played from 2009-2011 due to a lack of sponsorship and wasn’t revived until IMG and Arnold Palmer convinced the good people at Pittsburgh-based PNC to breathe new life into it. Gary Player, Lee Trevino and defending champion John Daly should thank Charlie Woods for saving their “major.” Top 50 Modern Courses in Great Britain & Ireland.Top 50 Classic Courses in Great Britain & Ireland. Mexico, Caribbean, Atlantic islands, Central America.
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