Stewart plans to savor this U.S. Open year more than the last

Area Insider

Change Is The Name of The Game

By Jay Allred

Golf has started to heat up in the Triad and there are many things going on behind the scenes. It looks as though Forsyth County has put Tanglewood Park into play for private management to eliminate any dependence on county tax money to support the park. It is apparent that this is going to happen since Tanglewood was cut out of the budget in 2001. The current contract for the management of the park by a nonprofit foundation expires at the end of this year. Don Angell, owner of Bermuda Run Country Club, is the frontrunner to take over management of the park.

The Greensboro Jaycees will be conducting a national search for a tournament director for the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic. The PGA Tour has been pushing the Jaycees to create a permanent tournament director position for several years. The decision to proceed comes after the resignation of Steve Jones who oversaw sales and marketing for the tournament. The new tournament director position will most likely include the responsibility for sponsor sales. Jones left to pursue a role in a golf specialties business.

Due to the drought and excessive heat in June the renovations to the greens at Bryan Park Champions Course may be postponed due to the dwindling water supply in Greensboro.

Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro recently rebuilt its driving range for the Nike Tour. However, all may be lost due to pending water restrictions in Greensboro. The newly laid sod must be watered and the limitations would only allow for the greens to be watered. The club is looking to dig wells to provide water for the course during dry times.

On June 28, longtime Burlington Times Sports Editor and Triad Golf Today writer Bill Hunter will be honored on June 28 at The Challenge at Hideaway Farms. The course is hosting the North Carolina Magazine Golf Panel and will offer a free clinic for area seniors in the afternoon.

The ACC men’s golf tournament will be held for the next two years at the Old North State Club on Badin Lake. The women’s golf tournament will be held at Salem Glen County Club starting in 2000.

The Country Club of Salisbury will host the Salisbury FUTURES Classic on June 24 and 25. The event is expected to draw the top new professional golfers from the college ranks. NCAA individual champion and 1998 U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion Grace Park and the 1998 U.S. Open runner-up, Jenny Chuasiriporn of the national champion Duke Blue Devils.

Construction has begun on a new clubhouse at Tobacco Road in Sanford and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The original clubhouse was destroyed by fire in May. The course continues to be open, operating out of temporary clubhouse facilities. The slope rating of 150 is the highest in North Carolina. The Mike Strantz-designed course has been nominated as "best new course of the year" by two major golf publications.

Golfweek reported that Pinehurst Resort officials have a ninth golf course in the planning stages. A 270-acre tract in nearby Aberdeen is under consideration. The land is owned by renowned golf architect Robert Trent Jones. He hopes his two designer sons, Rees and Robert Jr., will collaborate with him on the project.

Reynolds Park Golf Course will open a golf pavilion for outings in July. The pavilion will be located behind the first tee at the course. In addition, the cart paths for the course have been completed throughout the course. The bunkers were to be rebuilt this year but due to delays, there will not be enough time to accomplish the task during this year’s growing season. The bunkers will be rebuilt next year.

Greenstreet Mountain Golf Resort expects their final nine holes to open next year. Due to excessive heat and drought this June, the bluegrass fairways did not come in as expected. The irrigation system on the new nine was not expected to be complete until July, just in time to handle the summer heat. The original nine is open and in great condition; this course is one of the best values in the area.

Elmo Cobb has come out of retirement once again. The builder of Southwick Golf Course and Sourwood Golf Course in Alamance County is building another course near Sandy Cross, north of Haw River.

Hickory Hills Country Club in Mocksville hired Jeff Lankford as a teaching professional. Lankford is one of the premier players in the Triad and placed fourth in the NIKE Carolinas Classic in Raleigh earlier this year.

The Carolinas Golf Association added a new membership classification for groups of golfers not associated with a golf course. "Affiliate Club" membership in the CGA is open to any group of 50 or more golfers who seek USGA Handicap Indexes as well as other CGA services.

"Membership in the CGA is by club," executive director Jack Nance said, noting that more than 700 clubs now belong to the CGA. "Our member clubs are private, semi-private, public, municipal, military and resort – the full range of golf facilities."

"Affiliate Clubs" will not only have access to USGA Handicap Indexes through the Carolinas Golf Association but also to the association’s unique series of tournament programs. "We are happy to introduce these events and services to another segment of golfers in the Carolinas," Nance said.

For more information about CGA "Affiliate Club" membership, contact Paula Brzostowski at 910-673-1000.

Just a year ago, Stewart was agonizing over his U.S. Open loss at Olympic Club; this year he came into the championship more prepared. Starting the final round he had the look of a man on a mission. At the awards ceremony he explained, "My faith in God is so much stronger this year and that gave me the strength to believe in myself that I could get the job done." Although he came into this tournament spiritually prepared, he didn’t dismiss the physical and mental preparation. After missing the cut in Memphis he came to Pinehurst with his caddie, Mike Hicks, on Saturday, walked the course and practiced Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Hicks, who lives at Mill Creek in Mebane, reflected after the win, "It’s just a joy to win here. 1999 is the last Open of this century and to win it here at Pinehurst and to be from here, what a dream come true." Hicks has been on the bag for Stewart since 1988. He took time off in 1995 when he decided to stay home more and spend time with his three children but that didn’t last long. He started his own business, yet found out he was spending less time than before. The job with Steward was still available; so back to the tour he went.

The Open at Pinehurst was considered a major success for many. Payne Stewart stood on the 18th green hugging the U.S. Open trophy and he screamed to the crowd, "God Bless North Carolina! I hope the USGA recognizes how much the players liked this course and it makes the rotation." These weren’t just the emotional sentiments of a winner, they were consistent with most every player—except John Daly. The first chance for it to come back to Pinehurst will be 2004: more likely it would be 2005 or later.

ROUND ONE: A dampened Pinehurst No. 2 in the early going led to sharp scoring by the tee leaders, as David Duval and Phil Mickelson, off at 7:30 am in the seventh group, matched nines of 34-33 for 67s. Billy Mayfair posted 33-34 to tie for first, as did Paul Gaydos with that popular 34-33 card.

David Berganio Jr. challenged but finished at 34-34—68. There would be three more 68s in the middle third of the field as Kename Yonoo of Japan had 34-34, Tiger Woods a contrasting 36-32, and Payne Stewart another 34-34. The last to join the "leaders" was John Daly with an opposite contrast to Woods at 32-26. After that, some drying conditions took effect and scores climbed. Daly faltered badly at the end of his round, with that horrendous tee shot on 18—which may have come from his deadcenter birdie putt stopping on the lip at 17. Luckily he only made bogey on the final hole.

ROUND TWO: High pressure arrived, meteorologically speaking, and brought sunny skies and a firm N.E. breeze to dry things and elevate scores.

Woods had the earliest tee time, 7:30 am, of the top seven, but he soon lost his 2-under status to bogeys on 4 and 6. Birdies on 9 and 10 again earned him red numbers and "clubhouse" leader at 68-71—139, marred by a 3-putt bogey on 14.

Stewart, off at 7:50, soon took Tiger down two pegs with one of only three subpar rounds that day, a 35-34—69 for 137. He was soaring along at 4-under when bogeys on 8 and 9 got him back to where he had started the day at 2-under. A sort of ho-hum back nine was all pars except for a neat 18-foot birdie putt on 15 which gave him a 35-34—69 tour for 137 and the top spot for a while.

Eventually joining Stewart were David Duval at 34-36—70 and Phil Mickelson 36-34—70, Duval all over the place and Mickelson steadier. Hal Sutton and Vijay Singh, with tee times near noon, had even-par tours for a knot with Woods at 139. Joining them was first-day co-leader Billy Mayfair, who spiked to a 2-over trip. Right behind them were Jeff Maggert and John Huston, who owned the only other two subpar rounds (69s) today, for 140s.

Mark Slawter of Raleigh had a shot at playing all the way with an opening 72 but carded a second-day 78 for 150 and a ticket home. The only distinction in it was that he wound up tied with a couple of big names who also didn’t qualify, Mark O’Meara and Fred Couples.

Another local was Tom McKnight, a one-time pro who has been an amateur since reinstatement in 1984. He also started with a decent 72 but lost touch completely with an 83 for 155 and the drive back to Galax, Va. McKnight was the runner-up in the 1998 U. S. Amateur and the winner of the 1996 Cardinal Amateur.

ROUND THREE:The spirit of Donald Ross seemed to rustle the tree tops around the course and rattled the world’s best golfers on Saturday. While Saturday is considered moving day, most of the leaders were moving back. Payne Stewart dropped three shots in the first 10 holes. Woods dropped three in the first two; however, he was able to bob and weave his way back into the championship with birdies at four and 15 and a sand save at the 17th from behind the green. Duval’s downfall began with a double bogey at the short 335-yard third hole. He made the turn with at 40.Vijay Singh was a staple of consistency through 14 holes and then fell off the horse with bogeys at 15, 16 and 17.

The swirling winds and tight pins were tugging on the nerves of golfers. Mickelson beat it around the course and was able to birdie the final hole to put himself into the final grouping on Sunday at even par while Woods two-putted for a par to finish one back of the leaders ready for a final round charge. Stewart stood in the 18th fairway chewing gum and watching. In workman-like fashion he rolled his fairway shot close to the middle of the green and sank the birdie putt to take the lead and become the only golfer under-par for the championship.

FINAL ROUND: The tournament resembled the British Open as the cold rain pelted down as the leaders teed off. As the day wore on, the rain turned to a light mist and the tournament turned into a match between Singh, Woods, Stewart and Mickelson. Duval and Herron did not play well and dropped out of contention after the front nine.

Mickelson pulled within one of Stewart with a birdie on the par-4 seventh. Stewart dropped a shot on the par-5 10th and Mickelson had evened it up then took the lead on the 12th when Stewart dropped another shot. Hicks looked at Stewart and said, "There’s a long way to go in this tournament." Hicks could not have made a more accurate statement.

Woods began his charge with a birdie on the downhill 14th. Woods stuck his second shot on the long and difficult par-4 16th where only 4.5 percent of the field hit the green in regulation. Woods’ birdie on 16 electrified the crowd and he marched to the 17th hole even with Stewart and one back of Mickelson.

After Stewart’s approach shot came up short on the 16th, Mickelson thought Tiger was his competition for the trophy. Stewart knew better. After an errant chip he looked at caddie Mike Hicks and said, "Let’s drain one." He walked up and made his first long putt of the day, saving par and preserving his chances for the title. Mickelson locked up and missed a five-foot putt bogeying the hole. This put the tourney at even par for Stewart, Mickelson and Woods.

However Woods launched a 7-iron two yards from the pin and watched as it trickled into the back bunker on the 196-yard 17th. Looking to get up and down Woods’ bunker shot rolled eight feet past the hole. Woods recapped what happened next, "I chose inside left, and if you look at it, it hit the inside left of the hole and lipped out. But at that pace you had to go left center, and unfortunately I hit it too hard."

On 17, Mickelson and Stewart went head to head in match play style when Stewart hit his best iron shot of the day and threw a dart at the pin. Mickelson answered the call. Mickelson putted first from six feet and his putter let him down again as it slipped by the hole on the right. Stewart rolled his into the center of the cup for birdie and a one-stroke lead over Mickelson and two over Singh and Woods.

On the final hole, Stewart left his drive in the deep bermudagrass rough 196 yards from the hole and chose to lay up. Mickelson’s approach landed 25 feet from the hole. Stewart lofted a sand wedge to within 15 feet. Mickelson, the expecting father, rolled his putt close but no cigar. He tapped in for a par and watched.

Stewart reflected back on the putt, "I knew in my mind it was going right. It was breaking in the hole. I couldn’t believe it." Although he only hit 39 percent of the greens in regulation, he had 24 putts in the final round. Stewart—using a See More putter—has jumped to third in putting—up from 40th last year. Stewart started using the putter at Pebble Beach and won that week. Hicks feels Stewart could win more U. S. Opens if he continues putting as well. He’ll have ten more years of exemptions to find out.

Stewart plans to savor this U.S. Open year more than the last

By Lee Pace

Everyone knows the classic golf-course architects. Donald Ross. Alister Mackenzie. C.B. MacDonald. Seth Raynor. It’s in vogue in golf today to belong to a club with 18 holes laid out by one of these long-deceased masters of the mule and drag plan. It has the right cachet to avow an appreciation for their work, some of it nearly a century old.

And of course you can’t dodge the modern architects—the pure designers like Fazio and Jones and Hills and the golfing greats who design courses with the help of professional landscape architects, the Nicklauses and Palmers and Crenshaws.

Yet lost somewhere in the middle is a legion of golf-course architects who haven’t been dead long enough to be "classicists" but came along too early to be a part of the 1980s golf explosion of resort and residential golf.

Ellis Maples would be at the head of the list.Maples is well-known within North Carolina for designing the Dogwood Course at the Country Club of North Carolina at Pinehurst as well as Grandfather Golf & Country Club in Linville—those in addition to more than 60 others across the mid-Atlantic. Doing the bulk of his work in the 1950s through the 1970s, Maples came long before the proliferation of the golf media and the necessity to advertise every new course with a photo of the architect.

"Dad never liked the spotlight," says his son, architect Dan Maples of Pinehurst. "He was happiest out on a site working with the land. He liked for his golf courses to do his talking."

The Maples name is one of the most important in the history of Carolinas golf.

Brothers Frank and Angus Maples were born in Moore County in the late 1800s, worked in golf-course maintenance and spawned a handful of offspring who went into golf. Frank was the superintendent under Pinehurst’s Donald Ross and the construction supervisor as well. He worked alongside Ross in developing new bermudagrass greens in the 1930s. Frank’s sons were Ellis (born in 1909) and Henson, both of whom went into golf as players, designers and/or maintenance specialists.

Ellis went to work for his dad in 1923 and later worked as assistant superintendent at Pine Needles and Mid Pines in Southern Pines. He developed an excellent reputation as a player but never had the financial resources to pursue tournament golf. He became a club professional, working in 1947 as head pro and general manager at New Bern Country Club. There he redesigned the golf course and found his true calling. One year later, Ellis supervised construction of Ross’s last design, Raleigh Country Club. He then became a part-time designer and went into design full-time in 1953.

Like their father before them, Ellis and Henson forged new agronomic ground in North Carolina. Both were pioneers in developing bent grass in the South, and Ellis was the first architect to plant bent on greens east of the mountains in the state at Pinebrook C.C. in Winston-Salem.

"Dad and I were pretty much alike in a couple of ways," Dan says. "We both belong to the Donald Ross school, which includes designing courses for all golfers. That’s more difficult to accomplish today than in dad’s day because we now have to deal with environmental issues."

On one of the rare occasions when Ellis talked with a newspaper reporter about his design philosophies, he offered the following ideas:

"I first consider how a man has to walk a course to play it," Maples said in 1960. "That’s No. 1. We don’t want too much climbing. Second is an adequate water supply for the greens and fairways. There’s a great deal of portable irrigation now, but you still seek natural sources.

"You consider the desirability of the location and make it a point to eliminate blind par-3 holes. Make them so you play a 3-iron and up and with slightly sloping greens that hold a shot. I try to make my par-5s sufficiently difficult, tight fairways with bunkers."

Maples said he learned from his father and Ross to "stay away from hills" and, bottom line: "The most important thing to keep in mind in building a course is to have one on which the members can score well. That’s what they want."

He also once noted in Golf World his father’s and Ross’s influence. "They both taught me to use the natural beauty of the land to create golf holes of real character, as well as challenge the golfer."

Two of Maples’ most noted courses in the Triad area are Forest Oaks Country Club in Greensboro, site of the Great Greensboro Chrysler Classic, and Bermuda Run in Advance. In the Sandhills area, Maples designed the Country Club of Whispering Pines East Course in 1959 and two years later finished the No. 5 course at Pinehurst—the first non-Ross course built at the golf resort owned by the Tufts family. He followed two years later with the Dogwood Course at C.C.N.C.—probably his most famous work—and designed Woodlake in 1971. He’s also designed the West Course at C.C.W.P. and the Whispering Woods course.

"He would become excited about every course, and he spared no effort to see that each was the best it could be," says another son, Joe, the head pro at Boone Golf Club. "Because of the close personal supervision he provided, each course actually became a part of him."

Wayne Maples is a nephew of Ellis’s and is the son of Henson Maples. He’s spent much of his working life in course construction and maintenance and looks upon the experiments and trials and errors of his forefathers with agronomy and construction and tips his cap.

"We’re just fine-tuning what my dad and others before us did," he says. "They were pioneers. They took the chances. It took guts, I’ll tell you that."

Ann Liguori is living the American Dream. This 38-year-old, raised in Ohio, owns her own production company which produces two interview shows: Sports Innerview with Ann Liguori for SportsChannel and Fox Sports regional networks, and Conversations with Ann Liguori for The Golf Channel. Throw in the celebrity interviews she does for Golf 2000 With Peter Jacobsen and her continuing work for WFAN radio in New York City and you begin to get a feel for this extraordinary woman. She’s feisty, funny, feminine and smart. She’s driven, passionate, compassionate, and if you get up before the crack of dawn, you might keep up with her—but you’ll never out-work her. It was Triad Golf Today’s sincere pleasure to sit down recently and chat with Ann Liguori. If her story doesn’t inspire you—check your pulse.

(Chuckling) I’ve been very fortunate. By the time I was 30 I had a couple of TV shows, the radio show—I have a book out now—I love what I do. I like the variety. I would like to do more books and if a network wanted me to do golf commentary I’d do it, but basically I just want to keep doing what I’m doing.

The Fox show [Sports Innerview with Ann Liguori] has been on for 10 years—that’s the longest running sports show hosted by a woman, but The Golf Channel came along in 1994 and said, "We love your show, can you do a show for us?" I said, "Yeah, but let’s do something different." And that’s when we decided that my show on The Golf Channel would be about celebrities who have a passion for golf. It was a nice change for me because it got me into the entertainment world. For 10 years I was interviewing Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Sam Snead, Wilt Chamberlain—all the greats in every sport, but then The Golf Channel and Golf 2000 With Peter Jacobsen came along and got me into other worlds.

Borg was tough because he just wouldn’t open up. He was surrounded by executives. He was in town for business, so it really wasn’t the best venue for an interview, but sometimes you have to take what you can get.

Not really. I was disappointed, but I think that had we had a different environment it would have been a little easier for him to talk. That’s why I like the golf course so much. I think the golf course is the most revealing venue to get to know somebody. I feel like I can really learn about a person on the golf course. Do they lay up? Do they go for it? How do they handle it when they’re in the sand? Golf tells me a lot about a person.

Alice Cooper—because he’s so smart and so unlike what you’d ever expect him to be … he made a ton of money off this character who is completely different from who he is. Jim Brown—because he’s very opinionated and you don’t always agree with what he says, but I like the fact that he sticks up for what he believes. He’s very philosophical. Mickey Mantle was one of the best storytellers I’ve interviewed and Joe DiMaggio—who wasn’t easy to get—I got him eight years ago and I cherish that interview.

I’ve done a lot of sports in my life and I don’t think there’s any other sport which provides as much challenge as golf. It’s taken me all over the world and I’ve met the most fascinating people through golf. I’ve been to Ireland, Spain, Scotland and Morocco—I would never have gone to Morocco if it weren’t for golf!

I think the business personalities because they’re so smart. Take Robert Dedman, who owns ClubCorp—he’s a rags-to-riches story. He was dirt poor as a kid and now he’s turned his life into this multimillion-dollar business. The business people inspire me.

It was very tragic. I was in college when my father passed away [from cancer] and then a year and a half later my brother had leukemia and he was only 22 and I was 21—it was very tough. I got a little paranoid. I thought if a 22-year-old, wonderful person can just be taken away like that—who knows how long we’re gonna be here. I tried to escape the grief by working hard. I mean here I was in the "big city" [New York] with no family, no friends, my brother had just passed away and I’m like, "What am I doing here?" So I think it motivated me to work through all the grief—and I don’t know if that’s a good thing, but it worked for me.

Yeah, I do. Ten years after the TV show started [Sports Innerview with Ann Liguori] we’re still on every week and I’ve been on WFAN radio for 11 years. I was the only female sports talk show host on radio at an all-sports station. Back then I put a lot of pressure on myself not to make a mistake on the air—not to say something stupid, or not have the answers to everybody’s questions, because I thought if I mess up here … .

Exactly. There’s a double standard. If I mess up here—if I don’t do well here—they’re not gonna give any other women an opportunity. I really took that responsibility on my shoulders.

Yeah … at CBS all the other women were secretaries and they had been there for 10 years. I thought, "I’ll never reach my goals if I stay at the network." So I decided to work there a year and a half, learn as much as I could, and then go independent.

I would. I wanted to be a reporter and a talk show host and you can’t start at the network. The way I did it was kinda tough because I was freelancing and I didn’t know where my next paycheck was coming from. On the other hand I was getting to do a variety of things. I was writing for USA Today, working at ABC producing Howard Cosell’s show—and getting back to the pioneer thing—I don’t think there’s another woman who owns and hosts her own show. All those shows I do I own the rights to, and sell sponsorships for. So that, I think is more pioneering than anything else because women aren’t really … you see a lot of women on the air these days, but you don’t see them in decision-making capacities.

That’s exactly it! And I got the control and that’s what I wanted. (laughing)

Oh, yeah. I love it! I like being the boss—because it allows me to do what I can do. Nobody’s holding me back. I’m only limited by my own imagination.

Yeah. I’m healthy. I travel all over the world interviewing personalities that I’m really interested in. I’m happy! I can’t imagine doing anything else.

It’s 1958. Saturday at The Masters – moving day – and Arnold Palmer has played a solid round to get into contention. That evening, Ron Green, a young sports reporter with the Charlotte News, has a cocktail in the Bull Bat Lounge at the old Richmond Hotel with Arnold and Winnie Palmer. The next morning, they have breakfast and Palmer tells Green that he’s going to win the Masters. And as we all know, Palmer charges to victory over Ken Venturi and Doug Ford with birdies on the final two holes. It’s the first of four green jackets for Palmer but just one of the many great stories Ron Green can tell after 45 years of writing about the Masters.

In addition to covering the Masters and numerous golf tournaments around the world, Green has also written about NASCAR, college basketball, the NBA, the NFL, the Carolina Panthers, marathons, little league baseball, tennis, minor-league ice hockey and just about any sport that’s been played in and around Charlotte. Since the early 1950s, Ron Green has been one of the most popular people in Charlotte, writing about sports for the Charlotte News and Charlotte Observer. He’s won numerous awards and is a member of the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame.

But perhaps it’s golf that has always appealed the most to Green. The Masters is his favorite event in the sports calendar. A book titled Shouting at Amen Corner will appear on bookshelves this fall; it’s a compilation of the best of Green’s 45 years of Masters writing and reporting and should be a must for anyone who loves Augusta.

After this year’s U.S. Open, Ron Green will officially "semi-retire" from his full-time "job" for the Charlotte Observer, stringing occasionally for the paper and other publications while finishing a novel.

Green will no doubt use some of his newfound free time to work on his golf game at Cedarwood Country Club where he recently shot a ho-hum 74. Green is a fine golfer, having won a national golf writers tournament and taking some cash off Arnold Palmer at Bay Hill at one of Arnie’s afternoon shootouts.

Much of Green’s golf writing over the years has been about the game’s greats at some of their biggest moments. There’s that first green jacket for Palmer, which Green thinks initiated America’s love affair with Arnie. There was Nicklaus’ fifth at 46, Tom Watson, Faldo, Woosnam, Tiger, Ballesteros and Olazabal. And, of course, there was Hogan.

When Green began covering the Masters, he followed Hogan. After a round, Hogan would sometimes hold a mini press-conference around his locker.

"I’d go to those," says Green. "But I was young and I have to admit that I was intimidated. He could be very difficult and he didn’t suffer fools. Towards the end of his career he had problems with his putting and I heard him say: ‘I’m not afraid of missing the putt; I’m afraid of pulling the putter back. When I look at the cup, it’s full of my blood.’ I was there when he shot a 30 on the back nine at Augusta when he was close to retirement. Perhaps what I liked the most about Hogan was that he would always tell you how the course was really playing."

Golf reporting has changed dramatically over Green’s career. In the ’50s, reporters enjoyed "total access" to the players and the locker rooms and like many, Green counted several players as friends. But there were unwritten rules. Extracurricular activities stayed off the sports pages and "off the record" meant "off the record."

Over the years, with golf’s popularity steadily increasing in lock-step with purses and demands on players’ time, the relationship between the professional golfer and reporter has soured some.

"We’re almost seen as a nuisance these days," says Green. "TV has become a huge factor and there are so many people tugging at the better players. Access is orchestrated. Someone like Greg Norman will have a press conference once during the week of a tournament and that will be it. Certain players develop relationships with certain reporters and that can make it difficult to organize one-on-one conversations."

But Green isn’t one to complain. Part of his attraction to golf is that the players, in his opinion, are still the most articulate and civil in sports.

"Golfers sense the reporters who understand the game," says Green. "I know when it’s a bad time to ask questions."

That’s probably one of the many reasons why Green is popular with players. Green’s son, Ron Green Jr., recently interviewed Jack Nicklaus who told the younger Green that Ron Green senior was one of his favorites. But that’s not because Green fawns over players; Green tells it like it is, and a quick dance through the best of the post-war era ably displays his talent for picking up on personality.

Sam Snead was a chameleon, alternating between being mad and very nice, usually trying to escape media attention. Byron Nelson was as helpful as he could be. Nicklaus had an edge but was always cooperative. Lee Trevino would joke in public but had a fiery edge in private.

"Trevino never liked Augusta," says Green, "and some of that had to do with his Latino background, but his game wasn’t suited to Augusta and that was more of a problem, more of a factor."

Johnny Miller was a sportswriter’s dream, blonde with dash and flair and 62s. Watson was harder to cover, a bright man but very matter-of-fact with the press. Green says that Tiger was sheltered at first by IMG, but is opening up.

Outside the Masters, Green witnessed some of golf’s great moments: the l960 U.S. Open playoff at Oakmont between Nicklaus and Palmer where both smoked a pack of cigarettes each during the round – which Nicklaus won, his first professional major.

Green was also on hand at Royal Troon with Palmer defending The British Open.

"Palmer wasn’t putting well," says Green, "I was having lunch with him and some other reporters and one of the reporters told Palmer that he was moving his head. Palmer putted much better after that!"

But it’s the Ryder Cup at Kiawah that may have excited Green the most.

"It’s pure golf. It’s not about money; it’s about pride. They’re the happiest they can be if they win and they’re just devastated if they lose. You can sense the intensity of the pressure."

Today, it’s the PGA Senior Tour that attracts Green.

"It’s just like the old days," he says. Senior Tour events are almost a reunion for Green – a chance to visit with players who have shared his professional life.

And what a life it’s been. As a golf reporter and sports reporter, Green has been fortunate enough to attend the great events and share the good and the bad times with the heroes and goats. Those of us who live in Charlotte are going to miss Green’s regular work but will eagerly look forward to the editions of the Charlotte Observer where he’s been hired as a stringer. It’ll be just like the good old days.

Scott Martin is the Charlotte Observer’s Manager of Custom Publishing. He’s the co-author of The Insiders’ Guide to Golf in the Carolinas and is working with Ron Green on the compilation of Shouting at Amen Corner.

Next time you need to really comprehend the word affable, I wish you had a chance to meet John Maginnes. This man has got to be one of the world’s friendliest and most laid-back personalities.

Yet, behind that affability you sense a core of steel desire – desire to be a successful PGA Tour player. That success has been elusive but not entirely missing.

Last year he won $172,165, of which $30,863 came from a tie for 16th in the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic on rounds of 68-72-70-73 – 283. In 1997 he cashed checks totaling $110,166 and in 1996 it was $184,065.

But the elusiveness becomes readily apparent if you compare last year’s GGCC with the 1999 edition of that venerable tournament recently held at Forest Oaks C.C. This year John started out with a 73 and then just missed the cut by one stroke with a second-day 71 for 144.

That’s not a happy ending for such a nice guy and why it’s placed early in this story. Because John just shrugged and admitted, "It (the first-round 73) wasn’t very good. I didn’t play well out there today and had two bogies and a double on the par-3s."

Things got better the second day and he came home 1-under-par for an even-par tournament, only to see the cut figure fall to an unimaginable 1-under. And the on-fire Jesper Parnevik’s leading 16-under was already within one stroke of the tournament record.

So John Maginnes smiled wryly and went home to his house near the Piedmont Triad Airport in Greensboro, ending half of the "local" interest in the event. The other half, Lee Porter, actually a native of Greensboro, steadied for a tough par putt on the 36th hole to post a 143 and stay alive for the final days.

Where did this all start?

In Atlanta, Ga., and with a lot of early family golf – John, his older brother, Philip, and his father, Bristol. "Philip and I played constantly as kids and my father played with us on weekends. Dad wasn’t a great golfer but he had a nice grasp of the fundamentals and was able to pass them on to us," John said.

Then the family moved to Durham and college golf was at East Carolina University. John noted, "We get a lot of people out here wearing purple (the school’s colors) to watch us," as they show up for every GGCC John is in to offer their support.

Asked if he had graduated from ECU, John grinned and said, "I’m darn close after only five years."

But John is quick to note, "I did get something fantastic out of that school," referring to his wife of several years, the former Dena Boyland, and now a grand little boy named Jack Bristol who was born last November and named in honor of his grandfather, Bristol Maginnes.

John has said, "I didn’t want him to be named after any character who might appear on the Melrose Place TV show."

Even as they were leaving for Houston the Monday after the GGCC and with the cab waiting outside for the trip to nearby Piedmont Triad International Airport, Dena took the time to observe in regard to her touring golf pro wife status, "I wouldn’t change my life for anybody’s."

Dena doesn’t play golf. She says, "One’s enough," but she caddied for John for four years. "And she was darn good at it," John says.

In response to a question about Jack Bristol’s sports future, John quipped, "No golfer. When I’m home I tie down his right arm. He’s going to be a left-handed relief pitcher."

And, in response to a question about any college honors, John smiled and answered, "I could have graduated with honors from beer school. But I did learn to appreciate reading and that helps pass the time on the road."

That road began unwinding in 1992 when John qualified for the Hogan Tour, the predecessor of the Nike Tour. He played in five tournaments and says, "I went broke and went home."

Then the road really beckoned when "a guy who owns a steakhouse here in Greensboro gave me the money to go and play in the Canadian Tour." He drove 4,000 miles to Vancouver Island in four days for the first event, "with no cruise control," then drove to all the other tournaments in Canada.

In 1994 he was 34th on the Nike money list and ’95 brought real progress when he finished 16th at the Tour Qualifying School and got his card. He kept that card in 1996, 113th on the money list, but lost it in ‘97.

"I wasn’t even close (164th on money list where 125 is the magic number for exempt status into tournaments) and that’s when I thought about getting a regular job."

Then another "angel" entered the picture. In 1998, "a guy who owns a Greensboro trucking company gave me the money to play the Nike Tour." Some good success followed.

He tied for fifth in the PGA Tour’s Guaranty Deposit event, only three strokes off the lead, winning $45,600. And he made the cut in all eight PGA events he managed to get in. Meanwhile, he was winning Player of the Month honors for July in the Nike and finishing fifth in that tour for the year. At one point it looked like he might be the first player ever to finish in the top 15 Nike places and top 125 PGA ranking .

To illustrate his competitiveness, in the Nike Championship he had a horrendous round of 78 on Friday but rallied with a pair of 69s to finish the tourney at even-par and fourth place.

This year he has played in 11 tournaments and, he said, "I made a lot of cuts but I haven’t really fired it up and got it going. It’s close and I feel ready to break loose."

It would have been nice if the breakout had occurred in the GGCC because Maginnes loves the tournament. "All the marshalls said ‘hello’ and ‘welcome back’ to Greensboro, so it felt familiar and comfortable."

And he had no course criticism, as did a few whiners. "This Forest Oaks is a great course and it’s playing differently than we are used to seeing it. But it’s the same for everybody."

You certainly haven’t heard the last from John Maginnes. Asked about his U.S.Open desires, since that major tournament is just down the road in Pinehurst in June, Maginnes grinned and said, "Just let me in. I will have to play 36 holes (of qualifying) to get in and so I’m going into training. You can see the double chins here."

John ended our little chat with what might be called his philosophy, "It’s all a matter of just stickin’ with it. You can’t predict anything in this game. This is the greatest job in the world. I just wish I could do it better."

Whether it’s in pro golf or just in life, it seems safe to predict a nice amount of success for John Maginnes.

When they were passing out life’s goodies, Ron Morgan cheated. He must have doubled back and gone through the line again. How else to explain the life he’s led. At 62 and recently retired, Morgan is slowing down, a little, but he still competes in the game he loves, golf, enjoys 12 grandchildren, and lives in a new Clemmons house that he and his wife, Faye, designed.

Life is good for the man from Cincinnati, Ohio.

"What can I say. I’ve had a great life," admits Morgan while relaxing on his sofa, another round of golf waiting for him later in the day.

A lot of folks are lucky enough to stumble into their good fortune, Morgan, on the other hand, knew what he wanted early on and pursued it.

Morgan found golf relatively early on in life as a caddy. "I think I was about 10 or 11," Morgan remembers. "I did it to make money."

He began to play competitively as a teenager where he served as captain of his high school team. He was a good player, but Morgan knew even then where his heart lay, and after graduation he enrolled in art school to pursue a career in advertising.

"Yeah, I thought about playing golf for a living, but I got married young and had some children so that kinda ruled that out pretty quick," laughs Morgan.

The truth is, as much as he loved golf, Morgan had his heart set on advertising. In 1962 he left Ohio for New York and in the fall of ’65 he left the Big Apple for Winston-Salem and the advertising agency of Long Haymes Carr.

Not a bad job by any means, but not even Morgan could have predicted the juicy morsel that would come his way a few years later.

In the early 1970s, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company was beginning to dabble in a sport relatively unknown outside the Southeast. RJR saw NASCAR as a golden and natural marketing opportunity and began a venture that eventually led the company to develop a full-fledged sports-marketing department, one that also included heavy involvement in golf.

Ron Morgan’s good fortune came when RJR chose Long Haymes Carr to handle its account. As a car buff and golf nut, Morgan was a natural to work on the RJR account.

"I worked on that account for about 17 years," Morgan said. "It reached a point where 85 percent of my time was spent on RJR."

Morgan’s work for RJR has taken him to places that most people just dream about. He’s traveled to rodeos, motorcycle races and the Nabisco Championships at Harbour Town and The Champions in Houston. He’s played St. Andrews, Augusta National, Pinehurst, and Pebble Beach. For most people that would be enough, but through all these years, Morgan has led a dual life—that of a competitive amateur golfer.

"I’m a 1 handicap," Morgan says flatly. Believe him.

Duffers don’t luck up and shoot the course record (a 63 to beat by one Gary Player’s mark set in the 1974 PGA Championship) from the tips at Tanglewood’s Championship course like Morgan did in July of ’78.

"I’ll never forget that day," Morgan says as his mind is transported 20 years back in time. "I was in a zone. It was so easy you wonder why you don’t play like that more often, but in 50-some years I’ve never had a day like that before or since. It was the finest round of golf I ever played."

And don’t be confused. The current record of 62 was in the Vantage Championship, a senior event played on a course considerably shorter than the 7,000+ one that Morgan played in ’78.The year following his historic round at Tanglewood, Morgan posted his best showing in the U.S. Amateur. The tournament was played in his home state of Ohio, at Canterbury in Cleveland. It was the year Mark O’Meara bested Buckeye John Cook for the title.

"I played really good in the ’79 Am.," Morgan said. "I got down to the final 16—quite a thrill. I was about 10th lowest after stroke play and won three matches. Then some guy from upstate New York beat my brains out."

Morgan has also played in five U.S. Public Links Championships (he’s been a member at Tanglewood for 30 years), making the cut in all but one. He’s won the N.C. Eastern Invitational, the Forest Oaks Invitational, five Triad Amateurs (in a nine year span), three Forsyth Invitationals and this summer he repeated as Forsyth Senior champion.

"Not counting all the little tournaments I play in [and win], I play about eight or nine of what I call major tournaments a year," Morgan said. "I just like to compete. Everybody thought when I retired I would play more golf, but I play the same now as I did before [about three or four times a week]. Playing golf every day would be the most boring thing. I only like it if I can compete."

Sounds a bit harsh coming from a man who’s been so blessed by this blessed game, but don’t misunderstand—Morgan truly cherishes the game.

"Golf is like life," explains Morgan. "You have to deal with it constantly. It’s not fair. It’s a challenge. It’s one of the greatest uppers when you win and one of the worst downers when you’re losing. And you get to meet so many great people. Lester Kimber said once, and I agree, ‘that all true golfers are the same; they just have different names.’"

Make no mistake, Ron Morgan is a true golfer.

Titleist Driver and Fairway Wood Founders

Irons Gary Player SW

Wilson Putter

Titleist Ball

He has long been called The King. He once commanded a worldwide army whose enlistees numbered in the millions. A popular television channel calls him "the heart and soul of the game."

The modest, some even say reticent, man is well past his prime. Yet he remains the most popular figure the game has ever known. That game is golf, and the man’s name is Arnold Daniel Palmer.

Now with the help of Greensboro native Jim Dodson, Palmer has told his life’s story in an engaging and thoroughly readable book called A Golfer’s Life.

Collaborations in golfers’ life stories are nothing new. Classics like Fifty Years of Golf: My Memories by Andrew Kirkaldy of St. Andrews as told to Clyde Foster, Herbert Warren Wind’s biography of Gene Sarazen, Thirty Years of Championship Golf, and, more recently, Jack Nicklaus’ My Story with Ken Bowden, are important contributions to the literature of golf.

Any writer worthy of his calling would give his ink-filled blood to write Palmer’s side of the record, but "I told Arnie I wouldn’t write a press release," Dodson has said. And he has not.

A Golfer’s Life is Palmer from the inside out – at least as much as we are likely to get as long as Palmer lives.

Dodson is no stranger to the game. He grew up on Greensboro’s Green Valley Golf Course and idolized two men – his father and Arnold Palmer. He went on to a career in journalism and is a contributing editor to Golf and is the golf editor of Departures.

Dodson’s award-winning 1996 tribute to his father, Final Rounds, caught Palmer’s attention. The story of a golfing journey to Scotland which Dodson took with his terminally-ill father reminded Palmer of the love and respect he had for his own father. And with Palmer’s recent discovery that he had cancer he decided the time was right to tell his life story.

The shared love of a father and son (Deke and Arnold Palmer and Brax and Jim Dodson) for golf brought the golfer to call the writer.

"Jim’s book is a warm book, and it tells a story of a father and son and golf all put together. That was my life," Palmer has said.

A Golfer’s Life is Palmer through and through. The slashing, corkscrew swing was learned from his father who taught him simply, "Get the right grip. Hit the ball hard. Go find the ball, boy, and hit it hard again."

From Deke Palmer, Latrobe Country Club greenskeeper and professional, hard worker, hard drinker and devoted family man, he also learned "the virtues of hard work and following the rules, but essentially doing things your own way in this world."

The pants-hitching habit which became the trademark of his working class charm Palmer learned from his mother Doris who told him at an early age, "Hey, fella, pull up those britches before they fall off you."

There were victories aplenty in store for Palmer – 61 on the U.S. Tour, 19 internationally and 12 on the Senior tour, including four Masters, two British Opens and one U.S. Open.

But Palmer and Dodson do not shy away from defeat, either. Accounts of collapses in the U.S. Open at Oakmont to Jack Nicklaus in 1962 and his loss to Billy Casper in 1966 at Olympic are particularly telling.

They are also candid about his early difficulties with his father-in-law and his struggle to quit his two-pack a day cigarette smoking habit.

His fascination with flying and his long association with Dwight Eisenhower are recounted. And so is his near visceral on-course confrontation in 1955 with fellow pro Marty Furgol.

Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player are understandably prominent figures. And Palmer tells his side of the story about his famous riff with Ben Hogan.

On these and all other life experiences, Palmer deals candidly and respectfully. Then, he seems to go on about his business.

He is too busy living his life to suffer fools or hold grudges. He attacks life with the same go-for-broke style that he brought to the game of golf.

One incident, perhaps, better than all the rest tells what kind of man Palmer is. At a critical point in the 1960 Masters, Palmer’s caddy, Nathaniel "Ironman" Avery, sensing the tournament slipping away, looked into the eyes of his boss and asked pointedly, "Mr. Palmer, are we chokin’?"

Palmer got the message, went back to work and won his second Masters.

The reader will choke with the laughter of delight and tear-filled eyes of joy as he shares in A Golfer’s Life.

Arnold Palmer is a winner in life, and A Golfer’s Life is a winner, too.