Chez Reavie wins Barracuda Championship for third PGA TOUR title

The smile on Mac McLendon’s face was almost as big as the trophy he was holding. Next to him on the 18th green stood partner Hubert Green, holding an identical trophy but a smile not quite as wide. McLendon and Green had teamed together in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, to win the 1974 National Team Championship. For Green, it was his fourth title of the season. McLendon had a little different perspective as he was emerging from the depths of a four-year slump that left the former LSU golfer struggling to make cuts and even considering a career change, putting his accounting degree to use. The one-shot win by McLendon and Green over the uncle-nephew team of Sam and J.C. Snead and the pairing of Ed Sneed and Bert Yancey in the best-ball event at Walt Disney World allowed McLendon to stay in his chosen career and simply use an adding machine and ledger to count the $50,000 the two players split evenly. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me. I’m one year older than Hubert, but I look 10. That’s what Monday morning qualifying does to you,” McLendon said at a time on the PGA TOUR when non-exempt players had to qualify weekly. “My game left me, just totally left me, about four years ago. I came close to quitting the TOUR. I had some really bad times. But I’m not a quitter. Golf is my life, my profession. This makes it worthwhile. I can’t tell you how much this means to me.” No wonder why McLendon’s smile was so big. That victory began a solid run of play and was the first of four official PGA TOUR titles for Benson Rayfield McLendon, Jr., nicknamed Mac, born in Georgia but an Alabama resident for almost his entire life. McLendon died July 4 in Shoal Creek, Alabama. He was 76. Fresh out of LSU, where he led the Tigers to three consecutive Southeastern Conference titles and was a first-team All-American his senior year, McLendon had immediate success after turning pro, winning in his first start, at the unofficial Magnolia Classic, a Second Tour tournament held in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, played opposite the Colonial National Invitation, in 1968. That week, McLendon opened with a 5-under 65 and closed with a 66 to finish 72 holes tied with Pete Fleming. What made the tournament memorable was the nine-hole, sudden-death playoff that ensued, with McLendon finally prevailing over Fleming with a birdie as the sun was quickly setting. McLendon’s second TOUR title came in bittersweet fashion at the 1976 Southern Open at Green Island Country Club Columbus, Georgia. McClendon was the only player in the field to post four rounds in the 60s, and that was enough for him to defeat his friend, Green, by two strokes. Green passed in 2018. McLendon’s best season on TOUR came two years later when he won the Florida Citrus Open at Rio Pinar Country Club, the final event at the course before the tournament moved to the Bay Hill Club & Lodge, current site of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. That week, McLendon cashed the largest check of his career—$40,000—by again turning in four sub-70 rounds, including a 36-hole final day, to defeat a leaderboard full of future World Golf Hall of Famers. David Graham finished second, followed by Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite and Hale Irwin. The victory amazed even McLendon, who told the media following his victory, “I don’t know when I’ve hit the ball worse. I’ve heard players say they had won and they really weren’t playing well. Well, I just put that down as a lot of baloney. Now I know what they’re talking about.” What won McLendon that title in Orlando were the 111 putts he took for the entire week. The win also earned him a spot in the Tournament of Champions a month later in Carlsbad, California, where he tied for fourth. His win in Orlando was a harbinger of things to come in the Sunshine State. At the season-ending Pensacola Open in late-October, just over the border from Alabama, McLendon took a three-shot lead into the final round but couldn’t hold it, shooting a 1-over 73 on the final day to fall into a playoff with Mike Reid. McLendon defeated Reid with a par on the first playoff hole. He finished that season, his best, 22nd on the money list with $107,299 in earnings. In his career, McLendon played in 326 PGA TOUR events. He turned 50 on August 10, 1995, but never attempted to play PGA TOUR Champions. His final TOUR appearances came in 1981, fittingly, at the Pensacola Open and then a week later at the Walt Disney World National Team Championship, paired with Leonard Thompson. Following his TOUR career, McLendon worked in the financial services field in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a member of the LSU Athletics Hall of Fame, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the Montgomery County (Alabama) Sports Hall of Fame. McLendon is survived by his wife of 55 years, Joan; his daughter, Amy (Jason) McLevaine; and two grandchildren. His son, Lance, preceded him in death. Funeral services will be July 8 at Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church in Alabama.

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Spieth manages his way into hunt for second win of 2017

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DETROIT – Wyatt Worthington II was feeling it on the greens as he shot 65 to win THE JOHN SHIPPEN National Golf Invitational presented by Rocket Mortgage on Sunday, earning a spot in the field at this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic. In fact, the teaching pro from Reynoldsburg, Ohio, said, his second round featured so many birdie bombs as to recall a similar performance watched by millions worldwide. “It was pretty much like Cameron Smith at The Open,” Worthington said. “I just rolled every single putt I looked at. I gave myself as many chances as I could. It wasn’t as smooth sailing on stretches from 13 through 15, I scrambled to make pars and kind of keep the momentum going and made birdie on 16 and 17 and secured my par on 18. It all worked out.” The efforts to diversify golf will continue with the Rocket Mortgage at Detroit Golf Club this week. THE JOHN SHIPPEN, designed to showcase Black amateur and professional golfers, debuted last year, when Tim O’Neal triumphed for the spot in the Rocket Mortgage field. This year it was Worthington (73-65), who finished one ahead of Michael Herrera (71-68). “I’m like, ‘You guys know who I am? This is crazy. I know who you are!’ Worthington was 14 when he met Tiger Woods at a Tiger Woods Foundation junior clinic in Columbus, Ohio. Woods told him to trust the process, but that can be easier said than done, what with the cost of trying to make it. Worthington qualified to play in this year’s PGA Championship at Southern Hills, and the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol. Although those were great accomplishments – Worthington tied for fourth at the most recent PGA Professional Championship, punching his ticket to Southern Hills – Black players have been underrepresented in the game’s upper echelon. “Playing in the PGA Championship (via the PGA Professional Championship), I believe there’s only two individuals, Tom Woodard and myself, that’s made it through that route,” Worthington said. The minority-focused APGA Tour has ramped up to try to make positive change, and Flint native Willie Mack III, one of its stars, made his first cut on TOUR at last year’s Rocket Mortgage. That was also the first year for THE JOHN SHIPPEN, which is named after John Shippen, Jr., who was the first American-born golf professional and the country’s first Black golf professional. (Shippen was bestowed PGA of America membership posthumously in 2009.) The tournament pays all costs, from entry fees to travel and lodging, for competitors. When Worthington shot 75-70 last year, he said, “I’ve never had anything like this.” Now that he’s won the tournament, he’s entering yet more uncharted territory. “It’s life-changing,” he said. “But the more that I look at it, it’s actually a dream come true. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen Tiger’s interviews like this. I can’t imagine myself actually being here. I know I wanted to work on my game to get to this point, but actually living this, I can’t really fathom that. Yeah, this is an unreal experience.” Worthington said he gives between four and eight lessons a day at The Golf Depot, a driving range and renovated nine-hole course in central Ohio. There are camps in the summer, and junior clinics. He plays in as many APGA Tour events as he can get to, and caddies in the winter. Anything to keep chasing the dream of playing on the PGA TOUR. “I’ve been getting shown a lot of love actually even from the TOUR guys congratulating me,” Worthington said of his reception since earning his spot in the field. “I’m like, ‘You guys know who I am? This is crazy. I know who you are!’ “And the members from the Detroit Golf Club, it’s been nothing but love and support,” he added. “Everyone’s cheering me on and wants to see me succeed, so hopefully I can do that for them.”

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