Chris Stroud carries momentum into first round of PGA Championship

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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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