Phil Rodgers passes away at age 80

He was the final member of an impressive triumvirate of golfers born in San Diego during The Great Depression – Gene Littler and Billy Casper the others – and as a young pro he was widely considered the equal to a contemporary named Jack Nicklaus. But if Phil Rodgers’ PGA TOUR career didn’t match its promise or reach the standards of those other men, he did something that is a rarity in today’s world. He took ownership. As honest as he was brash, Rodgers told golf.com’s Alan Bastable in 2008 that “I wanted to win more, but something always stopped me. I couldn’t do what my mind wanted me to do. I probably talked myself out of being a great champion more than I talked myself into it.� Rodgers’ 17-year PGA TOUR career included just five victories but was noted for the absence of major championship success that Nicklaus, Littler and Casper all had. That was difficult for some to rationalize, especially those who watched Rodgers’ great success as a junior, a collegian, an amateur, and a two-time winner in his first full PGA TOUR season, 1962. “He was so good, it was frightening,� former PGA TOUR player John Schroeder told Tod Leonard of the San Diego Union Leader. “Mechanically, he had it.� But what Rodgers also had and always used effectively was an unyielding passion to teach the game. That came shining through as stories circulated upon the news of Rodgers’ death Tuesday morning in his University City home in San Diego with his wife of 33 years, Karen, by his side. Rodgers was 80 years old and had battled leukemia for more than 15 years, though he appeared to handle that as flawlessly as he did bunker shots. Leonard, in his tribute to Rodgers, said the gregarious instructor might have been in a wheelchair, but up until a few months ago he was still at his post, teaching the game he loved at The Grand Del Mar in San Diego. Reacting to the news of Rodgers’ death, Nicklaus on his social media account expressed his heartfelt condolences: “My heart hurts today after the passing of dear friend, Phil Rodgers . . . Terrific ball-striker & great short game, he became a gifted teacher. Miss him already.� In fact, were he capable of re-writing the PGA TOUR record books, Nicklaus would affix two major championships beside Rodgers’ name, with an asterisk. That’s how strongly Nicklaus felt about his friend’s contribution to what took place in 1980, the year the Golden Bear turned 40. Not only had Nicklaus in 1979 recorded his first winless season since turning pro in 1962, but good gracious, he had missed the cut at the 1978 PGA and finished T-33 at the 1980 Masters, meaning he had failed to triumph in six straight majors. Even worse, “it was almost to the point where I had to putt around bunkers,� Nicklaus once told reporters. Unable to stand over a chip shot, Nicklaus called Rodgers, who came to North Palm Beach, Fla., and spent two weeks with his longtime friend. A few weeks later, Nicklaus won his fourth and final U.S. Open, then he added a PGA Championship, the penultimate triumph in his record parade of 18 majors. “Phil totally revamped my short game and gave me confidence,� Nicklaus once gushed to Sports Illustrated. And if you wanted a summation of Rodgers’ ability, no one offered it with more praise than Nicklaus, who told Bastable: “If you ever watched him hit the ball, if you watched his short game, if you watched him putt, you would say, ‘How could anybody ever beat him?’ � Nicklaus wasn’t alone, because Rodgers as a junior and collegian left others feeling similarly. Former PGA TOUR Commissioner Deane Beman, who called Rodgers “a lifelong friend,� recalled the first time their paths crossed, at the 1954 U.S. Junior Amateur at Los Angeles CC’s North Course. “I was a hot-shot kid from the East and when the tournament was over, I spent a week in LaJolla playing golf with Phil. We were 16 and I’ll tell you what I’ve said 100 times over the last 65 years – Phil Rodgers at 16 was an accomplished ‘professional’ golfer. He could have left high school right then and been successful on the PGA TOUR. “We played with Gene Littler (then 24 and a PGA TOUR member) that week and Phil beat him. That’s how good he was.� Born April 3, 1938 (Littler was born in 1930, Casper in 1931), Rodgers won the 1955 national Jaycee Junior Golf Championship (Nicklaus was in the field), earning a $1,000 scholarship. He chose to attend the University of Houston, “a sort of training camp for aspiring pro golfers,� wrote Walter Bingham in a feature story on Rodgers for Sports Illustrated in 1963 that included a cover headline: “Phil Rodgers: The Brashest Man in Golf.� Bingham, of course, had to time the college story just right, because Rodgers played in just three tournaments, all of which he won. The exclamation point was the 1958 NCAA Championship at Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown, Mass., where he and teammates Jackie Cupit and Jim Hiskey – both former PGA TOUR players – led the Cougars to No. 3 in a string of five consecutive titles. Not only did Rodgers shoot 69-70 to be co-medalist during the team portion of the competition, but in the individual phase he overwhelmed Purdue’s John Konsek, 8 and 7, to leave college undefeated. “Phil knew more about golf than any kid we’ve ever had here,� Houston’s late and great coach, Dave Williams, told Bingham. “But I couldn’t understand him. I never knew what the guy was going to say. After he beat Deane Beman in the second round (of the NCAAs), I went up to shake hands with him. “That’s the last time that’ll ever happen, he yelled to me. ‘What do you mean, Phil?’ ‘That’s the last time I’ll ever be over par on this track,’ he said. It was, too.’ � While Nicklaus came along to star on the 1959 and 1961 Walker Cup teams and win U.S. Amateur and NCAA titles, Rodgers chose to enlist in the Marines, though he didn’t exactly see the world. Instead, he served his stint right in San Diego and was able to keep his golf game sharp. Which is why, Schroeder told Leonard, that “it was neck and neck to see who was best,� Nicklaus or Rodgers. Eerily, they were of similar builds – “stocky� or “pudgy� or “stumpy,� depending on whose correspondence you read – with blonde hair and fans often had to do a double-take when they saw them together back in the late 1950s and early 1960s. But while Rodgers conceded to Leonard that no matter how he conducted his career, “I never would have been in Nicklaus’ category,� he loved to tell the story of that one category in which he was an equal. Eating steaks. Legendary for preferring it the color of his favorite wine, red, at Augusta National Golf Club it only mattered to Rodgers that he and Nicklaus could have it whenever they wanted. So, they had filets for breakfast, a New York Strip for lunch, and Chateaubriand for dinner. “They finally came to us and said, ‘No, you can’t do that. You can only have one steak per day.’ � After his stint in the Marines ended in 1961, Rodgers joined the PGA TOUR for 14 tournaments, but oh, how he hit the ground running in 1962. Tied with Fred Hawkins through 54 holes in the LA Open at Rancho Municipal GC, Rodgers closed with a sizzling 62 to win by nine. “Rodgers is golf’s golden boy today,� exclaimed golf writer Jerry Wynn, who expressed a theme that was prevalent in those days when it came to the flamboyant Rodgers. “He’s not only good, he knows he’s good.� Laughed Beman, “Oh, yeah, he was cocky. But he could back it up. He had complete control of all aspects of his game.� Chances for major championship glory slipped from Rodgers’ grip early in his career. Stubbornly, he refused to take an unplayable lie from a tree at Oakmont in Round 1 of the 1962 U.S. Open, took a few whacks at it, made a quadruple-bogey or else he might have won that, not Nicklaus. Then, at the 1963 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, Rodgers got whipped in a 36-hole playoff against Bob Charles, 140-148. Rodgers had been surrounded by World Golf Hall of Famers for so many years – mentored at La Jolla CC by Paul Runyan, who often had Rodgers play blindfolded to appreciate how to “feel� his way around a golf course; nurtured in teenage games against the likes of Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Ralph Guldahl; befriended by Nicklaus; a local hero alongside Littler, who won two majors, and Casper, who had three. But the iconic success that each of those men enjoyed never filtered down to Rodgers. He won twice in 1962, his first full year on the PGA TOUR, added another win in 1963, then two more in 1966 (notable for being the first wins by a player using a long putter that he “anchored�). But that was it. There were no more wins and Beman is among the many who often wondered why. “Hard to say,� said the former commissioner. “Maybe he was so damn good he didn’t realize you had to keep working at it.� While Rodgers shouldered responsibility – “I never thought I did my job as well as I could have or should have,� he told Leonard – his legion of friends, colleagues, and contemporaries praised him for his passion and for excelling as not only a man who designed wedges for Cobra, but as one of the game’s greatest instructors. “When I lived in Orlando (in the 1980s), I used to visit Phil over at Grand Cypress,� said Brad Faxon. “He used to hit bunker shots with just his left hand and he’d beat all of us. He had a great eye and was also one of the first teachers to use technology developed by Ralph Mann, looking at bio-mechanics. Such a great teacher and character.� In six seasons on the PGA TOUR Champions, Rodgers won just once, but his presence was always a treasure. “With the passing of Phil Rodgers, the game of golf lost a true gentleman and a man who sincerely impacted the lives of those around him,� said PGA TOUR Champions president Greg McLaughlin, who noted that he and some players were pleased to see Rodgers just a month ago at the Insperity Invitational. “It was wonderful to watch everyone light up in his presence,� said McLaughlin.

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