Article from
Putnam County Herald, Cookeville, Tennessee, USA, The 19th Hole by Bobby Nichols,
Ironwood Golf Pro. Published about 1974.
Transcription of the
Article:
"BOBBY GREENWOOD-COOKEVILLE'S TOURING PRO"
Bobby
Greenwood, Cookeville's touring golf pro, recently was back home for a
brief vacation before leaving for the Western Open in Chicago.
While Bobby was
splitting his time between rest, practice and visits, it gave me a
chance to recall some of his accomplishments and highlights for the
Cookeville sports fans.
Watching the
U.S. Open on TV, quite naturally, reminded me of the two Opens in which
Greenwood competed-at Merion and Pebble Beach, Calif. He made the 36
hole cut in both. Bobby missed by one stroke in qualifying for this
year's U.S. Open.
A pro since
1969, Greenwood's last professional win, among his amazing 125 pro and
amateur wins, was the 1972 Rhode Island Open. He is also a former
Tennessee Open and amateur champion. Although he led PGA tour events in
1973, Bobby could not pull off the wins. His second round 65 in the
Texas Open is a course record.
Perhaps his
most memorable victory come in the
Colonial Invitational in Memphis when he eagled the eighteenth hole to
tie Jack Nicklaus and then birdied the sudden death nineteenth hole to
bet Jack one up. It was the last amateur loss for Nicklaus who turned
pro shortly after and won the U.S. Open nine months later. This
memorable occasion was written up in one of Jack's golf books "55 Ways
to Lower Your Score."
Greenwood twice
was ranked among the top ten amateur players in the world by Golf
Magazine. He was co-medalist in the 1964 U.S. Amateur championship and
that year was named to the prestigious Texas Cup Team. Four years later
Bobby was instrumental in starting a Tennessee Cup team and was asked to
select the entire amateur team. This was the only year that amateurs
ever defeated the pros!
That all
followed his brilliant collegiate career at North Texas State University
where he was a three-time NCAA All-American. His senior year at NTSU
Bobby won the Southern Intercolliegiate at Athens, Ga., and the
South-West Recreational at Fort Worth which prompted his selection as
first team NCAA All-America 1963. To my knowledge, Cookeville has never
produced another NCAA first team All-America.
An interesting
footnote to Bobby's professional career came several years ago at the
Westchester Golf Classic played at Rhy, New York. All-time great Ben
Hogan invited Bobby to play a practice round with him prior to
tournament. This turned out to be the last time Hogan was able to play a
tour event because of his health problems. Several weeks later, Hogan,
who had stressed to Greenwood the importance of using the stiffest shaft
that one can comfortably use, surprised Greenwood with a set of Hogan
woods made from Ben's personal specifications. What a memorable occasion
to play with Ben Hogan the last time he played on the tour!
Transcribed by
Elma Greenwood, Cookeville, Tennessee, October 31, 2004.
