Bobby Nichols - Part 2 (Early Tour Wins and the 1964 PGA)

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle.

Bruce Devlin 0:13

Then it started to You played with probably one of the greatest players that ever lived at the final round of the PGA Championship. And you beat a couple of pretty good players too that tied for second that year. Who were they? You remember?

Bobby Nichols 0:34

Arnold and Jack. I mean that was uh they were two. Arnold Arnold was the king, and of course the Don Jack was coming on him being he was gonna be the he was going to take over at pretty well. Yeah, Bruce, we were all we were introduced to those guys, weren't we?

Bruce Devlin 0:52

Yeah, they were they were guys that were of course coming from Australia, uh I didn't come out I I come over and played as an amateur in 1960, but uh when I when I came over in 62, I had the f I was very fortunate to be introduced to Mr. Hogan, played my first practice around at Augusta National with him. Is that right? Yeah, and and just reiterating your kind words about the man, he's probably one of the nicest people that I ever met in the game, to be honest with you. Yeah, yeah.

Bobby Nichols 1:23

He no doubt. I mean, he just uh I've never been around a person with a he would ask a question, and if he'd answered the question, it was always words that weren't wasted. It went right to the point, and that was it. Yeah, he didn't he didn't he wasn't a type that would add anything to a story or add any conversation to anything. It was just strictly to the point, and then he would that would be it. But he would answer your question.

Mike Gonzalez 1:57

Well, let's do a quick recap for our listeners, if we can, of Bobby Nichols' career uh turning pro coming out of college uh with a record of 15 professional wins, including 12 wins on the PGA tour and one senior win, which we'll talk about. Uh obviously the highlight uh is the the PGA championship, which we've alluded to in 1964, which we'll come back to. But uh let's go back and talk about uh some of the other early wins, because uh you started out in 1962 winning a tournament that uh Bruce Devlin has a little history with as well, the St. Petersburg Open Invitational at Lakewood Country Club by two over Frank. That's right.

Bobby Nichols 2:36

That's my first win, and and Frank Boynton. Actually, Frank led uh the the first, I think it was the first yeah, it was the first round was rained out, and Frank had had 67. So he was leading the tournament, but it was worst out. In those days, uh i i they just just took worse out the round. But they to today they wouldn't do that. They would just continue it. So, anyways, Frank uh lost his 67 and he finished second, like you say, two shots back. And uh I was lucky there to to have to have won the won the tournament with uh Frank's first round getting worced out. Anyway, uh after that, uh uh luckily I won the the Houston Open, and uh Bruce is familiar. Bruce had won, I know you won the uh the Houston Open, Bruce, once or twice and uh yourself.

Bruce Devlin 3:39

Well, I I followed you at St. Pete a couple of years later, too. That was my first victory, was 1964 at the St. Petersburg Open. So you you led me along nicely, Bobby. Thank you so much for winning those tournaments before me.

Bobby Nichols 3:57

I can remember one year at the Houston Open. Uh I remember you, I forgot exactly what you did say, but I know you finished the second, one shot back. You said something about them Aggies stopped your ball from going over the green or something. I said, Well, I'm I'm sure there's a few Aggies in the crowd that were pulling for me, I'm sure.

Bruce Devlin 4:21

Now, I'll tell you this story just so that it reminds you. Yes, we were playing together the last day.

Bobby Nichols 4:29

Is that it?

Bruce Devlin 4:30

And I hit a I hit my second shot at the ninth hole on the back fringe, and when I got up to the green, it was about 12 yards over the green, right next to a tree. And I wondered how the ball could stop in one place and end up in another. So I figured I figured it was those damn Aggies. Yeah, never forget that. That was uh that was I said, and you know what's interesting too, Bobby, is uh uh an old friend of mine. Uh the very first time I got to go to Texas AM, uh Gloria said to me after we'd watched a football game there, you know something? We're gonna send Kel, my oldest boy, to Texas AM. And by the way, he said to say hi today, too. Yeah, he wanted me to say hi for you. So he ended up being an Aggie. Oh yeah, big time.

Bobby Nichols 5:34

Yeah, Kel is a good player. And uh where where is he now, by the way, Bruce?

Bruce Devlin 5:41

He's uh he's uh he's the uh owner of a golf course a little southwest of Fort Worth, Texas. Good. So he's in still in the golf business. But after you won the first time at uh Houston, you then uh in 1963, the year after you won Seattle Open, too, you beat Raymond Floyd and Canadian Stan Leonard.

Bobby Nichols 6:05

Stan Leonard. Boy, that's uh yeah, I remember Stan Stan, uh I remember the 17 uh rather the 71st hole. I was getting ready to tee up, and I I put the tee in the ground, and Stan and I had a three-wood in my hand, and it's and Stan looked at me, he said, uh Bobby, you're you you're you're pointing to my ball is in front of the marker. And I looked over to the side, walked over to the side, and sure enough I was. And he told me before I hit that, he was kind enough to s to uh tell me to tell me, and I teed up, of course, back behind the marker. But he could have he could have let me go. Could have let you go. Yeah, he could have let me go. It would have been disastrous. But uh he was that kind of guy. He was Stan was a good, likable person, good player.

Mike Gonzalez 7:05

You were uh you were one backer Raymond. Raymond must have been a pretty young man back in 1963, huh?

Bobby Nichols 7:11

Yes, he was. He was the uh gosh, uh Raymond, I can't recall exactly what it was yeah, he was uh when he first came out, he was the definitely the youngest man out there and the youngest winner, too.

Mike Gonzalez 7:27

So you were you were one back of him uh coming into the final round. And do you remember the 15-footer for par you made on 16?

Bobby Nichols 7:38

Uh gosh, I don't remember that.

Mike Gonzalez 7:43

The newspaper quoted you as as uh basically saying, man, that was a key save to to make that foot 15-footer for par on the 16th.

Bobby Nichols 7:52

That probably was.

Mike Gonzalez 7:53

The other thing I'll ask you about is is uh do you remember Phil Rogers making more money than you made that tournament, even though he finished 16th place?

Bobby Nichols 8:03

Oh, yeah, he made a whole one. That's almost not fair. Oh, he was oh, Phil was Phil was kind of the czar, or whether you call what's a good word to say about a guy that he looked like he was a world beater when he came out because I played with him in college, he was at the University of Houston, he played a couple of years, and uh he came out and he was a heck of a player. He won the national juniors and stuff, and then he at the first tournament he played in as a pro, I think it was the first one maybe at the LA Open, he won that. And uh he was quite a player, Phil. Unfortunately, didn't uh play as well later on, but uh anyway.

Mike Gonzalez 8:54

Which just doesn't seem fair that uh UN first prize of 5300. 5300 he makes ten thousand for a hole and one another six hundred eighty dollars for six sixty. Yeah, for sixteen plays, yeah. Uh so uh let's let's go on in sequence then to that 1964 PGA championship that we alluded to earlier, Columbus Country Club by three over Arnold Palmer and J.W. Nicholas. You led wire to wire, didn't you?

Bobby Nichols 9:25

Yeah, fortunately it was uh one of those good weeks uh where things were just kind of gelling, especially the putter. And uh and that's and that's how you how it's how you win tournaments, of course, with that putter, and if it's not working, you're not gonna win. So uh it was one of those weeks where the putter was working, and uh enjoyable week.

Mike Gonzalez 9:54

Bruce told me before we came on that you could really roll the rock. Well, sometimes.

Bobby Nichols 10:00

Yeah, sometimes but uh I'm like a a lot of guys uh like Bruce or anybody else that played the game on a high high note that uh when you're putting well, you're playing you you pretty well scored.

Bruce Devlin 10:16

Looks like a bucket, doesn't it?

Bobby Nichols 10:18

Yep, it's amazing. It's it really is amazing how how the feel when that putter feels good in your hand, or that uh and you you get the ball rolling, get the ball rolling, get the ball going. You know, back in our days, another thing, you know, they talk about uh uh they talk about uh conditions and uh golf course courses or rather the equipment and everything else being superior to what it was in the past. That's very true, but they forget one thing. Golf courses are by far better shape than they were twenty years ago, thirty years ago. The grasses, guys I watched guys roll roll the putter, and the ball never, never, ever see ever hit a bulk or bounce in the air, that sort of thing. Everything is so smooth and the grasses are so well cut and laying down. And like they can take their putter and anything that's up, they can pat it down with their putter. I mean, uh Bruce, we never did that. We got trip. That's right. That's right, right? Take take an extra two.

Bruce Devlin 11:38

Extra two.

Bobby Nichols 11:40

So it was it's it's been quite an improvement, really. It's uh it's just amazing. That's why I think the big that makes so many so many good putters today. Uh it's because of the consensus of the golf course. The grasses on the fairways. And you never we used to get those ugly lies like a cr be a big piece of crab grass, and then a ball being on dirt, yeah, and you uh and you'd be even in the fairway sometimes because they weren't irrigated, uh, so there was insufficient uh places uh where there'd be uh uh places where they'd be good tough bad in the fairway and because they weren't irrigated and they weren't they weren't uh uh uh consistent.

Mike Gonzalez 12:28

You had 28 putts in that final round of that PGA championship that you won. So you were rolling it well that day. Any vivid memories of that last round? Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Bobby Nichols 12:39

I remember the the closing the closing holes, especially the said the 15th hole when I hit it in the left bunker, and luckily I I I blew uh blew it out not too good, uh about fifteen feet away, and it was a uh left uh right to left uh brake, and I made it from 15 feet to for par, and then on the 17th hole, I made about a tw uh 30-footer. That was for a deuce on 17, right? Yes, 17. It kind of put me four shot four strokes up and kind of you know what the heck I ought to be able to walk in from there. Four or four shots. But the things were working well for me. Anytime I had needed a putt, it seemed like uh it uh it went down. Uh I made the putt. But that's that's what it takes, you know, to win golf tournaments. You have to uh you gotta keep your momentum going and and your thing going. And uh when when you do, you you just it just seemed like everything kind of flows in and flows and keeps going. And uh so that's what happens at PGA.

Mike Gonzalez 14:02

You came out of the box with a 64, followed that with a 71, 69, 67. That 271 stood as a tournament scoring record for 30 years until Nick Nick Price broke it in 1994.

Bobby Nichols 14:16

That's right. Nick Price did it at Oakland Hills. I mean at uh Southern Hills. And uh he uh yeah, he broke it in Southern Hills, quite a quite a quite a player.

Mike Gonzalez 14:33

Well, as you mentioned, you played with Ben Hogan that final round. Let me just uh read some of the opening paragraphs from an article I saw in the Eugene Register Guard, dated July 20th, 1964. Uh, one comment. If Bobby Nichols had fallen off a cliff, he have won the high diving championship on the way down. Another one, this was the week when he could have gotten down in two strokes from the deck of a sinking ship. Another one, there apparently is no oil in the area of Columbus Country Club, or Nichols would have struck it with a seven. Another one, life was like that for Nichols, the 28-year-old Louisville boy who won the PGA golf tournament Sunday by three strokes with a record total of 271, blah, blah, blah, blah. He said, of the 271, nine under par, about 71 of his shots were downright impossible. And and finally, this is a quote from yourself. He says, I couldn't believe them myself, but I have witnesses. There you go.

Bruce Devlin 15:41

Yeah.

Bobby Nichols 15:42

Yeah, I made some made some putts that were the putting was was uh was a was the uh cause of all the things going on because it was uh it were unreal, some of the putts I made. Uh like the one on the when I was coming down the stretch on the 16 when I made that, and then I made that long putt on the 17, it kind of solidified things pretty much being 400.

Mike Gonzalez 16:13

So how did that how did that win change your life, Bobby?

Bobby Nichols 16:16

Well, actually, when I got the you know, back in those days, if you won the PGA, you had it, you got a lifetime exemption from qualifying for any PGA sponsored event, which was quite special along with the with a trophy. So uh that's what I got, and therefore I I could I didn't run right at the present didn't didn't change things, but I I had uh I had the option, if I wanted to change things, I could, because I had that lifetime exemption. So uh anyway, one thing led to another, and I just kept playing it and then uh George Archer now we played in the team championship there in 67 or 68 rather, and uh we won that and after after that uh I had been I had been uh visiting Firestone Country Club because they were looking for a a new uh a new pro. We built a new clubhouse and doing a lot of different things. And so they were kind of looking for a pro and uh I talked to them for a couple times and they said, Would you be interested in in the in the job? And I said, Well yeah, I'd you know, I'd like to have a job in the summer and uh play in the winter, be off in the winter, it'd be perfect. He said, Well anyways, we uh he said, We'll get back with you. So a couple weeks later I get a call call, they said uh well they they told me what to s what would be the the he they said that they had about four or five other term pros that they were looking at and uh think thinking about uh hiring as the pro and uh they would need to talk to them too. So they left me there, not hanging, but uh just said we'll get back to you. So about four or five weeks later they came back and said uh uh uh we uh we'd like to bring you in and talk to you. So they did, and when they did bring when they did come in, they came in with an offer that I had that I could not possibly imagine happening. I mean they were so good to me. Uh Firestone could I could never thank them enough. They they when it when they changed over in '67, they they gave me everything. Everything it could possibly like the carts, the clubhouse, I mean the pro shop, the new pro shop paid off. Even paid all my help. And uh it was just incredible the offer. Uh Scotty Scotty Brubecker was the head of PR for Firestone. He and Mr. Firestone sat down and we we talked, and that's when they told me the deal. Well, I couldn't believe my ears. I said, Well, absolutely I mean, God, I was elated. So anyways, I uh I said, yeah, I want I want I want the job. I'd love to have a job. So that's that's how it came about. And uh I was 30 I was 33 and uh guys on the tour said Bobby, what what the heck got into you? Why would you want to take a job at 33? Well, you gotta understand the situation. After a while I got I realized how how special it was.

Mike Gonzalez 20:20

Let's go back to the 1964 Carling World Open. Uh what I alluded to. What I what I alluded to with my uh with our listeners. Is that Kel there?

Bobby Nichols 20:30

I think it is. I couldn't tell with his hat and everything on. Looks like Kel. Oh yeah, now I see. Now I see. He's got the headphones on now. Yeah, okay. Now I see him. How are you doing, Kel? Fantastic.

Bruce Devlin 20:50

I'll let you guys get back to your call.

Bobby Nichols 20:52

I've been good, I've been in good company here. Yeah. We're gonna we're about to tell some Aggie stories we had to watch.

Mike Gonzalez 21:00

So let's go back to the 1964 Carling World Open, which you won at Oakland Hills. We talked about that earlier.

Bobby Nichols 21:07

That was one that that was one I think that's probably my best golf I ever played four rounds, it was at Oakland Hills. Now, I didn't I didn't shoot consistently. I shot 72, 68, 66, 72. But if you ever play Oakland Hills, that you I can bet one thing, you'll have 18 greens that are absolutely all very difficult. Everyone. Yeah. And it's and it's played a lot, a lot of major events there. And I can see why. Because it it was uh I remember Mr. Hogan said it was it was probably the best he Yeah, he called it the monster. That's right, Bruce. And uh and uh Um it was probably the one of the best wins he ever had.

Mike Gonzalez 22:06

Well I alluded to our at the opener, I alluded to our listeners about our guest uh showing up when the when the purses got big. This was the first, as I remember, first two hundred thousand dollar purse, was it not?

Bobby Nichols 22:19

It was uh yes, it was the first that's correct, uh yeah, it was it was the first uh two hundred thousand. I think it was the first two hundred. Yeah, Houston, I think Houston, no, no, no. It was a calling world. It was the first two hundred or three, and then the first 300, I recall, I remember was the uh Dow Jones in 1970. Exactly. You won that one, uh big per big purses those days, I thought.

Mike Gonzalez 22:55

Well, the Carling, the Carling tournament, as Bruce said, uh, he thanked you for setting the stage for him because he tended to won a few events after you did, and and he was able to win the Carling uh World Open a couple years later at uh at yeah, I wanted to thank you.

Bruce Devlin 23:10

Yeah, I wanted to thank you for winning the book. You're winning Pride of Me Again. You're welcome. Yeah, you sent me on a great path, Bobby.

Bobby Nichols 23:19

Thank you. Thank you. I'll tell you that. Um speaking of uh the the open uh tournaments, I never I never got a chance to go, I shouldn't say got a chance, never went over for the open. Uh in all the all the years that I was eligible from 64 on, and I regret that I didn't because uh well I had I took the job at Firestone and I just felt like when I was playing, I needed to uh I I just felt like I couldn't take the week or two off to go to the open. But I regret that decision was uh one of the worst uh feelings or or I regretful to have obeyed in not going to the open. I'd love to have gone over there because cause I was used to playing in the wind out in the midland and I'm I'd uh so forth, and maybe I could do it. You know, played decent decent or whatever.

Mike Gonzalez 24:25

And Bobby, I tell you, you know, you're not the Lone Ranger because uh we've had a number of our guests who you know played once or twice or or or maybe just a few times. And and I I remember talking to Charles Cootie uh Bruce, and Charlie Cootie played, I think, in only one open, having having won a tournament over uh at uh at Truner, I think. And and I asked him, I said, Do you regret not going over to the open more? He said, Absolutely. He said, I had the game for it. I I grew up playing in the wind. Kind of the same thing you were saying, Bob.

Bobby Nichols 24:55

Yeah, yeah, he grew up in West Texas. Or Texas, not really West, but uh mid middle Abilene. Aberen.

Mike Gonzalez 25:04

But it's hard for our listeners to relate because you know, back in this time, we're talking about, especially back in the 60s, uh, give an example. When you won the PGA championship in 1964, the British Open was played the prior week at the old course. Well, it was almost impossible to get from there to here and play both events, and that happened five times in the 60s where those tournaments were played back to back.

Bobby Nichols 25:31

I didn't realize that. I guess you're right. That's right.

Mike Gonzalez 25:35

And it wasn't cheap. It wasn't cheap to go over there, and you didn't win a much it it cost you money, even if you won, it probably cost you money.

Bobby Nichols 25:42

Yeah, it was uh but you know uh I think Bruce uh uh agree that uh with guys like you and Arnold and Jack and Gary got the British the open to where uh it is today. Yeah, I think I I mean I think you guys you guys are really the what I'm trying to say, uh the pioneers? Yeah, there you go. That's a good word.

Bruce Devlin 26:13

I think Arnold Arnold was the one that uh when he went over uh I guess in nineteen sixty, would it be? Nineteen sixty. He sort of he sort of uh got got uh got the interest back into the British Open, which obviously now is called the Open, but back in those days was the British.

Bobby Nichols 26:34

Right.

Mike Gonzalez 26:36

Bobby, I gotta ask you about this. Uh uh, and I think it probably came in about this sequence, maybe it was after the Carling. I want to ask you about what you remember about the 1964 CBS Golf Classic 36 hole match between Bruce Devlin and Bob Charles.

Bruce Devlin 26:56

Oh my god.

Mike Gonzalez 26:57

And Bobby Nichols and Tony Lima.

Bruce Devlin 27:00

Do you remember that, Bobby?

Bobby Nichols 27:03

Do I remember that? I still can't comprehend. You guys were not only good, you were so you were so in the uh well, I don't know what what to say. I really don't know how to explain the Bob Trous and Bruce Devin were just phenomenal. I mean, this phenomenal. We played, we were 11 under par, Tony Lima and I were, and we got beat nine and seven. Nine and seven. That's like I mean, they were just incredible. And uh back in those days, uh that those uh uh there was no houses around anything, so wind blew and the sm uh dust blew. God, it it was tough. Yeah. But that they were they Bruce and Bob Travels, I never would get that.

Mike Gonzalez 28:01

Well, I found that I found a uh uh somebody sent us uh uh a video off the old CBS master tapes, because I think the master tapes were were maybe maybe lost in a fire. And so I watched this thing on television, and what was interesting was you guys must have been mic'd up because often every time Devil and Charles made a putt, you and Lima were almost talking to yourself off camera. Like, I can't believe these guys are making everything.

Bobby Nichols 28:31

They did. They they ever they I don't think they ever let us open, have an opening anywhere. They they filled they filled that cup up before we even had a chance.

Mike Gonzalez 28:43

Well, let's turn it let's turn the tables on Mr. Devlin because in 1965 you got into his pocket a little bit because you won the Houston Classic by two over, or by one rather, over uh Mr. Devlin and Mr. Rodriguez.

Bruce Devlin 28:56

Oh, the opening. That was it. I mean that was your second second victory at Houston, Bobby. Yeah, Houston opened, uh huh. Yeah. It was fun, it was fun.

Bobby Nichols 29:08

Yeah, it was uh they were good bunny tournaments. They were the bunny tournaments, I think. 9,000 was first prize.

Bruce Devlin 29:18

Yeah, I think they were like 60,000 or something, wasn't it? The total purse, something like that. Something like that.

Mike Gonzalez 29:26

Well, Bruce, uh Bruce got in the winter circle there again after you did in 1972.

Bobby Nichols 29:31

I was gonna say he he he won later, was it 72?

Bruce Devlin 29:35

Thank you very much again, Bobby, for leading me.

Bobby Nichols 29:38

Thank you.

Mike Gonzalez 29:41

Bobby, your next win was 1966 at the Minnesota Golf Classic at Keller Golf Course by one over John Slee. John Slee, I remember that.

Bobby Nichols 29:51

That Keller Golf Course, that that was uh that used to have back in the golden days, I guess it was one of the oldest tournaments on the tour. St. Paul Open, they used to call it at Keller Golf Club, and then changed it to the Minnesota Classic.

Mike Gonzalez 30:08

Uh-huh.

Bobby Nichols 30:09

And uh, but it was still at the Keller Golf Club.

Mike Gonzalez 30:14

Yep. Yeah, you mentioned the 1968 PGA national team championship with uh with you and George Archer. Uh that was winning by two over Lamont Monte Cazer and Reeves McBee. Reeves McBee, yeah.

Bobby Nichols 30:30

They played good together.

Mike Gonzalez 30:33

So was that a better ball event?

Bobby Nichols 30:34

Is that what the format of that event is better ball, better ball.

Mike Gonzalez 30:38

And then you mentioned that next big money win, which was the first$300,000 purse that was at the Dow Jones Open Invitational at Upper Montclair, New Jersey Country Club.

Bobby Nichols 30:50

Right. Dow Jones. They only had it at one year, too. They didn't uh they didn't follow up. They only had it one year, but it was uh at uh Upper Montclair.

Mike Gonzalez 31:04

Yeah, you beat LeBron Harris Jr., who won the 1971 Robinson Open that following year in a playoff with Bert Yancey.

Bobby Nichols 31:11

Yeah, that's right.

Mike Gonzalez 31:13

Did you ever play in the Robinson Open?

Bobby Nichols 31:15

Yeah, yeah, I played a couple times. Did you? Yeah. It was uh it was like a tournament a lot of guys took off, but I didn't see any reason to take off. I mean, to uh, you know, back in those days, you'd pretty hard to take off on any of them because the purses were so small. You just try to make a few dollars, whatever.

Mike Gonzalez 31:37

That was at Crawford County Country Club. I actually caddied there is that right in in 1969 and 1970. Oh yeah, really? I think in 70 I I caddied for Harry Toscano. Harry Toscano. Yeah. I remember Harry very well. Well, let me tell you about a tournament that I have a very vivid memory of, and and and I'm not sure why, but I I remember like it was yesterday when you won at Westchester.

Bobby Nichols 32:05

Oh play uh Bob Murphy in a playoff. Murphy Murphy in a playoff. Well, it was I don't know how I even became uh involved in the playoffs, but the 18th hole I had to hit it on the green and I made a de I made the putt for an Eagle to tie Murphy. And uh we were kind of waiting on I think a couple more guys were in contention and uh it never panned out, so we we went and uh had the playoff on the on the th uh what I think I think it was the thirteenth hole there that we had is kind of uh up up on the mound, kinda and uh it was a short iron in there and I made about a fifteen footer side hill right for for a birdie. Burf looked like he made his looked like he made his three, but it it w swim by the hole. And then uh I made my uh fifteen footer for the birdie to win. So it was it was uh kind of nice thing. That wasn't that wasn't bad money back then. Oh, back to fifty thousand, it was a lot of money back in those days. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

Bruce Devlin 33:34

Then the next year, Bobby Did you win next year? No, I didn't win the next year.

Mike Gonzalez 33:42

Then it's good of the game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends straight down until we tee it up again for the good of the game, so long, everybody.

Intro Music 34:07

It went smack down the fairway. And it's time to just like just smack land. It went smiling.