Charles Coody - "My British Open Regret" SHORT TRACK

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Let's turn the attention quickly to uh other major championships uh that you participate in. And and one thing that jumped out, and I noticed you'd only played one open championship. And I know the British Open was a different deal for American players back in the day than it is today, but uh are there any regrets to just uh simply making one appearance across the pond in that tournament?

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Mike, that is a tremendous regret that I have. Uh I grew up on a little old golf course in the town where I I live, Stanford, that had probably more rocks than grass. Very, very small push-up greens. The greens were probably oh, maybe thousand, twelve hundred feet in uh in square footage. And you learned how to to uh I was a much better uh chipper when I came on the green uh around the greens uh when I came on the tour than I was when I left. And I that that kind of became a little bit of a Keeley's hill for me in the latter part of my my playing career. And uh but anyway, uh I went over that year and played and uh I was exempt because I'd won uh I'd won Augusta. I don't think I would have been exempt been exempt except for that reason. And anyway, I I d I just I I fell in love with that kind of golf and uh and I uh uh to go over uh back then uh you know, I played a lot of tournaments just to make a living and support my family. And and I knew that uh uh that uh I was I was gonna be missing some tournaments on on the regular tour, which uh so I I played four or five weeks prior. I went over the week before and uh and just to get acclimated and then wound up uh I think I tied for Phil with Jack. Played played pretty good in the tournament and uh didn't didn't have a chance to win, but uh I played well. You played on a great track too. Yeah, that was at Burgdale. Yeah, and uh terrific golf course. Uh Trevino won that year. They that was the first year he won the open. And uh anyway, and so uh uh I'm flying home and I've I've I've played four or five weeks before and I took a week off and then I played the British Open and quite honestly I've I kind of would just worn myself out a little bit. And I'm flying home and when I landed in Chicago to change planes or or to get off and go play the Western, I called uh I called the Western officials and and told them I was with withdrawing and I was going home. I was just worn out. And uh and I uh in time with Jack, I won about five thousand dollars and I think maybe I broke even. You know. And and when it came time uh uh what was the uh uh the head of the RA at that time was a fellow named uh Mackenzie or something like that, Bruce. I don't I don't really remember. But anyway, he came up to me and August and he said, Charles, we'll see you back at uh they're gonna play at Muirfield and see you back at Muirfield for the open this year. And I said, Well, I don't know, I'm trying to make a decision as whether or not to come. And I didn't go and uh and consequently I never did go again and uh because it it took it took so much time away from uh you know the uh what uh what I was actually uh felt my calling was who was trying to make a living on the tour to to support the family. And that was a mistake. I uh I really regret that. I don't know that I don't know that I ever would have won the tournament, but it it was a kind of it was kind of golf that I played when I was a kid. And it was a lot of times it was played in the type of weather that I grew up in and cold and windy.

Mike Gonzalez 4:24

Yeah, and I think our younger listeners, they just probably don't have the uh uh uh an appreciation for the fact that this was not an easy trip back then. It wasn't an easy decision to make because, as you say, there are financial implications. You're generally gonna cost you a couple of weeks, you may miss some golf on the back end of the tournament. Uh it's expensive, and so if and unless you have a high finish, it may not pay off in the long run if you do this a lot of times. But uh uh, you know, today's fan would look at that and say, Well, wait a minute, really? That I I can't relate to that, but that's really the way it was, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Right. Well, see, it at that time the uh the the money wasn't official. In fact, it wasn't even an official win. Uh it it it I forgot what year it was, but it it uh eventually it became an official win on the tour. And and then it uh the money became official. So uh the money you would make there would uh would help as far as skipping uh tournaments on the regular tour. I don't know, Bruce, how how much did you play the Reddit show, but you probably played a lot more than I did because it it it meant it meant so much to uh people from Australia out there.

Mike Gonzalez 5:36

We hope you've enjoyed this short track of for the 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 until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 6:00

It went smack down the fairway. Just bit offline.