David Graham, Tom Pernice

[golfdigest]

You win some and you lose more.

Texas Golf World reader Curtis Carter liked the David Graham Backspin in the February 15 issue by Jim Morirarty.

Thanks, Jim, for a great article on a great guy, David Graham.  During the 1983 Houston Open, I posted players' hole-by-hole scores on the (indoor) Press Room scoreboard at The Woodlands Country Club.  Before the tournament began, I remember surveying my domain of 18 little squares per player, per round, then looking at my broad felt-tip pens and wondering, "What if someone makes a 10 or higher on one hole?  Can I squeeze double-digits into one of these little squares?" 

 

No one made a double-digit; however, the highest single-hole score I posted was a "9," by the winner, David Graham, on hole No. 1, a 515 yard par 5, beginning (I believe) his third round, when he was near the top of the leader board.  I remember the collective groans from the assembled reporters as they probably sensed his doom.

 

David played the remaining 17 holes that day 3 under par, then fired a 64 on Sunday and won the tournament by 5 strokes.  Following the trophy presentation and TV appearances outside, he came back to the Press Room, followed by a waiter pushing a bus cart of champagne on ice for the thirsty scribes (and scorekeeper).  He visited with us for 15 or 20 minutes, shaking hands, clinking glasses, and being a genuinely pleasant gentleman.  

 
Bob Minno of Akron wasn't quite so high on Tom Pernice, and his "Five Faves" in the previous issue:

I read, with yawning surprise, Mr. Pernice's cliché ridden comments regarding his "five faves" political talk-show hosts. One, who publicly mocked a Parkinson's sufferer, and another, widows of 9/11 victims; pretty tuned in fellow that Tom. When I want to read politically polarizing dogma I turn to Mother Jones or the Wall Street Journal's editorial page. Please, stick to golf.

Bob, you'd be interested, I'm sure, in

Tom's practice-range divot pattern

, too, as documented by Geoff Shackelford.

--Bob Carney

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