"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
online golf column
by
Chris Dortch

July 9, 2008

It’s hard to believe, but The Honors Course celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year. I’ve covered the Tennessee golf scene during those 25 years, and for the last 21 have focused on Chattanooga golf. So I’ve got some fond memories of the course and from the many tournaments that have been played at what chairman Jack Lupton intended to be the home of amateur golf.

Somewhere along the way, Lupton’s love of the amateur game rubbed off on me, and to be honest, professional golf has very little appeal anymore, save for when Tiger Woods is making history. Amateur golf, even played by those who aspire to be professionals, is far more interesting to me, and in two decades-plus I’ve covered golf in Chattanooga, I’ve seen plenty of it at The Honors.

On the occasion of its 25^th birthday, here’s my list of my favorite memories while tramping around The Honors Course:

1. The domination of Tiger Woods in the 1996 NCAA Championships. A couple of days before the tournament began, Woods was playing in a two-man event, and his group included one of PGA Tour veteran Raymond Floyd’s sons. Floyd and I were standing along the 18^th fairway when a ball came whistling by us. The shot had been played by Woods, who hit a perfect power fade that traveled about 325 yards.

“Is that his drive?” Floyd asked, looking at me.

“Yep,” I said.

Floyd said nothing, but the look on his face could have served as a warning to his fellow tour players: “Look out boys. Hell’s a comin’.”

Woods wasn’t real fond of the press back then and probably isn’t now, but I lucked into an impromptu, exclusive interview at a banquet before the tournament. He owed me one, though, having stiffed me in 1991 at the U.S. Amateur and in 1994 at the Carpet Classic Collegiate at The Farm in Dalton, Ga.

2. Talking to the Golden Bear. Jack Nicklaus never played in a tournament at The Honors, but he drew some of the biggest crowds at the 1991 U.S. Amateur while following son Gary in the tournament.

I had interviewed Nicklaus before, and even caddied for him during the opening of one of his courses in North Carolina, but I didn’t think I’d be able to wangle an exclusive interview. But as it turned out, Alice Lupton, Jack’s wife, knew Nicklaus’ wife Barbara, and a request was made through that connection. To my surprise, it was granted.

I’ve still got the tape of that interview. Or at least, it’s in my office. Somewhere.

3. Phil Mickleson’s ouster in the 1991 U.S. Amateur. It happened on the 17^th hole, and Mickelson, the defending champion, was beaten by little-known Dicky Pride. I’ll never forget the look of intense concentration on his face as he stood over a putt that would have squared the hole and sent the match on to the 18^th. He missed.

I got to know Mickelson a bit during the tournament, and he really is as nice as he seems. Following him around during a practice round, I had a laugh when, while we were waiting out a rain delay in a shelter, he put his hand on a daddy-longlegs spider. The native Californian had never seen one before and was scared to death.

“Is it poisonous?” he asked.

“Oh, very,” I said. What I didn’t tell him was that their fangs are too short to bite humans.

Remember that little leap on the 18^th green when he won the 2004 Masters? The move he made getting away from that spider was better.

4. The 1994 Curtis Cup. No particular shot stands out, but I remember writing about all the United States players, including Tennessee Golf Hall of Famer Sarah LeBrun Ingram and future pros Emilee Klein, Jill McGill and Wendy Ward. All were intelligent, well spoken and made for great copy.

After the event I received a nice letter from Alice Lupton, who thanked me for the coverage and said the U.S. players had all asked whether I’d be covering the U.S. Women’s Amateur that year. I thought that was pretty neat.

5. The 2005 U.S. Mid-Amateur. I doubt my buddy Carlton Forrester, the former Chattanooga Baylor and Georgia Tech star, will fondly remember this tournament, because he was thoroughly dominated by Kevin Marsh in the championship match.

Marsh jumped out to a 3-up lead after seven holes and was 10-up after the first 18. Marsh could do no wrong that day, as evidenced by the 28-foot birdie putt he made at the par-3 14^th. Forrester was so stunned he missed his five-footer for birdie to go 6-down.

“In the 100 times I have played The Honors Course, I’ve never seen anyone make it from below that ridge,” said Forrester. “That really swung the tempo. I got behind the eight-ball there and really started pressing.”

6. The 1989 Tennessee Amateur, won by Rex Kuramoto of East Tennessee State. I don’t remember many shots, but I do remember Kuramoto’s idiosyncratic swing, because he game to a dead stop at the top.

That tournament was significant, as Dick Horton, former executive director of the Tennessee Golf Association, has told me many times. Before The Honors stepped forward to play host to the tournament, the state’s better golf clubs had shunned it. That changed after 1989.

“If it was good enough for The Honors, it was good enough for any course in the state,” Horton once said.

7. Meeting Pete Dye. One day while playing a friendly round with an Honors member, I pulled my approach at the 18^th slightly and nearly beaned someone who was standing near the green.

When I got up there, I was stunned to find Pete Dye, who was mapping out some subtle changes he was about to make to the green. I’ve met few more interesting characters in golf.

The Honors may be 25 years old, but it’s still a puppy compared to most USGA venues. It’s only just begun to be a part of golf history. Next year, the Tennessee Amateur will return there for the third time. And in 2010, the NCAA Championship is scheduled. I look forward to them both.

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