Jack Burke Jr., who was the oldest living member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, has died at age 100

Burke claimed that he received more for attending the Champions Dinner at the Masters than he did for winning it.

John “Jack” Joseph Burke Jr. won 16 times on the PGA Tour, including two majors in 1956 – the Masters and PGA Championship – earning him Player of the Year honors. In 1952, he won four tournaments in a row, along with the Vardon Trophy, which is awarded for low scoring average. He played on five Ryder Cup teams during the 1950s, captained twice and hosted another at his own course.

Burke died on Friday at the age of 100.

While still at the peak of his abilities, he retired from the Tour and built one of the country’s first golf-only clubs – Champions Golf Club in Houston – with his former childhood babysitter and closest friend, fellow World Golf Hall of Famer Jimmy Demaret.

Burke grew up on River Oaks Country Club in Texas during the Great Depression, where his father, Jack, served as the first club pro in the state’s history and mentored the likes of Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Jack Grout and Harvey Penick. Young Jackie suffered from asthma and couldn’t play other sports so at age 7 he began sitting and listening at the feet of his father, who is himself a member of the Texas Golf Hall of Fame.

By age 12, Burke Jr. could break par and a year later gave his first lesson to John P. Fusler, who paid him $350 when Burke helped lower his scores from 100 to 85.

“He thought I was the greatest teacher in the world, but all I was doing was relating what I had heard at the dinner table,” Burke told the USGA’s Golf Journal in 1995.

He landed a job as a teaching professional at Galveston Country Club in Houston before he turned 20, and would later hold jobs at Hollywood Golf Club in New Jersey and Metropolis Country Club in New York. One time, in the company of Demaret and his golf buddy Bob Hope, the comedian innocently asked Burke, “What do you do?”

“I’m a golf professional,” Burke answered.

“Where?” Hope asked. “At Boys Town?”

The finest hour as a player for “the pro from Boys Town,” as Burke was affectionately called, may have been the final round of the 1956 Masters, which is still widely considered to be the toughest conditions of cold, wind and rain in tournament history. Somehow, Burke held it together against the elements to shoot 71 and erase an eight-stroke deficit as amateur Ken Venturi ballooned to an 80.

“He handed me the trophy,” said Burke, overlooking the fact that he tied for the low round of the day to finish at 1-over 289, still tied for the highest winning score in tournament history. “I thank him a lot for that.”

Burke, who was paired in the final round with Mike Souchak, always was known for his stellar putting and his short stick was his sword and his shield at Augusta National as he relied on a short, tap putting stroke.

“Sand had blown out of the bunkers all over the green,” he told Golf Digest in 2002 of a critical birdie putt he holed at 17. “I’d putted on sand greens in east Texas that were really fast, and factored that in, but I still thought I’d hit it about halfway — till the wind blew it right in the center of the cup. Mike’s a cheerleader-type guy, and he ran to pick the ball out of the cup and then clapped me so hard on the back I had to walk around on the 18th tee to recover. I put my second shot on 18 in the right bunker and had to make a downhill four-footer to save my par. It still makes me almost ill to think about that putt with the outcome riding on it.”

Burke won the 1956 PGA Championship at Blue Hill Golf & Country Club in Canton, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, back when it was contested at match play, defeating Ted Kroll, 3 and 2, in the final.

“I beat eight guys to win the PGA,” Burke recalled. “Each day you felt like you’re standing on the edge of a cliff and some guy was going to push you off. I never felt like I was going to win the PGA. Never.”

Indeed, Burke needed two extra holes to prevail over Fred Haas in the third round and was five down after 14 holes in the 36-hole semifinals before rallying to knock off Ed Furgol on the 37th hole. And for good measure, he trailed three down midway into the finals before edging Kroll.

At the time, the life of a Tour pro was a meager existence, even during a banner year. Many years later, Burke claimed that he received more for attending the Champions Dinner at the Masters than he did for winning it.

“I won the PGA in Boston and my check was hot,” Burke once told the Houston Chronicle. “I couldn’t cash my check for $6,000. The PGA had to guarantee my check.”

It led Burke to consider scaling back his tournament schedule to spend more time with his family. He and Demaret, a three-time winner of the Masters who died in 1983, shared a mutual interest in creating a haven for hardcore golfers that would capitalize on the knowledge and experience they’d gained from playing the game around the world.

“Golf is really in your blood when you drive through a strange area and start envisioning golf holes on every piece of property around the next bend,” Burke said in his autobiography, “It’s Only a Game.”

“This is what happened with Jimmy and me when we envisioned Champions. We looked at several pieces of property, but the land here looked just right for a golf course.”

They acquired 500 acres (at $500 per) in Northwest Houston in 1957, out in what was then a forest of pine and oak trees in the middle of nowhere, to build two courses – Cypress Creek and Jackrabbit – and hired Ralph Plummer as the architect.

On April 21, 1959, celebrities Bing Crosby, Mickey Mantle and James Garner joined Ben Hogan, Jay Hebert, Bob Rosburg and Souchak among the more than 6,000 who attended the grand opening. A day earlier, Burke and Julius Boros battled in an 18-hole playoff at the Houston Classic. Boros shot a 3-under-par 69 at Memorial Park … and lost by five.

“I believe we should have a saliva test on Jackie,” Boros said at the time. “As soon as he is available, I would like to sign up for a series of lessons.”

Burke’s reputation as “America’s grand golf sage” helped attract numerous prominent competitions to the club and tested golf’s elite amateurs and pros ever since. The Cypress Creek Course was home of the Tour Championship five times between 1990 and 2003, hosted tour events from 1966-’71 – Ben Hogan chose the course for his final tournament appearance of his career at the 1971 Houston Champions International – the 1967 Ryder Cup, 1969 U.S. Open, 1993 U.S. Amateur, 1998 and 2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, and 2020 U.S. Women’s Open. Burke was one of five Champions members who have won the PGA Championship, along with Steve Elkington, Hal Sutton and the late Dave Marr and Jay Hebert. When a local sportscaster asked Burke if that’s unusual, he said, “Hell, we’ve got three members who walked on the moon,” referring to astronauts Alan Shepard, who hit a golf ball there, Gene Cernan and Charles Duke.

Jack and Robin Burke
Jack and Robin Burke in 2016. (Golfweek/Tracy Wilcox)

Burke continued to foster the same atmosphere that his father promoted at River Oaks. Golf is it at Champions. In fact, he was so dedicated to protecting the spirit of competition that he refused to consider members who have a handicap higher than 15.

“You play your way in, you don’t buy your way in,” Burke once said.

Burke claimed that a country club where no one plays the game seriously “is like a yacht club where no one can sail a boat.”

Champions Club likely will be his most lasting legacy, which is just how Burke always wanted it.

“My dad said to me once, ‘Son, before you leave this planet, you try and leave more than two footprints here. So, I said, ‘I will do that,’ ” he said. “This is my footprint.”

Burke, who served in the Marines during World War II and fathered six children, was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000, and in 2004 received the Bob Jones Award from the U.S. Golf Association, which is considered its highest honor and awarded for distinguished sportsmanship.

Burke has tutored the likes of Crenshaw, Elkington, Sutton and Phil Mickelson. Crenshaw once described a lesson with Burke as “a full-contact sport,” and former touring pro turned Golf Channel commentator Billy Ray Brown is living proof of that. Brown, a former University of Houston star, missed a putt at the start of a lesson from Brown and received a whack alongside the head for it.

“Son,” Burke said, “I want you to feel pain when you miss a putt.”

When Mickelson made his first pilgrimage to Champions for a lesson from Burke, he was challenged to pass Burke’s putting-pressure test: holing 100 straight three-footers. In typical Mickelson fashion, he bet Burke dinner at Houston’s finest restaurant in town that he could do it on the first try. Mickelson missed his fourth putt and wanted to double down.

In recounting the story to Golf Digest, Burke said, “Man, I can’t eat that much.” During his heyday, Burke would make the 100 putts every night before allowing himself dinner. “You’d get to 89 and you were a little tired and hungry. The key is to strike a carpenter’s 90, with the blade square to the line, and concern yourself less with sinking putts. Losers are result-oriented — winners are execution-oriented. On long putts, your target is that three-foot cup. You need mental aids.”

“Being with him was like a tonic for the soul,” Crenshaw said.

Sutton, who made Burke one of his assistant captains to the 2004 U.S. Ryder Cup team, said the smartest decision he made as a young pro was buying a house next door to Burke, who he considered one of the few people who really understood the game in its entirety.

“He’s seen all the great players, he knows how they hit it. He understands the golf swing, he’s made it happen and he’s been a great player in his own day,” said Sutton, who looked at Burke as a spiritual advisor, sports psychologist, sounding board, confidante, cheerleader and surrogate parent. “Without even knowing it, he did a great deal to make me a better, more well-rounded person.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=451204004]

Forward Press Video Promo

Golfweek’s David Dusek chats with Abby Liebenthal of the USGA about how golf’s majors can continue to grow new audiences going forward.

Golfweek’s David Dusek chats with Abby Liebenthal of the USGA about how golf’s majors can continue to grow new audiences going forward.

AJGA’s 2021 schedule to include invitationals at Streamsong, Champions Golf Club

The AJGA is adding invitationals in 2021 at two top venues: Streamsong Resort and Champions Golf Club.

The American Junior Golf Association tends to celebrate long weekends with tournament opportunities. As this weekend’s AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas, approaches, the AJGA has added two more similar championships.

This marks the first time since 2007 that boys stroke-play invitationals – which draw the deepest fields on the AJGA schedule – have been added to the AJGA lineup.

The organization announced on Wednesday that it would host the Team TaylorMade Invitational on May 29-31, 2021. Top juniors will spend Memorial Day weekend at Streamsong Resort’s Blue Course in remote Bowling Green, Florida.

Streamsong Blue lands in the top 20 on Golfweek’s Best 2020 list of top resort courses and has never hosted an AJGA event before. The U.S. Golf Association hosted the second U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball at Streamsong Resort in 2016. The Florida State Golf Association frequently uses it for a championship site, and the inaugural Golfweek Streamsong Amateur was played on the Blue Course in December.

Along with the Team TaylorMade Invitational, the AJGA last week added the Jack Burke Jr. Invitational to the August schedule. The 54-hole boys event will be played at Champions Golf Club Cypress Creek course, where the U.S. Women’s Open was played in December.

Interestingly, the event, to be played Aug. 3-6, grew from parent support. When four parents of AJGA players posed the question of whether Champions Golf Club ever host an event, the wheels began to turn.

A group of golfers walk down the fairway after tee shot off the 11th tee box during the third round of the U.S. Women’s Open at Champions Golf Club. (Photo: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports)

“One of the biggest challenges for junior golf is obtaining high-quality courses for tournaments,” said Chris Spaulding, one of those parents, in an AJGA release. “We all have junior golfers and we know this first hand. We thought it would be excellent if an AJGA Invitational were held at Champions and on the Cypress Creek course. We knew that it would be a very special event and, as we knew would be the case, when we raised the possibility with Robin Burke and Bret Nutt, Champions immediately got behind hosting the event.”

The Jack Burke Jr. Invitational is named, of course, after the founder of the club – a man who had an illustrious professional career that included the 1956 Masters title. The invitational has no corporate sponsor. Instead, support from Champions Golf Club members will fund the championship in 2021 and beyond.

[lawrence-related id=778084234,778080871,778079072]

Robin Burke reflects on golf’s final major and what’s next for Champions Golf Club

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols chats with Vice President of Champions Golf Club, Robin Burke, about the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open and what she has planned for the club moving forward.

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols chats with Vice President of Champions Golf Club, Robin Burke, about the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open and what she has planned for the club moving forward.

U.S. Women’s Open: Amy Olson talks final round, mixed emotions

Amy Olson talks about her final round at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open from Champions Golf Club.

Amy Olson talks about her final round at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open from Champions Golf Club.

How much money each player won at the U.S. Women’s Open

Here is a look at what the top players took home from the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open.

Here is a look at what the top players took home from the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open.

U.S. Women’s Open rookie A Lim Kim rallies for a major title on a cold Texas Monday

A Lim Kim came from behind to win the U.S. Women’s Open in her first start in that tournament.

Midday on an unusual Monday finish at the U.S. Women’s Open – played in December, even more unusual – the title seemed firmly within Amy Olson’s grasp. The North Dakota native, bundled up, like most players, to battle a South Texas cold snap had a two-shot advantage shortly after making the turn at Champions Golf Club in Houston.

Then A Lim Kim went on a run.

Playing three groups ahead of Olson, South Korea’s Kim made clutch birdies at Nos. 16-18 coming down the stretch. The birdie at No. 17 – which came off an approach Kim hit to 2 feet – allowed her to pull even with Olson at 2 under. Kim’s final birdie gave her the solo lead, and ultimately the title, at 3 under.

Olson was not only playing for her first major title, but her first LPGA title. Olson couldn’t get much going on the back nine, and ultimately ended her chances with a bogey on No. 16 even though she birdied the 18th to tie for second with world No. 1 Jin Young Ko. She is, however, already  USGA champion, having won the 2009 U.S. Girls’ Junior.

Kim, 25 and ranked No. 94 in the Rolex Rankings, started the week among the 41 first-time U.S. Women’s Open competitors in the field. She has won twice on the Korean LPGA tour.

Kim was sitting with a cup of coffee in player dining when she was doused by her friends with champagne bottles, as is customary on the LPGA. Kim will carry off a $1 million first-place prize for the week.

Kim is the 10th U.S. Women’s Open winner from South Korea in the past 16 years.

“Can’t really describe in words,” Kim said through a translator when asked what that means for golf in her country. “Never expected that I was going to appear in the U.S. Women’s Open. With this win, still can’t feel what it’s like right now. Probably feel it when today’s tournament and the ceremony wraps up.”

Shortly after signing for her final-round 67, Kim and her caddie giggled through the complete cleaning out of her golf bag to find her cell phone, which she had dropped in the bottom of the bag.

It might be a good thing to keep handy considering there could be a few congratulatory messages coming in for Kim on Monday afternoon.

[lawrence-related id=778080356,778080346,778080316]

Play suspended at 75th U.S. Women’s Open on a stormy Sunday in Houston

Play was suspended due to dangerous weather at the 75th U.S. Women’s Open at 9:10 a.m. local time.

HOUSTON – World No. 1 Jin Young and amateur Kaitlyn Papp didn’t make it off the first tee box on Sunday morning before play was suspended due to dangerous weather at the 75th U.S. Women’s Open at 10:10 a.m. ET (9:10 a.m. local time). Lydia Ko looked up in shock on the range at Champions Golf Club when she heard the blast through her AirPods.

A total of six groups had yet to tee off before play was halted.

On Saturday, USGA officials moved up tee times for Sunday with the final round starting at 8:45 a.m. ET (7:45 a.m. local). Players were again starting on the 1st and 10th tees of Champions Golf Club’s Cypress Creek Course.

Former No. 1 and 2018 U.S. Women’s Open champion Ariya Jutanugarn managed to birdie the first hole to pull to even par, four strokes behind leader Hinako Shibuno. Amateur Linn Grant is 1 under on the day through three holes and in a share of 14th.

The USGA’s official forecast calls for additional storms to move into the Houston area around lunchtime as a cold front makes its way in. Rainfall totals for the day were predicted to be half an inch.

The storms are expected to clear for Monday, when temperatures are expected to drop and a strong, gusty wind comes in from the north.

[vertical-gallery id=778079668]

[lawrence-related id=778080326,778080316,778080291]

Lydia Ko staying patient at U.S. Women’s Open: ‘Par’s sometimes not a bad score’

While many in the pack struggled with soggy fairways at Champions Golf Club, Lydia Ko just kept making pars at the U.S. Women’s Open.

The holidays are a time to be thankful, maintain perspective, and appreciate the little things. Lydia Ko tried to do all of this on Saturday, realizing that her 72 in the third round of the 75th U.S. Women’s Open certainly wasn’t Christmas-lights flashy, but it’s also not something to bemoan consider the conditions players were facing.

In fact, while many in the pack struggled with soggy fairways at Champions Golf Club — for example, Stacy Lewis, who is a member here, shot a 77 on Saturday — Ko just kept making pars. She finished the day with 15 alongside a pair of bogeys and a single birdie, and she’s still within range of the leaders heading into Sunday, sitting at even par through three rounds of play.

She’s thankful to be in a tie for fifth with Yealimi Noh, Megan Khang and amateur Kaitlyn Papp.

“Everyone’s playing in pretty much the same course conditions, as the tee time spans are pretty tight, so it’s just trying to grind my way out there,” Ko said. “Obviously, I feel like I could have shot a lower score, but at the same time I think it could have been a lot worse, so I’ll take what I have today.”

What she had was consistency. Ko, who has two major victories under her belt, has not fared well in U.S. Women’s Opens outside of a T-3 at CordeValle Golf Club in 2016. But she putted well on Saturday and remained in contention.

USWO: Leaderboard | Photos

And speaking of consistency, that’s exactly what Ko used to describe the greens at Champions, despite the varying conditions. Thursday was warm and sunny, Friday saw hard rain and Saturday brought a chill, yet the greens remained stable, she said.

“I think that they have been pretty consistent. I really struggled with my green speed, the control on the first day and I was like, man, I can’t putt this way because it’s just, there’s too much grinding out there,” she said. “Sometimes you’re going to have those longer putts, so it’s really important to kind of dial in the green speed and distance control.

“But I feel like I’ve been doing that a lot better the last couple of days, so I’ve been trying to putt a little bit more downhill putts and just stay patient. Sometimes, you keep kind of going on the par train and you’re like, OK, when is there going to be like a good turnaround? But, no, around a course like this and especially at majors, par’s sometimes not a bad score.”

Aside from being thankful for her even-keeled round, Ko is happy with the season she’s had concerning the majors. She finished in the top 20 in the three previous majors this season, including a sixth-place finish at the ANA Inspiration.

[vertical-gallery id=778079668]

“I think this is probably the best stretch I’ve had in the majors, outside of probably in 2016,” she said. “But I think the more times you put yourself in that position and in those kinds of pressure conditions I think the more you get used to it and things go your way you could be the one that’s hosting the trophy at the end of the Sunday.

“I think it is really important, not only in majors, but in other events, to just keep playing consistently and if you keep putting yourself in that position, I feel like at some point if it is your time it’s going to fall your way.”

Of course, Ko will need to play well on Sunday and hope that leader Hinako Shibuno comes back to the pack. As for the leader — who always seems to be happy and even has the nickname “Smiling Cinderella” — Ko said she keeps using her cheerful disposition for positive results.

“I feel like it’s either a great poker face or she’s that smiling assassin. I feel like I smile quite a lot out there, but I’m like pretty grumpy compared to her,” Ko said of Shibuno. “I think she’s stayed pretty calm and you saw her at the British Open, I’m sure, going into that Sunday there were, there might have been doubts, because not many people have heard of her compared to some other players.

“But she showed them who is boss and she’s clearly doing that right now.”

[lawrence-related id=778080265,778080222,778080178,778080042]

U.S. Women’s Open: Nasty Sunday forecast forces USGA to move tee times up again

The threat of thunderstorms has forced USGA officials to move up tee times for Sunday’s final round of the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open.

HOUSTON — The threat of thunderstorms has forced USGA officials to move up tee times for Sunday’s final round of the 75th U.S. Women’s Open Championship.

Sunday’s action is now scheduled to start at 8:45 a.m. EST (7:45 a.m. local) due to the anticipated inclement weather. Play will again start on both the first and 10th tees of Champions Golf Club’s Cypress Creek Course.

The USGA moved tee times up on Friday, and the move worked wonders as the second round was completed just before a massive downpour began. Organizers are hoping for similar results on Sunday, but it could be more challenging this time around. According to Weather.com, the chance for precipitation jumps above 80 percent around 9 a.m. and storms are expected to continue well into the afternoon.

[vertical-gallery id=778079668]

After some backlash about jumbled TV schedules on Friday, the broadcast window for Sunday’s play has been expanded — Golf Channel will now broadcast the final round from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. ET, then NBC will take over until 5 p.m. ET or the conclusion.

If the round can’t be completed on Sunday, play will likely finish on Monday because there’s little chance of more rain, but it will be chilly — a cold front is expected to come through the area, leaving Monday’s high temperature in the low 50s.

[lawrence-related id=778080222,778080175,778080178,778080042]