Occasionally the late night hours on the Golf Channel serve up something of interest (aside from the usual infomercials), and two nights ago it was a Challenge Golf match pitting Arnold Palmer & Gary Player against the team of Ken Venturi & Byron Nelson in a 4-ball at Pebble Beach in 1963.
The play starts at #1, and proceeds hole by hole through the 16th where Venturi's birdie ended the match 3 and 2 (sorry for the spoiler).
Very interesting to see full tee to green play on many of the holes (unfortunate exception...#8, where no play was shown except a brief look at the hole).
GCA favorite #5 played very difficult...I think 2 shots hit the green (club of choice was 5 iron for GP, KV and BN...6 iron for AP). Palmer was the only member of the group to have a chance to hit #6 in two...he came up 30 yds short. Both Player and Nelson hit 4 woods out of the bunker on the left.
The green on #7 looked different from today...more irregular shaped green and the bunkers are less-defined. Venturi's tee shot found the beach.
On the 10th tee the players talk about carrying the bunker on the left which was 210-220 to carry. Nelson hits a great drive and they all laugh that he had no problem with the carry.
The players all had difficulty with the approach to #14. Most missed the green.
Fun to look at the course and the absence of mega-homes around it. Much more rugged-looking. Also no cart paths.
Too bad the match ended at #16...it would have been fun to see #18.
Most impressive that day was Nelson. Almost every shot was on the money. Palmer was in good form too...longer than the rest. Venturi was off his game a bit, and seemed to be the shortest off the tee even though he hit most of his shots right-to-left.
Just did a Google search and it appears a video of the match is available. Worth it for any fan of Pebble Beach and/or Byron Nelson.
Challenge Golf Video