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 California Open winner Todd Demsey Photo by GM Pinkston |
When 1899 US Open champion Willie Smith won the very first California Open back in 1900 it was a non-paying amateur event that most people had never heard of. But time and history have a way of changing things. Ninety-eight years later, Todd Demsey walked in the footsteps of legends as he carried his five shot lead in this year's California Open up the 18th fairway at Indian Wells. Walter Hagen, Gene Littler, Lloyd Mangrum, Jerry Barber and, of course, Willie Smith are all past winners of this now prestigious championship.
Demsey also collected the $15,000 first place share of the new $75,000 purse; the Open's largest ever. A result of the SCPGA event being picked up as a stop on the new TearDrop Tour-West. TearDrop guarantees $15,000, $8,000 and $5,000 respectively for first through third place, plus some pay-out for all those finishing in the top 30% of the field.
Demsey won it with grandiloquence. Posting four straight rounds in the 60s, his final round 63 tied the East Course record at Indian Wells. His 262 total provided a five shot margin of victory and established a new overall scoring record for the Open. Local golfer Tom Silva of Palm Springs also shot a final round 63 to take a share of the single-round record. Silva finished 15th.
Demsey is from the San Diego area but now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was the 1996 NCAA Champion and spent last year on the PGA Tour.
"I'm only Twenty-six," says Demsey, "My goal is to get back out on the PGA Tour. I'm playing these state opens to get ready for this fall's Q-school. I didn't really know much about the TearDrop Tour until I came here. They're good, tough, tournaments and just the kind of competition I need to get ready to requalify. If I don't make it into the British Open I'm going to come back and play in some more of these."
Top finishers in this year's TearDrop Tour-West/SCPGA California Open:
| 1 | Todd Demsey | 65-67-67-63=262 | $15,000 |
| 2 | Jerry Norquist | 66-66-67-68=267 | $8,000 |
| 3 | Ron Ewing | 70-66-68-65=269 | $5,000 |
| T4 | Joe Acosta | 69-68-70-64=271 | $2,600 |
| T4 | Eric Rustand | 65-67-68-71=271 | $2,600 |
Bryan Geiberger of Rancho Mirage was top amateur at 285.
The California Open's new sponsor, once tiny TearDrop Golf Co., has become the mouse that roared in the golf equipment industry. In the last seven months TearDrop has acquired both Ram Golf and the Tommy Armour Golf company.
"These acquisitions place us among the elite in the industry," says TearDrop CEO Rudy Slucker. "Acquiring Armour just at the time their new 845 irons are experiencing such tremendous acceptance from the trade makes this alliance significant for both of us. We intend to market the 845s very aggressively."
Sponsoring the TearDrop Tour and tournaments like the California Open will be a major factor in that marketing campaign. It will be interesting, however, to see how intensely TearDrop markets newly acquired Ram's famous Zebra putter. The Zebra has been the top money winner on the PGA Tour for the past decade and is the toughest competitor of TearDrop's highly successful "Roll-faced" putter--the club that has made TearDrop's phenomenal growth possible.
© Gary M. Pinkston, 1998.
