Professional golf and auto racing don’t have much in common. This didn’t stop the PGA Tour from riding the coattails of the Indianapolis 500 – “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing†– for a few years back in the day. At times, the golf event known as the 500 Festival Open Invitational was contested at the Speedway Golf Course (since renamed Brickyard Crossing) contemporaneously with race activities. It was sort of like the New York Philharmonic and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performing within earshot of each other.
On the afternoon of May 28, 1964, the background noise for the second round of the tournament consisted of the ear-splitting din of the annual carburation test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the engines of 33 open-wheel cars revved in a final tune-up for the race two days hence.
George Bayer, the 6-foot-5, 250-pound former football player with a menacing crew cut and four tour wins to his name, was among the leaders that day. As a reporter from The Indianapolis Star looked on, Bayer hit his drive on the fourth hole and then ambled over to the wall dividing the course and the racing oval just a few yards away. “You fellas mind if I watch a while?†he asked playing companions Bob Charles and Dave Ragan.
“There goes Jimmy Clark,†said Chi Chi Rodriguez when he arrived at the fourth tee. “He’s going to be tough.â€
Rodriguez was referring to the Scottish Grand Prix driver and not the pro golfer of the same name from Los Angeles, who happened to be in Rodriguez’s threesome along with Frank Beard.
That was the fifth edition of the 500 Festival, a tourney conducted from 1960-68. In 1964, the PGA Tour decided to bookend the tournament around the Memorial Day race.
That turned out to be a bad idea.
By 1959, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had been hosting races for half a century, about as long as the city had hosted the annual boys high school basketball tournament celebrated in the 1986 movie “Hoosiers.†You could have sparked a vigorous argument among locals as to which of the two was more important to the city’s identity.
Pro golf didn’t even register, as Indianapolis had not hosted a tour event since 1934.
CLICK HERE TO READ THIS UNLOCKED STORY AT GGP+... AND USE COUPON CODE GGP48 TO SAVE 20% ON AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION
