History: Buick Open  PGATOUR.COM Contributor When a tournamentıs been around since 1958, there are plenty of memories.  Billy Mayfair (WireImage) There's Billy Casper's victory in the inaugural Buick Open Invitational, a pair of victories by the late Tony Lema, the triumph by Hale Irwin in a four-way playoff in 1981 and Tiger Woods' 50th career PGA TOUR title last summer. But for fans of the rank-and-file player, the guy trying to make a iving when nothing is guaranteed, it's difficult to top a pair of episodes from Warwick Hills G&CC in 2001. First came a 61 from Billy Mayfair, one of the journey-est of ourneymen, who took at least one shot off par at eight straight holes to set the TOUR's birdie-eagle streak. In the process he toured the incoming nine in nine-under-par 27 and broke that mark, too. Mayfair's orbit was cooling at that point in his life, plugging through his mid-30s (age-wise) and coming off a 2000 season in which he logged only two top-10 finishes. A re-dedication to the game in 2001 rewarded him with four top-10s by the time he reached suburban Detroit, highlighted by a five-hole playoff loss to Jose Coceres at the Heritage. Mayfair became electrified in the last round at Warwick, though, posting the second 61 of his pro career. There was no warning in his opening three rounds (69-70-71) and in his first eight holes of the day. But Mayfair birdied the ninth to turn in 34, then kept clipping shots off the card until he made par at the 17th. So his scorecard read: 3-2-2-3-4-3-3-4. Or, as the PGA TOUR Media Guide notes in the records section: B-E-B-B-B-B-B-B. "The cup looked as big as a tub," Mayfair said with glee. Al Geiberger had a seven-hole run of six birdies and an eagle in 1977 at Memphis the day he shot 59. And Webb Heintzelman had his own six-birdies-and-eagle celebration in the third round of the 1989 Las Vegas Invitational, although he only went for 66. Mayfair's mad dash up the ladder pushed him to a tie for 14th and a check topping $50,000. It was one of the key late-season checks that returned him to THE TOUR Championship for the first time since 1998. The second player earning a gold star in 2001 was Kenny Perry, who for the better part of six years, since his 1995 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic victory, worried he'd been left at the side of the road. Perry turned pro in 1982 but needed five years to grab a TOUR card. It was another five years until his first title, the 1991 Memorial, about a big a splash as anyone can make with a nine-under 63, then the course record, en route to a playoff triumph against Irwin. He claimed the New England Classic in 1994 and the '95 Hope, but although he finished 13th on the money list in 1996 he made fewer and fewer appearances in contention. One lingering sore spot was the 1996 PGA Championship in his home state of Kentucky, where he finished the fourth round in the lead at Valhalla but was caught by Mark Brooks and then lost in a one-hole playoff. "Then I began to wonder, will I ever get it back? Can I do it again? Where did it go?" Perry said in reminiscence during the 2001 Buick. He retained that touch and then some in the middle rounds at Warwick. He shot 29 on consecutive nines -- the outward nine in the second round, played on his 41st birthday and the inward nine Saturday. Both times he shot 64 and went into the last day five ahead of everyone else. Perry spent a restless morning worrying that Mayfair's 61 meant anyone could eat into his lead, what with the Valhalla episode in the back of his mind. Perry went out and posted a 69, however, and the closest Chris DiMarco and Jim Furyk could get was two shots. That 263 total ended his non-winning streak at 152 official TOUR events and removed all doubts. Two years later he won three times: Bank of America Colonial, Memorial and Greater Milwaukee Open. And he tacked on two more biggies in 2005, the Bay Hill Invitational and another Colonial. |
