Hometown honors Brewer by renaming famous course after him PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator Gay Brewer left an indelible mark on golf years ago, winning the 1967 Masters with birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 15 in the final round to shoot a 67 and earn the Green Jacket. With that win, Brewer effectively rebounded from a playoff loss to Jack Nicklaus at the prior year's Masters and captured his only major title. ![]() Gay Brewer has made eight aces at his beloved Picadome Golf Course in Lexington, Ky., over the years. (Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage) But this week he'll have another permanent reminder of his impact on the game, as Picadome Golf Course in Lexington, Ky., will be renamed The Gay Brewer, Jr. Course at Picadome in recognition of the 11-time PGA TOUR winner. "It's a great honor for me," said Brewer, who will be present for the ceremony on Tuesday, June 26. "I'll see people there I haven't seen in years. I'm looking forward to it." Some of the distinguished guests and friends of Brewer expected to attend include 1968 Masters champion Bob Goalby, 1964 PGA Championship winner Bobby Nichols and 1975 U.S. Open champion Lou Graham. Also present at the ceremony will be former Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown, whom Brewer has known since grade school and played golf with at the University of Kentucky. "John Y. Brown, the ex-governor of Kentucky, got this all together and it passed in the state legislature within two weeks," said Brewer. "He's been one of my best buddies over the years." After battling opponents on both the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour -- not to mention the matches he played at Picadome Golf Course against Kentucky's top golfers -- Brewer now faces the ultimate fight -- a struggle with cancer. As he reflects upon his storied career, one that earned him induction into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006, Brewer has fond memories from the course where he got his start. "I've had 24 holes-in-one in my career and eight of them have come there. There's a lot of history there," he said. "All of the good players in Lexington started there. We always had good club championships and that's where I learned the game." The course is a historic one, opening nearly 80 years ago. In fact, Brewer's birthday is sandwiched between the opening of the front nine and back nine -- the first nine holes at Picadome opened in 1927, Brewer was born in 1932 and the back nine opened in 1934. "It's the oldest golf course in Lexington," he said. "I actually started caddying at another club when I was 10 years old. When I made enough money, I would go over to Picadome. Lots of us learned to play golf there." He learned the game early, but a broken elbow at age 7 gave him one of the more unique swings on TOUR. In fact, its unusual quality nearly kept Brewer from making the golf team at Lafayette High School. "I'll never forget the time that my high school coach, Dr. H.L. Davis, watched me hit balls when I went out for the golf team," Brewer recalled. "After he saw the loop in my swing, he didn't think I was good enough. He took my over to a par 3 and I proceeded to hit three balls all within six feet of the hole. He told me I was on the team." Brewer honed his game at Picadome, a par-72 facility that plays 6,548 yards from the back tees and is "a beautiful little course," he said. "The course has real small greens and it's where I learned to play a run-up shot, like they use in England. We played all of our high school and college matches there. It's been revamped and everything," said the 75-year-old legend. And on Tuesday night, the course will be changed once again, as the town of Lexington honors one of her most famous sons with the renaming honors. For those hoping to attend, the ceremony is open to the public and will take place at 7:00 p.m. ET. |