By CHRIS TAYLOR
Just last month golf legends Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino were in Utah for the Champion’s Challenge at Thanksgiving Point. Well, they’re back, this time with fellow legend Arnold Palmer.
They and others of the best PGA Seniors in the business are in town this weekend for the Novell Utah Showdown at Park Meadows in Park City, an event that’s gaining quite a reputation.
“I think the status of, not only this event, but the Senior Tour in general I think is very, very good,” said Hale Irwin. “When you can have players come on with the credentials those guys have and play well, this week
specifically I think will be another one of these weeks that’s going to produce some great golf. I just think we’re seeing better and better and better golf on the Senior Tour.”
Nicklaus, Palmer and Trevino will all tee off together when the Showdown officially gets under way on Friday. It will be the first time the trio has played together in an official Senior PGA Tour event since 1991. Combined,
they have won 34 major championships.
Others in this year’s field include Dave Stockton, Bruce Summerhays, Gil Morgan and even baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench. This year’s tournament purse totals $1,350,000, which, apart from the four majors, is the sixth
largest of all Senior PGA Tour events.
But the players aren’t here solely for the money. They’re here to have fun, and much of that fun was had Thursday in the Pro-Am tournament, which traditionally serves as a pre-tournament warm-up of sorts for the pros. Some of the amateurs in this year’s Pro-Am field included one of the NBA’s 50 greatest, Julius Erving, baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt and Utah hoops legend Ron Boone.
The Pro-Am is also a very fan friendly time. Nicklaus and Miller were swarmed by autograph seekers as they made their way onto the putting greens and practice tees.
Dave Skidmore, from Layton, took pictures of his two girls Thursday as they scrambled for autographs. Skidmore became just as giddy as his girls did once Nicklaus or Bench had signed their hat and magazine. Skidmore and his family
have fond memories of the Utah Showdown.
During the Pro-Am two years ago, the Skidmores followed Gary Player.
Between holes, Player walked and talked with one of his small daughters, according to Skidmore, and by the end of the day they got to know each other.
The next day, while teeing off with Trevino and Palmer, Player spotted her from the other side of the fairway and waved and said hello.
“It’s a great family activity. It really is,” Skidmore said. “I think these players sometimes forget that these are just kids and how exciting it is to come out here and to meet them. I mean, my girls know who Johnny Bench
is, they know who Jack Nicklaus is.
“I never got to see these guys as a kid and my kids getting to see them is really exciting,” added Skidmore.
Utah has been able to see the Golden Bear twice in the past month.
“How about that – that’s something else isn’t it?” Nicklaus said. And who knows? Utah could be seeing more of him in the future. “That’d be all right.
I don’t have any problem with that; it’s a pretty nice place to go.”
The three-day Novell Utah Showdown kicks off Friday morning and runs through Sunday, August 1. Ticket prices are $18 per day and can be purchased at the Park Meadows’ gate or at Smith Tix locations. An $8 discount is available by showing a Smith’s Fresh Value card.
