Shooting pool with Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder
The next day, Thursday, was the first round of the PGA Team Championship and I was very excited to get started. We were paired with the team of Tom Weiskopf and Bert Yancey.
Weiskopf was a young, powerful player and Yancey was somewhat of a character. It is hard to remember the sound of a ball being hit by a wooden driver. But I do remember thinking how I had not heard anything like Tom Weiskopf striping one down the fairway. Such power!
This is the fourth in a 10-part series of recollections by Ed Wieszczynski, who caddied at Oakmont Country Club near Puttsburgh from 1967 to 1975, including at the 1973 U.S. Open. While looping, he encountered the likes of Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson, Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle
Also, Weiskpf had a temper. He missed a 3 foot eagle putt on No. 11 in the first round. He let out a huge expletive. The gallery was not huge around that green, but everybody moved out of the way when he walked to the next tee with steam coming from his head.
On No. 17, a par 3, Yancey and my player, John Schlee, were in the bunker to the right of the green. The hole was such that there was no room for a gallery on thst side of the green. They were all on the left side and behind the green.
I was standing there with Mr. Schlee and Yancey’s caddie, out of sight from the gallery, as Yancey was ready to hit his sand shot. As he looked down, a fly was flying around his ball. He waited and the fly landed on his ball. He addressed it again and the fly started flying again. He stepped back again and the fly again landed on his ball. One more time he addressed the ball and the fly started flying. He bent over and screamed at the fly to “Sit still!!”
When we emerged from the bunker, there were a lot of strange looks in the gallery across the way. I’m sure they were wondering what the heck was going on.
Nowadays, I have a good friend, Dennis Kostley, and the two of us have attended many Steeler home games together. A It was only a few years ago that I mentioned to him that I caddied in the 1972 Team Championship. He said he did, too. Being from Latrobe and a caddie at Laurel Valley,, where the event was played, he was signed to none other than Bert Yancey and was there by the bunker that day during Yancey’s fly incident.
After we laughed about the coincidence, Dennis revealed that at early on ,Yancey had noted the appearance of a boy with hair down to his waist – it was the early 1970s after all – and he derided the boy’s appearance. Dennis, who played in a band, had long hair that he kept stuffed under his caddie hat. After Yancey’s remark Dennis said he make sure not to take his hat off while at the course.
A chatty playing partner
On the Friday morning of the team championship, I made it to the practice range for the pre-round warmup. As soon as we arrived, Tom Weiskopf came over to John Schlee and asked him to acknowledge that they were playing for some pretty good prize money. Mr. Schlee said that, yes indeed, the money was pretty good. In frustration, Weiskopf then confided that his partner, Bert Yancey, was complaining to him incessantly about how his son’s Little League Playoff team had lost a big game the night before. Weiskopf said, “I have been listening to Bert Yancey bitch about bad baserunning and missed cutoffs for the last half hour. I finally told him that he might want to think about hitting a few practice shots before we go to the first tee! I also told him to stop calling home at night!”
The good news was that all of the players the caddies from Oakmont were looping for made the cut. The other god news was that I was having the time of my life. Each evening we would go to Joe’s Bar in Ligonier. I was not old enough to drink, but I stayed there for hours drinking Coca-Cola and playing pool.
My friend, Mike Hafera, and I got to play pool against Charlie Sifford and Lee Elder. Very nice men. Mike was caddying for Gibby Gilbert. He was teamed with a young phenom named Lanny Wadkins. Gilbert and Wadkins had a great Saturday and they were leading the tournament with one round to go.
Miike was saying how great Wadkins was playing and he figured they were going to win the tournament. I told him I hope they do and Mike gets a big paycheck.
Coming Wednesday
‘Confessions of an Oaknont caddie’
The final round of the
1972 PGA Team Championship
John Schlee and Bob E. Smith were in about 20th place so I had no illusions of caddying for the winner. Then someone in the bar said that they heard that the Sunday pairings and tee times were posted in the lobby of the Holiday Inn down the street. So about a dozen of us caddies headed out to go to the Holiday Inn.
As we arrived in the back parking lot, we noticed the back door was open, so we decided to go through the back hallway where the rooms were rather than walking around to the lobby entrance. As we were walking down the hall, a door opened and Hubie Green emerged from a room. He did not see us and was blocking our way. We stopped in our tracks until he turned around and saw us and said, “Sorry boys, am I in your way?”
I told him we were headed to the lobby to see Sunday’s pairings and tee times. He said, “Let me finish up here and I will be right behind you.” In the lobby were many attrative women. It made me want to be a professional golfer.
Featured photo illustration of Ed Wieszczynski at Oakmont wearing his 1973 U.S. Open jumpsuit created with ChatGPT
Ed Wieszcznski lives in Pittsburgh
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