1973 British Open champion Tom Weiskopf dies at 79

Tom Weiskopf (YouTube)

According to Jacob Lev of CNN, 1973 British Open champion Tom Weiskopf of Massillon, Ohio passed away at the age of 79 on Saturday. Weiskopf won 16 PGA titles, but is best remembered for his major championship 49 years ago. He had been battling pancreatic cancer since 2020. In his later years, Weiskopf had been living in Big Sky, Montana.

At the 1973 British Open in Troon, Scotland, Weiskopf shot a four-round score of -12. He had a first round score of four-under-par 68, a second round score of five-under-par 67, a third-round score of one-under-par 71, and a fourth round score of two-under-par 70. Weiskopf’s British Open title was by three strokes over England’s Neil Coles and American Johnny Miller. A native of San Francisco, Miller won the 1973 United States Open and the 1976 British Open.

There is no doubt that Weiskopf had a magical 1973 season. In addition to winning the British Open, he won the Colonial National Invitation, the Kemper Open, the IVB Philadelphia Golf Classic and the Canadian Open. Weiskopf won the Kemper Open three times, and the IVB Philadelphia Golf Classic and the Canadian Open each twice. The 1975 Canadian Open at Royal Montreal was significant because he beat Jack Nicklaus, the 18-time major champion, in a playoff.

Weiskopf was also known for being a golf architect and broadcaster. Among the coursers he helped design include the Olympic Club in San Francisco, the Loch Lomond Golf Club in Luss, Scotland, and the Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

As a broadcaster, Weiskopf worked for CBS and ABC. He is best known for a response he gave to a question from Jim Nantz at the 1986 Masters. Nantz asked him “what is going through Jack (Nicklaus)’s mind right now?” Weiskopf’s response was “if I knew the way he thought, I would have won this tournament.”

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