LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 22 — The Los Angeles Open always sounded like an important stop on the PGA Tour. For starters, there's the name. In this age of bottomless sponsors, now it's known as the Nissan Open, but in our hearts, it's still the Los Angeles Open — a city open.
The legendary Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray always wrote brilliantly about the event. The fact that it was held at stately Riviera Country Club, one of the best courses west of the Mississippi, helped make it a fairly glamorous tournament. Not to mention the winners. Sam Snead. Ben Hogan. Byron Nelson. Cary Middlecoff. Arnold Palmer. Fred Couples. Ted Schulz ...
You remember Ted Schulz, don't you? He was a tall, clean-cut, smiling young man who won the L.A. Open in 1991, surviving a final-round duel with Jeff Sluman, among others. It wasn't, perhaps, the most thrilling finish — Schulz missed short birdie putts at 16 and 17 in the final round, then two-putted for par from 45 feet at the 18th. He had to wait until Sluman, playing in the final group, failed to make birdie to officially earn the victory. It was the second of his career. He'd already won the Southern Open, and in '91 he went on to crack the top 30 on the money list, which earned him an invite to the Tour Championship and the following year's U.S. Open and Masters. He'd achieved the standard by which players measured their true arrival on the PGA Tour.
Schulz, Ted Schulz. What, you know nothing?
Well, there's a reason you may not recall his name. He's one of the rare PGA Tour winners who went on to get a real job in the real world, unlike the many who keep playing right onto the Champions Tour, where old golfers never die, they just fade away.
I ran into Schulz Sunday afternoon by the 12th tee at the University of Louisville's Cardinal Club. Schulz, a Louisville native who played college golf at the university, has been the director of golf ever since the Cardinal Club opened in the fall of 2001. (I haven't seen them all, but I guarantee the club ranks among the 10 best college golf facilities in America.) Schulz happened to be following the last threesome in the opening round of the Big East championship. I was too because my son, Mike, was competing for Marquette, and we spotted each other.
I'd already been pleasantly surprised to find out he had an office in the clubhouse, where the magazine story I wrote about his L.A. Open win was framed along with his photo on the cover of Golf World, the magazine for which I'd written the story. He was easy to spot — he still looks trim and fit at 47, like he could go out and shoot under par tomorrow. He still has the easy smile, the friendly face and the enthusiasm of that L.A. Open champ, only with slightly graying hair.
How do you go from PGA Tour winner to director of golf in Louisville in 16 years? Schulz was fully exempt on the PGA Tour through 1994, played the next three years on sponsor's exemptions and under the past-champions category, and then spent three years playing sporadically on the Nationwide Tour. When the Louisville course opened in 2001, he was ready. But he was a top-30 money winner in '91. What happened?
