In the third round of the 1969 PGA Championship at the National Cash Register Country Club, Gary Player was in contention despite several incidents by a civil rights group. On the 4th hole, as he was about to tee off a heavy, 278-page program was thrown at him and security grabbed the offender; on the 14th a golf ball was thrown on the green while he was about to putt. The most serious incident occurred on the 10th hole. Walking to the tee someone tossed a cup of ice cubes into Player’s face and yelled, ‘Racist!’”
When Player and his fellow-competitor Jack Nicklaus reached the green, a young man approached Player as Nicklaus was lining up his putt. They exchanged words and then six others broke through the ropes. Player told reporters after the round, “I saw this big, mean-looking guy bearing down on Jack and I didn’t know what might happen – it was a harrowing experience.” Nicklaus saw this man, about 6’4” and 280 pounds, walking through a bunker towards him. “I said to myself, ‘If he keeps coming, he’s going to get it,’ and I had my putter drawn back.” While this was happening someone else picked up his ball, before security came in and wrestled them to the ground.
Nicklaus was worried about his young son Jackie, who was following him that day with his wife Barbara. “I was so scared,” she said. “It was awful. I was afraid something might happen to them.” Ten men and one woman arrested, and were part of a group which called itself the Dayton Organization, headed by Mel Jackson. A coalition of several other organizations, including local chapters of the Students for a Democratic Society and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, they were protesting an end to the Vietnam War and had other demands. Among them were requests for 3,000 free tickets for the poor to the event, access to all private clubs in the area, and “time, effort, and money equal to that devoted to the tournament,” which had a $175,000 purse.
“I don’t think they were after me and Jack because of South Africa’s racial policies,” Player said. “I think they concentrated on us because we had about 90 percent of the gallery.” However, he did say it was the toughest round he had ever played, and did have concerns about some in the crowd. “I honestly thought I might get shot because of South Africa. It was unbelievably difficult to concentrate out there." Player said, loud and clear, "I'm no racist. I want everybody to understand that. I love all people - white, black, yellow."
“My hands were quivering," said Nicklaus. "I didn't know what the hell to think. I just wanted off the golf course, that's all.” He finished the round with a triple-bogey 7, which eliminated him from serious contention, as he finished in a tie for 11th place. “For a while Sunday,” wrote Dan Jenkins, “with an awful lot of uniforms and guns around to see that any further demonstrations would be promptly handled Floyd seemed to be trying to give back the championship he had practically locked up through 54 holes with a five-shot lead.” He finished with a 74 and a one shot victory over Player, who shot a 70.
Jenkins wrote that the disturbances were “strictly minor league and totally inept,” given what was happening in the country at the time.
"You could have found a better protest in a number of Dayton restaurants when the check came. But everybody said boy, they've done it now, those shaggy-haired pigs. It wasn't so bad when they just shot people, burned down cities and tore up universities. Now the lazy, dope-crazed, oversexed, Communist, Nazi, welfare medicare, hippie treasonous Red Chinese spies have picked on golf."
For Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus it wasn’t so minor league, and that third round, when Player shot 71 to Floyd’s 67, made the difference. Golf writer Bernard Darwin wrote once of the “what ifs” in golf. What if Player hadn’t had to contend with those protesters? Might he have won another major championship? We will never know, but it is something to consider.
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