1968 50th PGA Championship

I turned 59 a couple of Fridays ago, so I thought I would post this just for grins.

When I was way younger my Dad had a friend that was pretty well off and even though he didn't play golf he would always be a sponsor of the Texas Open.  So when the 50th PGA Championship was to be played at Pecan Valley here in San Antonio he became one of the sponsors and received all the perks that went along with it.  I was 14 at the time and myself, my younger brother and his two sons all had sponsor badges and we literally ran wild all day and night all over the course. We even climbed the network's camera and commentator towers.  I remember following my favorite players Palmer, Boros, Casper, Sanders & Trevino.  This was when the players would go to the tee box and toss their cigarette on the ground while they teed off and picked it and kept smoking after the shot.  I remember that Palmer piloted his own jet and made a pass over the country club and waggled his wings on his way home.  This was also back when a 14 year old kid could stand at the 18th green and ask the players for autographs and get them.  Sometimes they would even give you a ball.  Dave Hill gave my brother the ball he played the round with.  And I have a program with signatures of Palmer, Trevino, Boros, Casper, Venturi, January, Moody, Hill, Floyd, Littler, January, Trevino, Snead, Aaron, Crampton, Brewer, Archer, Zarley, Beard, Barber and some I can't make out.

I don't want to sound like I am talking about "the good ole days".  But I will say at 14 I sure had a lot of fun!