144th Open Championship - Champion Golfers' Challenge
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Open Championship winner and 16-time PGA Tour champion Tom Weiskopf died this weekend following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 79. The 1973 Claret Jug winner was one of the stars of the Jack Nicklaus-Arnold Palmer-Gary Player era who played the majority of his career in the 1960s and 1970s as the PGA Tour began its ascent as the preeminent golf league in the world. 

Weiskopf was a menace at the major championships. In addition to his victory at Royal Troon in his career year of 1973, he famously finished runner-up at the Masters four separate times and finished in the top 10 in 21 of his 71 major championships played. From the 1973 U.S. Open through the 1974 Masters, his worst finish was T6 at the 1973 PGA Championship.

He was also a menace to himself, often submarining his chances of winning more tournaments and major championships because he could not figure out how to keep his head in the face of immense adversity. It was widely thought that though he won some nice championships, even into his 50s, Weiskopf's resume is not what it should have been. 

Here's Jaime Diaz from 1995 when Weiskopf won the U.S. Senior Open.

Few players in history have had a mind that was more confining than Tom Weiskopf's. First, there was the tyranny of all that talent--the powerful, near-perfect swing, made more majestic by the massive arc produced by his 6'3" frame. Worse, there were the comparisons with Nicklaus, generated by their shared Ohio and Ohio State backgrounds, by their length off the tee and by their closeness in age--Nicklaus is not quite three years older.

But Weiskopf was nothing like Nicklaus inside. Both are perfectionists, but Weiskopf could not tolerate his own failings. While Nicklaus's response to adversity was to try harder, Weiskopf would react with temper, becoming Terrible Tom, or with torpor, becoming the man who stopped playing the PGA Tour after 1984. "I could not accept failure when it was my fault," he said. "It just used to tear me up."

It's part of what may have led to all those near-wins at Augusta National. In 1969, he lost to George Archer by one. In 1972, he lost to Nicklaus by three. In 1974, Player got him by two. Then, in the most famous of all in 1975, he tied for second with Johnny Miller, and Nicklaus got them both by one. Weiskopf led that Masters after 54 holes by one over Nicklaus and four over Miller. He led the final round after 15 holes, too, but played the last three in 1 over and never came that close to winning it again.

Weiskopf was famous later in his life for his golf course design, creating or contributing to places like TPC Scottsdale, Olympic Club, Silverleaf Club, Troon North Golf Club and Yellowstone Club in Montana. He was always a proponent of drivable par 4s, which come through in his work. One of them, the 17th at TPC Scottsdale, is among the most famous holes on the PGA Tour.

Another of his post-playing endeavors was broadcasting. He contributed to both CBS and ABC across multiple major championships after his PGA Tour playing days were over, calling the Masters from 1985-95. He was also an analyst at the Open Championship.

Weiskopf was diagnosed with cancer in December 2020, and during the Byron Nelson this year -- hosted at another Weiskopf design in TPC Craigh Ranch -- he noted how difficult the last few years have been and how hard he battled the cancer to which he eventually succumbed.

"It goes back to one thing," said Weiskopf. "The easiest thing in the world to do is to give up. You gotta keep going, pushing forward, day-by-day, day-by-day, no matter how bad you feel. And just believe at the end of the day you're gonna get through this."