Ben Wright: Frankly Speaking
My debut with the CBS golf team came at the 1972 U.S. Professional Match Play Championship. Despite the torrid August conditions at the Country Club of North Carolina that year, my reception was a frosty one. Producer-director Frank Chirkinian uttered not a word to me, except when it was my turn to speak, throughout the […]
Ben Wright: Oddly Matched
“British Captain Summoned before PGA Executive Committee, Fired for Lack of Effort in First-year Ryder Cup Debacle.” So screamed the fictitious tabloid headline I concocted at the conclusion of the 1976 “Real Ryder Cup Matches.” Let me explain. While covering golf for CBS that year, Jack Whitaker and I conceived the idea of an annual […]
Ben Wright: Uneasy Rider
A lot of golfers probably imagine that poor behavior at the Ryder Cup originated at The Country Club in 1999, when the infamous rush of Americans onto the 17th green followed Justin Leonard’s miraculous birdie putt against Jose Maria Olazabal. Or perhaps they point to the 1991 Ryder Cup, when gamesmanship, flag-waving and camouflage hats […]
Ben Wright: Cliffs Valley Days
Jim Anthony, the owner and developer of the Cliffs Communities, came into my life almost by accident. After completing a voice-over extolling the virtues of Jim’s first course, the Cliffs at Glassy, I was dragged off to lunch in the temporary clubhouse on the mountain top by the Collins brothers, Dan and Mike, who were […]
Ben Wright: Feeling Chipper
Christmas came early for me this year—on August 27, to be exact. Who would have thought an aging hacker, ailing with pneumonia and consigned to playing “game improvement” clubs, was capable of championship golf and highlight-reel theatrics? But I’m getting ahead of myself. It all started when I ventured to Northern Michigan for Crystal Mountain […]
Ben Wright: Frequent Flier
Gary Player is as much a legend for the countless miles he has traveled as for the worldwide victories he has amassed upon arrival. In 1974—arguably Gary’s greatest season ever—I was very much a part of those ceaseless travels, during a memorable stretch that began at the Qantas Australian Open in Perth, Australia. There Player […]
Ben Wright: Gutsy Recovery
What do we make of the hole-in-one: the proper outcome of a perfectly executed shot—or an outrageous fluke? My lifetime total of two aces in nearly 63 years of playing golf could make a strong case for either theory. I managed my first hole-in-one at the tender age of 17, while representing the county of […]
Ben Wright: Days at the Beach
It’s nearly time for another Bing Crosby National Pro-Am—I’m sorry, make that AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am—which means memories of that great event come flooding back to me like the giant breakers that crash along Pebble’s famed 18th hole. Unfortunately those memories don’t include my actually having played in the Crosby, as it will always […]
Ben Wright: Caught in the Middle
A reminiscence about the “War on the Shore” at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course
Ben Wright: Sneak Preview
The 1965 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale
