Firestone Country Club Ohio Caddie Bib Robert Trent Jones Jack Nicklaus pga open

Description

Firestone Country Club
is a private
golf club
in the
United States
, located in
Akron, Ohio
. It is a regular stop on the
PGA Tour
and has hosted the
PGA Championship
three times. It is the current home of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship through 2022.
The club comprises three courses—those of the North, South, and West. In
1974
the club hosted three
televised
golf events
: the
American Golf Classic
, the
CBS Golf Classic
and the
World Series of Golf
. No other club has hosted three televised golf events in the same calendar year.
[5]
One of four
World Golf Championships
constituent events, the
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
, directed by the
International Federation of PGA Tours
and sanctioned on the
PGA
and
European Tours
, was contested at the club with the final event at the club held in 2018.
[6]
The North and West courses also serve as the
home course
for the
University of Akron
Zips
golf team.
Harvey Firestone
commissioned the club 90 years ago in 1929 as a park for employees of the
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company
. Its first course, the South, was designed by Bert Way and opened on August 10, 1929, with Firestone driving the first ball. For the sixth and final
Rubber City Open Invitational
in 1959, the course was 6,620 yards (6,053 m) at par 71.
[8]
A major redesign by
Robert Trent Jones
in
1960
for the
PGA Championship
added over fifty bunkers and two ponds, and extended the course to 7,165 yards (6,552 m) at par 70.
[9]
[10]
The course was renovated by
Golforce
in 2007 and played at 7,400 yards (6,767 m) for the WGC event in
2015
.
The North course was designed by Jones and opened 50 years ago in 1969. Firestone's West was the last course to be added, opening in 1989. First conceived by
Geoffrey Cornish
and
Brian Silva
, it went through a redesign in 2002 by
Tom Fazio
.
Firestone Country Club was acquired by
ClubCorp
38 years ago in 1981, purchased from the Firestone family.
A
driving range
was added in 1994 and was the first area of the club open to the public. A nine-hole course, the Raymond C. Firestone, was opened for public play in 1995
The
Rubber City Open
was the first tournament held at Firestone, from 1954 through 1959. The
PGA Championship
has been held at the South Course three times:
1960
,
1966
, and
1975
. This exposure led to a new event, the
American Golf Classic
, which ran from
1961
through
1976
.
[10]
Since
1962
, the World Series of Golf, now known as the
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
, has been held at Firestone, usually on the South course. An unofficial four-man event over 36 holes through
1975
, it became a limited field event over 72 holes in
1976
.
[11]
During the third round of the PGA Championship in
1975
,
Jack Nicklaus
pulled out a remarkable par on the 625-yard (572 m) 16th hole,
[12]
considered to be the hardest hole on Firestone's courses. Trailing
Bruce Crampton
by four strokes after two rounds, Nicklaus gained eight shots on Saturday to lead by four after 54 holes and won his fourth PGA Championship.
[13]
[14]
Tiger Woods
also had a memorable moment on the South course when his "shot in the dark" on the 72nd hole at the WGC event in
2000
ensured victory by eleven strokes.
[15]
He had won the
PGA Championship
the previous week for his third consecutive
major championship
that season
.
[15]
The North course is used less frequently in televised events, but hosted the American Golf Classic in
1976
and the World Series of Golf in
1994
.