An eight-time winner on the PGA Tour, Cheech really came into his own on the senior circuit where he won 22 titles. He was given the Bobby Jones Award by the USGA in 1989 for distinguished sportsmanship and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992. 7

Some of Rodriguez’s contemporaries have suggested that he could have been one of the top players in the game if he hadn’t felt compelled to hit so many different shots. He always seemed to maneuver the ball one way or the other, high or low, cut or draw. He reportedly would imagine a tree in front of him in the middle of the fairway and try to hit a shot that would go over, under or around it to the green.

There is only one Chi Chi Rodriguez, master striker of the ball, inimitable entertainer and generous benefactor of at-risk children. That’s too bad. Golf could use another one like him.

Old pal

When I met Chi Chi at Southern Hills those many years ago, I introduced myself, asked for an interview and talked with him for 35 or 40 minutes in the locker room. When I finished, I asked him to autograph my reporter’s notebook.

Cheech took the book and wrote something. I didn’t open it to read until I got outside. There across the page was “To Clair, one of my oldest and dearest friends, ‘Chi Chi’ Rodriguez.”

I treasured that piece of paper and planned to have it framed. But in a move from one house to another, it disappeared. One day I hope to run across it again. If not, I’ll never forget that gracious gesture of a golfing gentleman to a fan.

Date change

Briarbrook Golf and Country Club’s Green ’N Grow tournament will be played April 5-6. The date had appeared in the area golf calendar as April 12-13.

Address correspondence to Clair Goodwin, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, Mo. 64802.