Watson fends off Trevino challenge

May 7, 1978

By HARLESS WADE / The Dallas Morning News

Editors' note: The following appeared in the final May 8, 1978 edition of The Dallas Morning News.

It was the 69th fairway of the Byron Nelson Classic when Lee Trevino whipped out a 4-wood Sunday and whistled it 270 steps to the putting surface of the 5-par, 568-yard hole on the steaming grounds of Preston Trail Golf Club.

Back on the 68th, Tom Watson was breezing along with a 2-shot edge over the happy-go-lucky Dallasite, and the young man from Missouri seemed destined to easily join Jack Nicklaus as the only double winners in Classic history.

Not so. The battle had just begun.

Trevino, striving to keep the championship in his home town, threw out the challenge to Watson when he drilled his only putt at the 69th some 25 feet into eagle darkness.

Tom Watson

Zapppp! Suddenly the Nelson affair was a dogfight to the finish between two of the world's greatest linksters – Tom Watson and Lee Trevino.

As Trevino stepped to the 70th tee and Watson walked toward the 69th, they were both flashing 6-under-par score cards. And the largest gallery in Dallas history, some 42,846 citizens, were whispering playoff, playoff, playoff!

It never came about, simply because the Missourian answered every threat the Texan tossed up.

Just moments after Trevino's eagle putt, Watson blasted from a sand trap and rammed home a 10-foot putt for a birdie at the 69th to go 1-up. But up ahead, while the crowd was still muttering over that one, Trevino canned a 12-foot birdie at the 71st layout and it was dead even once again at 7-under.

Undaunted, with Trevino in the garden spot at the 72nd fairway, Watson rammed home a 20-foot birdie putt on the 71st to go 1-up again.

A great cheer told Lee what had happened as a hush fell over a vast audience at the final hole.

Trevino, needing a birdie, nailed his approach shot about 25 feet left of the final pin, hole-high. But he left the putt about six inches shy of the cup and had to settle for a par-4, leaving him a shot back at seven under par.

Now it was up to Watson. A par to win.

Tom pumped one down the middle off the tee but sent a spasm through the gallery on his approach shot when he misspent a 6-iron left and into a standing row of fans.

Playoff! Playoff! Playoff! It was the whispering cry once again.

Down an embankment, short of the green, clear of a tree and shy of the grandstands, Watson popped a sand wedge to within two feet of the cup, and Trevino knew within seconds he would be the runner-up, not the champion.

Calmly, Watson stroked his par-saving putt into the cup to become the 1978 Nelson Classic champion, with the $40,000 check making him the 17th tour millionaire in the game's history.

It was a magnificent show. Both Watson and Trevino fired closing 4-under-par 66s. Since Tom enjoyed a stroke edge at the start, the trophy did not remain in Dallas.

After four days and 72 holes, Watson's title figures flicked at 8-under-par 272 with marks of 69-67-70-66.

Trevino, with 70-69-68-66, was forced to settle for 273 and the top consolation prize of $22,800.

"I was very fortunate after I made that bad swing at the last hole," said a humble Watson. "I had a perfect lie, and I felt I could get it up and down.

"It was just my week. Lee hit the ball better than I did, but I putted better."

As popular as Watson is at Preston Trail, where he recently became a dues-paying member, the crowd belonged to the home-town hero, Trevino.

After a massive, standing ovation brought him to the final green and he'd fallen a shot shy of living a dream, Trevino told the admiring audience: "Nothing would have pleased me more than to move back home like I did recently and win this to keep the title in Dallas. I love you all, folks."

And what was Lee thinking in the scoring tent when Watson was facing his chip shot, no more than 100 feet away?

"I was thinking he'd get it up and down," Trevino replied. "He wouldn't be the leading money winner if he couldn't do that, and Tom will tell you himself that he can't hit all the greens out here."

After a slight pause, he added: "I didn't think he'd get it that close, though. I'd have liked to have seen him sweat out a four or five-footer."

Watson said he was more concerned about leaving the chip too short than flying it too far past the cup. Someone had fallen into the trap and left a mess, so Tom asked for it to be raked before he hit his shot.

"I didn't think I'd hit it in the trap," he grinned, "but you never know."

"If the greens hadn't been soft and The Trail had played like it did years back, that chip would have been 30 feet past the cup," ventured Trevino.

But, it wasn't.

Watson, a 28-year-old Stanford graduate from Kansas City, never trailed in the final round. He nursed his shot advantage from the first tee to the end. Several players, such as Joe Inman, Orville Moody and Ed Sneed, made runs at the top, but only Trevino could ever deadlock the champion.

In the end, Sneed and Inman settled for a third-place tie with Dallas veteran Don January and Californian Dave Stockton.

The foursome picked up $9,750 each.

When Watson and his wife Linda reached the press tent, the champion was still wearing a smile as he described the action over the final round.

"I got off to a quick start, ran into trouble in the middle, then brought it back and got the real good break at the last hole," said the fluffy-haired, Huckleberry Finn look-a-like. "The real key to my week was putting. My confidence got greater and greater each day."

"I knew I'd probably have to shoot a 67 or better to win when I got up this morning and saw the sun was out," Watson said. "I knew there were going to be some birdies made."

Tom was right. It took better than 67. One better.

"I thought a 66 would win it for me; I even slept on it," cracked Trevino.

"I can't believe it would have taken a 64. I feel I played well enough to win, but I don't want to take anything away from Tom – he's a great player."

When Watson accepted his $40,000 check, his earnings soared to $174,264 for the year, which jumped him above Nicklaus as the No. 1 money winner of '78. It also pushed him over the $1 million mark in a seven-year career, but just $13,226.

This was Tom's ninth championship, the third this year and his second Nelson triumph. The first win here came in 1975.

When asked which of his Dallas victories was the most pleasing, he replied, "That's like choosing between girl friends."

Right, Mr. Champion, but what a wonderful way to leave Preston Trail Golf Club and the Byron Nelson Classic.