1971-1972 National Championships
May 2022 Reunion of the 1971 and 1972 Men’s Golf team
May 2022 Reunion of the 1971 and 1972 Longhorn Golf National Champions left to right William Cromwell, Ben Crenshaw, George Machock, Brent Buckman, Tom Kite and manager Craig Campbell. Unable to attend were George Tucker and Tony Pfaff.
George Machock says about the reunion. “In May of 2022, the 1971 and 1972 men’s national champion golf teams celebrated their Fifty-year reunion. 1971 was the first-ever national champion for UT in Golf. “
George continues, “We had a great session with Radio sportscaster and talk show host Ed Clements with Lotta laughter and stories, great memories from a dream that came true.”
“Thanks to the Hannon Cup Foundation (in honor of our great Coach George Hannon) and the Univ. of Texas Golf Club.
Hook Em!????
All 4 of the Longhorn scores that determined the national champion in George’s senior year were all Austinites. That probably will never happen again. Additionally, the fifth player in the NCAA that year, George Tucker, was from San Antonio (all Texans). photo Kite, Machock, Cromwell, Crenshaw
George Machock’s place in Longhorn sports history is at the link listed below:
https://www.texaslsn.org/reflection-point-golf
The Lead up to the 1971 National Championships
Texas came close to winning the NCAA championships in 1949 and 1952.
1971 Coach Hannon, William Cromwell, Craig Campbell (manager) George Tucker, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, George Machock
The foundation to defeat Houston started in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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May of 1967, George Machock, George Tucker, and William Cromwell signed letters of intent to attend Texas on a golf scholarship.
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On May 23, 1968, Coach Hannon signed Tom Kite to a Longhorn letter of intent. Tom was a two-time state high school golf champion.
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On May 9, 1970, Ben Crenshaw signed a letter of intent to play golf for the Longhorns.
For the history of Longhorn Golf from 1964- to 1981, click on the link below.
https://www.texaslsn.org/coach-george-hannon-19641981
Professional golf writer Barry McDermott said, “unfortunately, Collegiate golf in the early 1970s did not have a large audience. College Golf, penmanship exercises, and reading the Congressional Record ranked high in the boredom league. …. on par with intramural softball.”
Texas golf coach Coach Hannon says recruiting high school talent was a laid-back process with the pitch ‘come o down, son, and we’ll see what we can do for you.”
Houston Cougar coach Dave William exploited that “come on down” laid-back recruiting approach by aggressively pursuing the best high school golfers. Coach William’s aggressive strategy worked. Entering the 1971 season, the Cougars were two-time defending champions and had won 12 of the previous 15 NCAA titles.
In 1970 DKR and Coach Hannon changed Texas recruiting and competitive posture to compete with Houston. A.D. Darrell Royal decided the SWC format of match play instead of stroke play was the reason the University of Houston dominated NCAA golf. Royal and Coach Hannon “asked” the SWC to switch to stroke play. The other teams in the SWC refused DKR’s “request”, so Texas played no round-robin games with SWC teams in 1970.
One year later, Texas is National Champion, toppling the giant of the collegiate golf world – the University of Houston.
After dropping the Border Olympics Golf Tournament by 18 strokes to Houston during the first week of March, the Longhorns bounced back with three consecutive wins, including victories at the Louisiana State University Corbett Intercollegiate, Harvey Penick Intercollegiate hosted by UT, and Lakeway Intercollegiate. In the homestretch leading up to the NCAA Championships, Texas suffered narrow two-stroke losses to Florida at the All-America Intercollegiate in Humble, Texas, and Oklahoma State, at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate in Austin.
To listen, read, and see Ben’s oral history visit the link https://www.texaslsn.org/ben-crenshaw
1971 National Championship moments
1971 -front row Robert Harwell, Johnny Dill, Paul Darwin, Tom Kite, George Machock, William Cromwell, Ben Crenshaw. Brent Buckman second row: David Roberts, Fred Collins, Tony Pfaff, Chuck Munson, Craig Campbell, , George Tucker, Ladd Larson, Coach Hannon
Houston featured a pair of future pros in Bruce Lietzke and Tom Jenkins. Also challenging for the crown was the University of Florida with All-Americans Andy North and Gary Koch and Wake Forest University with future PGA Tour star Lanny Wadkins.
Gentle Ben won the 1971 NCAA individual title with a then-record four-day score of 273. The record stood for 21 years. However, winning still took a team effort, with Kite firing a 289, Cromwell carding a 290, and Tucker and Machock each logging scores of 292.
1972 National Championship moments
Returning were two magnificent golfers who had previously helped win the school’s first national title the previous June, “Hannon’s Aces:” Tom Kite and his partner Ben Crenshaw. Crenshaw is the only player ever to win three consecutive NCAA individual titles on the Division I level, and Phil Mickelson is the only other player with three Division I crowns to his credit.
Ladd Larson, Tony Pfaff, Warren Chancellor, Michael Ball, Brent Buckman, George Tucker, Gary Kahn, Joe Anderson, Chuck Munson, David Price
David Narveson, Johnny Dill, Paul Darwin, Tom Kite, Coach George Hannon, John Saunders, Craig Campbell, Ben Crenshaw
The Longhorns began their 1972 title run in February at the Atascocita Intercollegiate in Humble, Texas. The Longhorns posted a team score of 1,135 to finish second behind Houston.
Several other tournaments followed. The Trinity Intercollegiate turned out to be a great experience for the Longhorns. Kite led with an amazing score of 69, winning medalist honors and leading the Horns to the tournament title.
March was action-packed for the Longhorns. Texas competed in four major tournaments, including the 21st Border Olympics. The Horns performed well in every tournament, landing a spot in the top three in all. They continued their run with Crenshaw collecting medals in three of the four tournaments.
April was a heavy month as well, including two major tournaments. The 18th All-America Intercollegiate was held in Houston; Texas finished the event with an overall team score of 1,158, placing third behind Florida (1154) and first-place Houston (1150). Texas’ Aces, Crenshaw, and Kite, placed in the top five at the tournament.
Texas dominated at the Southwest Conference Tournament. The Horns won the event with a score of 859. Once again, Crenshaw impressed the crowd by winning medalist honors with his individual score of 207.
The roads led to the 75th NCAA Championships in Coral Gables, Florida. There were very high expectations for Texas going into this tournament. But, along with all the nerves and pressure that built up inside the Longhorns came motivation from Coach Hannon.
The 1972 NCAA championship had a dramatic finish to determine the individual medalist for the tournament.
Tom Kite on the 18th green missed a 6-foot putt while Ben Crenshaw made his 25-foot putt resulting in a tie for medalist honors with 279’s
After the 25-foot putt for the tie, Kite said to Ben, “What have you done to me?” “You’ve got to be the world’s greatest putter in the clutch.”
Still, teamwork won the national championship, not just Ben and Tom. George Tucker’s 298, Brent Buckman’s 297, and Tony Pfaff’s 291 were all needed to win the national championship.
