A 65 with a Double *

The term "nobody" is thrown around too often in golf, even occasionally when referring to a PGA Tour winner. This week I have been working on a deep dive on the history of the Waste Management Monday qualifier. The 1975 qualifier listed scores that made it through and, next to the scores, the players who shot them. 

Next to a 65, however, there wasn’t a name, only a couple of asterisks. 

The footnote under the rest of the scores read: **Risch scored a 65 but was not registered for the tournament.

Bob Risch was indeed a nobody in every sense of the word; his name had been replaced by two asterisks. I knew I had to find him. 

I tracked down the number to a landline in Brea, California, and after explaining to the woman who answered the phone who I was and why I wanted to speak with Risch, she handed the phone to him. His voice was gruff, and low and raspy. Understandably, he was skeptical, but he perked up when I mentioned his 25 career PGA Tour starts and three Champions Tour starts. 

As we began what would be a 20-minute conversation, I wasn’t in search of a story. The golf nerd in me just wanted to hear tales from the Monday Q grind of long ago. But as Risch continued to talk, I started to take notes. 

By 1974, Risch had been playing professionally for four years. Once again, he scrounged up the money to enter PGA Tour Q school, where he finished second. The only player who beat him was a young gun from the University of Houston named Frank Zoeller. Yes, Fuzzy. 

In those days, only a small number of players were exempt into PGA Tour events, so the field was filled out by those who went through Monday qualifying. Risch's runner-up finish at Q school only exempted him into the Monday qualifiers; he still had a lot of work to do. 

The first Monday qualifier Risch played in was at the Phoenix Open, and he had a tee time at Scottsdale Country Club. The 150 players were split between two courses, with 21 spots available. 

Risch, now 77, remembers having a mid-morning tee time. "There weren't a bunch of people besides players, and no one told you how everything worked," Risch recalls. He went to the tee, and off his group went. Although he had never played Scottsdale Country Club, he found it to his liking, shooting a bogey-free 65. With 10 spots available at that site, his number was easily good enough to qualify; he would be playing in his third PGA Tour event. 

But upon walking into the clubhouse, officials informed him he was required to check in before teeing off, meaning his round would not be recognized. "I was devastated,” he says, “but I only had myself to blame." 

Officials felt badly for him, so they invited him to a satellite tournament, which he described as a mini-tour event run by the PGA Tour. "The Ben Hogan Tour before it was a thing," he says. 

The Sun City Open was a 36-hole event. Risch opened with a 67, followed that up with a 71, and won by two. The tournament is listed as an unofficial event on his PGA Tour bio. But the $2,000 winner’s check spent all the same and made up nearly one-third of his career earnings of $6,958. (He wouldn’t have stood much of a chance of winning at the Phoenix Open, as Johnny Miller prevailed by 14!) Risch made 12 cuts in his 25 PGA Tour starts, his best showing a t26 at the 1976 NBC Tucson Open. Risch also played in two Senior U.S. Opens missing the cut in both. 

 Risch thanked me repeatedly during the call  for "remembering his career." It was evident he was proud of it, but few had asked about it over the years. 

As the call was about to end, he said out of the blue, "You know, I beat Greg Norman." Risch then told me how he won the 1978 Queensland Open on the Australian Tour. As he told the story about taking down the Shark on his home soil, I wondered how many times he had shared it. However many times that was, the pride he delivered it with had not subsided. 

He noted he received $7,000 for that win and was quick to add, “Guys today have no idea how good they have it." 

Risch said he played in Europe, South Africa and Australia and "won about 50 mini-tour" events. He retired from golf in 1979 and later became a Los Angeles County sheriff. 

He plays golf a few times a month and says he can still shoot around par, "but I've moved up a few tees." 

I asked for his email address so I could send him the story, but he informed me he didn't have one. Instead, he gave me his mailing address so I could send him a printed copy. It was a perfect way to end the call. 

Don’t call Bob Risch a nobody. 

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