Since retiring from four decades on the PGA and Champions golf tours, UA alumnus Don Pooley has become a volunteer assistant coach for the UA’s men’s golf team, and a member of the board of the First Tee of Tucson.
Last week he agreed to be marquee golfer in the third annual Edward Jones Short Course championships at Rolling Hills Golf Course. (He also won it, shooting rounds of 62 and 61).
I had the privilege to play with Pooley in the opening round and although it was a gorgeous day and course conditions were excellent, nothing (not even a birdie) topped the chance to listen to Pooley’s stories from a golf career that began as a non-scholarship freshman in 1970. He won four times on Tour, including Jack Nicklaus’ 1987 Memorial Tournament.
- “I decided to try to walk on and be part of the UA golf team my freshman year, and about 100 people showed up for the one-day tryout at Randolph North,” Pooley said. “I shot 77 on a very windy day, just grinding, and thought I had no chance. But coach Roy Tatum put me on the squad. A year later I was in the No. 1 spot on the team.”
- In his Masters’ debut, 1981, Pooley walked off the 15th green at Augusta National and stopped to look at the leaderboard. His name was on the top, at 4-under par. He then bogeyed 16, 17 and 18. “But I finished (19th) and that qualified me for the 1982 Masters.” Pooley’s best Masters finish was fifth, in 1988.
- • Pooley shot an opening 74 in the 1986 Phoenix Open. A season-ticket holder (behind the UA bench) at McKale Center for more than 30 years, he drove back to Tucson to watch Arizona play reigning Pac-10 power Oregon State. It turned out to be the most remarkable finish in McKale history; Arizona beat the Beavers 63-62 in overtime on a 93-foot pass from Steve Kerr that was tipped to Craig McMillan for a buzzer-beating victory. Pooley drove back to Phoenix early the next morning and shot a career-record 61, which still stands as the low score ever at the Phoenix Country Club.
- Pooley sees how golf and college athletics have changed. Wildcat golfers have access to golf balls, clubs and gear in almost unlimited supply. “When I played at Arizona,” he said, “we got one sleeve of new golf balls. That’s it. We had to buy our own clubs and balls. Our only extra benefit was $50 a semester for gas money to drive around town for daily practice.”
- Pooley’s greatest day in golf was winning the 2002 U.S. Senior Open, beating Tom Watson in an epic five-hole, sudden death playoff. He was offered a spot in next month’s Tucson Conquistadores Classic, a Champions Tour event, but declined. A long and painful history of back injuries makes it difficult for Pooley, 65, to play golf in three consecutive days.
