Last Of The Breed Tour

Internationals take different path to PGA success

During the formative years of the PGA Tour, the greats of the game came from the caddie yard. They learned the game by carrying clubs and giving advice, moved into the pro shop, saved money, took to the fledgling tour and attempted to make their mark. Examples of caddie yard to major championship winners included the likes of Gene Sarazen, Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson. Well into the 1960s, the last of the caddie yard breed was the colorful Lee Trevino, a six-time major champ.

However, in the 1950s, Arnold Palmer of Wake Forest University began a new trend. Palmer did grow up around the game and did such things as caddie and cut greens, but he also was one of the first of his generation to attend college, play amateur golf, win the United States Amateur, and then turn professional and go on to greatness on the links. That next generation of golfing greats was learning to win while competing on college golf teams. The NCAA Division I championship was suddenly just as big a feather in the cap as was the Porter Cup or the Western Amateur.

Playing college golf was the ticket to future success on the PGA Tour. Jack Nicklaus attended Ohio State, Johnny Pott won the NCAA title while at LSU, Bert Yancey went to West Point, Lanny Wadkins attended Wake Forest, and on and on.

Curtis Strange was the poster boy for the way things had to be done to reach tour success. He was the son of the owner and professional at White Sands Country Club in Virginia Beach, and picked up the game as a 7-year-old. He won the Virginia Junior as a 15-year-old and played collegiate golf at Wake Forest, playing alongside future pro Jay Haas. He won a pair of North and South Amateurs, won the Western Amateur, the Eastern Amateur and the NCAA Championship, and turned professional following his fourth year of college as a 21-year-old.

Like others, Strange couldn't get through the PGA Tour's Q School in his first attempt. There was no such thing as the Nationwide Tour back in 1976, so he headed to Asia to get some much-needed tournament experience. He earned his way onto the tour in 1977 and won his first professional event in late 1979, the Pensacola Open.

Strange won the Houston Open in 1980 and then captured the Westchester Classic the following year. He began to learn the tour courses, his game improved, and by the late 1980s we was arguably one of the game's top players.

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In 2007 that Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price recorded their Last of the Breed album, of western swing, country classics and some of the best country music ever written — most of it by them.     The artists took their show on the road and toured in support of the album in March of that year.

There were no 14-year-olds on that tour, but those guys toured like they were teenagers promoting their first album, blazing a trail across the country performing 15-shows in 17 days.  I got to see their show a couple times here in Colorado, and I was blown away.  These talented musicans were at the top of their game  and were having so much fun performing together. And the music!  They were joined by friend and fellow musical genius Freddy Powers, and sang their award-winning hits to sold-out halls everwhere.   We all left those shows knowing we’d just experienced something very special.

The Last of the Breed album was released before the tour, a double-album,  and a DVD quickly followed.  Now, on March 3, 2009, Image Entertainment will  release a live cd, recorded from their concerts.  This is good news, because it is going to get wider distribution, and will also be available, for the first time, through i-tunes for download. 

They are the Last of the Breed — the elder statesmen of classic country music who have inspired artists for decades. No one else sings country music with the passion and purity of Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price. In March 2007, these living legends and Country Music Hall of Famers united on stage for a once-in-a-lifetime concert event that was captured for television and recorded to give fans the ultimate concert experience. Backed by the GRAMMY Award-winning Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel and Ray Price’s Cherokee Cowboys, LIVE FROM THE LAST OF THE BREED TOUR presents Willie’s, Merle’s and Ray’s greatest hits that they performed on this magical evening.

The New Yorker

The Story of the Tour de France, Volume 2: 1965-2007, How a Newspaper Promotion Became the Greatest Sporting Event in the World

Billboard

Willie Nelson, an epic life

The beauties of nature and art displayed in a tour through the world ...