Friends in High Places: Peter Jacobsen, professional golfer and commentator
A two-time senior major champion as well as a longtime golf commentator, Peter Jacobsen has been good to superintendents over the years. So good, in fact, that he was named the GCSAA’s Old Tom Morris Award winner in 2012.
Photo: Golfdom Staff
“Peter has done so much for the game of golf, and he has been an advocate for golf course superintendents,” then-GCSAA president Robert Randquist, CGCS, said of Jacobsen being honored by the association. “He has also been quite giving of himself for charitable events. He is a perfect fit for the Old Tom Morris Award.”
A native of Portland, Ore., Jacobsen played college golf at the University of Oregon before turning pro in 1976. He won seven times on the PGA Tour, including the Colonial in 1984, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in 1990 and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1995. His last win on the PGA Tour came at the Greater Hartford Open in 2003, when he was 49.
“I think too many people take (conditions) for granted. They show up at a golf course like Edgewood Tahoe or L.A. Country Club for the U.S. Open, and the golf course is in spectacular shape. And people will complain if it’s not perfect. But people underestimate the fact that Mother Nature has a seat at the table as well. And if Mother Nature doesn’t agree with you or you have some weather problems, it’s hard to keep the golf course perfect.
I think some of the biggest advances in the game have been in the technology of agronomy — greensmowers, bed knives, all of the deep tine machines, everything that superintendents use to create this perfect playing surfaces. And I just don’t think people appreciate that enough.
I have huge respect for everybody with the GCSAA and what they do.”
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