Tom Weiskopf's legendary golf odyssey began in earnest at Benedictine

Aug. 22—None other than Jack Nicklaus encapsulated Tom Weiskopf's place in golf.

"Tom Weiskopf had as much talent as any player I've ever seen play the tour," Nicklaus once said.

It is from that lofty perch that the golfing odyssey of Weiskopf, who died Aug. 20 at the age of 79, can be told.

That odyssey began at his alma mater as a 1960 graduate of Benedictine.

On the occasion of his death, now would be an appropriate time to recount that tenure as a Bengal.

Weiskopf continues to be regarded, with good reason, as perhaps the greatest golfer Greater Cleveland has produced, a career that featured the 1973 British Open title, four runners-up at The Masters, a 1976 U.S. Open runner-up and 28 event wins as a professional.

The Greater Cleveland qualifier, and not Ohio, is in large part thanks to the Upper Arlington prodigy who preceded him by a few years in high school golf, the 1956 and 1957 Ohio state medalist — Nicklaus.

Weiskopf caddied at Chagrin Valley and, later, Hawthorne Valley, which the Bedford Heights resident considered his home course. He was introduced to the game by his mom Eva and dad Tom, both avid golfers, and began to fall in love with it after attending the 1957 U.S. Open, held at Inverness in Toledo. Weiskopf went to St. Pius in Bedford for sixth, seventh and eighth grade before landing at the "Home of Champions."

While at Benedictine, Weiskopf was a three-time district champion and three-time state qualifier, twice on the Bengals' team qualifiers in 1958 and 1960 and in 1959 as a junior individually.

In 1958, Weiskopf made the Bengals' six-man varsity golf team as a sophomore, a new-look squad with one returning letterman from their unbeaten Metropolitan Golf League championship ensemble. He is pictured in the 1958 school yearbook holding a club on the far left of the picture of the team, coached by The Rev. Florian Hudac. Weiskopf was by far the smallest in stature in the picture, ironic as he hit a growth spurt and later grew to be 6-foot-3.

Later, in a 1971 piece when Weiskopf wrote weekly columns for The Plain Dealer as a PGA Tour standout, he remembered his introduction to the game.

"As a 13-year-old, I started to caddy at Chagrin Valley and also Hawthorne Valley, with most of it being at Hawthorne," Weiskopf wrote in the PD's June 23, 1971 edition. "I knew this was a game I wanted to play. Both Mom and Dad were fine golfers — and still are. The next summer, as a 14-year-old and going into my freshman year at Benedictine, my folks bought me my first set of clubs.

"I'll never forget, the first time I play 18 holes, I had a 92. Two months later, it was down in the 70s. The next year, as a sophomore at Benedictine, I made the varsity golf team."

And so it began.

As a sophomore, Weiskopf was a key contributor as Benedictine won the Senate League tournament at Highland, carding an 84, good for third on the Bengals behind medalist Lou Domjan and John Lewis.

Following that season, Weiskopf qualified for Cleveland's state junior team after taking fifth in a local qualifier at Manakiki with a two-round score of 163. He also advanced to the third round of the Cleveland District Golf Association's junior tournament, his first match-play venture, falling to Tom Cullen one-up at Seneca in a match decided on the final hole.

Because high school golf season in that era occurred during the spring, not the fall as it is today, Benedictine's yearbooks were published in advance of the season. So the golf portion of the yearbook was a brief review of the year prior.

As a junior in the spring of 1959, Weiskopf paced the Bengals to a 72-hole crown in the Metropolitan Scholastic tournament at Mayfield Heights, carding a four-round score of 321. Benedictine edged Cathedral Latin for the team title by two strokes, 1,367-1,369.

He later captured the East Side District qualifier for the state tournament with a 74 at Seneca, representing the Bengals at state as an individual. Unfortunately, only team scores were posted in local media accounts, so how Weiskopf fared on Ohio State's Scarlet course for the state tournament is lost to time.

The 1959 Cleveland junior qualifier was contested in June at a rain-deluged Manakiki, but Weiskopf still managed an opening day 74-77, further solidifying his place as a force in the local game.

For Weiskopf's senior season in 1960, Benedictine had a new coach, The Rev. Basil Hrin, and didn't miss a beat.

The Bengals competed that spring as a member of the new Cleveland Catholic Golf Conference, also consisting of Cathedral Latin, Chanel, Gilmour, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Edward, St. Ignatius and St. Joseph. Benedictine went unbeaten over a 14-match CCGC slate. That league campaign included a 79 for Weiskopf in a rout of St. Ignatius and a 76 in a rout of Lourdes, both at Seneca.

The East Side District qualifier was staged at Highland and Seneca on May 20, where Weiskopf turned in a two-over 74 as the Bengals posted the low score in the Seneca field at 326. With that performance, Benedictine qualified for state as a team for the second time in three seasons and, to that point, seventh time overall.

In Weiskopf's final high school tournament, Benedictine placed 10th at state as a team, 17 strokes back of Upper Arlington. On Day 1, Weiskopf carded an 82.

Upon completing his Benedictine career, Weiskopf won the Ohio junior title in the summer of 1960 over two rounds at Lost Creek in Lima. He shot a 65 on Day 1 and a 74 on Day 2 to reign by six strokes. That also afforded him a trip to the national junior tournament in August in Iowa, along with three other Ohioans.

Weiskopf is pictured in the 1960 Benedictine yearbook, along with the other 242 members of the school's graduating class that year, in a white tuxedo coat with black bowtie.

With three trips to the state high school tournament under his belt, Weiskopf went on to compete at Ohio State, then the PGA in a memorable career.

Weiskopf added another News-Herald coverage area tie in a second career as a famed course architect, being a co-designer on Quail Hollow's second course with Jay Morrish that opened in 1996.

In The Associated Press obituary honoring his passing, longtime AP golf writer Doug Ferguson shared a quote from Weiskopf, published last summer in Golf Digest, that summarized his perspective on the game well.

It was a mindset forged over decades, all the way back to those days at Benedictine.

"Golf, to me, was always such a great challenge of the mind, and there were times I wish I had handled that challenge a little better," he said. "But I love the game. I love talking about it and thinking about it, and to me it is endlessly fascinating."