You talk to Mark McCumber (above) about his winning The Players Championship, and it sounds like that day — March 27, 1988 — was as close as yesterday.
“It is vivid in my mind,” said the Jacksonville native, one of four local residents (along with Dan Sikes, Calvin Peete and David Duval) to win the Players or its predecessor, The Greater Jacksonville Open. “It meant so much, so much.
“When I won my first tournament (Doral, 1979) it was like being in a candy store,” said McCumber, today a competitor on the Senior PGA Tour. “The others in between were memorable. But the Players ... playing here in front of my family and friends...”
He says that victory remains the most special, even above the 1994 Tour Championship, or the 1989 World Cup, or any of the other seven PGA Tour wins.
“I was playing so well that it was unbelieveable. I warmed up Tuesday and told myself, ‘Just don’t get in your own way.’
“I had come off a good string of tournaments. I almost won San Diego and Doral, and I really felt good about everything.”
The TPC’s Stadium Course then was much like it is today. The rough was tough, but as always the weather would be the main factor. And this week it was somewhat docile due to light winds and some heavy rains.
It was perfect for McCumber’s left-to-right, hit-’em-high, charge-to-the-end game.
“I really played well all week,” he said. “I was solid the first day. I played the first 36 holes with Hale Irwin and Ben Crenshaw. The first day, we finished at No. 9 and I holed out from 120 yards to finish with a 65. Even the next day, although I was even par for the round, I played very well.”
And stayed close to the lead. Payne Stewart shot 65; McCumber was tied for second, one back.
“You know, we played 32 holes the last day. It rained Saturday afternoon after Morris (Hatalsky, his playing partner) and I had finished just four holes.
“That made for a lot of golf on Sunday. We played early (McCumber shot 67 to take a two-shot lead) and then I went home and had lunch.”
Going “home,” incidentally, wasn’t a big deal — at the time he lived in Marsh Landing, literally across the street from the TPC gate.
He got back to the course for his 2 p.m. tee time. The field has been re-paired; due to the weather problems, they now were in threesomes going off both nines.
McCumber’s main problems were with him: he was at 204, David Frost was at 206 and Stewart was at 207.
“Frost birdied the first two holes and we were even, but I still felt great,” said McCumber, as if he was describing a round that was played the day before. “I had a chance at 4 to get the lead back, but I lipped out a three-foot birdie putt. Then I hit it close at 6 to get back ahead.”
A birdie at 9 extended the lead.
“I felt good at that point,” said brother Jim McCumber, “because I knew Mark was playing great, Frost was struggling and Stewart had fallen back. No one else was close. I decided to buy Heinekens for the media room — anyone can get champagne, huh? — but I didn’t want to hex him. I told the clubhouse guy to have some ready, but I didn’t buy ‘em yet.”
Mark then he sent out a dagger with birdies at 11 and 12 and the lead jumped to four shots. On the par-3 13th, he started his usual left-to-right shot over the water and saw it fade back perfectly to within 10 feet.
“Frost saw that and it finished him,” said Mark. “He aimed to the top right of the green, playing safe. When he did that, I knew he was playing for a check.” The implication: Frost had given up on winning the trophy.
The lead stayed around four and no one charged. Mike Reid, an early starter, shot 67 for 277 but, as Mark observed, “He was in the clubhouse and he couldn’t get his score any lower.”
Jim McCumber watched Mark hit his tee shot on the 17th hole. The ball hit and stayed on the island green, and Jim walked to the clubhouse to buy the Heineken beers. “That was it,” he said. “No one would beat him.”
A safe par there, then a safe bogie on No. 18 — his first bogie since Friday afternoon — and he had a 4-shot win and $225,000. Reid’s final round got him a 277 total, one better than Frost, who finished with 72. Stewart’s 73 pushed him further back.
Today, McCumber seems to have overcome back problems and stays active in the family golf course architecture business. His family still lives here — and his courses are throughout the area — but the little girls who greeted him on the 18th green that March, 1988, day are now grown.
“I’ll always remember it, but so do a lot of people,” he said. “It certainly has helped our business (the McCumbers build and manage courses) because of the publicity, and frequently a client will bring it up.
“It was emotional then and, even today, I get pretty emotional talking about it.”