Buffett & Bob Hope golf at Pensacola Open

Buffett & Bob Hope golf at Pensacola Open

Longtime Gulf Shores resident and fellow McGill High School graduate, Milton Rittelmeyer shares a picture he took of Jimmy Buffett playing in the pro-am with Bob Hope and PGA pro Jerry Pate at the Pensacola Open at Perdido Bay Golf Club. Pate, a Pensacola native (Washington High School), won the tourney in 1981.
Rittelmeyer said Buffett’s first tee shot hit a woman in the gallery in the chest. Buffett, of course, apologized. He also remembers that although he was a right handed guitar player, Buffett hit golf balls lefthanded.
Lee Elder became the first black golfer to ever qualify for the Masters when he won the Pensacola Open in 1975. The PGA accepted only “members of the “Caucasian race” until 1961.