LCCC/Jack Nicklaus Golf Benefit: Bob Bourne takes trip down memory lane with return to Elyria Country Club, site of 1963 Ohio Amateur win

ELYRIA — It was June 1963 when a young Oberlin High grad made the front page of The Chronicle-Telegram with his performance at the Ohio Amateur at Elyria Country Club. Robert (Bobby) Bourne made a return visit to ECC on Monday at the 31st Annual LCCC/Jack Nicklaus Scholarship Golf Benefit as the guest professional. Bourne was a 19-year-old college sophomore at the University of Houston back on the 14th of July in 1963 when he overcame wind, rain and, of all things, a beer can, to beat Dan Carmichael of Columbus 2 and 1 in match play to reign as the state's best amateur. "Everybody was here," he said of his many friends and family who attended, including a high school teammate, Chuck Cummings, who carried his bag. "It was like having your own gallery." On the 10th hole, Bourne hit his shot into the rough and then pulled his iron shot into the ravine. He found his ball resting on the can. He chose to play it from there but when he moved the can, the ball rolled a short distance — a penalty that cost him the hole and left him just two up with eight holes to play. But he managed to hang on, clinching the title on the 17th hole with spectators lining the entire green. A photograph of the scene appeared in the C-T. "That was a good picture," he said. "I have that picture — the 17th. It was nice because there were a lot of people here that I knew. It was special. It was like going home." "The gallery was very, very big back then," said Bourne's close friend Don Knectes, who played against him in high school and is now one of the directors for the benefit. "For someone from Lorain County to now be in the position to win the Ohio Amateur, we hadn't have that happen very often." "When you won the state championship," Bourne said. "That was big 50 years ago." As for that infamous beer can, Bourne remembers it well. "(Carmichael) stood up there on the tee," Bourne said. "I was on the side and I thought to myself, 'Is that ahead of the marker?' He hit it and knocked it pretty good. My older brother (Barry) was in the gallery and said, 'Call it on him, call it on him.' I didn't see it. I couldn't. That was part of my growing up. Professional etiquette or whatever it is. If that happened today and somebody saw it, it would be all over television. "On 10, I had to take the beer can out and I normally wouldn't move anything. I wouldn't even take a rock out and throw it in the fishing pond out there." The win propelled Bourne to become a professional and since 1996 he's been the director of instruction at StoneWater Golf Club in Highland Heights. "My life's a fairy tale," Bourne said. "It was a great week. I just played well. I just played well enough in match play and got lucky and beat the club champion." Coming back to Elyria Country Club brought back some fond memories for Bourne. "One of the nice things about that tournament was my grandmother, who was about 87, drove me here every day," he said. "She thought that was good luck. She was a dietitian at Oberlin College, so that's how we ended up in Oberlin." Monday's event drew 134 golfers to Elyria Country Club. Bourne joined local golf icon Jimmy Hanlin at the event which benefits the scholarship fund for Lorain County Community College. Since 1990, the benefit has provided over $1.25 million in financial assistance to LCCC and University Partnership students. "I've really become part of (ECC) through the whole year," Hanlin said. "They always ask what I liked or didn't like. What I saw or didn't see. I think that's the reason it's so successful. I don't know if many people put a whole year of planning to make it better next year. I think that's the key to a successful event. That's what the crew here in Elyria and LCCC have been able to do better. I see hundreds of these events every year. Some are run very well and some take advantage of the generosity of people and don't put the time back into it. They definitely put the time back into it here." Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or at timothygeb@msn.com.