At the 1945 Los Angeles Open, Bing Crosby gave Sam Snead a brand-new Spalding Dot. At the time, rubber wasn’t publicly available; “pre-war” golf balls were going for over $100/dozen. Snead repped Wilson at the time, but he took the Spalding and played it the entire 72 holes, even as the cover came loose, and won the tournament in the process.
In 1902, Sandy Herd showed up at the British Open with a new rubber-wound Haskell golf ball and played two qualifying rounds, then the four tournament rounds, all with the same ball. He won, too.
So Alex Chiarella’s one-ball win at the Lethbridge Paradise Canyon Open this past weekend wasn’t unprecedented — but it was a throwback to a different time. Chiarella, 25, shot 20 under over four rounds to capture his first Mackenzie Tour win, using a Titleist 1 the entire time. Friday night, Chiarella considered putting in a freshie.
“I looked at my buddy who I was staying with that night and said, ‘Man, I have some good mojo with this ball. Would it be weird to keep this going on the weekend?’” Chiarella told the PGA Tour. “He said, ‘No dude, tee it up tomorrow.’ There were a few scuffs on it, so I did it. I played with it on Saturday and then asked him the same question Saturday night, and he’s like, ‘Dude, there is no way you’re putting the ball out of the bag. Tee that thing up in the morning.’”
Alex Chiarella used the exact same golf ball for all 72 holes @LethPCOpen ? pic.twitter.com/fpokTqMJKN
— Mackenzie Tour (@PGATOURCanada) June 23, 2019
Chiarella’s Sunday 68 with the same Titleist 1 earned him a one-shot win, bumping him to third on tour’s Order of Merit, temporarily inside the top five to earn Korn Ferry Tour exemptions for 2020.
