No. 46 • Johnny Miller sets record score at 1975 Tucson Open

Jan. 19 1975: Johnny Miller shoots 25 under par at Tucson Open

Phil Mickelson won the Tucson Open in 1991, 1995 and 1996, but no one ever called him the Desert Fox or had the nerve to ask him if Tucson held a special place in his heart.

Sure, part of it was that Mickelson was an ASU Sun Devil, but by the time he won three Tucson Opens, all of the “firsts” and “bests” had been plucked from the tree.

Arnie’s Army marched at Tucson National in 1967, and as Arnold Palmer won here during the prime of his career, it was difficult to imagine anything surpassing the feeling.

But when the blond, glamorous and charismatic Johnny Miller won the Tucson Open in 1974, 1975 and 1976, he did so with such style that Tucson almost forgot about Arnie’s Army. In 1981, Miller won the Tucson Open for a fourth time and, if nothing else, put his legend in untouchable territory, beyond that of those to come, like Mickelson.

In ’75, Miller shot rounds of 66-69-67-61 and won by nine strokes. Tucson National wasn’t a muni — at 7,200 yards, it was the third-longest course on the PGA Tour that year — and he wasn’t beating the junior varsity. Tom Watson shot 72-67-67-67 that week to finish third.

Miller’s 25-under-par score was the lowest on the PGA Tour since 1954.

The poets of the press box got busy typing.

“Last week out in a glorious part of the Old West, on a painted lady of a golf course called Tucson National, Johnny Miller strolled along looking his usual low-key, half-sleepy self, which is pure deception, and completed a historic triple,” wrote Dan Jenkins of Sports Illustrated.

“In the annals of the PGA tour, going back to the days when Walter Hagen used to pass the hat and coming right up through Jack Nicklaus’ diet program, nobody had ever before won the first three tournaments of the year. Until Miller.”

Miller wasn’t some obscure rising talent when he began his run of success at Tucson National. He had won the 1973 U.S. Open with a historic 63 in the finishing round.

Miller rose to prominence via the U.S. Open, but he became a familiar face on network TV in January of 1974 and 1975 when he won the Tucson Open and Phoenix Open back-to-back.

He wasn’t Nicklaus or Palmer; he was a new and modern brand of golf.

“He is a television commercial, a registered trademark, a corporation, a big name to drop at a cocktail party,” Sports Illustrated reported after Miller’s Tucson victory of ’75. “He drives a Porsche. His wife is beautiful. His children are precious. Celebrities want his autograph. He is 27 years old, has a 30-inch waist, a movie star’s profile, a full head of blond hair. And he can putt.”

Miller played so well in Tucson that Miller compared his final-round 61 to the 63 that won the U.S. Open.

“It’s the greatest I ever played in my life, even better than the 63 I got to win the U.S. Open,” he said that day in Tucson. “I hit the ball so good it was a joke.”

At 55, when Miller returned for the 2002 Tucson Open Pro-Am, he amended his long-ago statement with a career of perspective.

“The best golf I ever played in my life was in 1975 in the final round at Tucson National,” he told the Star’s Mark Stewart. “I was playing behind John Mahaffey. He birdied three of the first seven holes and lost two shots.

“I was in a total zone and ended up winning by nine shots. Without pressure, that was the best golf I ever played. With pressure, it was the 63 I shot at the U.S. Open.

“I had won (at) Phoenix by 14 the week before. Obviously I was on a major roll, walking on air. I was just kicking butt then. Golf was just so much fun. How things change, huh?”

Miller won 25 times in his career, including a U.S. Open and a British Open, but he is identified as much with his golf in Tucson as anything else.

“When I go to Tucson, there’s something special, a feeling I don’t get anywhere else,” Miller told me in a 1992 interview. “I’m not bragging, but it’s almost like that’s my tournament. I get a real warm feeling about being there.”

Where are they now? Now 69, Miller is in his 27th year as NBC’s lead golf analyst. He grew up in San Francisco, enrolled at BYU and was a PGA Tour member at 22.

How he did it: After winning at Tucson and Phoenix in 1974 and 1975, Miller appreciated momentum.

“Two years ago I would have gone home after I won a tournament,” he said in 1976. “Now I’m intrigued with winning. After I won Phoenix for two in a row — or three, counting Spain last fall — I caught myself thinking, ‘I don’t want anybody else to win out here, ever.’ Sure, I’m going to play in Tucson. I feel like I’m going to win. Now that’s crazy.”

Photo: Tucson Open winner Johnny Miller, left, accepts a $40,000 check from host Dean Martin during the 1975 Tucson Open. Miller shot a record-setting 61 and overall score of 263, 25-under par at Tucson National. Arizona Daily Star file photo