A couple of months ago, I found a 2003 copy of SouthPark Magazine while cleaning out a secretary at home. It was published years before I started working here, but we’d saved it because my husband, then a local chef, had a recipe featured in it.
In those days, the magazine went by SouthPark Luxury Living, and it was filled with stories about elite cars, over-the-top crystal chandeliers, “coveted” designer shoes and handbags, and the impending arrival of Saks Fifth Avenue at the corner of Gleneagles and Park roads (that one didn’t age well!).
But the cover story by the late Ron Green Sr. featured golf legend Jack Nicklaus. The Club at Longview, developed by Mel Graham, had recently debuted in Waxhaw — Nicklaus had designed the course. While the article was mostly about the making of Longview, Green also shared the inside story of how Nicklaus had helped shape an early redesign of Quail Hollow Club, which hosts the PGA Championship May 15-18.
As Green told it, the “Golden Bear” came to Charlotte in 1974 to play in the Kemper Open. “Mr. Nicklaus wasn’t happy about the Tour’s choice of Quail Hollow and said so, his feeling being that it was not a good championship layout,” Green wrote.
Obviously, that criticism wasn’t well-received here in the Queen City. In the locker room after the tournament, Nicklaus offered suggestions about how the course could be improved.
“A short time later, Arnold Palmer, the golf star who held a membership at Quail Hollow, was hired to implement some alterations,” wrote Green. “The course … has since undergone other, more dramatic changes, changes that would probably make the layout far more to Mr. Nicklaus’ liking.”
Nicklaus, 85, is far removed from the days of his competitive brilliance, but many top players still seek his advice, including Rory McIlroy (“The Perfect Match” by Ron Green Jr.).
“I think it’s about time that Rory won,” Nicklaus said in a press conference ahead of this year’s Masters, after sharing that he and McIlroy had lunch together to discuss his strategy for the tournament in Augusta.
At lunch, as The Wall Street Journal reported, Nicklaus listened as Rory outlined his game plan. “I wouldn’t change a thing,” Nicklaus told McIlroy. “That’s exactly the way I would try to play the golf course.”
Despite a rocky final round that ended in a sudden death playoff against Justin Rose, McIlroy finally earned the coveted green jacket. After his Masters win, Charlotte social media was flooded with congratulatory posts for the four-time winner of the Wells Fargo Championship (now the Truist Championship). Rory might not call Charlotte home, but Charlotte sure loves Rory.
“He’s as talented a player as there is out there, and he’s got a lot more majors in him,” Nicklaus told the Golf Channel in March.
This month, plenty of Charlotte golf fans hope he’s right.
CHEERS TO 10!
When I started this job over six years ago, one of the first people I connected with was Whitley Adkins. Adkins had been a contributing stylist at SouthPark since May 2015, back when the talented Sarah Crosland was editor. She wanted a bigger role.
Whitley’s passion for her work was effusive, but we’d never worked together before. “Ask me again in six months,” I told her.
After recognizing Whitley’s incredible work ethic, eye for style and relentless pursuit of perfection, she became SouthPark’s style editor in fall 2019. Along with leading the annual IT List of stylish Charlotteans, Whitley’s been the driving force behind our exquisite style features, many of which have graced the cover, and a top “talent scout” of sorts, scoping out story ideas for SouthPark around the Queen City.
In this issue, Whitley takes us inside her 100-year-old Myers Park cottage, where her high-style-meets-nostalgia aesthetic is on glorious display. Cheers to 10 years, Whitley! SP
CATHY MARTIN
Editor
editor@southparkmagazine.com
IN THIS ISSUE:
1 – The 250th anniversary of the MecDec
2 – Golf bucket list: Quivira Los Cabos
3 – Spectator style for tournament weekend
Photograph by Joshua Komer, courtesy Charlotte Museum of History; courtesy Quivira Golf Club; by Olly Yung
