Remembering the 500 Festival

Professional golf and auto racing don’t have much in common. This didn’t stop the PGA Tour from riding the coattails of the Indianapolis 500 – “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” – for a few years back in the day. At times, the golf event known as the 500 Festival Open Invitational was contested at the Speedway Golf Course (since renamed Brickyard Crossing) contemporaneously with race activities. It was sort of like the New York Philharmonic and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performing within earshot of each other.
On the afternoon of May 28, 1964, the background noise for the second round of the tournament consisted of the ear-splitting din of the annual carburation test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the engines of 33 open-wheel cars revved in a final tune-up for the race two days hence.
George Bayer studies a putt during the 1964 500 Festival Open Invitational. PGA of America via Getty Images
George Bayer, the 6-foot-5, 250-pound former football player with a menacing crew cut and four tour wins to hi...