2021 September Memorabilia Auction - Closing Date 09/26/21
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/26/2021
Ed Fiori's 1992 Centel Western Open Championship at Cog Hill CC Contestant Badge/Clip
Past Western Open Champion in 1981, Ed Fiori's 1992 tournament contestant badge is presented here. Ben Crenshaw would emerge victorious at this tournament by the narrowest of margins over Greg Norman at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club. This clip is in similar condition to when it was issued in 1992. A signed letter of provenance from Ed Fiori comes with this lot.
Once considered a major, the Western Open was first played in 1899 continues as the FedEx playoffs tournament the BMW Championship
Ed Fiori Collection
'If you want something enough you can get it', is how the old saying goes. A youngster in the Los Angeles Suburb of Downey, California took it upon himself to get some work in at the local 9-hole golf course. It would be through a barbed wire fence that Ed Fiori would gain entry to that course in the early 1960's. Fast-forward over thirty years and Fiori found himself on the same tee box as the newly professional 20-year-old Tiger Woods in the final round of the PGA Tour's Quad City Classic. Holding the trophy at the end of that day and denying the dazzling Woods his first professional win was all worth it. It would be one of four trophies that Ed Fiori would hoist after his University of Houston collegiate career. The 1979 Southern Open, 1981 Western Open, 1982 Bob Hope Desert Classic and last, but not least, the 1996 Quad City Classic tied up a successful golfing career at the hands of "The Grip." That nickname came naturally to him, as he squeezed the club significantly harder than his tour cohorts. While small in stature at 5'7," Fiori would leave a large golfing legacy when he took down Tiger Woods, which until 2009, would be the only 54-hole lead snatched away from Woods. The Ed Fiori Collection includes prized possessions earned from his sticktoitiveness on the PGA Tour scattered with triumphs along the way.
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