PGA Tour Ohio Kings Island Open Tournament

The Ohio Kings Island Open was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It was played four times within a five-year span in the mid-1970s. Jack Nicklaus was the first winner.

First played: 1973

Last played: 1977

The PGA Tour Ohio Kings Island Open used a 72-hole, stroke-play format. It was played at the Jack Nicklaus Sports Center in Mason, Ohio, making Nicklaus, an Ohio native, the ideal inaugural winner.

Winners of the Ohio Kings Island Open

1973 — Jack Nicklaus, 271
1974 — Miller Barber, 277
1975 — Not played
1976 — Ben Crenshaw, 271
1977 — Mike Hill, 269

Nicklaus' win in the tournament's first year was by six shots over runner-up Lee Trevino. The Bear ran up that win on the back of a 62 in the third round. It was one of six times in his career that Nicklaus won a PGA Tour event by at least six strokes.

Nicklaus gave away his first-place check of $25,000, sending $5,000 to the Boy Scouts of America and using the rest to establish a scholarship fund at Ohio State University.

The 1976 tournament ended with Crenshaw rolling in a 14-foot birdie putt on the final hole to beat Andy North by one stroke.

The Ohio Kings Island Open ended following the 1977 tournament when the host site, the Jack Nicklaus Sports Center, signed a deal to become the site of the LPGA Championship. That LPGA major was played there from 1978-1989. The golf course today is known as The Golf Center at Kings Island.