Broadcaster Johnny Miller will return to the fairways and greens in next week’s Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf tournament. It will be his first competitive round since 1997.

For those who know Miller only as an acerbic broadcaster, a little background is in order:

For a short period of time in the early through mid 1970s, Johnny Miller was as good a golfer as any who has played. He won the 1973 US Open at Oakmont, where he came storming back from 12th place with a final round 63. That’s an incredible feat at any US Open, but especially so at Oakmont.

He was the leading money winner on the Tour in 1974, winning eight tournaments. In 1975, he finished second to Nicklaus at the Masters, and third at the British Open. In 1976, he won the British Open for his second Major.

Following that, however, his brilliant play tailed off, and he was not nearly as successful. Miller finished his career with 25 PGA Tour wins, played on two Ryder Cup teams and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1996.

It’ll be good to see him play again.

Johnny Hart, creator of the classic comic strip BC died at his storyboard Saturday at age 76.

His brainchild, the “BC” Comic strip, was launched in 1958 and appeared in 1,300 newspapers. It also may be the only comic strip to have a tournament named after it—the BC Open in Endicott, New York. The BC Open was played from 1971 to 2006. This year, it becomes the Dicks Sporting Goods Open, a Champions Tour event.

The origin of the naming of the BC Open is somewhat in question. According to some sources, it was originally named the Broome County Open, after its geographic location. Hart was a native of Endicott, however, and his cartoons have been used as the logo for as long as anyone can remember.

Thanks for many years of enjoyment, Johnny Hart.

The Kraft Nabisco—the year’s first major will be played by the LPGA this weekend. I enjoyed this article on the Dinah Shore Kraft Nabisco tournament of 1987. That year turned to be the breakthrough for Betsy King, who was a star for the LPGA in the 1980s and early 1990s.

First Nancy Lopez ... now Tony Jacklin. This coming-out-of-retirement thing seems to be catching on.

Tony Jacklin, one of the best and most popular of the British golfers of the 1960s and 1970s, will play the British Open this year at age 62.

Jacklin won the 1969 Open Championship, becoming the first British player to do so in 18 years.  He won the US Open in 1970—the first and only by a British player since 1920. He also won eight events on the then-fledgling European Tour, as well as events in Europe, South America, Africa and Australia.

Jacklin’s biggest claim to fame, however, was as a playing member of a series of losing European Ryder Cup teams, and the Captain of the 1985 European team, which racked up the first Euro victory in 28 years.

Jacklin was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002.

I recently finished a couple of biographies of golf great Walter Hagen. Hagen is one of the pivotal figures in the history of golf, and is rightly credited with creating the concept of the “playing” (as opposed to the “club” or “teaching") professional. He is probably the first professional athlete to have reached the $1 million mark in career earnings (approximately $12 million in 2007 dollars).

Hagen currently is credited with eleven major victories: the 1914 and 1919 US Open, the 1922, 1924, 1928 and 1929 British Open Championship and the 1921, 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1927 PGA Championships.

Hagen played in just three Masters tournaments, and these were when he was well beyond his prime. In those, he finished T13, T15 and T11.

But after reading the biographies, I believe that Hagen has been short changed. For while the fourth modern major—the Masters—did not exist during most of his playing career, there was a tournament that could (and was in its time) rightly be considered a major: The Western Open.