From an early age, Bob Friend knew exactly what he wanted to do in life.
Friend, a Pittsburgh native and longtime Oakmont Country Club member, will have his spectacular career in the game of golf recognized on November 12 when he is inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Golf Hall of Fame.
It is a career that took Friend to five major professional championships and led him down a number of different avenues following his playing career.
“It’s just an honor,” said Friend, 62. “I grew up in this area and, even though I lived in Jupiter, Florida for about 12 years, no matter where I lived, I was always introduced on the first tee as being from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I’m a Pittsburgh guy.”
Friend’s father, Bob, was a standout pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1951-1965. He made four All-Star Games, won the 1960 World Series and led Major League Baseball in wins in 1958.
“I learned work ethic from him,” said Friend of his father, who passed away in 2019. “He taught me that anything worth doing is worth doing 100 percent. My father was a workhorse for the Pirates. He didn’t miss a start in 15 years… I got my work ethic from my father.”
While Friend took plenty of lessons in sport from his father, he applied them to a different athletic venture away from baseball.
In 1978, Friend — while working as a caddy at Oakmont — witnessed a thrilling PGA Championship at his home club with a front row seat. He was tabbed to caddy for John Bonella, who had a connection to legendary golfer Tom Watson.
Friend caddied during three practice rounds, watching Watson — who finished runner-up that week after falling in a playoff — and observed one of the game’s great players. He was hooked.
“I was inside the ropes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with Tom Watson,” said Friend. “To me, that was like being inside the ropes with Tigers Woods or Jack Nicklaus in their prime.
“I was having breakfast with my dad that following Monday morning, and he asked, ‘what did you think?’ I said, ‘That’s the coolest thing that I’ve ever seen in my life. That’s what I want to be when I grow up.’ It was a seminal event. I knew, in that moment, exactly what I was going to do with my life.”
Early on, there were some hard lessons learned for Friend, both on and off the course.
“I was maybe 14 years old and played in the West Penn Boys Championship,” he said. “I didn’t win. I shot 88 or 90 maybe. But Ray Kinzel from the Pittsburgh Press was there and wanted to interview me because I was the pitcher’s son. He asked me a question about the course, and I said that it was really hilly and the greens were kind of slow. It was nothing malicious.”
But when Friend sat down at the breakfast table the following morning, the newspaper was already opened to Kinzel’s article, with that quote circled.
“My father said, ‘you don’t understand how fortunate you are to be a member of my country club and to grow up in a place like that,’” recalled Friend. “’Everybody is proud of their golf course, where it’s a public course or a private course. If I ever see a negative comment about somebody else’s golf course, your days of playing golf are done.’”
The message resonated with Friend, who remembered that as he went through his career and used it as a lasting appreciation for what he had been given.
But Friend couldn’t get where he ended up on desire alone or simply because of the resources he had at his disposal as a young man. He had to put in the work and use every bit of that work ethic instilled in him by his father. He took lessons with longtime Oakmont head professional Bob Ford. He went through the grind, day after day, on one of the world’s most challenging golf courses.
When it came time to choose a college, Friend’s perseverance paid off.
While at a junior golf tournament in Florida, Friend went through his always lengthy range session while in sweltering temperatures. The only player on the range and willing to battle the heat, Friend caught the eye of LSU’s coach Dave Sigler. When Sigler left and came back, spotting about 15 sweat-drenched gloves on the ground a couple of hours later, he knew that Friend would be a fit in Baton Rouge.
He was offered a scholarship and went on the play for the Tigers for four seasons. As a senior, he helped LSU to the 1986 SEC Championship and a 10th place finish at the NCAA Championships.
While in college, he won the 1984 and 1985 WPGA Amateur Championship, as well as the 1985 Pennsylvania Amateur Championship. He claimed the 1986 Northeast Amateur Championship, the 1986 Monroe Invitational and the 1986 Middle Atlantic Amateur. He appeared in the U.S. Amateur Championship four times, as well.
Friend turned professional following his time at LSU. He competed on both the PGA TOUR and the Korn Ferry Tour. He won the 1991 Ben Hogan Fort Wayne Open and the 1998 Panama Open. He finished runner-up in a playoff at the 1998 Bell Canadian Open.
In his career, Friend competed in four U.S. Opens and one PGA Championship.
In 2006, he dipped back into local competition, claiming the WPGA Open Championship that year, his third major championship victory in WPGA competitions.
Following his playing career, Friend got involved in the broadcast industry, working as a PGA TOUR analyst for SiriusXM radio before settling into a career in the real estate industry in the Pittsburgh region.
Friend’s name still resonates in Western Pennsylvania’s sports annals. He is still a beloved member at Oakmont Country Club, which will host the Hall of Fame induction ceremony this year. Oakmont head professional Devin Gee is scheduled to introduce Friend, who credits his upbringing and the region in which it happened for much of his success.
“Pittsburgh’s a great place,” he said. “Pittsburghers are tougher than new elevator rope. That’s what I got from growing up here. We are a can-do, no whining place of action.
“People in Western Pennsylvania work hard. We’re robust and we can power through everything. I’m very, very proud of being a Pittsburgher and being from Western Pennsylvania.”
For media inquiries, please contact WPGA Director of Communications Josh Rowntree.
