Tom Weiskopf battling cancer

Tom Weiskopf, a 16-time PGA TOUR winner and noted golf course architect, is reportedly battling pancreatic cancer.

The 1973 Open Championship winner revealed to Golfweek that he was diagnosed earlier this week and began treatment on Thursday.

The 78-year-old experienced sharp pains in his stomach while touring the re-opening of Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Arizona in late November. On returning home to Montana, a CT scan revealed a lesion in his pancreas and Weiskopf headed to Miami, Florida, for further testing.

Those tests combined into the diagnosis.

“I’ve got a rough 4-6 months ahead of me,” he told Golfweek. “I had my first chemo today and the treatment lasted seven hours. I get the rest of the cocktail through my portable pump for 46 hours and then I get to rest up for 10-12 days before the next round.”

Some of Weiskopf’s design work includes TOUR courses TPC Scottsdale (Waste Management Phoenix Open), and Torrey Pines North that serves as one of two courses used in the Farmers Insurance Open. Among a throng of gems around the globe Weiskopf also had a hand in TPC Craig Ranch in Texas, Loch Lomond in Scotland, and the exclusive Double Eagle Club in Ohio.

As a player his 16 TOUR wins spanned over 14 years with his last win coming at the Western Open in 1982. He then added four PGA TOUR Champions victories, including a Senior U.S. Open. His 1973 Open Championship was won in wire-to-wire fashion at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland.