Jordan Spieth hits his tee shot on the fourth hole during second round at the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club April 12 in Augusta, Ga. Jason Day is the defending champion and two-time winner of an event fellow major champion Spieth would dearly like to win — Spieth’s hometown CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament. They are the headliners in a field missing most of the big names, including soon-to-be-father Scottie Scheffler. (Matt Slocum/AP File Photo)

McKINNEY — The CJ Cup Byron Nelson being played this week at the TPC Craig Ranch begins yet another new era with its 56th playing since a name change in 1968. This year it is the new title sponsor, a Korean entertainment company, but in 1968, the Salesmanship Club of Dallas made its charitable event the first tournament on the PGA Tour to be named for a player. And what a player he was!

Known as Lord Byron because of his regal status as both a golfer and a gentleman, Nelson grew up caddying alongside another legend, Ben Hogan, at Glen Garden Country Club in Fort Worth. They were competitive from day one and though perhaps Hogan is now considered the better player with nine majors to Nelson’s five, both have revered status in a game that professionally has evolved into a contentious industry rife with the greed that usually accompanies large sums of money. With that in mind, forget about the tour versus LIV and travel back in time to the beginnings of this annual springtime tournament that has an allure all of its own.

Should you doubt the allure, think only of Jordan Spieth and how he would dearly love to win this tournament, much like the late Payne Stewart 34 years ago. Though a native of Missouri, Stewart went to SMU and considered Dallas his second home. He had blown an easy win in 1985 by double bogeying the last hole of regulation to tie Bob Eastwood and then double bogeying the first playoff hole to tie a bow on the gift. So redemption was sweet five years later when Stewart, decked out in Dallas Cowboys attire, won a rain-shortened 54-hole Nelson at the TPC Las Colinas in Irving, home of the tournament from 1983 through 2017.

One year before Nelson passed away in 2006, the tournament attracted 49 of the top 50 ranked players in the world. Such was the persuasiveness of Nelson, who loved to sit by the 18th green with his wife Peggy and greet the golfers. Unlike the stoic Hogan, Nelson was a gregarious personality who enjoyed his role as tournament host and greeter.

As a player, Nelson is known for his spectacular season in 1945, just as World War II was coming to an end. During that season, he won 11 consecutive tournaments and claimed 19 titles for the year. The 11 straight wins is one of those records that may never be broken like Joe DiMaggio’s 57-game hitting streak in baseball or Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 points in one NBA game.

Nelson won the very first Dallas Open in 1944 at Lakewood Country Club. The following year Sam Snead won at Dallas Country Club and then Hogan won in 1946 at Brook Hollow Golf Club. Nelson, Hogan and Snead were all born in 1912, so this tournament has a rich history.

Another glamorous chapter was in 1970 when Jack Nicklaus defeated Arnold Palmer in a sudden death playoff with Beaumont’s Randy Wolff finishing third after a 36-hole final day because of rain that seems ever present in Nelson history. Nicklaus would win again in 1971 to leave his imprint on the tournament.

Spieth is popular with fans in much the way Palmer was back in those days of persimmon woods and soft balata rubber balls. Spieth first played in the Nelson as a 16-year-old student at Dallas Jesuit Prep in 2010, making the cut and wowing the galleries with his freewheeling play. He has expressed his desire to win his hometown event and has come close on several occasions with a runner-up finish in 2022. Spieth likes the Tom Weiskopf designed Craig Ranch, now hosting for its fourth year after the Nelson had a short two-year run at Trinity Forest in 2018 and 2019. The Covid outbreak canceled the tournament in 2020.

Jason Day is defending champion after winning his second Nelson as part of a comeback season in 2023. Day won the 2010 tournament at Las Colinas for his first win on tour and he won the PGA Championship in 2015.

It was the late Bruce Lietzke of Beaumont who said the Byron Nelson is all about the man while just down the road in Fort Worth, the Charles Schwab Challenge, is all about the course — Colonial Country Club. The Schwab Challenge will be played Memorial Day weekend this year on a Gil Hanse renovated layout that is sure to elicit many opinions since tweaking Colonial, for native Texans, is like sprucing up the Mona Lisa.

Speaking of revered courses, accompanying the name change in 1968 was a move from Oak Cliff Country Club to Preston Trail Golf Club just off Preston Road in far north Dallas. Preston Trail was designed by Ralph Plummer with help from Nelson and that initial tournament was a smashing success with great weather and huge galleries. Though he stumbled a little coming home while guarding an overnight lead of five strokes that Kermit Zarley cut into heavily with a final nine 29, the winner was Miller Barber, aka Mr. X, playing out of Sherman and originally from Texarkana.

Barber set a precedent for Texas winners with Lietzke winning twice, once at Preston Trail and once at TPC Las Colinas. His win at Preston Trail in 1982 was a rare over par total for 72 holes at 281 and due primarily to strong winds. Other Texas winners through the years include Don January, Billy Maxwell, Earl Stewart, Charles Coody,Ben Crenshaw, Scott Verplank and Billy Ray Brown. Stewart’s win in 1961 is noteworthy as the only time a host PGA pro has won at his club. (Oak Cliff Country Club now named The Golf Club of Dallas)

Perhaps 2024 will be the year of another Texas winner. With the top ranked player in the world, Dallas’ Scottie Scheffler, sitting out to be with his wife Meredith as they are expecting their first child, Spieth is the first player who comes to mind. And though there are other Texans who would be popular winners, like one of the Coody twins Parker and Pierceson, either would be delighted to join their grandfather on the title sheet, or Will Zalatoris, coming off back surgery.

But for Spieth, winning the Nelson would be sweet and similar to Stewart’s moment in 1990.

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THE CJ CUP BYRON NELSON

Site: McKinney.

Course: TPC Craig Ranch. Yardage: 7,414. Par: 71.

Prize money: $9.5 million. Winner’s share: $1,710,000.

Television: Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, noon to 2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2-5 p.m. (CBS).