The Jeld-Wen Tradition plans to hold a memorial for 1969 U.S. Open champion Orville Moody, who died Friday at 74.

The Tradition will hold a memorial Wednesday at 6 p.m. on the 18th green at Sunriver Resort’s Crosswater Club, which will host the Champions Tour tournament that begins Thursday.

The PGA Tour said Moody, a part Choctaw Indian from Chickasha, Okla., died in Texas. The tour did not give a cause of death.

The Tradition’s executive team has plenty of connections with Moody. Tournament director Evan Byers caddied for Moody on the Champions Tour in the 1980s. Mike Galeski, executive vice president of Peter Jacobsen Sports — which operates The Tradition — knew Moody well when he was an executive at Callaway Golf, which Moody endorsed for two decades.

“Orville was very instrumental in me being in the position I am at right now,” Byers said Friday. “Mike and I both carried very close, personal relationships as well as business relationships with Orv, so his passing is difficult for us.”

Called “Sarge” because of his 14 years in the service, Moody was the last player to win the U.S. Open after going through local and sectional qualifying. He shot a 72 in the final round at Champions Golf Club in Houston for a one-shot victory over Deane Beman, Al Geiberger and Bob Rosburg.

“We are all going to miss Sarge, who was a patriot first and a professional golfer second,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. “He embodied a bit of golf’s everyman whom we all could identify with.”

Moody was a five-time runner-up on the PGA Tour and won tournaments in Hong Kong, Morocco and Australia. A long putter helped revive his career when he joined the 50-and-over Senior PGA Tour in 1984, and his 11 victories included the 1989 U.S. Senior Open.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

The Jeld-Wen Tradition plans to hold a memorial for 1969 U.S. Open champion Orville Moody, who died Friday at 74.

The Tradition will hold a memorial Wednesday at 6 p.m. on the 18th green at Sunriver Resort’s Crosswater Club, which will host the Champions Tour tournament that begins Thursday.

The PGA Tour said Moody, a part Choctaw Indian from Chickasha, Okla., died in Texas. The tour did not give a cause of death.

The Tradition’s executive team has plenty of connections with Moody. Tournament director Evan Byers caddied for Moody on the Champions Tour in the 1980s. Mike Galeski, executive vice president of Peter Jacobsen Sports — which operates The Tradition — knew Moody well when he was an executive at Callaway Golf, which Moody endorsed for two decades.

“Orville was very instrumental in me being in the position I am at right now,” Byers said Friday. “Mike and I both carried very close, personal relationships as well as business relationships with Orv, so his passing is difficult for us.”

Called “Sarge” because of his 14 years in the service, Moody was the last player to win the U.S. Open after going through local and sectional qualifying. He shot a 72 in the final round at Champions Golf Club in Houston for a one-shot victory over Deane Beman, Al Geiberger and Bob Rosburg.

“We are all going to miss Sarge, who was a patriot first and a professional golfer second,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. “He embodied a bit of golf’s everyman whom we all could identify with.”

Moody was a five-time runner-up on the PGA Tour and won tournaments in Hong Kong, Morocco and Australia. A long putter helped revive his career when he joined the 50-and-over Senior PGA Tour in 1984, and his 11 victories included the 1989 U.S. Senior Open.