On this date in 1996, Fred Couples shot a final-round 64 to win the Players Championship, for the second time, at the Stadium Course. He was four ahead of Tommy Tolles and Colin Montgomerie. And of special birthday note for a pair of deceased golf stars, the World Golf Hall of Famer Tommy Bolt was born in Haworth, Oklahoma, on this date in 1916, and Miller Barber was born in 1931 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Back on the golf course, Tony Jacklin won the 1968 Greater Jacksonville Open on March 31 to become the first Englishman to win a modern U.S. pro tour event and an important event of any kind since Ted Ray won the 1920 U.S. Open. And Calvin Peete won the 1985 Tournament Players Championship by three shots over D.A. Weibring on the TPC Stadium Course.
The only time the Masters Tournament finished in March was the first year, 1934, on March 25. The Masters had two more March days, the first and second rounds in 1939 on the 30th and 31st. Otherwise, the tournament has always been held during the first two weeks of April. Also, on this date in 1947, Babe Didrikson Zaharias won her first of three Titleholders Championships at Augusta Country Club, heading off runner-up Dorothy Kirby by five shots.
On this date in 1992, Davis Love III won the Players Championship by four strokes ahead of four players in second. Also, the LPGA Tour’s ANA Inspiration, now the Chevron Championship but more widely remembered as the Dinah Shore with sponsors Colgate and Nabisco, was won on March 29, 1992 by Dottie Pepper (Mochrie at the time). Pepper, then 26, birdied the 18th hole to tie Juli Inkster, and then won on the first hole of sudden-death, No. 10, with a par-4 to Inkster’s bogey. Pepper, who had been runner-up in 1991, also won the tournament in 1999 when she set the tournament record of 19-under 269.
Five times a PGA Tour event has been decided after an eight-hole, sudden-death playoff. (Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum played 11 holes for the 1949 Motor City Open but were stopped by darkness and declared co-champions.) The first of the eight occasions was on March 28, 1965, when Dick Hart beat Phil Rodgers at the Azalea Open. Also, on this date in 1999, Dottie Pepper won a second Nabisco Championship (now the Chevron Championship) at Mission Hills CC, six strokes ahead of runner-up Meg Mallon.
Anecdotes for March 27: On this date in 1994, the Players Championship concluded at TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course with Australia’s Greg Norman setting a record score of 24 under par to win by four over Fuzzy Zoeller…Two months shy of turning 48, Sam Snead won the 1960 De Soto Open Invitational. It was his 80th of 82 PGA Tour victories, tied for the most anyone has won in tour history...In 1968, the PGA announced that the PGA and U.S. Open winners would represent the U.S. in the World Cup...And in 1965, Gene Sarazen was announced as the recipient of the 1964 William D. Richardson Award for outstanding contributions for golf from the Golf Writers Association of America.
The Sunshine Open ended on this date in 1961 at Bayshore Golf Club (72, 6,632) in Miami Beach, Florida. This happy-go-lucky sounding tournament had a dramatic finish. After three rounds, Gary Player, Julius Boros and Gay Brewer were tied at 204 with Arnold Palmer among those four back. Arnold blazed the final round with a 66, coming up a shot short of Player, who posted scores of 69-68-67-69—273. Arnold had 68-70-70-66—274, for second worth $2,300. Also, the all-time coleader in PGA Tour victories, Sam Snead, had one of his 82 when he won the Greater Greensboro Open at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., on March 26, 1950. He won the $2,000 first-place prize with rounds of 66-70-66-67—269. A record crowd for the winter tour that year of 17,000 was on hand.
One of the greatest “this day in golf” entries for any date is for March 25 in 1934. Horton Smith won the first Masters, shooting an even-par 72 in the final round, beating Craig Wood by a shot. This is the only time the Masters finished in the month of March. Called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament, it was won by Smith when he holed a 20-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole. That first year, the nines were reversed, and the 17th was today’s par-5 eighth hole.
A pair of birthdays highlight today's date in golf: World Golf Hall of Famer Pat Bradley turns 75. One of the greatest winners and mentally tough competitors in golf, Bradley won 31 LPGA Tour events from 1976 to 1995. The World Golf Hall of Fame member was born in 1951 in Westford, Massachusetts. Bradley won six majors, including three du Maurier titles and the 1981 U.S. Women’s Open. Her mother would famously ring a bell outside the family home whenever her daughter did something special.. Also, the 2013 PGA champion Jason Dufner is 49.
On this date in 1911, amateur champion golfer Dick Chapman was born in Greenwich, Conn. Not well remembered today, Chapman was an international star, not only winning the U.S. Amateur in 1940 but the British Amateur in 1951 plus the amateur titles of France, Canada and Italy. He played on three U.S. Walker Cup teams, in 1947, 1951 and 1953. Also on this date in 1958, Arnold Palmer won the St. Petersburg Open, finishing off rounds of 70-69-72-65—276 to earn top money of $2,000. A few weeks later he would win his first of four Masters.
Winter-weary golfers rejoice: Spring temps have to be showing up soon. Today's anecdote celebrates that annual golf rite of spring, the Masters. On March 22, 1934, eventual winner Horton Smith was a coleader with 70 after the first round of the inaugural Masters, then called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. Tournament and course creator and huge fan favorite Bobby Jones shot 76. On this date in 1964, Carol Mann, age 23, won the LPGA 35th Western Open at Scenic Hills Country Club in Pensacola, Florida. She shot 76 and 74 on the final day for a 72-hole total of 308, two shots better than Judy Kimball and Ruth Jessen. It was Mann’s first tour victory.
The first Players Championship held at the TPC Stadium Course concluded on March 21, 1982. Jerry Pate won by two shots with a final-round, five-under-par 67 and then christened the event during the award ceremony by tossing both Commissioner Deane Beman and course architect Pete Dye into the lake alongside the 18th hole and jumping in himself. The finish of holes 16, 17 and 18 with water all around has become a mesmerizing classic to watch each year.
Harry Vardon, the legendary English great who won the Open Championship six times and has a method of holding the club named after him, among other things, died on this date in 1937, age 66. Vardon is the only six-time winner of the Open and was born on Jersey of the Channel Islands. He also won the 1900 U.S. Open. He died of a tuberculosis-type disease. Of his many legacies is the Vardon Grip, aka overlap grip. Also on this date, Cary Middlecoff won the Jacksonville (Fla.) Open at Hyde Park Golf Club in 1950. He shot a 69 the final day to win the $2,000 first-place money. The World Golf Hall of Fame member won at least one tour event for 10 straight years from 1947 to 1956, and won 36 events overall.
Today's date holds great meaning for Arnold Palmer in Bay Hill/Arnold Palmer Invitational history. On March 19, 2004, he played his final round as a competitor in the tournament so dear to him, shooting 79 to miss the 36-hole cut. He had shot 88 in Round 1. In 1993, on another March 19, he shot 76 but still made the cut for the final time in the event. Also on this date, the great J.H. Taylor, five-time Open champion, was born on this day in 1871. On this date in 1950, Babe Didrikson Zaharias won the U.S. Women’s Open (pre USGA run) at Rolling Hills C.C. by nine shots over Betsy Rawls.
Today's date has great significance for Arnold Palmer's playing career. He began his final round as a player in the Bay Hill Invitational on March 18, 2004. He shot an 88 in Round 1. In another March 18 round, in 1993, Arnie fared better when he scored 73 in Round 1, made the cut and tied for 71st. That was the last year he made the cut at Bay Hill. On this date in 1951, unheralded Pat O’Sullivan won the LPGA Titleholders Championship at Augusta C.C. by two shots over Beverly Hanson. Both players were amateurs.
The big event on this day—in perpetuity—is that the incomparable Bobby Jones was born on St. Patrick’s Day in 1902 in Atlanta. The Grand Slam champion is also well known for being founder of Augusta National and the Masters. He passed away in December 1971. On a lesser note, on this date in 1985, Arnold Palmer shot 281 at the Vintage Invitational to finished tied for 2nd. And in 1991, Palmer shot a 70 in the rain-shortened Nestle Inv., finishing T-24, his best finish from 1979 to 2004 in his event and his final top-25 finish in his PGA Tour career. Peter Jacobsen provided a cake to celebrate.
On this date in 2001, Annika Sorenstam shot the only 59 in LPGA history in the second round of the Standard Register Ping, held at Moon Valley Country Club in Phoenix. And three-time U.S. Women’s Open winner and World Golf Hall of Fame member Hollis Stacy turns 72 today, born on this date in 1954. A Georgia native, Stacy won three U.S. Women’s Opens and 18 LPGA Tour events.
A couple of non-March 15 dates but still March in the life of Arnold Palmer: On March 20, 1948, playing in his first tour event at age 18, he missed the cut after rounds of 78-76--154 in the Greater Greensboro Open, which Lloyd Mangrum won. In March 1968, one of Arnie’s numerous books was published: The Arnold Palmer Method, a 235-page instructional paperback from the Dell Publishing Company. Alspo, a pair of Titleholders championships concluded on this date. In 1953, Patty Berg won for the fifth time, at Augusta Country Club, by nine shots over Betsy Rawls with a score of 294. And in 1959, Louise Suggs won for the fourth time, with 297, with Rawls second again, this time one stroke behind.
The pre-Bay Hill version of the Arnold Palmer Invitational was the Florida Citrus Invitational. Arnold Palmer won it on March 14, 1971, at Rio Pinar C.C, by one shot over Julius Boros. It was the 59th of 62 tour victories for A.P. While in Florida, Palmer had played at Bay Hill with Vice President Spiro Agnew. Non-Arnie notes: A pair of one-time major champions were born on this day. In 1929, Bob Goalby, winner of the 1968 Masters, was born in Belleville, Illinois. He was the uncle to Jay Haas. And in 1936, 1963 Open Championship winner Bob Charles was born in Carterton, New Zealand. Also, legendary teacher John Jacobs, who passed away on January 13, 2017, was born on this day in 1925.
On this date in 1960, Arnold Palmer won his third straight event, the Pensacola Open, after shooting rounds of 68-65-73-67 for 273. It was his fourth win of the year; he had won the inaugural Palm Springs Desert Classic (aka The Hope, et al) on February 7, the Texas Open on February 28, and the Baton Rouge Open on March 6 prior to Pensacola. His prize money for those three straight events totaled a “whopping” $6,800. Arnold finished fifth each of the next two weeks, took a week off, then won his second Masters on April 10. And on this date in 1878, it is traditionally believed that the first golf match was held between Oxford and Cambridge universities, with Oxford coming out ahead.
On this date in 1971, the Florida Citrus Invitational played a second round, in which Arnold Palmer shot 68. He would shoot two more 68s and win first prize of $30,000. Also, Mickey Wright won 10 events in 1961, including on this date in the Miami Open at Miami Springs Country Club. She finished at three under par, six shots ahead of three second-place finishers, including Louise Suggs.