On this date in 1939, Ralph Guldahl won the sixth Masters Tournament by one shot over Sam Snead after shooting 70 and 69 in a 36-hole final day due to a Thursday rainout. Guldahl had an overall nine-under score of 279 and stopped a two-year streak of finishing second. With the Dinah Shore, aka ANA Inspiration, aka Chevron Ch. usuallu being played this week, among tournament history moments was Juli Inkster winning the then named Nabisco Dinah Shore in 1989 at Mission Hills C.C. She won by five shots in a wire-to-wire victory.
On this date in 1990, it was no fooling when Jack Nicklaus won his first senior tour event at The Tradition at Desert Mountain, one of his course designs. Nicklaus won by four shots over Gary Player. Born on this date in 1901, one year before Gene Sarazen and Bobby Jones, was Johnny Farrell in White Plains, New York. Farrell was an underappreciated player in the Jones-Sarazen years, winning the 1928 U.S. Open during their reign. Farrell won more than 20 tour events but established himself as a premier club pro, prominently at Baltusrol in New Jersey. And on this date in 2001, Arnold Palmer finished T-11 with partner Jack Nicklaus in the Legends of Golf.
On this date in 1957, Arnold Palmer won the Azalea Open, but in 1958, during a playoff loss to Howie Johnson at the Azalea, A.P. called a penalty on himself on the 14th when the ball moved while he was preparing to putt. And in 1985, Arnold played 72 holes at Players Ch. for final time; shooting a nine-over 297, T-69. Of special birthday significance, World Golf Hall of Famer Tommy Bolt was born in Haworth, Oklahoma, on this date in 1916, and three-time U.S. Senior Open champion Miller Barber was born on March 31, 1931, in Shreveport, Louisiana. Each had a pair of unique nicknames; Bolt was Terrible Tempered Tommy and Thunder Bolt and Barber was known as Precious and the Mysterious Mr. X. On this date in 1996, Fred Couples had a final-round 64 to win the Players Championship for the second time, four shots in front of Tommy Tolles and Colin Montgomerie.
On this date in 1957, Arnold Palmer shot a 70 in the third round of the Azalea Open and went on to win the following day with a score of 282 to pick up first place and $1,700. And on this date in 1997, the Nabisco Dinah Shore Women's Golf major was won at Mission Hills C.C. by 41-year old Betsy King, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. She won it for the third time, this time by two shots over Kris Tschetter and Amy Fruhwirth.
On this date in 1968, Arnold Palmer shot a second-round 65 at Gr. Jacksonville Open, and would finish T-7. On this date in 1992, Dottie Mochrie, aka Dottie Pepper, won the Nabisco Dinah Shore at Rancho Mirage, California, after a sudden-death playoff with Juli Inkster. They had tied at 279, nine-under par. Dottie defeated Inkster on the first hole with a par.
There have been six eight-hole, sudden-death playoffs in PGA Tour history, the most number of holes played to produce a winner. (Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum played 11 in the 1949 Motor City Open but they were declared co-winners due to darkness.) On this date in 1965, the first eight-hole playoff was held when Dick Hart defeated Phil Rodgers at the Azalea Open at Cape Fear C.C. in Wilmington, North Carolina. Also on this date in 1993, Nick Price won The Players Championship with a score of 270 and a five-shot victory over Bernhard Langer.
On this date in 1990, Arnold Palmer went to Washington, D.C., to speak to a bipartisan joint meeting of House and Senate on Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 100th birthday. On this date in 1994, Greg Norman finished off a record score of 264, 24 under par, to win the Players Championship by four shots over Fuzzy Zoeller at the Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach. On this day in 1968, the PGA announced that the United States team to compete in the World Cup would be made up of the champions at the U.S. Open and PGA Championship, if American, of course.
On this date in 1954, Arnold Palmer shot a first-round 65 at the Azalea Open for his first-ever lead on tour, and he was still an amateur. On March 26, 2001, Arnie shot a 71 to Jack Nicklaus’ 75 in Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf match at The King/The Bear Course. On this date in 1951, the one-year-old LPGA Tour saw Patty Berg win the Sandhills Women’s Open at Southern Pines Country Club in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Berg shot 221 to win by 10 shots over Babe Zaharias and take home the $750 first prize out of a total prize pot of $3,000. Also, one of the more obscure LPGA major champions won her only major and only tour event on this date in 1995 when Nanci Bowen won the Nabisco Dinah Shore at Mission Hills CC by one shot over Susie Redman.
On this date in 1934, the first Masters concluded, with the then title Augusta National Invitation Tournament. Horton Smith was the winner when he birdied the 17th hole to win by one shot over Craig Wood. The hole is actually the present eighth; the nines were switched the following year so the back nine became the front and front became the back.
On this date in 1951 , the World Golf Hall of Fame member Pat Bradley was born in Westford, Massachusetts. The affable Bradley was also a tenacious competitor. Her nephew is Keegan Bradley, the 2011 PGA Championship winner and upcoming U.S. Ryder Cup captain. Among her six majors won was the 1981 U.S. Women’s Open. On this date in 1991, Arnold Palmer shot a final-round 72 at the Vintage Arco Inv., finishing T-27.
On this date in 1958, Arnold Palmer won the St. Petersburg Open, March 20-23, with scores and first-place money of 70-69-72-65—276, 1st, $2,000. On this date in 1981, Raymond Floyd won the Players Championship (The TPC) at Sawgrass Country Club, beating Curtis Strange and Barry Jaeckel on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. The tournament finished on a Monday due to rain.
On this date in 1934, the golf world changed substantially. Bobby Jones’ golf tournament, to be known as the Masters, played its first round in its inaugural playing and it was led by Jimmy Hines and Horton Smith with 70s. Smith would go on to win by one shot over Craig Wood. On this date in 1964 Carol Mann won the LPGA Western Open at Scenic Hills C.C. in Pensacola, Florida, a two-shot victory over Ruth Jessen and Judy Kimball. On this date in 1965, Arnold Palmer lost 67-68 to Gary Player in an exhibition match at Lake Region G.Cse.
On this date in 1982, Jerry Pate won the first Players Championship played at the Stadium Course and celebrated by jumping into the 18th hole water hazard, pulling commissioner Deane Beman and architect Pete Dye in with him. And also on this date in 1993, Ben Crenshaw beat the darkness to win the Nestle Invitational at Bay Hill. Crenshaw hadn’t played at Bay Hill since 1988 but had personally been invited to play by Arnold Palmer during the 1992 Masters. The victory was worth $180,000 and upped Crenshaw’s career earnings to $5,354,526.
A golfer’s passing is not normal trivia fodder, but when it’s Harry Vardon, it’s worth observing. The only six-time Open champion and the only notable figure who has his name attached to a way of holding the grip, Vardon died on this date in 1937 a couple months shy of age 67. Vardon was born in Jersey, not New Jersey but an island in the Channel Islands. He also won the 1900 U.S. Open. Also on March 20, Arnold Palmer shot a first-round 68 at the Greater Jacksonville Open, and in 1987, he shot a second-round 71 at the Vintage Chrysler Inv., finishing T-13.
On the heels of Rory McIlroy’s second Player Championship in Monday’s playoff, we recognize on this date in 1978, Jack Nicklaus won his third Players Championship, at Sawgrass C.C., by one shot over Lou Graham. Also, a pair of major championship winners were born on this date. Five-time champion of The Open, J.H. Taylor, was born in 1871; he died in 1963. And more recently, Masters champion of 1967 Gay Brewer was born in 1932. Nicknamed “Hound Dog” for his appearance and upturned nose, Brewer passed away in 2007.
On this date in 1974, Arnold Palmer shot a 66 in an exhibition to break the Brookfield West C.C., Roswell, Ga., course record by two but Gary Player really smashed it by shooting a 62. Also, on this date in 1973, Sandra Haynie shot 216 to win the Orange Blossom Classic on Seminole Lakes C.C. in St. Petersburg, Florida, by one over Marlene Hagge. And on this date in 1951, the LPGA Titleholders Championship concluded at Augusta C.C. with Beverly Hanson finishing runner-up by two shots to Pat O'Sullivan.
On this date in 1902, the great amateur Grand Slam champion of 1930 Bobby Jones was born on St. Patrick’s Day in Atlanta. This was also the year Gene Sarazen was born. Jones was a golf prodigy who became one of the greatest sports figures of all-time and whose lasting legacy is the Masters Tournament, which comes up on April 10-13. He died on December 18, 1971. Also on this date in 1991, Arnold Palmer posted 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 Palmer’s great week. 2
On this date in 1970, Arnold Palmer set a course-record 62 at The Breakers/Palm Beach G.Club in an American Cancer Society benefit. On this date in 1958, the underappreciated Beverly Hanson won the prestigious Titleholders Championship at Augusta C.C., shooting four under par to beat Betty Dodd by five. On this date in 1954, Hollis Stacy was born in Savannah, Georgia, and went onto a World Golf Hall of Fame career, the main feature being three victories in the U.S. Open. In her youth she won three U.S. Girls’ Juniors.
Three Americans have been named Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland: Joseph Dey, Bill Campbell and on this date in 1951, Francis Ouimet, most well known for winning the 1913 U.S. Open. And on this date in 1953, the great and personable Patty Berg won the LPGA Titleholders Championship at the Augusta Country Club, winning for the fifth time, by nine shots over Betsy Rawls.
A pair of single major winners named Bob were born on this date: 1963 Open champion Bob Charles, in New Zealand, in 1936, and 1968 Masters champion Bob Goalby in Belleville, Illinois, in 1929, east of St. Louis in southern Illinois. The uncle of Jay Haas, Goalby won 12 times on tour, most notably the 1968 Masters in the infamous disqualification of Roberto De Vicenzo. When he died three years ago, Goalby was the second oldest former winner of a major.