Three U.S. Amateur champions were crowned on this date, August 30: in 1969, Steve Melnyk won at Oakmont, shooting a 70 in the final round during a year the event was stroke play. Billy Mayfair in 1987 won by defeating Eric Rebmann, 4&3, at Jupiter Hills, and in 1992 Justin Leonard defeated Tom Scherrer, 8 and 7 at Muirfield Village G.C., Dublin, Ohio.
Brandie Burton won the du Maurier Classic on this date in 1993 when she defeated Betsy King in a playoff. The two were tied at 11-under 277 at the London Hunt & Country Club in London, Ontario, after regulation. First prize was $120,000. And In 1908, the U.S. Open Championship ended on this day at the Myopia Hunt Golf club in South Hamilton, Massachusetts when Fred McLeod defeated fellow Scot Willie Smith by six strokes in an 18-hole playoff. It was McLeod’s only major victory. In his dotage, he became an honorary starter at the Masters with Jock Hutchison.
Having won three straight U.S. Junior titles, Tiger Woods, on this date in 1994, won the first of three straight U.S. Amateur championships. At Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., he defeated Trip Kuehne, 2 up, winning the final three holes on the Stadium Course after once trailing 6 down during the 36-hole match. At the time, the victory made Woods the youngest, at 18, to win the Amateur. He became the first golfer to win both the U.S. Junior and U.S. Amateur in a career. It was the 94th playing. In 1995 Woods defeated. George (Buddy) Marucci Jr., 2 up, at Newport (R.I.) Country Club, and in 1996 Woods defeated Steve Scott in 38 holes at Pumpkin Ridge G.C. (Witch Hollow Course), North Plains, Oregon. Woods was also the medalist that year.
On this date in 1995, the Canadian du Maurier Classic was won by Jenny Lidback at Beaconsfield Golf Club in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, with an eight-under-par total of 280. She won by one over Liselotte Neumann of Sweden. Brooke Henderson was another Canadian who won her native country's CP Women's Open, by four shots in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada,, in 2018. And on this date in 1957, Bernhard Langer, who won two Masters in his prime despite being plagued by the yips, was born in Anhausen, Germany. Langer had a second life with the long putter and continued to win well into his 60s on the senior tour.
Marlene Hagge shot 284 at Lakewood Country Club to win the Denver Open on this date of the fourth round in 1956. She took home $800 for first; Fay Crocker was second , six shots behind. And on this date in 2012, when 15 year-old Lydia Ko of New Zealand won the Canadian Open by three shots, she became the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history and was the first amateur winner since JoAnne Carner won the 1969 Burdine’s Invitational. Ko was the fifth amateur winner in tour history. She broke the age record of 16 set by Lexi Thompson at the Navistar Classic in September 2011.
This is the latest the PGA Championship finished in the month of August. The 1946 playing ended on this date with Ben Hogan winning the title, 6&4, over Ed (Porky) Oliver. This was Hogan's first of two PGAs he won. The championship was held at Portland (Ore.) Golf Club. This PGA was also notable for it being the last time Byron Nelson played in the major. He lost to Oliver in the quarterfinals and overall had a 37-8 record. Hogan was age 34, and this was his first major championship.
English golfer Jack Whaley, 22, became only the third English player to win the U.S. Amateur, on August 16, when he defeated American Jay Leng, Jr., 4 and 3, to win the 126th championship in the 36-hole final at Merion Golf Club near Philadelphia. Whaley plays at Florida State and Leng at Stanford. On this date in 1997, Matt Kuchar won the U.S. Amateur, defeating Joel Kribel, 2 & 1, at Cog Hill's Dubsdread course in Lemont, III. Kuchar, 19 at the time, was from Lake Mary, Fla., and a golf team member at Georgia Tech. He was playing in the U.S. Amateur for the first time. And on this date in 1975, Al Geiberger won the second Tournament Players Championship, finishing three shots ahead of Dave Stockton at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
On this date in 2009, the Solheim Cup wrapped up at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois. The U.S. won a third straight match, 16-12, and won eight of the 12 singles matches held on the final day. Also, Beth Daniel won the World Championship of Women's Golf on this date in 1981, at Shaker Heights (Ohio) Country Club. She went home with the $50,000 first-place prize money.
On this date in 2010, The Senior Tradition, held at the Crosswater Club, was won by Fred Funk by one shot over Michael Allen and Taiwan's Lu Chien-soon. And two influential names in women’s golf history shared the stage on this date in 1976. Kathy Whitworth won the Patty Berg Classic at Keller Golf Course in St. Paul, Minnesota. Whitworth shot a seven-under-par score of 212 to win by two shots over Sandra Post. First prize was $8,000.
On this date in 1914, two of the prominent golfers of the time battled in Round 4 at the Midlothian Country Club in Illinois in the 20th U.S. Open. Walter Hagen, the third-round leader by two shots, shot 73 but held on when those closest to him fell back. Amateur star Chick Evans, who trailed by four, shot 70 to finish a shot back. Hagen shot two-over 290, Evans 291 and third place was back to 297. And the third PGA Championship ended on this date in 1920. Jock Hutchison--who golf writers forever have to fight copy editors that they don't change his name to Hutchinson--defeated Douglas Edgar, 1-up, at Flossmoor Country Club in Chicago in the 36-hole final.
On this date in 1944, Bob Hamilton pulled off one of golf’s greatest upsets at Manito Golf & Country Club in Spokane, Washington, when he defeated all-time great Byron Nelson, 1 up, in the PGA Championship 36-hole final. The much more heralded Nelson could not get the edge on Hamilton; the two finished the first 18 holes tied. Nelson would win the following year, 4&3, versus Sam Byrd.
On this date in 1984, Lee Trevino won his second PGA Championship and sixth and final major, at Shoal Creek, winning by four shots over Gary Player and Lanny Wadkins at 15 under par. At age 44, Trevino showed he could still win a major when he held off Player and Wadkins He shot 69 in the final round to get to 15 under par. The victory came 10 years after he'd won his first PGA.
The PGA Championship ended on this date in 2002 as a moment for the Everyman in all of us. Unheralded Rich Beem shot 278 to edge Tiger Woods by one shot at Hazeltine National. Beem could have faltered many times in the final round as Woods came charging at him with a 67, but he had a 68 of his own and won his first and only major. Also on this date, in 1946, the Golf Writers Association of America was begun.
Of the PGA Championships that ended on this date, two stand out. In 1969 at NCR Country Club, Raymond Floyd won his first major, one shot ahead of South Africa’s Gary Player, who was targeted by apartheid protesters. And in 1997, Davis Love III won his only major, at Winged Foot, by five strokes over Justin Leonard. The son of the late Davis Love Jr., a PGA club pro and teaching legend, Love III won by holing out on the final hole as a rainbow emerged from the sky, a heavenly confirmation of a popular victory.
Today’s date is a popular one in PGA Championship history. On this date, six were won by: 1970, Dave Stockton at Southern Hills; 1976, Stockton at Congressional; 1992, Nick Price at Bellerive; 1998, Vijay Singh at Sahalee; 2009, Y.E. Yang at Hazeltine, and 2015, Jason Day at Whistling Straits. Stockton’s victory marked the last good chance Arnold Palmer had of winning the only major he didn't win. Stockton finished two shots ahead of Palmer and Bob Murphy with a winning score of just one-under-par 279 at Southern Hills in Tulsa. Stockton shot 73 in the last round to hang on as Murphy shot 66 and Arnie 70.
Of the several PGA Championships that ended on this date, the one in 1965 was supposed to have been Arnold Palmer’s crowning moment. Held at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, in Arnie’s Latrobe backyard, the winner instead was the very worthy Dave Marr, who won by two shots over Billy Casper and Jack Nicklaus. Marr went on to be arguably the best TV golf analyst, mainly working for ABC. Palmer, who exerted a lot of energy serving as a championship host, only finished tied for 33rd, 14 shots behind, and never once broke par in four rounds. That PGA was the earliest year the PGA Championship ended on an August 15.
On this date in 2016, 112 years after the last time golf was competed in the Olympics, Justin Rose of Great Britain shot a score of 16 under par to win the gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics, two ahead of Henrik Stenson. Getting the bronze medal was American Matt Kuchar. Also, one of the years the PGA Championship ended on an August 14 was in 1977, and it had a memorable element to it. Young tour gunslinger Lanny Wadkins, 27, and U.S. Amateur/U.S. Open winner and cancer survivor Gene Littler tied at six-under-par 282 at Pebble Beach at the end of regulation. The PGA had gone to sudden death that year, the first major to do so. Littler was by far the sentimental hope, having led from the start, but he ballooned to 76 in Round 4. Wadkins made a six-foot par putt on the third extra hole to win the playoff.
On this date in 1989, Payne Stewart outlasted Mike Reid at Kemper Lakes to win his first major championship in the PGA. Stewart finished one ahead of Reid, Andy Bean and Curtis Strange. The championship started with Arnold Palmer, nearly 60 years old, shooting 68 and Tom Watson 67; both needed a PGA to complete a career Grand Slam, but neither could keep close to the lead by the end. And on this date the PGA Championship was also won by Justin Thomas in 2017 at Quail Hollow, by Steve Elkington in 1995 at Riviera, and Gene Sarazen won in 1933 at Blue Mound.
August 12 has many special occurrences in the 108 playings of the PGA Championship. It was the first day of the event in 1922 (won by Gene Sarazen), 1965 (Dave Marr), 1976 (Dave Stockton), 1993 (Paul Azinger), 1999 (Tiger Woods), 2004 (Vijay Singh), and 2010 (Martin Kaymer). August 12 was the final day in 1973 (when Jack Nicklaus won a record-breaking 14th major), 1990 (Wayne Grady), 2007 (Woods) and 2012 (Rory McIlroy). For the foreseeable future, Brooks Koepka’s August 12 victory in 2018 will be the last time the PGA ends on an August 12 now that the championship has been moved to May. The Nicklaus victory in 1973 was at Canterbury Golf Club, a favorite course of Arnold Palmer’s while stationed at the Coast Guard in Cleveland. It was Jack’s third of five PGA victories, and he won by four shots over Bruce Crampton of Australia. In counting his two U.S. Amateur wins, the victory put Nicklaus one ahead of Bobby Jones for most major championship victories with 14.
The PGA Championship had several memorable winners on this date. John Daly burst onto the scene in 1991 and Bob Tway holed out from a bunker on the final hole in 1986 to beat Greg Norman at Inverness. But Lee Trevino also had a pair of results, one good and one bad. In 1985 at Cherry Hills Country Club, Hubert Green beat Trevino by two shots, but in 1974 at Tanglewood Park in North Carolina, Trevino won by one stroke over Jack Nicklaus. The 2013 and 1996 PGA Championships all ended on August 11 of their year, won by, in order, Jason Dufner and Mark Brooks. Of the five PGA winners, Daly was the most obscure and unexpected, only getting into the field at the last moment and completely shocking the golf world with his prodigious drives and composure.