In 1968, production of a one-piece, no-cut golf ball was announced, a major change in ball design. Also on this date, in 1947, retired PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem was born. On this date in 1922, amateur legend Billy Joe Patton was born in Morganton, North Carolina. He made a remarkable run at winning the Masters in 1954 that is still captivating to read about. Like his good friend Arnold Palmer, Patton attended Wake Forest College. Patton died in Morganton in 2011.
After finishes of 1st, 2nd, T-3, 2nd, T-34, T-4, T-36 and T-6 to start 1966, Arnold Palmer went into the Masters as a huge favorite. It was expected he’d continue his every-other-year victory streak. But he was off by one week and tied for fourth on April 11 at the Masters. Instead, on April 18, he won an 18-hole playoff with Gay Brewer, 69-73, to capture the Tournament of Champions. Also, on this date in 1993, the PGA Seniors' Championship was won at PGA National by Tom Wargo, who parred the second hole of a playoff to beat Bruce Crampton.
Sam Snead won the Greater Greensboro Open (also known as the Wyndham Ch.) eight times. No. 7 came on April 17, 1960, when Snead shot his fourth-straight round in the 60s and finished two strokes ahead of Dow Finsterwald at Starmount Forest Country Club. Also, on this date in 1994, the PGA Seniors' Championship ended at PGA National with Lee Trevino beating Jim Colbert by one stroke.
This weekend a winner will be crowned at the RBC Heritage who will take home well more than $1 million. Jimmy Demaret won a miniscule $2,000 on this date in 1950 when he won the North Fulton Open at the North Fulton Park Course in Atlanta (held April 13-16, 1950). His scores were 71-69-64-66—270. Also, on this date in 1995, Raymond Floyd won the PGA Seniors' Championship at PGA National, by five shots over Larry Gilbert, Lee Trevino and John Paul Cain.
In what was a disappointment to traditionalists, the Masters, in its 43rd playing, had its first sudden-death playoff on this date in 1979. Fuzzy Zoeller won a two-hole playoff, making a birdie on the incredibly hard 11th hole, beating Ed Sneed and Tom Watson.
A sad day in golf history: In the 1968 Masters, Roberto De Vicenzo signed an incorrect scorecard with a higher score than he actually shot on the 17th hole in the final round and finished one behind Bob Goalby. On this date in 1974, Gary Player won his second of three Masters titles, winning the 38th playing by two shots ahead of Dave Stockton and Tom Weiskopf. Born on this date: 1964 PGA champion Bobby Nichols in 1936…and World Golf Hall of Famer, the late Mr. De Vicenzo himself, in 1923.
In the final Masters Tournament held before its World War II break, Byron Nelson defeated Ben Hogan, 68-70, in a playoff to win the 1942 9th Masters on this date for his second green jacket. Hogan lost Masters playoffs to both Sam Snead and Nelson; to Snead the loss was by one shot. Born on this date: Davis Love III in 1964 and World Golf Hall of Fame member Marilynn Smith in 1929.
In back to back years, 1953 and 1954, the Masters Tournament finished on April 12. In 1953, Ben Hogan won the 17th tournament by five strokes over Ed Oliver. In 1954, in a battle of juggernauts, Sam Snead defeated Hogan, 70-71, to win the Masters, his third, in an 18-hole Monday playoff. A decade later, the date April 12, 1964, would mark the day Arnold Palmer won his seventh and final professional major, by six shots, at the Masters.
On this date in two different years the winning score of 271 was shot, at the time a tournament record. In 1965 Jack Nicklaus won the 29th Masters, his second, beating Gary Player and Arnold Palmer by nine shots. In 1976, Raymond Floyd won his only Masters with 271, eight shots ahead of Ben Crenshaw. It was the 40th playing of the tournament.
On this date in 1960, Arnold Palmer birdied the final two holes to win the 24th Masters Tournament at Augusta National, edging Ken Venturi by one shot and adding a second Masters to his 1958 title. Palmer said to Venturi, “I wanted to win more than anything, Ken, but I'm truly sorry it had to be this way." Also, Palmer rued April 10, 1961, for the rest of his career. A lack of concentration after hitting his drive on the final hole in the fairway with a one-shot lead caused him to make a double-bogey 6, losing by one shot to Gary Player, who became the first international Masters champion.
Two-time Masters champion Seve Ballesteros was born on April 9 in 1957. On the course, Jimmy Demaret became the first three-time winner in 1950, and Jack Nicklaus won in 1972 to join Arnold Palmer as a four-time winner, which Jack later extended to six victories by 1986. Nicklaus won the 36th playing, leading from start to finish and finishing three shots ahead of Bruce Crampton, Tom Weiskopf and Bobby Mitchell.
On April 8, 1962, Arnold Palmer made birdies on 16 and 17 to tie Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald at 280 at the end of regulation, then beat them the next day in a playoff with a 68 to Player's 71 and Finsterwald's 77. On this date in 1935, Gene Sarazen beat Craig Wood in a 36-hole playoff, 144-149, to win the Masters one day after their great duel that featured Sarazen’s famous double eagle on the 15th hole. Also on this day in 1886, English golfer Jim Barnes was born. He won four majors, the 1916 and 1919 PGA, 1921 U.S. Open and 1925 Open Championship.
As this year’s Masters is just two days and counting away from starting we recall this date in Masters history when in 1935 Gene Sarazen hit the shot heard round the world by making a double eagle on the 15th hole en route to tying Craig Wood after 72 holes. Sarazen won the 36-hole playoff on the following day by five shots. Also, on this date in 1946, the 10th Masters Tournament returned from being off for four years due to World War II and was won by one of the most unlikeliest winners ever, Herman Keiser, by one shot over Ben Hogan, who would win five years later.
Arnold Palmer shot a final-round 73 on April 6, 1958, but still won his first Masters by one stroke. On April 6, 1955, the Sarazen Bridge was dedicated; it’s the bridge that players cross up by the green on the par-5 15th, the hole that Gene Sarazen famously double-eagled in his 1935 victory. On this date in 1936, the Third Masters Tournament ended. After the wild finish the previous year when Sarazen made his double eagle on the 15th hole, this one ended in a second victory for the 1934 inaugural winner Horton Smith, who beat Harry Cooper by one.
Amateur Ken Venturi led Round 1 of the Masters on April 5, 1956, with a 66, but by Sunday he had lost his form and shot 80 to lose to Jack Burke Jr. by one stroke. Also on this date, former Open Championship winner Henrik Stenson turns 50, born on this date in 1976. The entertaining and intense competitor, Stenson, was born in Gothenburg, Sweden. His main triumph was a sensational duel with Phil Mickelson to win the 2016 Open Championship at Troon, Scotland.
On this date in 1937, Byron Nelson won the Fourth Masters Tournament by two shots over Ralph Guldahl en route to a final-round 70. Lord Byron was the first of the Great Triumvirate of him, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, all born in 1912, to win the tournament. He would win a second in 1942. Snead would not win until 1949 and Hogan 1951. Also at Augusta, on April 4, 1995, the Arnold Palmer Plaque behind the 16th tee was dedicated.
Craig Wood shot a 66 in the first round on April 3, 1941, to lead the Masters by five. He went on to lead wire to wire and win by three strokes over Byron Nelson. Also, on this date in 1994, Raymond Floyd beat Dale Douglass with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff to win The Tradition senior tour event at Desert Mountain in Arizona.
After finishing as runner-up two years in a row, Ralph Guldahl won the Sixth Masters Tournament by one shot over Sam Snead on April 2, 1939. Guldahl shot 279 after a final-round 69, just good enough to beat Snead, who had 68. Non-Masters notes: Born on this date were: Shane Lowry (1987), J.J. Henry (1975) and World Golf Hall of Fame member Ayako Okamoto (1951).
In two events on this day from different eras, in 1930, Bobby Jones won the Southeasternn Open in Atlanta and would go on to win the Grand Slam that year. And more than half a century later in 1984, Fred Couples at age 24 won the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass by one shot over Lee Trevino. Also, Johnny Farrell, the 1928 U.S. Open champion, was born on April 1, 1901, one year before Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen. Farrell was a longtime head professional at Baltusrol Country Club in New Jersey, site of numerous majors, and won 22 PGA Tour events. He died in June 1988.
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.