This Day in Golf History: January 3

U.S. golf pro Fred Haas, Jr., was born on this date in 1916 in Portland, Arkansas. Haas was a five-time PGA Tour winner but one of his lesser known claims to fame is that he was grouped with Arnold Palmer in Arnie’s second-ever PGA Tour event, the 1948 Dapper Dan Invitational at Alcoma Golf Club in Pittsburgh. We also know that PGA Tour events this time of year are played on the West Coast or Hawaii. On this date in 1988 and 1993, a couple journeymen won on the Monterey Peninsula. In 1988, Lennie Clements won the Spalding Invitational Pro-Am in a four-man playoff, and in 1993, Mark Brooks had an easier time of it, winning by five shots over Bob May in the Pebble Beach Invitational.