This Day in Golf History: February 7
This date carries a somber tone in golf history with three deaths. Scottish golfer Freddie Tait, who won the Amateur Championship in 1896 and 1898, died in 1900 at age 30, a victim of the 2nd Boer War. LPGA cofounder and 1947 U.S. Open winner Betty Jameson died in 2009, age 89. And three-time major winner Billy Casper died in 2015 at age 83. And also on this date in 1947, Jimmy Demaret shot one of the PGA Tour’s early great rounds with a nine-under-par 62 in the first round of the Texas Open in San Antonio at Willow Springs. Demaret was holing putts from all over, and got done with his round just before a blustery “Texas norther” came in and dropped the temp from 65 to nearly freezing in just a few hours. Among the golfers caught in the bad weather was Ben Hogan, who shot 75.