On this date in 1955, Doug Ford won the PGA Championship at Meadowbrook Country Club when he defeated Cary Middlecoff, 4 & 3, in the final. Ford won the other major of his career at the 1957 Masters.
On this date in 1982, Janet Alex (Anderson) shot a final-round 68 to win the U.S. Women’s Open at Del Paso Country Club, six shots ahead of four players in second.
On this date, back-to-back PGA Championships concluded. In 1966 Al Geiberger won by four shots at Firestone Country Club, and in 1967, Don January won an 18 hole playoff with Don Massengale at Columbine Country Club, 69 to 71.
On this date in 1995, John Daly won the Open Championship at the Old Course in St. Andrews, beating Costantino Rocca in a four-hole playoff. It was his second major victory. Two days earlier, two-time winner Arnold Palmer missed the cut in a final Open appearance.
The Open for the Ages, the mythical R&A project that took the place of the real thing and finished on Sunday with Jack Nicklaus the “winner” at St. Andrews, had an Old Course predecessor that featured plenty of drama among legends. On this date in 1984, Spain’s Seve Ballesteros birdied the 18th hole while Tom Watson bogeyed the 17th, giving Ballesteros a two-shot victory over Watson and Bernhard Langer. The defeat ended Watson’s two-year win streak and was Ballesteros’ second of three Open titles.
On this date in 1963 Jack Nicklaus won his first of five PGA Championships, this first one at the Dallas Athletic Club. He won by two shots over Dave Ragan. The huge Wanamaker winner’s trophy was so hot from sitting in the sun all day that Nicklaus had to use a towel like a pair of oven mitts to hold it.
On this date in 1980, Tom Watson won the Open Championship for the third time, winning by four shots over Lee Trevino at Muirfield with a final 13-under score.
On this date in 1964, the PGA Championship ended at Columbus Country Club with Bobby Nichols winning by three shots, having lead wire to wire. He won out over the two biggest stars of the time, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, the runner-ups.
Bill Wright became the first African-American golfer to win a national championship when he won the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship on this date in 1959. He defeated Frank Campbell, 3 and 2, in the 36-hole final in Denver.
On this date in 1983, Tom Watson won his fifth Open Championship, at Royal Birkdale, one shot ahead of Hale Irwin and Andy Bean. Watson blistered a 2-iron to the final green and two-putted for par. At age 33, and with five victories in eight years, it seemed a foregone conclusion Watson would catch and perhaps pass Harry Vardon’s record of six. But in every following chance for victory, something went wrong and a sixth title was never clinched.
One of the greatest and most confounding results in major championship history occurred on this date in 1938 when diminutive Paul Runyan defeated Sam Snead, 8 and 7, in the final of the PGA Championship at Shawnee Country Club. Runyan’s precise short game and fairway woods overcame Snead’s 30- to 40-yard driving advantage.
On this date in 1961, after nearly winning the Open Championship in his first try in 1960, Arnold Palmer won the first of two straight Opens, at Royal Birkdale, by one shot over Dai Rees.
On this date in 1973, Tom Weiskopf won his only major, winning The Open Championship at Royal Troon by three shots over Johnny Miller and Neil Coles with a 12-under-par 276 score. Weiskopf was the first player since 1934 to lead the championship from wire to wire.
Three Open championships ended on this date in the 1960s. In 1962, Arnold Palmer won his second consecutive title, at Royal Troon, beating Kel Nagle of Australia by six shots with a record score of 276. A year later, Bob Charles defeated Phil Rodgers in a playoff to win at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, winning the 36-hole battle by eight shots. And in 1968, at Carnoustie, South African Gary Player won his second of three championships, two shots ahead of Charles and Jack Nicklaus.
Of many historic events on today’s date…such as Mickey Wright winning her fourth U.S. Women’s Open in 1964…on this date in 1930, Bobby Jones won a record-tying fourth U.S. Open, at Interlachen, two strokes ahead of Macdonald Smith. This was part of Jones’ epic Grand Slam season. Also on this date Tony Jacklin won the 1969 Open and Jack Nicklaus the 1970 Open.
On this date in 1993, Jack Nicklaus two-putted from 35 feet on the final green to win the U.S. Senior Open by one shot over Tom Weiskopf at Cherry Hills Country Club. It was Jack’s second U.S. Senior Open. Weiskopf had no doubt Jack would get down in two. “Who can tell me when Jack Nicklaus has ever three-putted to lose a major championship or missed a putt under pressure?” Weiskopf said. “The guy is the greatest putter under pressure of all time, bar none.”
One of the Open Championships more memorable playings ended on this date in 1953 with Ben Hogan winning by four strokes over a quartet of players at Carnoustie. It culminated a year in which Hogan won the first three majors of the year but couldn’t play the PGA because it conflicted with The Open.
Of the many major championships that ended on this date, a few stand out. In 1904, Willie Anderson won his third of four U.S. Open championships, at Glen View Golf Club in Golf, Illinois. In 1960, Kel Nagle beat Arnold Palmer by one shot for the Open Championship at the Old Course in Scotland, as Palmer tried to win the centenary year tournament and take the first three majors of the year. In 1965, Peter Thomson won his fifth Open title, at Royal Birkdale. And in 1977, Tom Watson held off Jack Nicklaus to win the Open at Turnberry by one stroke in the famous “Duel in the Sun” when they separated themselves from the rest of the field.
It was a great day on this date in 1955 when the Open Championship concluded once again at the Old Course, St. Andrews. The Champion Golfer of the Year was Australia’s Peter Thomson, who won his second of three straight titles. He won five overall.
In one of the finals that helped convince the PGA of America that the organization should change from match play to stroke play, the 1953 PGA Championship ended on this date at Birmingham Country Club in Michigan with two nondescript players in the final. Local man Walter Burkemo defeated Felize Torza, 2 & 1, to win the major. Top players such as Sam Snead and Cary Middlecoff did not get to the quarterfinals, and Ben Hogan did not play at all because the Open Championship at Carnoustie, which he won, was scheduled too close to the PGA to allow him to get back and play.