One of America’s finest amateur golfers ever, Marvin (Bud) Ward, winner of the 1939 and 1941 U.S. Amateur, died on this date in 1968 at age 54.
One of golf history’s many one-hit wonders, Paul Lawrie, was born on this date in 1969 in Aberdeen, Scotland. Lawrie won the 1999 Open Championship and played in the 2012 Ryder Cup.
Six-time PGA Tour winner and 10-time winner on the Champions Tour, Bob Gilder was born on this date in 1950 in Corvallis, Oregon.
Time marches on for Tiger Woods. He was born on this date in 1975 in Cypress, California, making the winner of 15 majors turning 45 years old.
The great American course architect Pete Dye, who was one of the notable golf deaths in 2020 on January 9, was born on this date in 1925 in Urbana, Ohio. The TPC Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, is likely his most well known design.
Johnny Goodman, the last amateur to win one of the men’s four majors, was born on this date in 1909 in Omaha, Nebraska. Goodman won the 1933 U.S. Open and also won the 1937 U.S. Amateur.
One of the finest golfer/gentlemen in the game was born on this date in 1933. Dave Marr was born in Houston and had a proficient golf career that included winning the 1965 PGA, captaining the U.S. Ryder Cup team to victory in 1981 and becoming one of the finest — if not the finest — TV golf analysts, mainly working for ABC alongside Jim McKay.
For a second straight day, the history note is a golfer’s passing. On this date in 1916 , Scotsman Willie Smith, the winner of the 1899 U.S. Open, died at age 40 of pneumonia in Mexico City.
There are some dates in golf history that will forever be known for a certain event. An example is St. Patrick’s Day is forever marked as Bobby Jones’ birthday in 1902. Then there’s Christmas Day, which will always be known as the day Young Tom Morris died at just age 24 in 1875, having won four Open championships.
One of the least likely major champions in golf died on this date in 2003 at age 89. Herman Keiser won the 1946 Masters by one shot over Ben Hogan. Keiser won five times on tour, but was not seen as capable of winning a major, but he held off the immortal Hogan in one of golf’s major upsets of all-time.
Herman Barron, who won the PGA Senior Championship in its quiet pre-Senior Tour days in 1963, was born on this date in 1909 in Port Chester, New York. His other “claim to fame” was winning the 1942 Western Open and thereby becoming the first Jewish golfer to win a PGA Tour event. He won four tour events in all and had top-10 finishes in the U.S. Open and PGA.
Happy 126th birthday to the United States Golf Association, which is chronicled as forming on this date in a meeting in New York in 1894 with five charter clubs.
Walter Hagen, the winner of 11 major championships and the all-time grandest bon vivant of golf, was born on this date in 1892 in Rochester, New York.
Hannah Green, the Women’s PGA Championship winner of 2019, was born on this date in 1996 in Perth, Western Australia. She won two LPGA events in 2019, the other being the Cambia Portland Classic.
On this date in 1993, Larry Mize won the Johnnie Walker World Championship of Golf in demonstrative fashion, winning by 10 shots over Fred Couples. Marino Parascenzo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette began his final-day game story from Montego Bay, Jamaica, with this: “Larry Mize just flat killed the Johnnie Walker World Championship of Golf yesterday. He shot a closing 65 for a staggering 18-under-par 266. That gave him a 10-stroke victory over Fred Couples and his futile dynamite finish, a nine-birdie 64. Mize, with this third win of the year, won $550,000 out of the $2.7 million purse, the biggest payday of his life, and it put him over $1.3 million for the year.”
On this date in 1971, the iconic golfer Bobby Jones died from the effects of syringomyelia at 69 years old. The Georgia native passed away into immortality as the greatest amateur golfer ever and the winner of 13 major championships, including the 1930 Grand Slam, and the originator of the Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament.
On this date in 2014, former PGA club pro Gus Andreone, 103, had a hole-in-one on the 113-yard 14th hole at Palm Aire’s Lakes Course in Sarasota, Florida, becoming the oldest golfer to make an ace.
On this date in 1979, 2008 Masters winner Trevor Immelman was born in Cape Town, Western Cape, South African. Immelman now does commentary for CBS’ golf coverage.
On this date in 2019, the American team won six of the 12 Singles matches at Royal Melbourne to win the Presidents Cup, 16-14, for an eighth straight victory in the series.
The 1931 U.S. Open champion, Billy Burke, was born on this date in 1902 in Naugatuck, Connecticut.