Affable Jimmy Demaret, a three-time Masters winner and good-will golf ambassador, died on this date in 1983 at age 73.

Dave Marr was born on this date in 1933 in Houston. He won the 1965 PGA Championship but more indelibly he was a longtime ABC-TV golf analyst who set the standard for analytics that successors are still trying to achieve. He died in 1997.

Born one year after the death of Young Tom Morris, fellow Scot Willie Smith was born and would develop into one of the game’s best players, along with brothers Alex and MacDonald, and win the 1899 U.S. Open. But like Morris, he would die young, age 40, from pneumonia on this date in 1916 in Mexico City where he had relocated.

Four-time Open champion Young Tom Morris died on Christmas Day, 1875, in St. Andrews, Scotland. It is commonly believed he died, literally, of a broken heart brought on by the death just three months earlier of his wife, Margaret, and child during delivery. But his breathing may have been affected by a match he played in poor weather a few weeks earlier, which may have also compounded his deteriorating health. He was just 24 years old but had already dominated the competition.

At this festive season of the year, today and tomorrow’s day in history will feature a couple of deaths. Today on Christmas Eve, in 2003, Herman Keiser, the surprise 1946 Masters champion and Springfield, Missouri, native, died at age 89 in Akron, Ohio.

Mildly successful tour pro Herman Barron was born on this date in 1909 in Port Chester, New York. Barron played in the 1947 Ryder Cup and finished fourth in the 1946 U.S. Open. His biggest tour victory was the 1942 Western Open.

Five clubs joined together on this date in 1894 in New York to form the United States Golf Association.

The great showman Walter Hagen, winner of 11 majors including five PGAs, was born on this date in Rochester, New York in 1892.

An LPGA Tour member, Hannah Green, the 2019 PGA champion, was born on this date in 1996 in Perth, located in Western Australia.

On this date in 1976, Arnold Palmer wrapped up a tournament partnership in the Pepsi-Cola Mixed Team Championship with scores of 73-73-67-71—284 for a tie for seventh and $2,016.67. His partner? Sandra Palmer. The two weren’t related but had to field questions about being siblings and had fun pairing up in the event.

Bobby Jones, the great amateur champion, Grand Slam winner and president in perpetuity of Augusta National, home of the Masters Tournament, died on this date in 1971 at age 69 of syringomyelia.

Gus Andreone, 103, became the oldest golfer to make a hole-in-one on this date in 2014 on the 113-yard No. 14 hole at Lakes Course, Palm Aire, Sarasota, Florida. Gus was a member of the PGA.

2008 Masters winner Trevor Immelman, now doing most notably TV commentary, was born on this date in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1979.

The United States won half of the 12 final-, third-day singles matches in the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, helping the U.S. edge the International team, 16-14.

The 1931 U.S. Open champion, Billy Burke, was born on this date in Naugatuck, Connecticut, one of the “valley towns” northwest of New Haven, in 1902, which made him a contemporary of Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen, also born that year.

On this date in 1998, the International team broke through in the Presidents Cup with a victory at Royal Melbourne Golf Club over the U.S., 20.5 to 11.5.

One of the LPGA Tour’s stars of yesteryear, Shirley Englehorn, was born on this date in 1940 in Caldwell, Idaho. On tour from 1959 to 1979, Englehorn won the 1970 Women's PGA and 11 events in total.

It was at this time in 2009 that Tiger Woods, who this year emerged from a near fatal or debilitating car accident, said he was taking a sustained leave of absence from the golf tour because of the need to rehab his marriage due to infidelity that blew up around Thanksgiving.

One of the giant killers in Arnold Palmer’s career was born on this date in 1937 in Cottonwood, Idaho. Don Bies, who won once on the PGA Tour, seven times on the senior and is still living, beat third-seeded Arnie on August 26, 1972, at the Country Club of North Carolina in the first round of the U.S. Professional Match-Play Golf Championship.

One of the most unlikely of major champions, Orville (Sarge) Moody, was born on this date in 1933 in Chickasha, Oklahoma. Moody won the U.S. Open of 1969.