Today's date has great significance for Arnold Palmer's career. He began his final round as a player in the Bay Hill Invitational on March 18, 2004. He shot an 88 in Round 1. In another March 18 round, in 1993, Arnie fared better when he scored 73 in Round 1, made the cut and tied for 71st. That was the last year he made the cut at Bay Hill.
The big event on this day—in perpetuity—is that the incomparable Bobby Jones was born on St. Patrick’s Day in 1902. The Grand Slam champion is also well known for being founder of Augusta National and the Masters.
On this date in 2001, Annika Sorenstam shot the only 59 in LPGA history in the second round of the Standard Register Ping, held at Moon Valley Country Club in Phoenix. And three-time U.S. Women’s Open winner and World Golf Hall of Fame member Hollis Stacy turns 68 today.
A couple of non-March 15 dates but still March in the life of Arnold Palmer: On March 20, 1948, playing in his first tour event at age 18, he missed the cut after rounds of 78-76--154 in the Greater Greensboro Open, which Lloyd Mangrum won. In March 1968, one of Arnie’s numerous books was published: The Arnold Palmer Method, a 235-page instructional paperback from the Dell Publishing Company.
The pre-Bay Hill version of the Arnold Palmer Invitational was the Florida Citrus Invitational. Arnold Palmer won it on March 14, 1971, at Rio Pinar Country Club, by one shot over Julius Boros. It was the 59th of 62 tour victories for A.P. While in Florida, Palmer had played at Bay Hill with Vice President Spiro Agnew. Non-Arnie notes: Former major champion Bob Charles (82) has a birthday today; the late Bob Goalby and legendary teacher John Jacobs, who passed away on January 13, 2017, were born on this day, Jacobs in 1925.
On this date in 1960, Arnold Palmer won his third straight event, the Pensacola Open, after shooting rounds of 68-65-73-67 for 273. It was his fourth win of the year; he had won the inaugural Palm Springs Desert Classic (aka The Hope, aka CareerBuilder Challenge) on February 7, the Texas Open on February 28, and the Baton Rouge Open on March 6 prior to Pensacola. His prize money for those three straight events totaled a “whopping” $6,800. Arnold finished fifth each of the next two weeks, took a week off, then won his second Masters on April 10.
Mickey Wright won 10 events in 1961, including on this date in the Miami Open at Miami Springs Country Club. She finished at three under par, six shots ahead of three second-place finishers, including Louise Suggs.
On this date in 1945, Byron Nelson's record streak of 11 victories in a row on the PGA Tour began with a win at the Miami 4-Ball Invitational team event with his frequent partner Harold (Jug) McSpaden.
Chandler Harper's full name was John Chandler Harper but the professional golfer born on this date in 1914 in Portsmouth, Virginia, had one of the greatest monikers for a pro golfer just as Chandler Harper. It befit the distinguished golf career he led in the 1940s and 1950s, topped by winning the PGA Championship in 1950. He won seven times on the PGA Tour and played in the Ryder Cup in 1955. Nicknamed "Old Bones," he died in Portsmouth on November 8, 2004, age 90.
On this date in golf in 1963, Arnold Palmer shot a third-round 69 in the Pensacola Open. He shot 67 in the final round to win the $3,500 first-place money. It was his third victory of 1963, having already won in Los Angeles and Phoenix.
Raymond Floyd won the Doral Open in Miami in 1992 on this date, setting up a first on the PGA Tour. After he turned 50 in early September later that year, he won the senior tour's GTE North Classic, becoming the first player to win on both tours in the same year.
On this date in 1993, Greg Norman wowed the golf world by finishing off a 15-under-par 273 total to win the Doral-Ryder Open on the Blue Monster course in Miami. It set a course record at the time, later to be eclipsed by Tiger Woods' 264 in 2005 prior to the tournament becoming a World Golf Championship event.
Arnold Palmer shot a final-round 68 on this day in 1960 in the Baton Rouge Open, to win the first-prize money of $2,000. It was the middle victory of a three-in-a-row stretch in his incredible season of 1960 when he won eight times total, including the Masters and U.S. Open.
The great Mickey Wright got her first LPGA Tour victory on this date in 1956. Her career total of 82 started for the San Diegoan when she won the Jacksonville Open at Jacksonville Country Club, shooting 294 to beat Joyce Ziske by one stroke and win the $900 first-place money. The total purse was $4,500!
In one of the most glorious seasons in golf history, Arnold Palmer shot a 71 in the second round of the Baton Rouge Open on this date in 1960. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but he had won the Texas Open on Feb. 28, went on to win in Baton Rouge on March 6, then won the Pensacola Open on March 13 for three in a row in a year he won eight times, including the Masters and U.S. Open.
One of the most laconic but powerful swingers of the golf club, Julius Boros, was born on this date in 1920 in Fairfield, Connecticut. A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, Boros was nicknamed Moose at 6-foot, 215 pounds. He won three majors, two U.S. Opens and the PGA, and two of the three came at the expense of Arnold Palmer, who Boros would sometimes call "his pigeon." Boros beat Palmer in the 1963 U.S. Open playoff and then nipped him again in the 1968 PGA to keep Arnie shut out in that major.
On this date, it's birthday No. 64 for the Wee Welshman, Ian Woosnam. The 1991 Masters winner is an inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Standout lifelong amateur Ed Updegraff turns 100 today! Born in Boone, Iowa, Updegraff, a urologist by trade, did not win the U.S. Amateur, but he won several prominent events such as the Western Amateur twice and the U.S. Senior Amateur in 1981. A member of the Iowa and Arizona state golf halls of fame, his greatest honor was receiving the Bob Jones Award in 1999. He tied for 44th in the 1966 Masters.
Yes, it's true, this is a PGA Championship date in history in February. On this date in 1971, Jack Nicklaus won the PGA by two shots over Billy Casper, despite shooting a 73 in the final round. The PGA was played in February because of the locale: PGA National Golf Club (not the PGA National known today, but a course now called BallenIsles) in Palm Beach Gardens. Officials wanted to avoid the heat and humidity of August and played it in more comfortable February. The victory made Nicklaus the first golfer to win the Grand Slam twice.
Gene Sarazen was born on this date in 1902, a little less than a month from when Bobby Jones was born on St. Patrick's Day 1902. Sarazen, known as the Squire, and the first player to win the career Grand Slam, lived into the Tiger Woods years and died on May 13, 1999, age 97.