As this year’s Masters gets underway today we recall this date in Masters history when in 1935 Gene Sarazen hit the shot heard round the world by making a double eagle on the 15th hole en route to tying Craig Wood after 72 holes. Sarazen won the 36-hole playoff on the following day by five shots.
Arnold Palmer shot a final-round 73 on April 6, 1958, but still won his first Masters by one stroke. On April 6, 1955, the Sarazen Bridge was dedicated; it’s the bridge that players cross up by the green on par-5 15th, the hole that Gene Sarazen famously double-eagled in his 1935 victory.
Amateur Ken Venturi led Round 1 of the Masters on April 5, 1956, with a 66, but by Sunday he had lost his form and shot 80 to lose to Jack Burke Jr. by one stroke. Also on this date, former Open Championship winner Henrik Stenson turns 46.
In Masters history, Byron Nelson went birdie-eagle on Nos. 12 and 13 on April 4, 1937, en route to a final-round 70 and two-shot victory over Ralph Guldahl. Lord Byron also won in 1942. Also at Augusta, on April 4, 1995, the Arnold Palmer Plaque behind the 16th tee was dedicated.
Craig Wood shot a 66 in the first round on April 3, 1941, to lead the Masters by five. He went on to lead wire to wire and win by three strokes over Byron Nelson.
After finishing as runner-up two years in a row, Ralph Guldahl won the sixth Masters by one shot over Sam Snead on April 2, 1939. Non-Masters notes: Born on this date were: Shane Lowry (1987), J.J. Henry (1975) and World Golf Hall of Fame member Ayako Okamoto (1951).
Johnny Farrell, the 1928 U.S. Open champion, was born on April 1, 1901, one year before Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen. Farrell was a longtime head professional at Baltusrol Country Club in New Jersey, site of numerous majors, and won 22 PGA Tour events. He died in June 1988.
Of special birthday notes on a pair of deceased golf stars, the World Golf Hall of Famer Tommy Bolt was born in Haworth, Oklahoma, on this date in 1916, and Miller Barber was born in 1931 in Shreveport, Louisiana. On the golf course, Tony Jacklin won the 1968 Greater Jacksonville Open on March 31 to become the first Englishman to win a modern U.S. pro tour event and an important event of any kind since Ted Ray won the 1920 U.S. Open. And Calvin Peete won the 1985 Tournament Players Championship by three shots over D.A. Weibring on the TPC Stadium Course.
The only time the Masters Tournament finished in March was the first year, 1934, on March 25. The Masters had two more March days, the first and second rounds in 1939 on the 30th and 31st. Otherwise, the tournament has always been held during the first two weeks of April.
The LPGA Tour’s ANA Inspiration is now the Chevron Championship for one more year this weekend at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, Calif. More widely remembered as the Dinah Shore with sponsors Colgate and Nabisco, the ANA was won on March 29, 1992 by Dottie Pepper (Mochrie at the time). Pepper, then 26, birdied the 18th hole to tie Juli Inkster, and then won on the first hole of sudden-death, No. 10, with a par-4 to Inkster’s bogey. Pepper, who had been runner-up in 1991, also won the tournament in 1999 when she set the tournament record of 19-under 269.
Five times a PGA Tour event has been decided after an eight-hole, sudden-death playoff. (Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum played 11 holes for the 1949 Motor City Open but were stopped by darkness and declared co-champions.) The first of the eight occasions was on March 28, 1965, when Dick Hart beat Phil Rodgers at the Azalea Open.
Anecdotes for March 27: Two months shy of turning 48, Sam Snead won the 1960 De Soto Open Invitational. It was his 80th of 82 PGA Tour victories, still the most anyone has won in tour history...In 1968, the PGA announced that the PGA and U.S. Open winners would represent the U.S. in the World Cup...And in 1965, Gene Sarazen was announced as the recipient of the 1964 William D. Richardson Award for outstanding contributions for golf from the Golf Writers Association of America.
The all-time coleader in PGA Tour victories, Sam Snead, had one of his 82 when he won the Greater Greensboro Open at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., on March 26, 1950. He won the $2,000 first-place prize with rounds of 66-70-66-67—269. A record crowd for the winter tour that year of 17,000 was on hand.
One of the greatest “this day in golf” entries for any date is for March 25 in 1934. Horton Smith won the first Masters, shooting an even-par 72 in the final round, beating Craig Wood by a shot thanks to a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 17 (the eighth hole now). This is the only time the Masters finished in the month of March.
A pair of birthdays highlight today's date in golf: World Golf Hall of Famer Pat Bradley turns 71. One of the greatest winners and mentally tough competitors in golf, Bradley won 31 LPGA Tour events from 1976 to 1995. Her six majors include the 1981 U.S. Women’s Open. Also, the 2013 PGA champion Jason Dufner is 45.
On this date in 1911, amateur champion golfer Dick Chapman was born in Greenwich, Conn. Not well remembered today, Chapman was an international star, not only winning the U.S. Amateur in 1940 but the British Amateur in 1951 plus the amateur titles of France, Canada and Italy. He played on three U.S. Walker Cup teams, in 1947, 1951 and 1953.
Winter-weary golfers rejoice: Spring temps have to be showing up soon. Today's anecdote celebrates that annual golf rite of spring, the Masters. On March 22, 1934, eventual winner Horton Smith was a coleader with 70 after the first round of the inaugural Masters, then called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. Tournament and course creator and huge fan favorite Bobby Jones shot 76.
The first Players Championship held at the TPC Stadium Course concluded on March 21, 1982. Jerry Pate won by two shots with a final-round, five-under-par 67 and then christened the event during the award ceremony by tossing both Commissioner Deane Beman and course architect Pete Dye into the lake alongside the 18th hole and jumping in himself. The finish of holes 16, 17 and 18 with water all around has become a mesmerizing classic to watch each year.
Harry Vardon, the legendary English great who won the Open Championship six times and has a method of holding the club named after him, among other things, died on this date in 1937, age 66. Also on this date, Cary Middlecoff won the Jacksonville (Fla.) Open at Hyde Park Golf Club in 1950. He shot a 69 the final day to win the $2,000 first-place money. The World Golf Hall of Fame member won at least one tour event for 10 straight years from 1947 to 1956, and won 36 events overall.
Today's date holds great meaning for Arnold Palmer in Bay Hill/Arnold Palmer Invitational history. On March 19, 2004, he played his final round as a competitor in the tournament so dear to him, shooting 79 to miss the 36-hole cut. He had shot 88 in Round 1. In 1993, on another March 19, he shot 76 but still made the cut for the final time in the event. Also on this date, the great J.H. Taylor, five-time Open champion, was born on this day in 1871.