This date in 1857 is credited as the publishing date for the first golf instruction book, The Golfer's Manual, “A Keen Hand” by H. B. Farnie. Birthday specials today include two-time major winner, TV analyst and World Golf Hall of Famer Johnny Miller in 1947, and present tour player Justin Thomas in 1993.
Prodigious hitter and self-proclaimed Wild Thing John Daly was born on this day in 1966. He has won two majors, the 1991 PGA and 1995 Open Championship, but only five PGA Tour events overall, a widely regarded underachieving amount for someone with Daly’s immense talent.
Legendary 36-year Chicago Tribune golf editor Charlie Bartlett was born on this date in 1905. He died on November 6, 1967, and at the next Masters, the Charles Bartlett Lounge was dedicated on April 10, 1968, in the now eliminated press building to honor him. The new media center has the Bartlett Lounge dining area.
Using a new putter, Patty Berg shot a 64 in the first round of the 1952 Richmond (Calif.) Open at Richmond Golf Club, to set a women’s record. She would go on to win the tournament by four shots. The 18-hole record now, of course, is the 59 shot by Annika Sorenstam in 2001.
Birthday milestones on April 25 belong to five-time PGA Tour winner Nick Watney, born in 1981, and diminutive Jerry Barber, born in 1916. Barber made a pair of consecutive monster-length putts to win the 1961 PGA; he also holds the record for the oldest to play a tour event; he was 77 years 10 months 9 days when he played in the 1994 Buick Invitational, where he missed the cut.
Some notable birthdays on April 24 include Jonas Blixt 1984, Lee Westwood 1973 and Bob Lunn, the 1963 U.S. Public Links champion, was born in 1945. He won back to back on tour at Memphis and Atlanta in 1968.
Only a handful of players have won the first PGA Tour event they played, and one of them is Marty Fleckman, who was born on April 23, 1944, in Port Arthur, Texas. Fleckman passed qualifying school in October 1967, and just about a month later he won the first pro event he entered, the Cajun Classic, beating Jack Montgomery in a one-hole playoff with a birdie.
Just three days after the third PGA Tour commissioner in history, Tim Finchem, celebrated a birthday, the second commissioner, Deane Beman, observes a birthday, born in 1938. Before becoming the head of the tour in 1974, Beman was an accomplished player, winning the U.S. Amateur twice, British Amateur in 1959, and four PGA Tour events.
April was a popular time of the year to hold the Senior PGA Championship, which is the oldest of the senior majors, starting in 1937. On this date in 1991, Jack Nicklaus won his lone Senior PGA, at PGA National in Florida, with a 17-under 271 score.
Kathy Whitworth is the all-time LPGA Tour leader in victories with 88 and is the leader in most career seasons with a victory with 22. She and three others are tied for the most consecutive wins in scheduled events with four. Whitworth’s fourth came on April 20, 1969, in the Lady Carling Open.
In 1968, production of a one-piece, no-cut golf ball was announced, a major change in ball design. Also on this date, in 1947, retired PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem was born.
After finishes of 1st, 2nd, T-3, 2nd, T-34, T-4, T-36 and T-6 to start 1966, Arnold Palmer went into the Masters as a huge favorite. It was expected he’d continue his every-other-year victory streak. But he was off by one week and tied for fourth on April 11 at the Masters. Instead, on April 18, he won an 18-hole playoff with Gay Brewer, 69-73, to capture the Tournament of Champions.
Sam Snead won the Greater Greensboro Open (also known as the Wyndham Ch.) eight times. No. 7 came on April 17, 1960, when Snead shot his fourth-straight round in the 60s and finished two strokes ahead of Dow Finsterwald at Starmount Forest Country Club.
This weekend a winner will be crowned at the RBC Heritage who will take home well more than $1 million. Jimmy Demaret won a miniscule $2,000 on this date in 1950 when he won the North Fulton Open at the North Fulton Park Course in Atlanta (held April 13-16, 1950). His scores were 71-69-64-66—270.
A sad day in golf history: In the 1968 Masters, Roberto De Vicenzo signed an incorrect scorecard with a higher score than he actually shot on the 17th hole in the final round and finished one behind Bob Goalby. Born on this date: 1964 PGA champion Bobby Nichols in 1936…and World Golf Hall of Famer, the late Mr. De Vicenzo himself, in 1923.
In the final Masters Tournament held before its World War II break, Byron Nelson defeated Ben Hogan, 68-70, in a playoff to win the 1942 Masters on this date for his second green jacket. Born on this date: Davis Love III in 1964 and World Golf Hall of Fame member Marilynn Smith in 1929.
In a battle of juggernauts, Sam Snead defeated Ben Hogan, 70-71, to win the 1954 Masters, his third. A decade later, the date April 12, 1964, would mark the day Arnold Palmer won his seventh and final professional major, by six shots, at the Masters.
Arnold Palmer rued April 10, 1961, for the rest of his career. A lack of concentration after hitting his drive on the final hole in the fairway with a one-shot lead caused him to make a double-bogey 6, losing by one shot to Gary Player, who became the first international Masters champion.
Two-time Masters champion Seve Ballesteros was born on April 9 in 1957. On the course, Jimmy Demaret became the first three-time winner in 1950, and Jack Nicklaus won in 1972 to join Arnold Palmer as a four-time winner, which Jack later extended to six victories by 1986.
On April 8, 1962, Arnold Palmer made birdies on 16 and 17 to tie Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald at 280 at the end of regulation, then beat them the next day in a playoff with a 68 to Player's 71 and Finsterwald's 77.