Jerome (Jerry) Travers was born on this date in 1887. He is one of the least appreciated great amateurs in golf history. His phenomenal record of four U.S. Amateurs and one U.S. Open was swallowed up by Bobby Jones’ legendary feats; Jones was born 15 years after Travers. But the New York City native is not totally forgotten; he has a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The late, esteemed TV journalist Jack Whitaker would have been 98 today, born in Philadelphia on this date in 1924. On a somber note in golf history, on May 18, 1950, amateur legend Bobby Jones underwent a second spinal surgery in Boston to alleviate his syringomyelia condition, but it was eventually not considered a success. A wire-service news item read: “Bobby Jones Goes Under Surgery”--BOSTON, May 18 -- A surgical operation today on golfdom’s great Bobby Jones--at the base of his skull--was expected to correct a long-standing spinal ailment caused by an accident 20 years ago. Jones was taken to the New England Baptist Hospital for the operation after a checkup at the Lahey Clinic. Dr. Frank Lahey, head of the clinic, said an examination there showed the former golf champion was suffering from pressure on the spinal cord.
In 1947, the United States had gone 11 years since winning the Walker Cup, but that was a gap mainly caused by World War II. Great Britain & Ireland beat the U.S., 7-4, in 1938, but the match wasn’t held again until May 16 and 17, 1947, which was won by the Americans, 8-4, at St. Andrews.
In the sixth Walker Cup Match, which started May 15, 1930, and ended on the 16th, U.S. captain and player Bobby Jones led the Americans to a 10-2 victory over Great Britain & Ireland at Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, England.
Ken Venturi was born on this date in 1931 in San Francisco. He had a fine amateur record, nearly winning the 1956 Masters as one, but he fell short of the predicted stardom, primarily suffering from a hand ailment. He won a legendary 1964 U.S. Open title, achieved notoriety in the television booth, and ultimately was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Pardon the indulgence on this day: Today would have been my father, Donald Schrock's, 94th birthday and on this occasion each year I like to recall the one round of golf we played together, at the Illinois State University Golf Course. The year and round details escape me except for two notes: he took a lot of swings, and on the 150-yard par-3 17th, when he missed a 3-foot putt, he asked me to knock the ball back to him. He kept trying that putt and missing it, and raking it back to keep trying over and over. Eventually, I could hear the guys on the tee, across the pond, say, "Can you believe these guys?!" That's when I told Dad to give it up and we went to play the final hole.
Arnold Palmer's final PGA Tour victory was the 1973 Bob Hope Classic at age 43, so by the end of the 1980s he was not having great success in his late 50s. He still had the Byron Nelson Classic on his schedule because of his love for Lord Byron. At the 1988 GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic, Arnie shot 70 in the first round but on May 13 had a 75 in Round 2 and had to withdraw with a rib-cage pull. It was the last time he played the Nelson Classic.
At the Colonial National Invitation on May 12, 1962, Arnold Palmer shot a 66 in Round 3 to be in full command of the lead. But he shot 76 the final day to fall into a tie with Johnny Pott, but then won an 18-hole playoff, 69-73. Arnold had regulation rounds of 67-72-66-76—281 and first-place prize money of $7,000.
In the span of a year, Arnold Palmer went from rags to riches on May 11. In 1958, he tied for 51st in the Arlington Hotel Open, shooting 69-71-76-76—292. At that time on tour, however, if you made the cut you weren't guaranteed to make even a penny. Sometimes the prize money pot wasn't enough to distribute to all the players. Arnie got zero dollars that week. In 1959, however, he shot 73-64-67-69—273 in the Oklahoma City Open for first place and $3,500, a more memorable May 11.
One of the most flamboyant figures in golf history is in today's item. Walter Hagen won his fourth Open Championship, and 11th and final major championship, on May 10, 1929, at Muirfield, Scotland. His winning score was 12 over par, and that won by six shots! Known for his outsized personality and colorful wardrobe, Hagen is in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The immortal Harry Vardon was born on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, on this date in 1870, 10 years after the first Open Championship, which he would go on to win six times, the most in history. He is also immortalized with the term Vardon grip, the label for the overlap method of gripping the club. Another World Golf Hall of Fame member born on this date is Betty Jameson, born in 1919 in Norman, Okla. She won the 1947 U.S. Women's Open and the 1939 and 1940 U.S. Women's Amateur.
One of my golf heroes is the man who shook the golf world: Francis Ouimet, born on this day in 1893 in Brookline, Mass.. He won the U.S. Open in his hometown in 1913 at The Country Club, beating British legends Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in a playoff to elevate American golfers on a global scale. He was also a U.S. Amateur champion and as the "father of amateur golf," he is credited with influencing golf participation in the United States.
The Greenbrier is a major component of golf resort heritage. The Greenbrier Classic from 2010 to 2019 continued that history, which goes back decades ago when it was a cherished title. On this date in 1950, Ben Hogan won the Greenbrier Pro-Am, at the golf club in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., winning $1,250 after shooting 64-64-65-66—259.
The Olympic Club in San Francisco, a club noted for its track-and-field prowess before golf, was founded in 1860. Also on this date, in 1936, the Curtis Cup was completed on the King’s Course at Gleneagles, ending in a 4.5 to 4.5 tie. Baseball bonus: Babe Ruth hit his first Major League home run, playing for the Boston Red Sox, in 1915. It was against the Yankees at the Polo Grounds. Ruth, who started as a pitcher, was 3 for 5 at the plate and pitched 12 and a third innings but took the loss in a 4-3 defeat.
One of the greatest gentlemen in golf history, and most prominent height-wise (6-foot-4), was born on this date in 1923. William (Bill) C. Campbell, was born in Huntington, W.Va. He excelled on the course as a lifelong amateur, winning the 1964 U.S. Amateur, two U.S. Senior Amateurs and 15 West Virginia Amateurs, and off the course as a president of the U.S. Golf Association and captain of the Royal & Ancient. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990, and died on August 30, 2013.
Among the birthday milestones today: 1986 PGA champion Bob Tway was born in 1959; the second African-American on the LPGA Tour Renee Powell was born in 1946. She was also named one of the first seven women to be members of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. And World Golf Hall of Fame member Betsy Rawls was born in 1928. She won 55 LPGA Tour events, including four U.S. Women’s Opens (1951, 1953, 1957, 1960), and two LPGA Championships in 1959 and 1969.
The late Pete Brown won the Waco Turner Open on this date in 1964 at Turner Lodge in Burneyville, Oklahoma, becoming the first African-American to win an official PGA Tour event.
Legendary singer and the first major entertainer/personality to promote the celebrity pro-am format with his Crosby Clambake at Pebble Beach, Bing Crosby, was born on May 2, 1904, in Tacoma, Wash.
On this date in 1930, Glenna Collett led an American squad against a British team at Sunningdale, England, in a precursor to the first Curtis Cup Match played two years later. The British won the 1930 match. Also, opinionated and insightful Frank Beard, an 11-time PGA Tour winner, was born on May 1, 1939.
In the early 1950s, the newly begun LPGA Tour held four 36-hole events over the duration of several weeks, recognizing an overall winner at the conclusion of the 144-hole event. In 1950, the events were held at Pebble Beach, Chicago, Cleveland and New York. Babe Zaharias won the Pebble Beach portion on April 30, and would win later in Cleveland. Louise Suggs won the other two stages, but Zaharias was the overall winner.