The 39th playing of the U.S. Open in 1935 was unlike any other to that point. Finishing on June 8 and played at tough Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club, Sam Parks Jr. was the surprise winner, beating Jimmy Thomson by two and Walter Hagen by three. Parks was a local favorite who played out of South Hills Country Club in nearby Pittsburgh. Prior to the '35 playing, the championship had first been dominated by foreign players, then American winner Francis Ouimet in 1913 spurred a turnaround by the Yanks. Along came amateur stars Chick Evans and Bobby Jones, plus Hagen and Gene Sarazen.
It took seven tries for the British side to win its first Curtis Cup Match but they finally broke through in 1952. It took place at Muirfield, Scotland, which just five years ago voted to allow women to become members. The final day was June 7, 1952, and it came down to the final match, where Brit Elizabeth Price beat Grace DeMoss, 3 and 2, to give the British Isles a 5-4 victory.
For the second day in a row, we "observe" a Bobby Jones runner-up finish in the U.S. Open. Jones was 21 when he won in 1923, but on June 6, 1924, a fourth-round 78 allowed Cyril Walker to sneak in to win by three shots at Oakland Hills in Birmingham, Mich. As noted yesterday, June 5, Jones lost in a playoff in 1925, but then he won three of the next five National Opens and lost a playoff in a fourth. From 1920 to 1930, Jones missed the top 10 just one time, and that was by a shot.
Willie MacFarlane forever put himself into golf lore on June 5, 1925, when he defeated Bobby Jones in a 36-hole playoff by one stroke at the U.S. Open at Worcester (Mass.) Country Club. MacFarlane shot 75-72 to Jones' 75-73. Jones had won in 1923, and would win again in 1926, 1929 and 1930.
A pair of Sandras was born on this date. Sandra Haynie was born in 1943. The World Golf Hall of Famer won 42 LPGA Tour events, including four majors: the 1974 U.S. Women’s Open, 1965 and 1974 LPGA Championship, and 1982 Peter Jackson Classic. Canadian star Sandra Post was born in 1948. She won nine times on tour, including the 1968 LPGA Championship.
On this date in 1945, three-time U.S. Open winner Hale Irwin was born in Joplin, Missouri. Irwin was an excellent football player, but he transferred that toughness onto the golf course and not only excelled in the U.S. Open but was a great player on tough courses in general. Perhaps his greatest display of toughness was winning the Massacre at Winged Foot in the 1974 U.S. Open with a 7-over-par score.
African-American pioneer and World Golf Hall of Fame member Charlie Sifford was born on this date in 1922, making this his centennial birth year. He won twice on tour: the 1967 Greater Hartford Open and 1969 Los Angeles Open. His lone major victory was the 1975 PGA Seniors’ Championship. Sifford died on Feb. 3, 2015. This week he is the honoree at The Memorial Tournament. Also today, 1982 Masters champion Craig Stadler is 69.
Today brings a baseball-golf hybrid item. On this date in 1925, in a day game against the Washington Senators at Yankee Stadium, the great Iron Horse of baseball, Lou Gehrig, began his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played . Gehrig made an out in pinch-hitting for shortstop Paul (Pee Wee) Wanninger, then started the next game at first base, replacing Wally Pipp, who was in a batting slump. Just 10,000 saw Gehrig’s streak start and the Yankees lose, 5-3. The game only took 1 hour 50 minutes. A golf equivalent to Gehrig’s streak is Tiger Woods’ record of 141 consecutive events without missing the cut, which went from February 1998 to May 2005.
The PGA Championship is mainly associated with being played in August for many years until it switched to a new date in May, but it’s actually been spread throughout the calendar. On this last-day-in-May date in 1949, Sam Snead won the PGA at the Hermitage in Richmond, Va., beating Johnny Palmer, 3 and 2. Snead, “the ageless one,” was 37 years old and had won the Masters earlier in the year. He also won the PGA in 1942 and 1951.
If you count Jim Barnes winning in 1916 and 1919 with the two middle years taken off for World War I, the PGA Championship has been won in consecutive years eight times. Tiger Woods did it twice, and Walter Hagen won not just two in a row but four. On this date in 1937, Denny Shute won a second straight PGA at the Pittsburgh Field Club in Fox Chapel, Pa. He beat Harold (Jug) McSpaden in 37 holes.
On Sunday, Scott Dixon will start on the pole at the Indianapolis 500. On this date in 1960, a Ford won at Indy. Two-time major winner Doug Ford, who passed away in 2018, became the first winner of the 500 Festival Open, held on the Speedway Golf Course during Indy 500 week. Ford shot 66-68-68-68-270, 14 under par, to win the $9,000 first prize.
Yesterday’s birthday figure, Sam Snead, makes the date entry today, too, for winning the Colonial National Invitation on this date in 1950. This weekend the Colonial is being held under its new moniker and sponsorship, the Charles Schwab Challenge. In 1950, it was a second straight tour win for Snead; he won the Western Open on May 21. His combined take-home pay for the wins: $5,600.
The PGA Tour’s all-time victory coleader with 82, Sam Snead, was born on this date in 1912, the same year Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson were born. Snead’s swing is often considered the greatest ever, and it’s hard to argue against that since it helped him set longevity records. The big missing element in his record is that he never won the U.S. Open; his four second-place finishes were constructed every way imaginable.
With the Indianapolis 500 coming up on Sunday, TV viewers will see portions of a golf course on the interior and exterior of the racetrack. The course is a reminder that the PGA Tour used to have an event during race week called the “500” Festival Open, held on the Speedway Golf Course (now called Brickyard Crossing) and it was played from 1960 to 1968. May 26, 1960, was the very first round played in the event. Doug Ford shot 66 and went on to win the event. Arnold Palmer, who would be the main man in 1960, shot 70 in Round 1 and would tack on a 71 and 73 to miss the cut.
Ben Hogan ended the 1948 PGA Championship on May 25, with a 7-and-6 victory over Mike Turnesa for his second PGA title. Hogan was 4 up after the first 18 holes at Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis, having made six birdies. Hogan had four more birdies in 12 holes of the next round, to easily close out Turnesa.
Old Tom Morris, one of the most iconic Scottish figures in golf history, died on this date in 1908, three weeks shy of 87. Symbolic of St. Andrews, Old Tom was adorned with a long beard that late in life grew gray and became his iconic distinguishing feature. He won the Open Championship four times but was also a course designer, clubmaker and greenkeeper.
Australian David Graham was born on this date in 1946. A meticulous player, he won two majors on courses that required patience: Merion in the 1981 U.S. Open, and Oak Hill for the 1979 PGA Championship. He also won on the PGA Tour in six other events: the 1972 Cleveland Open, 1976 American Express Westchester Classic and American Golf Classic, the 1980 Memorial Tournament, the 1981 Phoenix Open and 1983 Houston Coca-Cola Open. He had 24 other wins worldwide.
The winner of the first and third Masters, Horton Smith, was born on this date in Springfield, Missouri, in 1908. He was praised for his putting prowess--for which he wrote a book--and off the course led the PGA of America as its president in 1952-1954. He received the prestigious Bob Jones Award in 1962.
The inaugural Curtis Cup Match—the women’s amateur event pitting teams from the U.S. and Great Britain against each other—was just a one-day event, held on May 21, 1932, at Wentworth Golf Club in England, as opposed to the two-day expanded version used presently. The format in 1932 was three foursomes and six singles matches. The Americans won, 5½ to 3½.
It’s PGA Championship week but in its now familiar May spot rather than its long-held August spot. So let’s stay on that theme and observe an Open Championship historical note in May since we are used to the Open being played in July. But in 1897, the Open was played on May 19 and 20, 36 holes each day, with amateur Harold Hilton winning, at Hoylake in England, for his second victory, this time by a stroke over James Braid.