On this date in 1876, Albert Spalding began a sporting goods company, with $800, manufacturing, among balls for several sports, a golf ball.
On this date in 1949, a Wednesday, one of the most infamous dates in golf occurred when Ben Hogan and wife, Valerie, were involved in an accident in which their car collided with a bus in west Texas as they were returning to Fort Worth from the West Coast. The severe injuries threatened to keep Hogan from golf or even from walking, but he made a determined comeback to play at championship level again.
On this date in 1959, Willie Goggin won the 20th PGA Seniors Championship at PGA National GC in Dunedin, Florida. Goggin shot four-under 284 and won going against common practice. He wasn’t comfortable with the set of clubs he brought from California, mainly the woods, so he borrowed another set of woods and still won. Three players tied for second behind him by one shot: Leland Gibson, Paul Runyan and Denny Shute.
On this date in 1957, Arnold Palmer began play in the Phoenix Open at Arizona Country Club, just as the PGA Tour will visit Scottsdale for the Phoenix stop in two weekends. Palmer shot a 66 in the first round to share the lead with Billy Maxwell. Palmer didn’t break 70 the next three rounds, and tied Maxwell and two others for fifth at 277. Billy Casper won with 271.
On this date in 1965, at its 71st annual meeting, in New York, the USGA approved changing the U.S. Open format to four daily 18-hole rounds instead of two days of 18 holes and a final day of 36.
On this date in 1978, “Big Momma” Joanne Carner won the Colgate Triple Crown Match-Play Championship to start the LPGA schedule that year. Carner took first over Sandra Palmer at Mission Hills Country Club in Palm Springs, California.
On this date in 1968, Chandler Harper—one of the greatest monikers in golf—won the 29th Senior PGA Championship by four shots over Sam Snead at PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Harper, of Portsmouth, Virginia, had won the 1950 PGA Championship. His Senior PGA victory was worth $4,000, which was $500 more than he won for the PGA!
On this date in 1969, Tommy Bolt won the 30th Senior PGA Championship by one shot over Pete Fleming on the East Course of PGA National. Bolt shot a 67 and won on his first try.
On this date in 1986, Val Skinner won the LPGA Mazda Golf Classic at Stonebridge Golf Club in Boca Raton, Florida, at eight under par.
On this date in 1959, Arnold Palmer shot a 62 and won the Thunderbird Invitational, the precursor to the Bob Hope Desert Classic and now The American Express. He shot 266 for first prize of $1,500.
Some golf history books cite this date in 1764 as the day St. Andrews Golf Club reduced the 22-hole course it originally had for the Old Course routing to an 18-hole round, thus establishing the “normal” amount of holes played today.
On this date in 1977, Tom Watson shot 71 at Pebble Beach to edge Tony Jacklin by a shot to win the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am and $40,000 first-place money. Watson overall was 15 under par on Pebble Beach, Cypress Point and the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula CC.
On this day in 1978, Tom Watson and Ray Floyd tied for the third-round lead on a Sunday at the Bing Crosby Pro-Am, the first one held after his death. The tournament was pushed back a day because of heavy rain on Thursday. On the 23rd Watson would win in a sudden-death playoff with Ben Crenshaw.
On this date in 1956 at Cali, Colombia, Arnold Palmer charged from seven strokes behind the third-round leader Chick Harbert with a seven-under-par 65 to win the $5,600 Colombian Open. Palmer got top prize money of $1,800 for his 72-hole total of 280, eight under. Harbert skied to a final-round 78 and wound up eighth.
On this date in 1974, Johnny Miller won the Dean Martin Tucson Open, his third straight victory to open the season, including the Bing Crosby Pro-Am and Phoenix Open.
The first round of the first LPGA Tour event was played on this date in 1950. The Tampa Open was held at 6,093-yard Palma Ceia Country Club. An amateur, Polly Riley, would win with a 295 score; Louise Suggs was second at 300. The first round was led by Bahe Zaharias, who was “clicking off pars like clockwork, led by two strokes at the end of the first round of the Tampa women's open golf tournament today. The walloping pro hit par 70 right on the nose par 35 out, par 35 in. She was even par on 14 of the 18 holes. Twice she was one over, and twice she was one under. Amateur Polly Riley of Fort Worth came second with golf of the opposite brand.” That was the opening paragaph of a national wire service report on the first round.
On this date in 1950, Sam Snead put a temporary end to Ben Hogan’s comeback from a near fatal car-bus collision in 1949 by winning a playoff for the Los Angeles Open. Snead shot 72 to Hogan’s 76 at Riviera Country Club after the two had tied in regulation. Hogan was the sentimental favorite of the 7,500 onlookers at fogbound Riviera CC. Snead won first prize of $2,600.
On this date in 1916, department store officer Rodman Wanamaker organized a lunch at the Taplow Club, Martinique Hotel, in New York to discuss forming a golf association for golf professionals that became the PGA of America.
On this date in 1979, golfer Jimmy Walker was born in Oklahoma City. He has won six times on the PGA Tour, most notably in the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol in a battle with Jason Day. He is also a talented photographer of celestial skies and rents space on a telescope to do so.
Some special things happened to Arnold Palmer on this date early in his career. In 1956, in a statement victory, he beat Sam Snead in a six-hole playoff to win the Panama Open after they had tied at 283. In another playoff victory, in 1961, he won the San Diego Open after shooting rounds of 69-68-69-65—271. He and Al Balding tied, and Arnie beat Balding in a one-hole, sudden-death playoff to win the $2,800 first-place money.