The 2020 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, Steve Stricker, was born on this date in 1967. Stricker was born in Wisconsin and has won a dozen PGA Tour events. His best finish in a major was runner-up in the 1998 PGA. He now plays often on the Champions Tour.
Two winners of major championships have birthdays today. Vijay Singh was born in 1963. He won the 2000 Masters and two PGAs in 1998 and 2004. Tommy Aaron, the 1973 Masters champion, was born in 1937.
On this date in 1971, Ruth Jessen won the then richest prize in women’s golf at the Sear’s Women’s World Classic at Port St. Lucie Country Club/Sinner’s Course. She won by two shots over Sandra Palmer, earning $10,000 of the $60,000 total prize money.
On this date, and on February 27, in 1927, golfers in South Carolina, according to lore, were arrested for playing golf and violating the Sabbath Day.
On this date in 1994 Marta Figueras-Dotti won the Cup o' Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Golf Open at Ko Olina Golf Club, Ewa Beach, Oahu, Hawaii. She shot seven under par to win by one over Jane Geddes.
Alexander (Sandy) Herd was born in April 1868 and died on this day in 1944, age 75. He was born in Scotland and is in the record books for winning the 1902 Open Championship.
On this date in 1955, Mike Souchak shot a 60 at the Texas Open held at Breckenridge Park Golf Course and went on to win the tournament with a record score of 27 under par, 257, which stood for several decades.
Marlene Bauer Hagge, one of the original LPGA founders in 1950 and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, was born on this date in 1934.
On this date in 1950, Bobby Jones was listed as one of the top competitors from the first half of the century in a poll of sportswriters and sportscasters, along with Jim Thorpe, Babe Ruth, George Mikan, Jack Dempsey, Man a ‘ War, Johnny Weismuller, Bill Tilden, Jesse Owens and Babe Zaharias for her track prowess.
The greatest women’s golfer of all-time, Mary Kathryn (Mickey) Wright, was born on this date, Valentine’s Day, in 1935 in San Diego. The World Golf Hall of Famer won four U.S. Women’s Opens and four LPGA championships.
On this date in 1918, Patty Berg was born in Minneapolis. The World Golf Hall of Famer and LPGA pioneer was not only a great champion but known as a golf ambassador. She had an infectious personality that was always on display. When she did a teaching clinic, she emphasized you must “swing to the finish” and then did so with a flourish.
For all their golf battles, the Big Three of Palmer, Player and Nicklaus didn’t finish 1-2-3 very often in tournaments. But that’s what happened on this date in 1963 in the Phoenix Open when they finished 1-2-3 for Palmer, Player and Nicklaus, in that order, at Arizona Country Club with four-round totals of 273, 274 and 275.
On this date in 1961, Arnold Palmer shot a 66 in the third round of the Phoenix Open, then shot a 70 in Round 4 to tie Doug Sanders for first at 270. In an 18-hole playoff, Palmer defeated Sanders, 67-70, and won first prize of $4,300.
On this day in 1951, Al Brosch, of Garden City, New York, was the first player to shoot a 60 on the PGA Tour at the Texas Open, third round, on the par-71, 6,400-yard Brackenridge Park Golf Course. He broke the record of 61 shot by amateur Dow Finsterwald in 1950 in the St. Louis Open.
This is a date usually noted when the St. Andrews Club became the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, in 1834, with William IV as club patron.
On this date in 1981, Sally Little won the LPGA Elizabeth Arden Golf Classic at Turnberry Isle in Miami at five under par in a playoff with hall-of-fame players Joanne Carner and Judy Rankin.
On this date in 1947, Jimmy Demaret shot one of the PGA Tour’s early great rounds with a nine-under-par 62 in the first round of the Texas Open in San Antonio at Willow Springs. Demaret was holing putts from all over, and got done with his round just before a blustery “Texas norther” came in and dropped the temp from 65 to nearly freezing in just a few hours. Among the golfers caught in the bad weather was Ben Hogan, who shot 75.
On this date in 1971, golf was played out of this world when astronaut Alan Shepard used a 6-iron he’d assembled from different pieces to hit a couple golf balls on the moon. Commander of Apollo 14, Shepard adjusted moon-rock collecting tools to make his golf club so he could keep his “mission” secret from as many people as possible. His best shot, he estimated, went 200 yards. The original moon club is housed at the USGA Museum in New Jersey.
Two-time Masters champion and World Golf Hall of Fame member Jose Maria Olazabal was born on this date in 1966 in Spain.
On this date, a pair of LPGA events include, in 1979, Joanne Carner winning the LPGA Colgate Triple Crown and in 1990, Pat Bradley winning the Oldsmobile LPGA Golf Classic.