On this date in 1950, Babe Didrikson Zaharias won the U.S. Women’s Open (pre USGA run) at Rolling Hills Country Club by nine shots over Betsy Rawls. Arnold Palmer, who in his youth played an exhibition with Zaharias, had something of great meaning happen for him on this date in Bay Hill/Arnold Palmer Invitational history. On March 19, 2004, he played his final round as a competitor in the tournament, shooting 79 to miss the 36-hole cut. He had shot 88 in Round 1. Unrelated, the great J.H. Taylor, a five-time Open champion, was born on this day in 1871.
Today's date has great significance for Arnold Palmer's career. He began his final time as a player in the Bay Hill Invitational on March 18, 2004. He shot an 88 in Round 1. In another March 18 round, in 1993, Arnie fared better when he scored 73 in the first round, made the cut and tied for 71st. That was the last year he made the cut at Bay Hill. Also on this date in 1951, unheralded Pat O’Sullivan won the LPGA Titleholders Championship at Augusta C.C. by two shots over Beverly Hanson. Both players were amateurs.
On this St. Patrick’s day in 1902, the great Bobby Jones was born in Atlanta. The lifetime amateur founded Augusta National and the Masters. He passed away in December 1971. Also in today’s notes, in 1967, Arnold Palmer had firsts in Los Angeles and Tucson, plus a second, a third and a 10th by the time the tour got to the Greater Jacksonville Open. So it was unexpected that he shot a 73 in Round 2 on this date to go with a first-round 75 and miss the cut.
On this date in 2001, Annika Sorenstam shot the only 59 in LPGA history in the second round of the Standard Register Ping, held at Moon Valley Country Club in Phoenix. And World Golf Hall of Fame member Hollis Stacy was born on this date in 1954. A Georgia native, Stacy won three U.S. Women’s Opens and 18 LPGA Tour events. She was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.
A pair of Titleholders championships concluded on this date. What was or is a Titleholders? A women’s major from the 1950s played at Augusta Country Club right next to Augusta National. In fact, in recent years Augusta National purchased some ACC property in order to extend its 13th-hole tee further back. In 1953, Patty Berg won the Titleholders for the fifth time, by nine shots over Betsy Rawls with a score of 294. And in 1959, Louise Suggs won for the fourth time, with 297, with Rawls second again, this time one behind.
A pair of one-time major champions were born on this day. In 1929, Bob Goalby, 1968 Masters champion, was born in Belleville, Illinois. He was uncle to Jay Haas. Goalby went into TV roving reporter work for NBC after his playing days were done. He died on January 19, 2022. And in 1936, 1963 Open Championship winner Bob Charles was born in Carterton, New Zealand. He is in a handful of the greatest putters ever. Also on this date, in 1971, Arnold Palmer won the Florida Citrus Invitational, aka the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which just ended on Sunday. Palmer won at Rio Pinar Country Club, by one shot over Julius Boros.
We continue with an additional Arnie Palmer note...On this date in 1960, Arnie won his third straight event, the Pensacola Open, after shooting rounds of 68-65-73-67 for 273. It was his fourth win of the year; he had won the inaugural Palm Springs Desert Classic (aka The Hope, aka CareerBuilder Challenge, aka The American Express) on February 7, the Texas Open on February 28, and the Baton Rouge Open on March 6 prior to Pensacola. His prize money for those three straight events totaled a whopping $6,800. Arnold finished fifth each of the next two weeks, took a week off, then won his second Masters on April 10. Also on this date in 1878, it is traditionally believed that the first golf match was held between Oxford and Cambridge universities, with Oxford coming out ahead.
A pair of all-time stars on each tour, known for seasons of multiple victories, are in today’s history notes. Mickey Wright won 10 events in 1961, including on this date in the Miami Open at Miami Springs Country Club. She finished at three under par, six shots ahead of three second-place finishers, including Louise Suggs. On this date in 1971, the Florida Citrus Invitational played a second round, in which Arnold Palmer shot 68. He would shoot two more 68s and win first prize of $30,000.
On this date in 1956, the LPGA Tour’s Titleholders Championship of Women's Golf was won for the third time by Louise Suggs in a great battle with Patty Berg, winning by one shot at Augusta Country Club. Also on this date, in 1945, Byron Nelson's record streak of 11 victories in a row on the PGA Tour began with a win at the Miami 4-Ball Invitational team event with his usual team partner Harold (Jug) McSpaden.
The Pensacola Open ended on this date in 1963, with Arnold Palmer finishing with rounds of 69-68-69-67—273 for first place and $3,500. And the winner of the 1950 PGA Championship, Chandler Harper, was born on this date in 1914 in Portsmouth, Virginia. His full name was John Chandler Harper, befitting someone with a distinguished golf career. He won seven times on the PGA Tour and played in the Ryder Cup in 1955. Nicknamed "Old Bones," he died in Portsmouth on November 8, 2004, age 90.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational concludes this weekend, but on today’s date in 1967, the tournament’s earlier incarnation, the Florida Citrus Open, began with the first round. Arnold would shoot 67-69-71-68—275 to tie for second and earn $11,212.50. Also on this date, in 1963, Arnold Palmer shot a third-round 69 in the Pensacola Open. He shot 67 in the final round to win the $3,500 first-place money. It was his third victory of 1963, having already won in Los Angeles and Phoenix.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational goes into a second round today with Shane Lowry leading by one. In 1970 the tournament was called the Florida Citrus Invitational, and on this date Arnold finished the tournament shooting 64-72-64-72—272 to tie for second with Bob Stanton, earning $13,875 each. Bob Lunn won at 17-under 271. However, in 1971, Palmer won the tournament and he got to the figure he needed in 1970, 18 under par, winning by one over Julius Boros. In another Florida tournament on this date, Raymond Floyd won the Doral Open in Miami in 1992, setting up a first on the PGA Tour. After he turned 50 in early September later that year, he won the senior tour's GTE North Classic, becoming the first player to win on both tours in the same year.
On this date in 1963, Arnold Palmer shot a 69 in the first round of the Pensacola Open, a second-tier tour event he played several times as an example of how he supported lesser-known tournaments. He went on to win with four rounds in the 60s. On this date in 1993, Greg Norman wowed the golf world by finishing off a 15-under-par 273 total to win the Doral-Ryder Open on the Blue Monster course in Miami. It set a course record at the time, later to be eclipsed by Tiger Woods' 264 in 2005 prior to the tournament becoming a World Golf Championship event.
On this date in 1955, Arnold Palmer finished a PGA Tour event on a March 6 for the first time when he completed play in the Baton Rouge Open with scores 70-73-73-72—288. Bo Wininger, Billy Maxwell and Jimmy Clark went into a playoff the next day, won by Wininger. Arnold tied for 40th and finished out of the money. It was the era on tour when not everyone who made the cut went home with even a penny. A better result took place on this day in 1960. Palmer shot a final-round 68 in the Baton Rouge Open, to win the first-prize money of $2,000. It was the middle victory of a three-in-a-row stretch in his incredible season of 1960 when he won eight times total, including the Masters and U.S. Open.
The great Mickey Wright got her first LPGA Tour victory on this date in 1956. Her career total of 82 started for the San Diegan when she won the Jacksonville Open at Jacksonville Country Club, shooting 294 to beat Joyce Ziske by one stroke and win the $900 first-place money. The total purse was just $4,500! Also on this date, in 1964, Arnold Palmer was playing well en route to winning his final major at the Masters. He shot a first-round 69 in the Pensacola Open and a few days later would lose a playoff and tie for second.
Today’s events combine Arnold Palmer with someone he likely paired up with in team events more than anyone else: Peter Jacobsen. On this date in 1960, one of the most glorious seasons in golf history, Arnold shot a 71 in the second round of the Baton Rouge Open. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but he had won the Texas Open on Feb. 28, went on to win in Baton Rouge on March 6, then won the Pensacola Open on March 13 for three in a row in a year in which he won eight times, including the Masters and U.S. Open. His cohort Jacobson was born on this date in 1954. The affable and verbally verbose Jacobsen was born in Portland, Oregon. He won seven times on the PGA Tour, the 2004 U.S. Senior Open, and has been doing TV commentary for many years.
One of the most laconic but powerful swingers of the golf club, Julius Boros, was born on this date in 1920 in Fairfield, Connecticut. A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, the 6-foot-2, 215 pound Boros was nicknamed Moose. He won three majors, two U.S. Opens and the PGA, and two of the three came at the expense of Arnold Palmer, who Boros would sometimes call "his pigeon." Boros beat Palmer in the 1963 U.S. Open playoff and then nipped him again in the 1968 PGA to keep Arnie shut out in that major. Boros was known by many nicknames: Moose; Julie; Jay; Old Man River; The Bull; and Jackpot Julius.
On this date in 1932, Joe Kirkwood, a famed world golf traveler and trick-shot expert from Australia, is credited with shooting an 83 using only his putter at an 18-hole course in Bellair, Florida. The stunt was part of an exhibition with Babe Ruth and Kirkwood’s feat beat the 84 Ruth scored with a full set. And getting his kicks at age 66 is Ian Woosnam, the Wee Welshman, who was born on this date. The 1991 Masters winner was a World Golf Hall of Fame inductee in 2017. In the early 1990s he was ranked No. 1 for 50 weeks.
It is traditionally reported that on this date in 1938, with the equipment industry still in its infancy in America, the Federal Trade Commission prohibited the PGA of America and eight manufacturers from price fixing in the golf ball industry. And there is an elite group of American golf stars who can be called a career amateur, players who remained standout amateurs their entire lives while making a living in another profession. The classic example is Bobby Jones. But another, Dr. Ed Updegraff, was born on this date in 1922 in Boone, Iowa. A urologist by trade, Updegraff did not win the U.S. Amateur, but he won several prominent events such as the Western Amateur twice and the U.S. Senior Amateur in 1981. A member of the Iowa and Arizona state golf halls of fame, his greatest honor was receiving the Bob Jones Award in 1999. He died at age 100 on December 23, 2022.
On this date in 1948, Lawson Little won the St. Petersburg Open over Bobby Locke, by three shots. He is believed to be the last player to win a tour event on a Leap Day.