On this date in 1992, Davis Love III, who had just suffered a devastating fire at his home on St. Simons Island, Georgia, won the Players Championship by four strokes ahead of four players in second. Also on this date in ’92 at the Nabisco Dinah Shore, Dottie Pepper (Mochrie at the time), then 26, birdied the 18th hole to tie Juli Inkster, and then won on the first hole of sudden-death playoff, No. 10, with a par-4 to Inkster’s bogey. Play was on the Mission Hills course in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Pepper, who had been runner-up in 1991, also won the tournament in 1999 when she set a tournament record of 19-under 269. The Dinah Shore is now called the Chevron Championship and will be played this year on April 18-21 at The Woodlands, Texas.
Six times a PGA Tour event has been decided after an eight-hole, sudden-death playoff, the most holes it has taken to decide a winner. (Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum played 11 holes for the 1949 Motor City Open but were stopped by darkness and declared co-champions.) The first of the eight occasions was on March 28, 1965, when Dick Hart beat Phil Rodgers at the Azalea Open. Also on this date, in 1999, Dottie Pepper won the Nabisco Championship (now the ANA Inspiration) for a second time at Mission Hills CC, six strokes ahead of runner-up Meg Mallon.
On this date in 1994, the Players Championship concluded at TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course with Australia’s Greg Norman setting a record score of 24 under par to win by four over Fuzzy Zoeller. Also on this date, in 1960, two months shy of turning 48, Sam Snead won the De Soto Open Invitational. It was his 80th of 82 PGA Tour victories, still at the top for most wins in tour history...And in 1965, Gene Sarazen was announced as the recipient of the 1964 William D. Richardson Award for outstanding contributions for golf from the Golf Writers Association of America.
A tournament relic from the past, the Sunshine Open, ended on this date in 1961 at Bayshore Golf Club (72, 6,632) in Miami Beach, Florida. This happy-go-lucky sounding tournament had a dramatic finish. After three rounds, Gary Player, Julius Boros and Gay Brewer were tied at 204 with Arnold Palmer among those four back. Arnold blazed the final round with a 66, coming up a shot short of Player, who posted scores of 69-68-67-69—273. Arnold had 68-70-70-66—274, for second worth $2,300. Also on this date, in 1950, the all-time coleader in PGA Tour victories, Sam Snead, had one of his 82 when he won the Greater Greensboro Open at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. He won the $2,000 first-place prize with rounds of 66-70-66-67—269. A record crowd for the winter tour that year of 17,000 was on hand.
The first Masters finished on this date in 1934. Called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament, it was won by Horton Smith when he holed a 20-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole and finished one shot ahead of Craig Wood. That first year, the nines were reversed, and the 17th was today’s par-5 eighth hole. This is the only time the Masters finished in the month of March.
World Golf Hall of Fame member Pat Bradley was born on this date in 1951 in Westford, Massachusetts. Bradley won six majors, including three du Maurier titles. Her mother would ring a bell outside the family home whenever her daughter did something special. Bradley, the aunt of Keegan Bradley, was one of the greatest winners and mentally tough competitors in golf in winning 31 LPGA Tour events from 1976 to 1995. She also won the 1981 U.S. Women’s Open. Also born on this date in 1977 was 2013 PGA champion Jason Dufner.
On this date in 1958, Arnold Palmer won the St. Petersburg Open, finishing off rounds of 70-69-72-65—276 to earn top money of $2,000. A few weeks later he would win his first of four Masters. Also on this date in 1911, amateur champion golfer Dick Chapman was born in Greenwich, Conn. Not well remembered today, Chapman was an international star, not only winning the U.S. Amateur in 1940 but the British Amateur in 1951 plus the amateur titles of France, Canada and Italy. He played on three U.S. Walker Cup teams, in 1947, 1951 and 1953.
Golfers rejoice: Spring weather is not too far down the road. Today's anecdote celebrates that annual golf rite of spring, the Masters. On March 22, 1934, eventual winner Horton Smith was a co-leader with 70 after the first round of the inaugural Masters, called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. Tournament and course creator and huge fan favorite Bobby Jones shot 76.
Following up to last weekend’s Players Championship, the first Players held at the TPC Stadium Course concluded on March 21, 1982. Jerry Pate won by two shots with a final-round, five-under-par 67 and then christened the event during the award ceremony by tossing both PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman and course architect Pete Dye into the lake alongside the 18th hole and jumping in himself.
On this date in 1937, Harry Vardon, the only six-time winner of the Open Championship, was born on Jersey of the Channel Islands. He also won the 1900 U.S. Open. He died in 1937 of a tuberculosis-type disease, age 66. Of his many legacies is the Vardon Grip, aka overlap grip. Also on this date, Cary Middlecoff won the Jacksonville (Fla.) Open at Hyde Park Golf Club in 1950. He shot a 69 the final day to win the $2,000 first-place money. The World Golf Hall of Fame member won at least one tour event for 10 straight years from 1947 to 1956, and won 36 events overall.
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.