After finishes of 1st, 2nd, T-3, 2nd, T-34, T-4, T-36 and T-6 to start 1966, Arnold Palmer went into the Masters as a huge favorite. It was expected he’d continue his every-other-year victory streak. But he was off by one week and tied for fourth on April 11 at the Masters. Instead, on April 18, he won an 18-hole playoff with Gay Brewer, 69-73, to capture the Tournament of Champions. Also on this date, in 1993, the PGA Seniors' Championship was won at PGA National by Tom Wargo, who parred the second hole of a playoff to beat Bruce Crampton.
On this date in 1994, the PGA Seniors' Championship ended at PGA National with Lee Trevino beating Jim Colbert by one stroke.
On this date in 1995, Raymond Floyd won the PGA Seniors' Championship at PGA National, by five shots over Larry Gilbert, Lee Trevino and John Paul Cain. Jimmy Demaret won $2,000 on this date in 1950 when he won the North Fulton Open at the North Fulton Park Course in Atlanta (held April 13-16, 1950). His scores were 71-69-64-66—270.
In what was a disappointment to traditionalists, the Masters, in its 43rd playing, had its first sudden-death playoff on this date in 1979. Fuzzy Zoeller won a two-hole playoff, making a birdie on the difficult 11th hole, beating Ed Sneed and Tom Watson. Away from Augusta on this date, the greatest women's golfer of all-time, Mickey Wright, won her 82nd and final LPGA Tour event on this date in 1973, and it was a key one: The Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner's Circle, now known as the Chevron Championship (before that it was the ANA Inspiration). At the time, the Dinah Shore wasn't considered a major; that status would come in 1983.
Today represents a sad day in Masters history: In 1968, Roberto De Vicenzo signed an incorrect scorecard with a higher score than he actually shot on the 17th hole in the final round and finished one behind Bob Goalby. On this date in 1974, Gary Player won his second of three Masters titles, winning the 38th playing by two shots ahead of Dave Stockton and Tom Weiskopf. Born on this date: 1964 PGA champion Bobby Nichols in 1936…and World Golf Hall of Famer, Mr. De Vicenzo himself, in 1923.
Ben Hogan lost Masters playoffs to both Sam Snead and Byron Nelson. It was to Nelson on this date in 1942 as Nelson won the 9th Masters Tournament. As with Snead, Hogan lost an 18-hole playoff to Byron by one shot. It was the final Masters Tournament held before its World War II break. Born on this date: Davis Love III in 1964 and World Golf Hall of Fame member Marilynn Smith in 1929.
In back to back years, 1953 and 1954, the Masters Tournament finished on April 12. In 1953, Ben Hogan won the 17th tournament by five strokes over Ed Oliver. In 1954, in a battle of juggernauts, Sam Snead defeated Ben Hogan, 70-71, to win the Masters, his third. A decade later, the date April 12, 1964, would mark the day Arnold Palmer won his seventh and final professional major, by six shots, at Augusta.
On this date in two different years the winning score of 271 was shot, at the time a tournament record. In 1965 Jack Nicklaus won the 29th Masters, his second, beating Gary Player and Arnold Palmer by nine shots. In 1976, Raymond Floyd won his only Masters with 271, eight shots ahead of Ben Crenshaw. It was the 40th playing of the tournament. Also on April 11, in 1966, with a 70, Nicklaus won a three-way, 18-hole playoff over Tommy Jacobs (72) and Gay Brewer (78) to become the first player to win the Masters in back-to-back years.
On this date in 1960, Arnold Palmer birdied the final two holes to win the 24th Masters Tournament at Augusta National, edging Ken Venturi by one shot and adding a second Masters to his 1958 title. Palmer said to Venturi, “I wanted to win more than anything, Ken, but I'm truly sorry it had to be this way." It was a reversal of fortune for Palmer on this date in 1961. He rued April 10, 1961, for the rest of his career. A lack of concentration caused him to make a double-bogey 6 on the 18th hole, losing by one shot to Gary Player, who became the first international Masters champion.
On this date in 1972, Jack Nicklaus won the 36th Masters Tournament, leading from start to finish and finishing three shots ahead of Bruce Crampton, Tom Weiskopf and Bobby Mitchell. It was Jack’s fourth of sixth Masters wins. Also, two-time Masters champion Seve Ballesteros was born on April 9 in 1957. And also on the course, Jimmy Demaret became the first three-time winner in 1950.
On this date in 1935, Gene Sarazen beat Craig Wood in a 36-hole playoff, 144-149, to win the Masters one day after their great duel that featured Sarazen’s famous double eagle on the 15th hole. Also, on April 8, 1962, Arnold Palmer made birdies on 16 and 17 to tie Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald at 280 at the end of regulation, then beat them the next day in a playoff with a 68 to Player's 71 and Finsterwald's 77. Also on this day in 1886, English golfer Jim Barnes was born. He won four majors, the 1916 and 1919 PGA, 1921 U.S. Open and 1925 Open Championship.
On this date in 1946, the Masters Tournament returned from being off for four years of World War II and in its 10th playing was won by one of the most unlikeliest winners ever, Herman Keiser, by one shot over Ben Hogan, who would win five years later.
On this date in 1936, the Third Masters Tournament ended. After the wild finish the previous year when Gene Sarazen made his double eagle on the 15th hole, this one ended in a second victory for the 1934 inaugural winner Horton Smith, who beat Harry Cooper by one. Other April 6 Masters moments: Arnold Palmer shot a final-round 73 in 1958, but still won his first Masters by one stroke. In 1955, the Sarazen Bridge was dedicated; it’s the bridge that players cross up by the green on the par-5 15th, the hole that Sarazen famously double-eagled.
On this date in 1956, amateur Ken Venturi led Round 1 of the Masters with a 66, but by Sunday he had lost his form and shot 80 to lose to Jack Burke, Jr., by one stroke. Also on this date in 1976, former Open Championship winner Henrik Stenson, the entertaining and intense competitor, was born in Gothenburg, Sweden. His main triumph was a sensational duel with Phil Mickelson to win the 2016 Open at Troon, Scotland.
In Masters history, Byron Nelson went birdie-eagle on Nos. 12 and 13 on April 4, 1937, en route to a final-round 70 and two-shot victory over Ralph Guldahl in the 4th Masters. Nelson was the first of the Great Triumvirate of him, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, all born in 1912, to win the tournament. Lord Byron also won in 1942. Snead would not win until 1949 and Hogan 1951. Also at Augusta, on April 4, 1995, the Arnold Palmer Plaque behind the 16th tee was dedicated.
On this date in 1994, Raymond Floyd beat Dale Douglass with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff to win The Tradition senior tour event at Desert Mountain in Arizona. On April 3, 1941, Craig Wood shot a 66 in the first round to lead the Masters by five. He went on to lead wire to wire and win by three strokes over Byron Nelson.
After finishing as runner-up two years in a row, Ralph Guldahl won the sixth Masters by one shot over Sam Snead on April 2, 1939. Non-Masters notes: Born on this date were Shane Lowry (1987), J.J. Henry (1975) and World Golf Hall of Fame member Ayako Okamoto (1951).
In two events on this day from different eras, in 1930, Bobby Jones won the Southeastern Open in Atlanta and would go on to win the Grand Slam that year. And more than half a century later in 1984, Fred Couples at age 24 won the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass by one shot over Lee Trevino. Of a birthday for a vintage golfer, Johnny Farrell, the 1928 U.S. Open champion, was born on April 1, 1901, one year before Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen. Farrell was a longtime head professional at Baltusrol Country Club in New Jersey, site of numerous majors, and won 22 PGA Tour events. He died in June 1988.
On this date in 1996, Fred Couples shot a final-round 64 to win the Players Championship, for the second time, at the Stadium Course. He finished four ahead of Tommy Tolles and Colin Montgomerie. Of special birthday notes, World Golf Hall of Famer Tommy Bolt was born in Haworth, Oklahoma, on this date in 1916, and Miller Barber was born in 1931 in Shreveport, Louisiana. On the golf course, Tony Jacklin won the 1968 Greater Jacksonville Open on March 31 to become the first Englishman to win a modern U.S. pro tour event and an important event of any kind since Ted Ray won the 1920 U.S. Open. And Calvin Peete won the 1985 Tournament Players Championship by three shots over D.A. Weibring on the TPC Stadium Course.
On this date in 1947, Babe Didrikson Zaharias won her first of three Titleholders Championships at Augusta Country Club, heading off runner-up Dorothy Kirby by five shots. And the only time the Masters Tournament finished in March was the first year, 1934, on March 25. The Masters had two more March days, the first and second rounds in 1939 on the 30th and 31st. Otherwise, the tournament has always been held during the first two weeks of April.