Today two LPGA events are featured. On this date in 1964, Marilynn Smith had a huge victory at the LPGA Titleholders Championship played at Augusta Country Club, adjacent to Augusta National, when she defended her title with a one-stroke victory over Mickey Wright, the all-time greatest women’s player. And in 1952, using a new putter, Patty Berg shot a 64 in the first round of the Richmond (Calif.) Open at Richmond Golf Club, to set a women’s record. She would go on to win the tournament by four shots. The 18-hole women’s record now, of course, is the 59 shot by Annika Sorenstam in 2001.
Birthday milestones on April 25 belong to five-time PGA Tour winner Nick Watney, born in 1981, and diminutive Jerry Barber, born in 1916. Barber was born in Woodson, Illinois, west of Springfield in central Illinois. He was 5-5, 137 pounds. He made a pair of consecutive monster-length putts to win the 1961 PGA; he also holds the record for the oldest to play a tour event; he was 77 years 10 months 9 days when he played in the 1994 Buick Invitational, where he missed the cut. He died later in 1994 after turning 78.
Lee Westwood was born on this date in 1973 at Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England. Westwood has not won a major despite a few close calls, but his biggest international impact has been his inspired play in the Ryder Cup Match every two years. Other tour pro birthdays on April 24 include Jonas Blixt 1984 and Bob Lunn, the 1963 U.S. Public Links champion, was born in 1945. He won back to back on tour at Memphis and Atlanta in 1968.
Only a handful of players have won the first PGA Tour event they played, and one of them is Marty Fleckman, who was born on April 23, 1944, in Port Arthur, Texas. Fleckman passed qualifying school in October 1967, and just about a month later he won the first pro event he entered, the Cajun Classic, beating Jack Montgomery in a one-hole playoff with a birdie.
Just three days after the third PGA Tour commissioner in history, Tim Finchem, celebrated a birthday, the second commissioner, Deane Beman, observes a birthday, born on this day in 1938 in Washington, D.C.. Before becoming the head of the tour in 1974, Beman was an accomplished player, winning the U.S. Amateur twice, British Amateur in 1959, and four PGA Tour events. He served until 1994 and was later inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
April was a popular time of the year to hold the Senior PGA Championship, which is the oldest of the senior majors, starting in 1937. On this date in 1991, Jack Nicklaus won his lone Senior PGA, at PGA National in Florida, with a 17-under 271 score to win by six shots over Australia’s Bruce Crampton.
An incredible talent who never got to show the record he could have accumulated, Young Tom Morris was born on this date in 1851. He won four Open Championships, including three in a row to retire the champion’s belt, and then died at just 24 in St. Andrews, Scotland. Also on this date in 1969, Kathy Whitworth, the all-time LPGA Tour leader in victories with 88 and the leader in most career seasons with a victory with 22, is tied with three others for the most consecutive wins in scheduled events with four. Whitworth’s fourth came on April 20, 1969, in the Lady Carling Open.
On this date in 1922, amateur legend Billy Joe Patton was born in Morganton, North Carolina. He made a remarkable run at winning the Masters in 1954 that is still captivating to read about. Like his good friend Arnold Palmer, Patton attended Wake Forest College. Patton died in Morganton in 2011. Also on this day, in 1968, production of a one-piece, no-cut golf ball was announced, a major change in ball design.
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.