Yesterday’s birthday figure, Sam Snead, makes the date entry today, too, for winning the Colonial National Invitation on this date in 1950. Two days ago, Davis Riley won the event for his first solo tour victory; the event is now the Charles Schwab Challenge. In 1950, it was a second straight tour win for Snead; he won the Western Open on May 21. His combined take-home pay for the wins: $5,600. Also, Julius Boros died on this date in 1994, having won three majors in his career: PGA in 1968, U.S. Open in 1952 and 1963); he died at age 74 of a heart attack.
The PGA Tour’s all-time victory coleader with 82, Sam Snead, was born on this date in 1912, the same year Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson were born. Snead’s swing is considered one of the greatest ever, and it’s hard to argue against that since it helped him set longevity records. Snead won seven majors but the biggest gap in his record is that he never won the U.S. Open; his four second-place finishes were constructed every way imaginable. Snead died in 2002 just four days short of his 90th birthday.
With the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, TV viewers will see portions of a golf course on the interior and exterior of the racetrack. The course is a reminder that the PGA Tour used to have an event during race week called the “500” Festival Open, held on the Speedway Golf Course (now called Brickyard Crossing) and it was played from 1960 to 1968. May 26, 1960, was the very first round played in the event. Doug Ford shot 66 and went on to win. Arnold Palmer, who would be the main man in 1960, shot 70 in Round 1 and would tack on a 71 and 73 to miss the cut. Also today, a PGA Tour player from the past who had one of the more entertaining nicknames was born on this date in 1961. Steve Pate, known as Volcano for his explosive manner, kept things in check well enough, using a slow backswing, to win six times on tour.
The 1948 PGA Championship concluded on this date at Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis with Ben Hogan earning a 7 & 6 victory over Mike Turnesa in the final. It was Hogan’s second PGA win. Hogan was 4 up after the first 18 holes, having made six birdies. Hogan had four more birdies in 12 holes of the next round, to easily close out Turnesa.
Old Tom Morris, one of the most iconic Scottish figures in golf history, died on this date in 1908, three weeks shy of 87. Symbolic of St. Andrews, Old Tom was adorned with a distinguished long gray beard late in life. He won the Open Championship four times but was also a course designer, clubmaker and greenkeeper. And on this date in 1910, World Golf Hall of Fame member Jimmy Demaret, a three-time Masters winner, was born in Houston, Texas.
Australian David Graham was born on this date in 1946. A meticulous player, he won two majors on courses that required patience: Merion in the 1981 U.S. Open, and Oak Hill for the 1979 PGA Championship. He also won six other times on the PGA Tour: the 1972 Cleveland Open, 1976 American Express Westchester Classic and American Golf Classic, the 1980 Memorial Tournament, the 1981 Phoenix Open and 1983 Houston Coca-Cola Open. He had 24 other wins worldwide.Sam Snead entered and departed this world around this date four days apart. He was born in Ashwood, Virginia on May 27, 1912 (the same year as Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson) and died on May 23, 2002, in Hot Springs, Virginia, within view of turning 90.
The winner of the first and third Masters, Horton Smith, was born on this date in Springfield, Missouri, in 1908. He was praised for his putting prowess--for which he wrote a book--and off the course led the PGA of America as its president in 1952-1954. He received the prestigious Bob Jones Award in 1962.
The inaugural Curtis Cup Match—the women’s amateur event pitting teams from the U.S. and Great Britain against each other—was just a one-day event, held on May 21, 1932, at Wentworth Golf Club in England, as opposed to the two-day version used presently. The format in 1932 was three foursomes and six singles matches. The Americans won, 5½ to 3½. The 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, who continues to recover from brain surgery but is back out playing, was born on this date in 1984 in Topeka, Kansas.
In an example of how major championships moved around the calendar, the normally-placed July Open Championship ended on this date in May 1897 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Harold Hilton, the great English amateur, won by a single shot over Scot legend James Braid, who ended up being a five-time Open winner.
Jerome (Jerry) Travers was born on this date in 1887. He is one of the least appreciated great amateurs in golf history. His phenomenal record of four U.S. Amateurs and one U.S. Open was swallowed up by Bobby Jones’ legendary feats; Jones was born 15 years after Travers. But the New York City native is not totally forgotten; he has a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 2019 on this date one, the PGA Championship concluded at Bethpage State Park with Brooks Koepka leading from start to finish but just hanging on to win by two shots after making five bogeys in the last eight holes. Runner-up was Dustin Johnson.
The late esteemed TV journalist Jack Whitaker was born in Philadelphia on this date in 1924. On a somber note, on May 18, 1950, Bobby Jones underwent a second spinal surgery in Boston to alleviate his syringomyelia condition, but it was eventually not considered a success. A wire-service news item read: “Bobby Jones Goes Under Surgery--BOSTON, May 18 -- A surgical operation today on golfdom’s great Bobby Jones--at the base of his skull--was expected to correct a long-standing spinal ailment caused by an accident 20 years ago. Jones was taken to the New England Baptist Hospital for the operation after a checkup at the Lahey Clinic. Dr. Frank Lahey, head of the clinic, said an examination there showed the former golf champion was suffering from pressure on the spinal cord.” And on this date in 1964, Arnold Palmer won his 44th PGA Tour Event at the Oklahoma City Open. Arnie took on rain, a condensed schedule and government testing of sonic booms and still won. The Feds were testing the effects of sonic booms—seriously—and OKC was the testing ground. Maybe that’s why the heavens let loose and caused Thursday and Friday to be unplayable due to rain, pushing everything back to a 36-hole finale on Monday. Palmer won first prize of $5,800, at Quail Creek Country Club (72, 7,042).
In 1947, the United States had gone 11 years since winning the Walker Cup, but that was a gap mainly caused by World War II. Great Britain & Ireland beat the U.S., 7-4, in 1938, but the match wasn’t held again until May 16 and 17, 1947, which was won by the Americans, 8-4, at St. Andrews. And on this date in 1992, the LPGA Championship concluded at Bethesda Country Club, won by Betsy King, for her fifth major, in a runaway by 11 strokes over three runners-up.
In the sixth Walker Cup Match that started May 15, 1930, and ended on the 16th, U.S. captain and player Bobby Jones led the Americans to a 10-2 victory over Great Britain & Ireland at Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, England. Also on this date in 1982, Kathy Whitworth won the Atlanta LPGA event for her 83rd LPGA victory to take the all-time lead over Mickey Wright. On the same day in Atlanta, Joan Joyce had 17 putts in her round to break the record of 19 held by Beverley Klass. Also in 1982, Jack Nicklaus won the Colonial National Invitational for his first victory in nearly 2 years. He shot a 67 to win by three over Andy North.
Ken Venturi was born on this date in 1931 in San Francisco. He had a fine amateur record, nearly winning the 1956 Masters as one, but he fell short of the predicted stardom, primarily suffering from a hand ailment. He won a legendary 1964 U.S. Open title, achieved notoriety in the television booth, and ultimately was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame. He died two days after his 82nd birthday in 2013.
On this date in 1995, Kelly Robbins won the only major of her career at DuPont Country Club in the LPGA Championship. She held on by one shot over Laura Davies. And pardon the indulgence on this day: Today would have been my father, Donald Schrock's, 96th birthday and on this occasion each year I like to recall the one round of golf we played together, at the Illinois State University Golf Course. The year and score details escape me except for two notes: he took a lot of swings, and on the 150-yard par-3 17th, when he missed a 3-foot putt, he asked me to knock the ball back to him. He kept trying that putt and missing it, and raking it back to keep trying over and over. Eventually, I could hear the voices of the guys on the tee travel across a pond, "Can you believe these guys?!" That's when I told Dad to give it up and we went to play the final hole.
Arnold Palmer's final PGA Tour victory was the 1973 Bob Hope Classic at age 43, so by the end of the 1980s he was not having great success in his late 50s. He still had the Byron Nelson Classic on his schedule because of his love for Lord Byron. At the 1988 GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic, Arnie shot 70 in the first round but on May 13 had a 75 in Round 2 and had to withdraw with a rib-cage muscle pull. It was the last time he played the Nelson Classic. Also on this date, in 1962, Mickey Wright won the LPGA Western Open on Montgomery Country Club after a four-hole playoff with Mary Lena Faulk.
At the Colonial National Invitation on May 12, 1962, Arnold Palmer shot a 66 in Round 3 to be in full command of the lead. But he shot 76 the final day to fall into a tie with Johnny Pott, but then won an 18-hole playoff, 69-73. Arnold had rounds of 67-72-66-76—281 and first-place prize money of $7,000. Also on this date in 2013, Tiger Woods won his second Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass by two shots over three players.
In the span of a year, Arnold Palmer went from rags to riches on May 11. In 1958, he tied for 51st in the Arlington Hotel Open, shooting 69-71-76-76—292. At that time on tour, however, if you made the cut you weren't necessarily going to make even a penny. Sometimes the prize money wasn't enough to get to all the players. Arnie got zero dollars that week. In 1959, however, he shot 73-64-67-69—273 in the Oklahoma City Open for first place and $3,500, a more memorable May 11. Also on this date in 1928, Walter Hagen, who became good friends with Palmer, won his third Open Championship, by two strokes over Gene Sarazen at Royal St. George's Golf Club.
One of the most flamboyant figures in golf history is in today's item. Walter Hagen won his fourth Open Championship, and 11th and final major championship, on May 10, 1929, at Muirfield, Scotland. His winning score was 12 over par, and that won by six shots over fellow American Johnny Farrell. Known for his outsized personality and colorful wardrobe, Hagen is in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The immortal Harry Vardon was born on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, on this date in 1870, 10 years after the first Open Championship, which he would go on to win six times, the most in history. He is also immortalized with the term Vardon grip, the label for the overlap method of gripping the club. Another World Golf Hall of Fame member born on this date was Betty Jameson, born in 1919 in Norman, Okla. She won the 1947 U.S. Women's Open and the 1939 and 1940 U.S. Women's Amateur.