Willie MacFarlane forever put himself into golf lore on June 5, 1925, when he defeated Bobby Jones in a 36-hole playoff by one stroke at the U.S. Open at Worcester (Mass.) C.C. MacFarlane shot 75-72 to Jones' 75-73. Jones had won in 1923, and would win again in 1926, 1929 and 1930. Also, at the Open Championship across the pond, Harry Vardon frittered away a four-shot lead after the first day and lost the 1902 Open on this date to Sandy Herd, who won by a stroke over Vardon and James Braid at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England.
A pair of Sandras was born on this date. Sandra Haynie was born in 1943. The World Golf Hall of Famer won 42 LPGA Tour events, including four majors: the 1974 U.S. Women’s Open, 1965 and 1974 LPGA Championship, and 1982 Peter Jackson Classic. Canadian star Sandra Post was born in 1948. She won nine times on tour, including the 1968 LPGA Championship. Also on this date, in 1927, the first Ryder Cup Match concluded in a United States 9½–2½ victory over Great Britain, held at Worcester Country Club in Worcester, Massachusetts. The U.S. captain Walter Hagen played in two matches and won both his June 3 foursomes match (with Johnny Golden) and his Singles match versus Arthur Havers. The GB captain was Ted Ray, who lost both his matches. The next Ryder Cup is in 2025 at Bethpage Black.
On this date in 1945, three-time U.S. Open winner Hale Irwin was born in Joplin, Missouri. Irwin was an excellent football player, but he transferred that toughness onto the golf course and not only excelled in the U.S. Open but was a great player on tough courses in general. Perhaps his greatest display of toughness was winning the “Massacre at Winged Foot” in the 1974 U.S. Open with a 7-over-par score. The hall-of-fame golfer won the U.S. Open in 1974, 1979 and 1990, plus the U.S. Senior Open in 1998 and 2000.
African-American pioneer and World Golf Hall of Fame member Charlie Sifford was born on this date in 1922 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He won twice on tour: the 1967 Greater Hartford Open and 1969 Los Angeles Open. His lone major victory was the 1975 PGA Seniors’ Championship. Sifford died on Feb. 3, 2015. Also today, 1982 Masters champion Craig Stadler is 71.
Today brings a baseball-golf hybrid item. On this date in 1925, the great Iron Horse of baseball, Lou Gehrig, began his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played in a day game against the Washington Senators at Yankee Stadium. Gehrig made an out in pinch-hitting for shortstop Paul (Pee Wee) Wanninger, then started the next game at first base, replacing Wally Pipp, who was in a batting slump. Just 10,000 saw Gehrig’s streak start and the Yankees lose, 5-3. The game only took 1 hour 50 minutes. A golf equivalent to Gehrig’s streak is Tiger Woods’ record of 141 consecutive events without missing the cut, which went from February 1998 to May 2005. Also on this date, in 1975, the LPGA Championship wrapped up at Pine Ridge Golf Course, with Kathy Whitworth winning it for the third time, by one shot over Sandra Haynie
The PGA Championship historically is associated with being played in August, but it’s actually been spread throughout the calendar and is now settled in May. On this last-day-in-May date in 1949, Sam Snead won the PGA at the Hermitage in Richmond, Va., beating Johnny Palmer, 3 and 2. Snead, “the ageless one,” was 37 years old and had won the Masters earlier in the year. He also won the PGA in 1942 and 1951. And also on this date, Bobby Jones got his Grand Slam feat of 94 years ago started on this date in 1930 by winning the British Amateur at St. Andrews. He won a 7-and-6 contest with Englishman Roger Wethered.
If you count Jim Barnes winning in 1916 and 1919 with the two middle years taken off for World War I, the PGA Championship has been won in consecutive years eight times. Tiger Woods did it twice, and Walter Hagen won not just two in a row but four. On this date in 1937, Denny Shute won a second straight PGA at the Pittsburgh Field Club in Fox Chapel, Pa. He beat Harold (Jug) McSpaden in 37 holes.
On Sunday, Josef Newgarden shook off the Penske cheating scandal and won the Indianapolis 500 for back-to-back titles. On this date in 1960, a Ford won at Indy. Two-time major winner Doug Ford became the first winner of the 500 Festival Open, held on the Speedway Golf Course during Indy 500 week. Ford shot 66-68-68-68-270, 14 under par, to win the $9,000 first prize. Also on this date, in 2011, Tom Watson made a birdie on the first playoff hole with David Eger to win the 72nd Senior PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. It was his second Senior PGA victory. That is a more golfworthy event on this day than an event for another “TW” who attended Stanford: Tiger Woods was arrested in 2017 and charged with DUI in Jupiter, Florida.
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.