On this date in 1861, John Ball, Jr., was born in Hoylake of the UK. Ball was one of the most prolific amateur champions ever, winning the Amateur Championship eight times and the Open Championship once. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1977. And one of the least likely major champions in golf died on this date in 2003 at age 89. Herman Keiser won the 1946 Masters by one shot over Ben Hogan. Keiser won five times on tour, but was not seen as capable of winning a major, but he held off the immortal Hogan in one of golf’s major upsets of all-time.
Herman Barron, who won the PGA Senior Championship in its quiet pre-Senior Tour days in 1963, was born on this date in 1909 in Port Chester, New York. His other “claim to fame” was winning the 1942 Western Open and thereby becoming the first Jewish golfer to win a PGA Tour event. He won four tour events in all and had top-10 finishes in the U.S. Open and PGA. Barron was a member of the 1947 Ryder Cup team for the U.S. Also born on this date, in 1946, former Golf Digest Schools instructor and former CBS golf announcer Peter Kostis.
On this date in 1894, the United States Golf Association was formed in New York. The USGA would begin its championships the following year, the first U.S. Open being held at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. Happy 130th birthday to the United States Golf Association.
Walter Hagen, the winner of 11 major championships and the all-time grandest bon vivant of golf, was born on this date in 1892 in Rochester, New York. And on this date in 1985, Alice Miller and the laconic one, Don January, won the Mazda Champions at 17 under par, beating Pat Bradley and Lee Elder in a playoff at Tryall Golf Club in Jamaica.
On this date in 1987, Nancy Lopez and Miller Barber finished at 12 under par to win the Mazda Golf Champions event in Jamaica at the Tryall Golf and Beach Club. They finished three shots ahead of Colleen Walker and Arnold Palmer. And Hannah Green, the Women’s PGA Championship winner of 2019, was born on this date in 1996 in Perth, Western Australia. She won two LPGA events in 2019, the other being the Cambia Portland Classic.
On this date in 1993, Larry Mize won the Johnnie Walker World Championship of Golf in demonstrative fashion, winning by 10 shots over Fred Couples. Marino Parascenzo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette began his final-day game story from Montego Bay, Jamaica, with this: “Larry Mize just flat killed the Johnnie Walker World Championship of Golf yesterday. He shot a closing 65 for a staggering 18-under-par 266. That gave him a 10-stroke victory over Fred Couples and his futile dynamite finish, a nine-birdie 64. Mize, with this third win of the year, won $550,000 out of the $2.7 million purse, the biggest payday of his life, and it put him over $1.3 million for the year.”
On this date in 1971, the iconic golfer Bobby Jones died from the effects of syringomyelia at 69 years old. The Georgia native passed away into immortality as the greatest amateur golfer ever and the winner of 13 major championships, including the 1930 Grand Slam, and the originator of the Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament. Also on this date in 1994, Greg Norman, Fred Couples and Paul Azinger from the PGA Tour won the Wendy's 3-Tour Golf Challenge at the Jack Nicklaus Resort Course at PGA West in La Quinta, California. They had a final total of 10 under par.
On this date in 1989, Mike Hill and Patti Rizzo shot 25 under par and won the Mazda Champions event at the Hyatt Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico. Also on this date in 2014, former PGA club pro Gus Andreone, at age 103, had a hole-in-one on the 113-yard 14th hole at Palm Aire’s Lakes Course in Sarasota, Florida, becoming the oldest golfer to make an ace.
On this date in 1960, Arnold Palmer was honored by the Ligonier Valley Chamber of Commerce at Ligonier Valley Junior High School. And in 2012, Palmer played the Father-Son Challenge with grandson Will Wears; they shot 80-76 for 18th. On this date in 1979, 2008 Masters winner Trevor Immelman was born in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. Immelman now does commentary for CBS’ golf coverage.
On this date in 1996, the Diner’s Club Matches concluded, with Dottie Pepper & Juli Inkster winning the LPGA portion, Jim Colbert & Bob Murphy winning the Champions Tour, and Tom Lehman & Duffy Waldoff the regular PGA Tour portion. Also, on this date in 2019, the American team won six of the 12 Singles matches at Royal Melbourne to win the Presidents Cup, 16-14, for an eighth straight victory in the series.
On this date in 1980, Nancy Lopez and Curtis Strange won the JCPenney Golf Classic by two shots at Bardmoor Country Club in Largo, Florida. They split a $72,000 first prize. And the 1931 U.S. Open champion, Billy Burke, was born on this date in 1902 in Naugatuck, Connecticut.
Happy 36th: On this date in 1988, Rickie Fowler was born in Murrieta, California. The six-time PGA Tour winner has been on the brink of major stardom but hasn’t broken through yet; he has finished second four times in major championships. He will play with partner Lexi Thompson this weekend in the Grant Thornton Invitational. And the International and American teams split the final-day Singles session, 6-6, on this date in 1998 but that didn’t stop the Internationals from winning the Presidents Cup, 20½–11½, at Royal Melbourne GC, which is the International team’s only victory in 13 playings.
The first golf “tees” were no tees at all. Players would take a small amount of sand and build a little tower or pyramid to elevate the ball. But on this date in 1899, George F. Bryant of Boston is credited with getting a patent for a wooden golf tee. Also, the great Charles Boswell, a 13-time winner of the U.S. Blind Golfers’ Association, was born on this date in 1916. Boswell won numerous awards, but Pat Browne later passed his USBGA total.
The first PGA National Four-Ball Championship ended on this date at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with Gay Brewer and Butch Baird winning by three with a 259 total. Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, who would come to dominate this event, tied for seventh, seven strokes back. And on this date in 2009, Tiger Woods announced that the extramarital affairs he’d had that had caused a Thanksgiving-time fallout with his wife Elin was forcing him to take an indefinite leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage. Woods said, "I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father and person." Woods and his wife had been married five years and at the time had a 2-year-old daughter and a 10-month-old son.
On this date in 1954, Arnold Palmer’s debut on the PGA Tour ended with a missed cut. Palmer had turned pro in November 1954, and the Miami Open in Miami Springs was his tour debut, but he missed the cut with rounds of 78-74—152, played on December 9 and 10. And one of the obscure runners-up to Jack Nicklaus in a major was born on this date in 1950. A couple of the memorable images from Nicklaus’ 1978 Open Championship victory was the site, St. Andrews; Nicklaus’ argyle sweaters, and New Zealander Simon Owen, who turns 74 years old today. His second place at the Old Course in 1978 was his best finish in a major.
On this date in 1984, Australian great Peter Thomson won the PGA Seniors' Championship at PGA National Golf Club’s Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He won by three strokes over Don January. The defending champion Arnold Palmer tied for 11th. And on this date in 1926, it is usually recognized as the date the U.S. Golf Association legalized the use of steel in golf club shafts. Hickory was the primary shaft material for many years leading up to the use of steel. Once steel became the common shaft, aluminum, graphite and other hi-tech materials expanded the shaft market.
On this date in 1985, siblings Laurie Rinker and Larry Rinker won the JCPenney Golf Classic at Bardmoor Country Club in Largo, Florida, at 21 under par. And on this date in 1976, Arnold Palmer was the guest speaker at the 24th World Cup in California, getting a standing ovation as he walked to the podium.
Luke Donald and Billy Horschel share a birthday on this date. Donald was born in 1977 in England; he attended Northwestern in Illinois. He was No. 1 in the World at one point but lately made his mark as the European Ryder Cup team leader. Horschel was born in 1986 and has eight PGA Tour wins, the latest the 2024 Corales Puntacana Ch. Also, the 12th PGA Championship ended on this date at Hillcrest Country Club in 1929 with defending champion Leo Diegel defeating Johnny Farrell, 6 & 4, in the final.
On this date in 1981, the 43rd Senior PGA Ch. ended at Turnberry Isle’s South Course, with defending champion Arnold Palmer finishing second to Miller Barber by two strokes. Arnie was always in Barber’s rear-view mirror in this oldest of the senior majors. Palmer trailed by five with a round to go and got within two at the end when his 70 bettered Barber’s 73, but he still finished solo runner-up. Barber was using veteran caddie Angelo Argea for the week after he had split with Jack Nicklaus. On this date in 1987, Jane Crafter and Steve Jones won the JCPenney Golf Classic at Bardmoor Country Club in Largo, Florida, with a score of 20 under par, two ahead of Debbie Massey and Mark McCumber.
World Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins was born on this date in 1949 in Richmond, Virginia. Wadkins, who won the 1977 PGA, does TV commentary for Golf Channel. Wadkins wonthe PGA in the first sudden-death playoff in championship history, beating Gene Littler at Pebble Beach.