Golf History

April 18, 1935, Gene Sarazen hit "the shot heard 'round the world" at Augusta National Golf Club on the fifteenth hole in the final round of the Masters Tournament. He struck a spoon (the modern name is four wood) 232 yards into the hole, scoring a double eagle. He was trailing Craig Wood by three shots, which he then tied.  He parred the 16th, 17th and 18th holes to preserve the tie. The following day, the pair played a 36-hole playoff, with Sarazen winning by five shots.

 

April 19, 1994, Lee Trevino won the PGA Seniors' Championship one stroke over Jim Colbert.  This Championship ended at the PGA National Resort.

 

April 16, 1995, Raymond Floyd won the PGA Seniors' Championship by five shots over Larry Gilbert, Lee Trevino & John Paul Cain at the PGA National.

 

April 15, 1979, the 43rd Masters had its first sudden death playoff.  Fuzzy Zoeller won a 2-hole playoff, making a birdie on the 11th hole, beating Ed Sneed & Tom Watson.

 

April 14, 2024, Scottie Scheffler secured his second Masters Tournament victory in three years on Sunday, finishing 11 under and four strokes up on his closest competitors.

 

April 14, 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.  Mr. De Vicenzio was also born on this date in 1923.

 

March 28, 2024, six times a PGA Tour event has been decided after an eight-hole, sudden-death playoff, the most holes it has taken to decide a winner. (Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum played 11 holes for the 1949 Motor City Open but were stopped by darkness and declared co-champions.) The first of the eight occasions was on March 28, 1965, when Dick Hart beat Phil Rodgers at the Azalea Open. Also on this date, in 1999, Dottie Pepper won the Nabisco Championship (now the ANA Inspiration) for a second time at Mission Hills CC, six strokes ahead of runner-up Meg Mallon.

 

March 25, 1934, the first Masters finished. Then called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament, it was won by Horton Smith when he holed a 20-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole and finished one shot ahead of Craig Wood. That first year, the nines were reversed, and the 17th was today’s par-5 eighth hole. This is the only time the Masters finished in the month of March.

 

March 19, 1950, Babe Didrikson Zaharias won the U.S. Women’s Open (pre USGA run) at Rolling Hills Country Club by nine shots over Betsy Rawls.

 

March 18, 1951, amateur Pat O’Sullivan won the LPGA Titleholders Championship at Augusta C.C. by two shots over Beverly Hanson (also an amateur).

 

March 14, 1936, Bob Charles, 1963 Open Championship winner, was born in Carterton, New Zealand. He is in a select group of the greatest putters ever.

 

March 11, 1956, LPGA Tour’s Titleholders Championship of Women's Golf was won for the third time by Louise Suggs in a close contest with Patty Berg. She secured the win by one shot at Augusta Country Club.

 

March 5, 1956, Mickey Wright (PGA of America, Hall of Famer), got her first LPGA Tour victory on this date. Wright was ranked the 9th greatest golfer of all time and the top woman Golfer by Golf Digest Magazine in 2000.

February 29, 1948, Lawson Little is believed to be the last player to win a tour event on Leap Day. He won the St. Petersburg Open over Bobby Locke by 3 shots.

 

February 13, 1918, Patty Berg, one of the greatest womens golfers, was born in Minneapolis. She was a founding member and the first president of the LPGA. Her 15 major title wins remains the all-time record for most major wins by a female golfer. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

 

February 6, 1971, Alan Shepard hit a couple of golf balls with a makeshift 6-iron on the moon as part of the Apollo 14 space mission. He snuck the club onboard the flight. Because of his spacesuit, he could only swing his right arm. On return, Shepard said he “shanked the first one; it rolled into a crater about 40 yards away. The second one, I kept my head down. I hit it flush and it went at least 200 yards.”

 

February 2, 2024, Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow and predicts an early spring. More Golf for all!

January 24, 1999, David Duval shoots a 59 to match what is then the best round in PGA Tour history. Duval moves forward from seven strokes off the pace for a one-stroke victory over Steve Pate in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

 

January 17, 1916, the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) was founded by a group of Professionals and leading amateur golfers at the Taplow Club in New York City.

 

January 1, 1938, the 14-club limit imposed by the Rules of Golf became effective. Up until then, players carried as many as they wanted.

 

Happy New Year! May your golf game be a source of pleasure in 2024.