April 2024
April 30, 1961 and 1962, the great Mickey Wright won the LPGA Titleholders Championship at Augusta Country Club. In 1961 it was by one shot over Patty Berg and Louise Suggs, and in 1962 it was in a playoff with Ruth Jessen.
April 29, 1857, This date is credited as the publishing date for the first golf instruction book, The Golfer's Manual, “A Keen Hand” by H. B. Farnie.
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.
April 13, Ben Hogan lost Masters playoffs to both Sam Snead and Byron Nelson. In 1942, Nelson won the 9th Masters Tournament by one stroke over Hogan. It was the final Masters Tournament held before its World War II break. In 1954, Hogan lost an 18-hole playoff to Snead by one shot. Ben Hogan remains the only player to lose twice in a playoff at the Masters.
April 12, 2015 in his second appearance, Jordan Spieth became the first Texan to win the Masters since 1995.The 21-year-old set the mark for the most birdies in a single Tournament with 28. His 18-under-par 270 matched Tiger Woods’ 72-hole scoring record set in 1997.
April 12, 1987, Augusta native Larry Mize made one of the most famous shots in Masters history when chipped in for birdie from 140 feet on the second playoff hole (No. 11) to defeat Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros for the title.
April 12, 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, Sam Snead, in his 3rd win of the Masters, defeated Ben Hogan, 70-71. The date April 12, 1964, would mark the day Arnold Palmer won his seventh and final professional major, by six shots, at Augusta.
April 11, in two different years the winning score of 271 was shot, at the time a tournament record. In 1965, Jack Nicklaus won his second Masters beating Gary Player and Arnold Palmer by nine shots. This was the 29th playing of the tournament. In 1976, Raymond Floyd won his only Masters with 271, eight shots ahead of Ben Crenshaw. It was the 40th playing of the tournament. On April 11, in 1966, Nicklaus, with a 70, 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.
April 10, 1960, Arnold Palmer birdied the final two holes to win the 24th Masters Tournament at Augusta National, one shot over Ken Venturi and adding a second Masters to his 1958 title. Also on this date in 1961, he double-bogied 6 on the 18th hole, losing by one shot to Gary Player, who became the first international Masters champion.
April 8, 1935, Gene Sarazen, one of the world's top players, 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 at the August National Golf Club.
April 7, 1946, the Masters Tournament returned from being off for four years during World War II and in its 10th playing was won by, interestingly enough, Herman Keiser, by one shot over Ben Hogan, who would win five years later. This was his only major title.
April 4, 1937, In Masters history, Byron Nelson went birdie-eagle on Nos. 12 and 13, to a final-round 70 and two-shot victory over Ralph Guldahl in the 4th Masters. Nelson was the first of the Great trio that included him, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, all born in 1912, to win the tournament. Lord Byron also won in 1942. Snead would not win until 1949 and Hogan 1951.
April 1, 1901, the 1928 U.S. Open Champion, Johnny Farrell, was born, one year before Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen. Farrell was a longtime head professional at Baltusrol Country Club in New Jersey, site of numerous majors, and won 22 PGA Tour events. He died in June 1988.