Birthdays today: Jonas Blixt born in 1984, Jason Bohn and Lee Westwood both in 1973, and Bob Lunn, the 1963 U.S. Public Links champion, was born in 1945. Lunn had a successful tour career, highlighted by back-to-back wins at Memphis and Atlanta in 1968. Bonus Celtics note: Bob Cousy retired from the Celtics on April 24, 1963, after they beat the Lakers in Game 6 of the NBA final for the team’s fifth consecutive NBA Championship.
Only a handful of players have won the first PGA Tour event they played, and one of them is Marty Fleckman, who was born on April 23, 1944, in Port Arthur, Texas. Fleckman passed qualifying school in October 1967, and just about a month later he won the first tour event he entered, the Cajun Classic, beating Jack Montgomery in a one-hole playoff with a birdie.
Just three days after the third PGA Tour commissioner in history, Tim Finchem, celebrated a birthday, the second commissioner, Deane Beman, observes a birthday, born on April 22, 1938. Before becoming the tour's leader from 1974 to 1994, Beman was an accomplished player, winning the U.S. Amateur twice, British Amateur in 1959, and four PGA Tour events.
April was a popular time of the year to hold the Senior PGA Championship, which is the oldest of the senior majors, starting in 1937. On this date in 1991, Jack Nicklaus won his lone Senior PGA, at PGA National in Florida, with a 17-under 271 score.
Kathy Whitworth is the all-time LPGA Tour leader in victories with 88 and is the leader in most career seasons with a victory with 22. She and three others are tied for the most consecutive wins in scheduled events with four. Whitworth’s fourth came on April 20, 1969, in the Lady Carling Open.
In 1968, production of a one-piece, no-cut golf ball was announced, a major change in ball design. Recently retired PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem was born on this date in 1947.
After finishes of 1st, 2nd, T-3, 2nd, T-34, T-4, T-36 and T-6 to start 1966, Arnold Palmer went into the Masters as a huge favorite. It was expected he’d continue his every-other-year victory streak. But he was off by one week and tied for fourth on April 11. Instead, on April 18, he won an 18-hole playoff with Gay Brewer, 69-73, to capture the Tournament of Champions.
Sam Snead won the Greater Greensboro Open (Wyndham Ch.) eight times. No. 7 came on April 17, 1960, when Snead shot his fourth-straight round in the 60s and finished two strokes ahead of Dow Finsterwald at Starmount Forest Country Club.
Today's winner of the RBC Heritage will take home $1,170,000. Jimmy Demaret won $2,000 on this date in 1950 when he won the North Fulton Open at the North Fulton Park Course in Atlanta (held April 13-16, 1950). His scores were 71-69-64-66—270.
The greatest women's golfer of all-time, Mickey Wright, won her 82nd and final LPGA Tour event on this date in 1973, and it was a key one: The Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner's Circle, now known as the ANA Inspiration. At the time, the Dinah Shore wasn't considered a major; that status would come in 1983.
A sad day in golf history: In 1968, Roberto De Vicenzo signed an incorrect scorecard with a higher score than he actually shot and finished one behind Bob Goalby at the Masters. Born on this date: past U.S. Women's Open champion Meg Mallon in 1963; 1964 PGA champion Bobby Nichols in 1936…and World Golf Hall of Famer, Mr. De Vicenzo himself, in 1923.
In the final Masters held before its World War II break, Byron Nelson defeated Ben Hogan, 68-70, on this date in a playoff to win the 1942 Masters for his second green jacket. Born on this date: Davis Love III in 1964 and World Golf Hall of Fame member Marilynn Smith in 1929.
In a battle of all-time legends, Sam Snead defeated Ben Hogan, 70-71, in a playoff to win the 1954 Masters, his third. A decade later, the date April 12, 1964, would mark the day Arnold Palmer won his final and seventh major, by six shots, in the Masters. PGA Tour player Russell Henley was born on this day in 1989.
With a 70, Jack Nicklaus won a three-way, 18-hole playoff in 1966 over Tommy Jacobs (72) and Gay Brewer (78) to become the first player to win the Masters in back-to-back years.
Arnold Palmer rued April 10, 1961, for the rest of his career. A lack of concentration caused him to make a double-bogey 6 on the 18th hole, losing by one shot to Gary Player, who became the first international Masters champion.
Two-time Masters champion Seve Ballesteros was born on April 9 in 1957. On the course, Jimmy Demaret became the first three-time winner in 1950, and Jack Nicklaus won in 1972 to join Arnold Palmer as a four-time winner, later extended to Jack's sixth win in 1986.
On April 8, 1962, Arnold Palmer made birdies on 16 and 17 to tie Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald at 280, then beat them the next day in a playoff with a 68 to Player's 71 and Finsterwald's 77.
This is the day Gene Sarazen made: On April 7, 1935, he made a double eagle on the 15th hole, tied Craig Wood for first, then won in a playoff the next day. On April 7, 1998, the Jack Nicklaus plaque was dedicated; it is attached to the drinking fountain between the 16th and 17th holes.
Arnold Palmer shot a final-round 73 on April 6, 1958, but still won his first Masters by one stroke. On April 6, 1955, the Sarazen Bridge was dedicated; it’s the bridge that players cross up by the green on 15, the hole that Gene Sarazen double-eagled in his 1935 victory.
Amateur Ken Venturi led Round 1 of the Masters on April 5, 1956, with a 66, but by Sunday he shoots 80 to lose to Jack Burke Jr. by one stroke.