A trio of previous May 14 Mother's Day victories on the LPGA Tour include Mickey Wright winning the Columbus Open in Columbus, Ga., by six shots over Marilynn Smith in 1961; Nancy Lopez winning the Greater Baltimore Classic by three shots at Pine Ridge CC in Timonium, Md., in 1978, and Cindy Rarick winning the Chrysler-Plymouth Classic in Lincroft, N.J., in 1989. Also on this day, please indulge my note that this would have been the 89th birthday of my father, Donald.
Arnold Palmer's final PGA Tour victory was the 1973 Bob Hope Classic at age 43, so by the late 1980s he was not having great success in his late 50s. He still had the Byron Nelson Classic on his schedule because of his love for Lord Byron. At the 1988 GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic, Arnie shot 70 in the first round but on May 13 had a 75 in Round 2 and had to withdraw with a rib-cage pull. It was the last time he played the Nelson Classic.
At the Colonial National Invitation on May 12, 1962, Arnold Palmer shot a 66 in Round 3 to be in full command of the lead. But he shot 76 the final day to fall into a tie with Johnny Pott, but then won an 18-hole playoff, 69-73. Arnold had rounds of 67-72-66-76—281 and first-place prize money of $7,000.
In the span of a year, Arnold Palmer went from rags to riches on May 11. In 1958, he tied for 51st in the Arlington Hotel Open, shooting 69-71-76-76—292. At that time on tour, however, if you made the cut but didn't finish high enough, you didn't earn a penny, so Arnie got zero dollars that week. In 1959, however, he shot 73-64-67-69—273 in the Oklahoma City Open for first place and $3,500, a more memorable May 11.
One of the most flamboyant figures in golf history is in today's item. Walter Hagen won his fourth Open Championship, and 11th and final major championship, on May 10, 1929, at Muirfield, Scotland. His winning score was 12 over par, and that won by six shots! Known for his outsized personality and colorful wardrobe, Hagen is in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The immortal Harry Vardon was born on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, on this date in 1870, 10 years after the first Open Championship, which he would go on to win six times, the most in history. He is also immortalized with the term Vardon grip, the label for the overlap method of gripping the club. And he is the namesake for the Vardon Trophy, given on the PGA Tour for lowest scoring average. Another World Golf Hall of Fame member born on this date is Betty Jameson, born in 1919 in Norman, Okla. She won the 1947 U.S. Women's Open and the 1939 and 1940 U.S. Women's Amateur.
One of my golf heroes is the man who shook the golf world: Francis Ouimet, born on this day in 1893 in Brookline, Mass.. He won the U.S. Open in his hometown in 1913 at The Country Club, beating British legends Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in a playoff to elevate American golfers on a global scale. He was also a U.S. Amateur champion and as the "father of amateur golf," he is credited with being a popular inflluencer of golf participation in the United States.
The Greenbrier is a major component of golf resort heritage in the U.S. The Greenbrier Classic on the PGA Tour, this year in early July, continues that history, which goes back decades ago when it was a cherished title that attracted star players and celebrities. On this date in 1950, Ben Hogan won the Greenbrier Pro-Am, at the golf club in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., winning $1,250 after shooting 64-64-65-66—259.
The Olympic Club in San Francisco, a club noted for its track and field prowess before golf, was founded in 1860. Also, in 1936, the Curtis Cup was completed on the King’s Course at Gleneagles, ending in a 4-and-one-half to 4-and-one-half tie. Baseball bonus: Babe Ruth hit his first Major League home run, playing for the Boston Red Sox, in 1915. It was against the Yankees at the Polo Grounds. Ruth, who started his career as a pitcher before moving to the outfield, was 3 for 5 at the plate and pitched 12 and a third innings but took the loss in a 4-3 defeat.
One of the greatest gentlemen in golf history--and most prominent height-wise (6-foot-4)--was born on this date in 1923. William (Bill) C. Campbell, was born in Huntington, W.Va. He excelled on the course as a lifelong amateur, winning the 1964 U.S. Amateur, two U.S. Senior Amateurs and 15 West Virginia Amateurs, and off the course as a past president of the U.S. Golf Association and captain of the Royal & Ancient. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990, and died on August 30, 2013.
Among the birthday milestones today: 1986 PGA champion Bob Tway was born in 1959, the second African-American on the LPGA Tour Renee Powell was born in 1946. She was also recently named one of the first seven women to be members of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. And World Golf Hall of Fame member Betsy Rawls was born in 1928. She won 55 LPGA Tour events, including four U.S. Women’s Opens (1951, 1953, 1957, 1960), two LPGA Championships in 1959 and 1969, and two Women’s Western Opens in 1952 and 1959.
Betsy Rawls
The late Pete Brown won the Waco Turner Open on this date in 1964 at Turner Lodge in Burneyville, Oklahoma, becoming the first African-American to win an official PGA Tour event. Birthday: London-born tour pro/TV commentator Peter Oosterhuis was born OTD in 1948.
Legendary singer and first major entertainer/personality to promote the celebrity pro-am format with his Crosby Clambake at Pebble Beach, Bing Crosby was born on May 2, 1904, in Tacoma, Wash. Baseball bonus: Lou Gehrig’s famous 2,130 consecutive-games played streak ended on May 2, 1939, when The Iron Horse took himself out of the lineup for his poor performance. In fact, though, he was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), now known as “Lou Gehrig's Disease.” Also, on May 2, 1954, Stan Musial hit 5 home runs in a doubleheader at the New York Giants. Those were the most HRs hit in one day by a Major Leaguer; Nate Colbert would hit 5 in a twinbill for San Diego in 1972.
Glenna Collett led an American squad against a British team at Sunningdale, England, in 1930 in a precursor to the first Curtis Cup Match played two years later. The British won the 1930 match. Opinionated and insightful Frank Beard, an 11-time PGA Tour winner, was born on May 1, 1939.
In the early 1950s, the newly begun LPGA Tour held four 36-hole events over the duration of several weeks, recognizing an overall winner at the conclusion of the 144-hole event, which was held every year from 1950 to 1953. In 1950, the events were held at Pebble Beach, Chicago, Cleveland and New York. Babe Zaharias won the Pebble Beach portion on April 30, and would win later in Cleveland. Louise Suggs won the other two stages, but Zaharias was the overall winner.
This date in 1857 is credited as the publishing date for the first golf instruction book, The Golfer's Manual, “A Keen Hand” by H.B. Farnie. Birthday specials today include two-time major winner, TV analyst and World Golf Hall of Famer Johnny Miller in 1947, and present tour player Justin Thomas in 1993.
Prodigious hitter, loose swinger and well-known socializer John Daly was born OTD in 1966. He has won two majors, the 1991 PGA and 1995 Open Championship, but only five PGA Tour events overall, an underachieving amount for someone with Daly’s immense talent. He now plays a mix of regular and champions tour events.
Midwest Moments: Legendary 36-year Chicago Tribune golf editor Charlie Bartlett was born on this date in 1905. He died on November 6, 1967, and at the next Masters, the Charles Bartlett Lounge was dedicated on April 10, 1968, in the Masters press building to honor him. Also, on April 27, 1899, these clubs—Onwentsia, Chicago Golf, Glenview, Midlothian, Washington Park, Riverside, Westward Ho, Evanston, Edgewater, Belmont and Skokie were at an organizational meeting at the Grand Pacific Hotel to form the Western Golf Association. And in Detroit on April 27, 1899, World Golf Hall of Famer Leo Diegel was born.
Patty Berg shot a 64 in the first round of the Richmond (Calif.) Open at Richmond Golf Club to set a women’s record. She would go on to win the tournament by four shots. The 18-hole record now, of course, is the 59 shot by Annika Sorenstam in 2001. Birthdays of note: J.B. Holmes born in 1982 and Mac O’Grady in 1951.
Patty Berg is elated after shooting a 64 in 1952.
Among birthday milestones today: five-time PGA Tour winner Nick Watney, born in 1981, and diminutive Jerry Barber, born in 1916. Barber made a pair of consecutive, monster-length putts en route to winning the 1961 PGA; he also holds the record for the oldest to play a tour event; he was 77 years 10 months 9 days when he played in the 1994 Buick Invitational, where he missed the cut.