With the Indianapolis 500 coming up on Sunday, TV viewers will see portions of a golf course on the interior and exterior of the racetrack. The course is a reminder that the PGA Tour used to have an event during race week called the “500” Festival Open, held on the Speedway Golf Course (now called Brickyard Crossing) and it was played from 1960 to 1968. May 26, 1960, was the very first round played in the event. Doug Ford shot 66 and went on to win the event. Arnold Palmer, who would be the main man in 1960, shot 70 in Round 1 and would tack on a 71 and 73 to miss the cut.

Doug Ford won the first two 500 Festival Opens at Indy.

Ben Hogan ended the 1948 PGA Championship on May 25, with a 7-and-6 victory over Mike Turnesa for his second PGA win. Hogan was 4 up after the first 18 holes at Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis,  having made six birdies. Hogan had four more birdies in 12 holes of the next round, to easily close out Turnesa in the scheduled 36-hole final.

Old Tom Morris, one of the most iconic Scottish figures in golf history, died on this date in 1908, three weeks shy of 87. Symbolic of St. Andrews, Old Tom was adorned with a long beard, turned a distinctive gray late in life. He won the Open Championship four times but was also a course designer, clubmaker and greenkeeper. He died in a tragic accident falling down a set of stairs, and is buried in the famous St. Andrews Cathedral churchyard next to his son, Young Tom. Birthdays: Well, allow me to indulge my site readers with the fact it's the anniversary of Cliff Schrock's birth today. And I share it with Bob Dylan, John C. Reilly, Patti LaBelle and one of the neatest young guys I know, Luke Snow (love the rhyme). 

Australian David Graham was born on this date in 1946. A meticulous player, Graham won two majors on courses that required patience: Merion in the 1981 U.S. Open, and Oak Hill for the 1979 PGA Championship. He also won six other PGA Tourevents: the 1972 Cleveland Open, 1976 American Express Westchester Classic and American Golf Classic, the 1980 Memorial Tournament, the 1981 Phoenix Open and 1983 Houston Coca-Cola Open. He had 24 other wins worldwide, including the 1977 Australian Open, 1970 French Open, the 1981 and 1982 Trophée Lancôme, 1976 Chunichi Crowns and Piccadilly World Match Play Championship, along with five Champions Tour victories. Graham was a noted equipment expert and served on the Masters’ tournament committee.

The winner of the first and third Masters, Horton Smith, was born on this date in Springfield, Missouri, in 1908. Nicknamed "The Joplin Ghost," he was praised for his putting prowess, and off the course led the PGA of America as its president in 1952-1954. Considered a distinguished gentleman, Smith received the prestigious Bob Jones Award in 1962.

The inaugural Curtis Cup Match—the women’s amateur event pitting teams from the U.S. and Great Britain against each other—was just a one-day event instead of the multiple-day battle it is today. The first playing was on May 21, 1932, at Wentworth Golf Club in England. The format was three foursomes and six singles matches. The Americans won, 5½ to 3½.

Many parts of the country felt July weather recently, but we are in May, which makes it unusual to observe an Open Championship historical note since we are used to the Open being played in July. But in 1897, the Open was played on May 19 and 20, 36 holes each day, with amateur Harold Hilton winning, at Hoylake in England, for his second victory, this time by a stroke over James Braid. Hilton was also a four-time winner of the British Amateur.

Jerome (Jerry) Travers was born on this date in 1887. He is one of the least appreciated great amateurs in golf history. His strong record of four U.S. Amateurs and one U.S. Open was swallowed up by Bobby Jones’ legendary feats; Jones was born 15 years after Travers. But the New York City native is not totally forgotten; he has a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

This is not an uplifting day in history. On May 18, 1950, in Boston, Bobby Jones underwent a second spinal surgery to alleviate his syringomyelia condition, but it was eventually not considered a success. A wire-service news item read: “Bobby Jones Goes Under Surgery”--BOSTON, May 18 -- A surgical operation today on golfdom’s great Bobby Jones--at the base of his skull--was expected to correct a long-standing spinal ailment caused by an accident 20 years ago. Jones was taken to the New England Baptist Hospital for the operation after a checkup at the Lahey Clinic. Dr. Frank Lahey, head of the clinic, said an examination there showed the former golf champion was suffering from pressure on the spinal cord. Birthday: Well spoken TV sportscaster Jack Whitaker, who worked golf for CBS and ABC, was born on this day in 1924.

In 1947, the United States had gone 11 years since winning the Walker Cup, but that was a gap mainly caused by World War II. Great Britain & Ireland beat the U.S., 7-4, in 1938, but the match wasn’t held again until May 16 and 17, 1947, at St. Andrews. The Americans won, 8-4.

In the sixth Walker Cup Match that started May 15, 1930, and ended on the 16th, U.S. captain and player Bobby Jones led the Americans to a 10-2 victory over Great Britain & Ireland at Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, England.

Ken Venturi was born in 1931 in San Francisco. He had a fine amateur record, nearly winning the 1956 Masters, but he fell short of the predicted stardom, primarily due to a hand ailment. He won a legendary 1964 U.S. Open title in the D.C. heat, achieved notoriety in the television booth, and ultimately was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame.  

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.