On this date in 1945, three-time U.S. Open winner Hale Irwin was born in Joplin, Missouri. Irwin was an excellent football player, but he transferred that toughness onto the golf course and not only excelled in the U.S. Open but was a great player on tough courses in general. Perhaps his greatest display of toughness was winning the Massacre at Winged Foot U.S. Open in 1974 with a 7-over-par score. Irwin was also known for his great play with fairway woods. Irwin went on to set the record for the most Senior PGA Tour victories with 45.
African-American pioneer and World Golf Hall of Fame member Charlie Sifford was born on this date in 1922. He won twice on tour: the 1967 Greater Hartford Open and 1969 Los Angeles Open. His lone major victory was the 1975 PGA Seniors’ Championship. Sifford died on Feb. 3, 2015. Also today, 1982 Masters champion Craig Stadler is 64.
Today’s feat is a hybrid combining baseball and golf. On this date in 1925, the great Iron Horse of baseball, Lou Gehrig, began his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played in a day game against the Washington Senators at Yankee Stadium. Gehrig made an out in pinch-hitting for shortstop Paul (Pee Wee) Wanninger, then started the next day at first base, replacing Wally Pipp, who was in a batting slump. Just 10,000 saw Gehrig’s streak start and the Yankees lose, 5-3. The game only took 1 hour 50 minutes. A PGA Tour equivalent to Gehrig’s streak is Tiger Woods’ record of 141 consecutive events without missing the cut, which went from February 1998 to May 2005.
The PGA Championship is mainly associated with being played in August, but it’s actually been spread throughout the calendar. On this last-day-in-May date in 1949, Sam Snead won the PGA at the Hermitage in Richmond, Va., beating Johnny Palmer, 3 and 2. Snead, “the ageless one,” was 37 years old and had won the Masters earlier in the year. He also won the PGA in 1942 and 1951.
If you count Jim Barnes winning in 1916 and 1919 with the two middle years taken off for World War I, the PGA Championship has been won in consecutive years seven times. Tiger Woods did it twice, and Walter Hagen won not just two in a row but four. On this date in 1937, Denny Shute won his second straight PGA at the Pittsburgh Field Club in Fox Chapel, Pa. He beat Harold (Jug) McSpaden in 37 holes. McSpaden was 2 up with three to play, but lost his lead on 16 and 17 with over-par holes, and then he bogeyed the first extra hole. For all of Shute’s work that week, he earned just $1,000.
On Sunday, Japan’s Takuma Sato became the first driver from his country to win the Indianapolis 500. On this date in 1960, a Ford won at Indy. Two-time major winner Doug Ford became the first winner of the 500 Festival Open, held on the Speedway Golf Course during Indy 500 week. Ford shot 66-68-68-68-270, 14 under par, to win the $9,000 first prize.
Yesterday’s birthday boy, Sam Snead, makes the date entry today, too, for winning the Colonial National Invitation on this date in 1950. It was a second straight tour win; he won the Western Open on May 21. His combined take-home pay for the wins: $5,600.
The PGA Tour’s all-time victory leader with 82, Sam Snead, was born on this date in 1912, the same year Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson were born. Snead’s swing is often considered the greatest ever, and it’s hard to argue against that since it helped him set longevity records. The big gap in his record is that he never won the U.S. Open despite a couple runner-up finishes that should have gone his way.
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.