The second PGA Championship to be played at stroke play ended on this date in 1959. Bob Rosburg scorched Minneapolis Golf Club with a final-round 66, allowing him a one-shot victory over Doug Sanders and Jerry Barber, who would win the title two years later.
On this date in 1914, Lloyd Mangrum was born in Trenton, Texas. A decorated World War II Army veteran, Mangrum won 36 tour events and won the 1946 U.S. Open. He finished second twice at the Masters. His distinguished appearance, which made him look like the image of a riverboat gambler, made Mangrum quite notable. He was made a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1998.
Two days ago, Paul Runyan’s PGA victories were noted. Today’s date celebrates another compact player, Jerry Barber, a short hitter who played with great accuracy. In the 1961 PGA’s final round at Olympia Fields, Barber one-putted the last three holes from 20, 40 and 60 feet to get into a playoff with Don January. On this date, he won an 18-hole playoff, 67 to 68. Barber had one last moment of golfing notoriety. At the 1994 Buick Invitational, he set the record for being the oldest to play a tour event at age 77 years 10 months 9 days.
In just the second U.S. Junior Amateur, in 1949, Gay Brewer, a future Masters champion, beat future tour player Mason Rudolph, 6 and 4, on this date to win the title at Congressional Country Club. Rudolph made the Junior final the next year and this time won, 2 and 1, over Charles Beville.
The amazing Paul Runyan won the 1934 PGA Championship on this date at Park Club of Buffalo in Williamsville, N.Y. He beat Craig Wood in 38 thrilling holes. The diminutive Runyan was a wizard around the greens and got up and down for a par to win. He would win in 1938 against another taller opponent, Sam Snead, but this time it was a rout, 8 and 7.
In Arnold Palmer’s first full season on tour, 1955, he entered 30 events, won the Canadian Open, earned $7,958 and had a 70.99 scoring average. In 1956, he entered one event less and had a higher average at 71.14, but he doubled his victories, winning the Insurance City Open in a playoff and the Eastern Open. For the latter, he shot 70-66 the first two days, and on this date for Round 3, took total control with a 69. A final-round 72 was good enough to win the $3,800 top prize.
Hall-of-Famer Betsy Rawls won eight major titles, the last coming on this date in 1969 at the LPGA Championship held at Concord Championship Golf Club in Kiameshia Lake, N.Y. Rawls, 41, finished one over par, but that was four strokes better than the runners-up, Carol Mann and Susie Berning.
Sentimentality was rained out on this date in 1987 at the U.S. Women’s Open played at Plainfield (N.J.) Country Club. The final round was scheduled to end on the 26th, but play was postponed into Monday the 27th with JoAnne Carner, a huge fan favorite, bidding for victory in the twilight of her magnificent career. When the final round ended, Carner, England’s Laura Davies and Ayako Okamoto of Japan all tied at 285, forcing a Tuesday playoff, which Davies won with 71 to Okamoto’s 73 and Carner’s 74.
For someone noted for being the first millionaire in PGA Tour history, Arnold Palmer didn't play in the big money era and thus won money in what today would be thought of as dribs and drabs. Just a couple years before his final tour victory in 1973, however, he won a substantial amount for his day. On this date in 1971, Palmer shot a 68 and won the Westchester Classic and what then was being touted as a mammoth amount of money: $50,000. Arnie shot rounds of 64-70–68–68—270.
Jordan Spieth added more than a page of Open Championship lore in winning the tournament yesterday at Birkdale. It was more like a chapter with his epic comeback. Doug Sanders is part of Open lore, but not for a Spieth-like ending. Sanders was born on this date in 1933. He had strong success on the PGA Tour with 20 victories, but he never won a major despite finishing fourth or better in all four majors. He is forever linked to the 1970 Open Championship at St. Andrews, where he missed a short putt to win on the final hole, then lost an 18-hole playoff to Jack Nicklaus the following day.
The 1989 Open ended on this date, with Mark Calcavecchia winning a four-hole playoff over a pair of Australians, Greg Norman and Wayne Grady, at Troon. "Calc" played the four holes in 2 under par, Grady 1 over and Norman was given an "X". Other Sunday Open finishes on July 23 include 1995, 2000 and 2006.
The Open Championship of 1984 ended on this date and I recall it with mixed emotions. I was on the eve of celebrating my first wedding anniversary, and my bride and I were in Mystic, Conn., to have a getaway. The weather was lousy, so we stayed in our hotel room to watch the final round, and I recall the disappointment I had in seeing five-time champion Tom Watson miss early opportunities to take control and then come to ruin on the Road Hole to finish runner-up to Seve Ballesteros, who made a birdie on 18 and struck his iconic celebratory pose. Hard to believe 33 years have passed. Other July 22 Open Sundays include 1990, 2001, 2007 and 2012.
The lore of Seve Ballesteros and the Open Championship began with his runner-up finish to Johnny Miller in 1976 at Royal Birkdale, but his first victory came on this date in 1979. Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus had just won in 1977 and 1978, respectively, but Ballesteros was in command at Royal Lytham and St. Annes. He was the only player to finish under par for 72 holes, at one under, and he finished three ahead of runners-up Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw. Seve would win twice more, in 1984 and 1988. Other July 21 Open Sundays include 1985, 1991, 1996, 2002 and 2013.
On this date in 1980, Tom Watson won his third of five Open victories, this one at Muirfield. The performance was one of Watson's finest in his career. He had rounds of 68-70-64-69--271. The only players closer than nine strokes to him at the end were Lee Trevino (four back) and Ben Crenshaw (six). This was the first Open Championship to play single rounds Thursday through Sunday; previously The Open never finished on a Sunday.
On this date in 1981, The Open was won by a golfer who took advantage of his career window of best play to win a major. Bill Rogers won six tour events from 1978 to 1983, the nucleus of his career. At Royal St. George's, he finished at four under par, and won by four over Bernhard Langer. A month later, Rogers won the World Series of Golf. Other July 19 Open Sundays were in 1987, 1992, 1998, 2009.
It's time for The Open! Let's celebrate the next several days with Open history. Today is three-time champion Nick Faldo's 60th birthday. His first Open victory was 30 years ago at Muirfield. The third round was played on his birthday in 1987 and he shot par 71 to enter the final round one shot back of Paul Azinger. In Round 4, Faldo made 18 pars for another 71 and edged 'Zinger by a shot after he faltered down the stretch and scored 73. Faldo also won in 1990 and 1992.
On this date in 1958, the PGA Championship went a different direction than it had been going since 1916. The PGA began as a match-play event but switched to medal (stroke) beginning with the '58 playing. The transition had a quaint story line. The 1957 runner-up, Dow Finsterwald, was the first-round leader with a 67 at Llanerch Country Club in Havertown, Pa., by one shot over Jay Hebert, who was the brother of Lionel Hebert, who beat Finsterwald in the 1957 final. It gets better: "Finsty" hung in for the next two rounds then shot another 67 in Round 4 to win by two over Billy Casper.
The U.S. Women's Open ends today, with Shanshan Feng holding a one-shot lead after three rounds. When the championship finished on July 16 in the past, one result was a runaway and the other a close battle. Betsy King won in 1989 at Indian Wood in Lake Orion, Mich., by four shots over Nancy Lopez, while in 1995, Annika Sorenstam won by one stroke over Meg Mallon at The Broadmoor.
The U.S. Women's Open is not immune to the occasional out-of-the-blue winner that sometimes occurs in the men's Open. On this date in 1979, Jerilyn Britz was the women's winner at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn. The Minnesota native was 36 and had turned pro just five years earlier. The victory, by two over Debbie Massey and Sandra Palmer, was Britz' first and she would win just one more tour event, the Mary Kay Classic the next year of 1980 when she beat defending champion Nancy Lopez in a playoff.
A couple of U.S. Women's Opens ended on this date. In 1985, unheralded Kathy Baker won at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey by three shots over Judy Clark, and in 1991, Meg Mallon won by two shots at hot Colonial Country Club in Ft. Worth. She finished two strokes ahead of Pat Bradley.