It is rare for any side in the Walker Cup Match to be shutout, so rare, in fact, that it's only been done one time. It occurred on this date in 1936, when the U.S. defeated Great Britain & Ireland, 9-0, at Pine Valley. What helped was that halved matches did not earn a half point at the time; three matches were halved in 1936 but neither side earned points. It wasn't until 1971 that halved matches were awarded a half-point to each team; the only way a team could be blanked now is if it didn't tie or win a single match both days. In '36, American legend Francis Ouimet was U.S. captain; it was one of five captaincies for him, in which he had a 4-1 record.
Byron Nelson won two PGA Championships, the first coming on this date in 1940 when he played a memorable 36-hole final against Sam Snead, winning 1 up. The tournament was played at Hershey Country Club and at the time Nelson was playing out of the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.
There has been a lot of match-play focus going on lately with the Solheim Cup and major amateur events; the Walker Cup and Presidents Cup are on the horizon. Which makes today's history anecdote appropriate. In 1932, John Golden defeated five-time champion Walter Hagen in 43 holes in the first round of the PGA Championship at Keller Golf Club in St. Cloud, Minn. The event was held Aug. 31 to Sept. 4. Each round was scheduled for 36-hole matches. The Golden-Hagen match went 7 extra holes, longest for a 36-hole match in PGA Ch. history.
It's "happy birthday" on today's date to a pair of major golf champions. Irishman Padraig Harrington, winner of The Open twice and the PGA once, was born in 1971, and Charl Schwartzel, born in South Africa in 1984, won the Masters in 2011.
Two days ago, the crowning achievement in Arnold Palmer's amateur career was noted with his victory in the 1954 U.S. Amateur. On today's date, we make note of his entry into the U.S. Amateur as a competitor. Arnie, a couple weeks shy of 19, played in his first U.S. Amateur match on Aug. 30, 1948, at Memphis Country Club. In Round 1, Palmer played William K. Barrett Jr., of Colonial, Tenn., and lost 6 and 5. But the loss had a feel-good element in that Barrett went fairly deep into the tournament, losing to eventual runner-up Raymond Billows in Round 5.
The Walker Cup Match is older than the Ryder Cup, pro golf's intense battle between the United States and Europe. The Walker Cup began in 1922, and that first event ended on today's date. The Walker Cup is an amateur event between the U.S. and Great Britain & Ireland. The U.S. defeated G.B & I., 8-4, in 1922. Among the stars back then were Bobby Jones, Chick Evans, Francis Ouimet, Cyril Tolley and Roger Wethered. The match was played in 1923, 1924 and then every two years after that. The U.S. leads the series, 35-9-1, and will be the host country next month for the Sept. 9-10 match at Los Angeles Country Club North Course.
On this date 63 years ago, Arnold Palmer won the U.S. Amateur Championship, one of his final amateur feats, and later in 1954 he began a pro career that made him a worldwide superstar and ultimately mythical figure. In the Amateur final, which took place on a Saturday, Palmer, 24, defeated Bob Sweeny, 1 up (36 holes), at the Country Club of Detroit, a Robert Trent Jones redesign of a Harry S. Colt layout that had been extended to 6,875 yards. In early September, Arnie met his future wife, Winifred Walzer, at Fred Waring's annual tournament in Shawnee-on-the-Delaware, Pa. Armed with his Amateur title, Palmer was set by the end of the year to play professionally and his transformation of the sport began.
Also today, teaching great Butch Harmon is 74 years old.
The greatest amateur in golf history has a 90th anniversary today. On this date in 1927 Bobby Jones won the U.S. Amateur at the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis. He defeated another elite player of the day, Charles (Chick) Evans, quite handily, 8 and 7, in the final. It was Jones' third U.S. Am title; his fifth and final came in 1930 during his legendary Grand Slam year.
As far removed as Phil Mickelson is from his amateur golfing career, its easy to forget how many big tournaments he won, beginning with the 1980 Junior World Golf Championships (boys division age 9–10). He won the Pac-10 title in 1990, the NCAA title three times, and on this date in 1990, the U.S. Amateur for the only time. Mickelson was medalist at Cherry Hills, and won in the final against Manny Zerman, 5 and 4.
Ben Hogan is known for a multitude of golf exploits and traits, one of them being that he started winning majors somewhat late in his career. His first came on this date in 1946 when he beat Ed (Porky) Oliver, 6 and 4, in the PGA Championship final at Portland (Ore.) Golf Club. Hogan was 34 at the time and would win his ninth and final major in 1953 just shy of age 41.
Vicki Goetze (-Ackerman) was notable in golf as a junior legend, never winning the U.S. Girls' Junior (she was medalist/runner-up in 1990), but three times winning the PGA Junior Championship, including on this date in 1990. She won her first two in 1987 and 1989. She won the 1989 and 1992 U.S. Women's Amateur and played on two Curtis Cup teams for the U.S. As a pro, she never won on the LPGA Tour, but presently is the LPGA Player President and in December 2016 joined the American Junior Golf Association’s Board of Directors. Goetze-Ackerman was named AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year three times from 1988 to 1990. Only she and Phil Mickelson have won the top AJGA award three times.
The great global golf champion Peter Thomson celebrates his 88th birthday on this date. Born in Melbourne, Australia, just a few weeks before Arnold Palmer was born in Latrobe, Pa., the World Golf Hall of Famer's main feat was winning five Open Championships, in 1954-1956, 1958 and 1965. He won just a single PGA Tour event, the 1956 Texas Open, but he had one of the greatest Champion Tour seasons in 1985 with nine victories. He won the Senior PGA in 1984 and the Senior Open Championship in 1988. Thomson's game was noted for his calm and clear-thinking style and he preferred to bounce or run balls up to the green with his low ball flight.
Long after he was a factor in PGA Tour events, Arnold Palmer--and others--recognized his formidable value as a fan favorite and would invite him to play in special events. One such event was the Fred Meyer Challenge, Peter Jacobsen's two-day, small-field deal in Oregon, a state that didn't get much tour action. "Peter's Party" was a popular crowd favorite. Arnie played in it 18 times, the first in 1986, and was paired with Jacobsen 16 times. (AP played with Tom Watson in '86 and Greg Norman in '87.) Arnie and Jake'sbest finish was third place, done four times, including on this date in 1989.
Walter Hagen won the U.S. Open twice. Once in 1919 at Brae Burn Country Club and the first on this date in 1914. He edged Chick Evans by a shot at Midlothian Country Club in Blue Island, Illinois, in the Chicago area. Evans had the best score in the final round with 70 to nearly tie Hagen, who had 73.
On the day the U.S. Amateur concludes, the 1954 champion, Arnold Palmer, is in today's special golf date. On Aug. 20, 1955, Palmer shot a final-round 70 to go with previous rounds of 64-67-64 to win the Canadian Open, the first PGA Tour victory of his career. In a sign of the times, the top prize was worth just $2,400.
On this week of a major women's golf event with the Solheim Cup, today's date is a milestone for girls junior golf. On this date in 1949, Marlene Bauer won the first U.S. Girls' Junior, 2 up, over Barbara Bruning on the Bala Course at Philadelphia Country Club.
There have been many things said about the character of the golf-writing brethren, and often it’s the scribes themselves taking shots at fellow writers. Most commonly it is good-natured ribbing about the ravenous press needing to be fed as it covers events. But today is a day to speak nice about the people who report on the golf world with their words. The day is an important milestone in golf-media history: Aug. 18, 1946, is credited as the birth of the Golf Writers Association of America, so, Happy 71st birthday, GWAA!
JoAnne Gunderson Carner won the U.S. Women's Amateur on this date in 1968, beating Anne Quast Sander, 5 and 4, at Birmingham (Mich.) Country Club. It was Carner's fifth and final Amateur victory before she went to play the LPGA Tour. Glenna Collett Vare holds the record with six victories. Carner is also second to Vare in "most times in the final" with seven, one behind Vare.
Catherine Lacoste of France was the fifth foreign-born winner of the U.S. Women's Amateur, doing so on this date in 1969. She defeated Shelley Hamlin, 3 and 2, at Las Colinas Country Club in Irving, Texas. Lacoste had previously won the 1967 U.S. Women's Open.
A short-lived international competition ended its first event on this date in 1952. The Americas Golf Cup Match, pitting United States, Canadian and Mexican amateur teams against each other, concluded at Seattle Golf Club. The U.S. won with 12 points, Canada came in second with 10 and Mexico had 5. Ken Venturi andCharlie Coe were among the American players. The event was played every other year but by June 1970 it had been discontinued.