It's been long established that the U.S. Open ends in June on Father's Day. But the National Open wandered about the calendar from 1895 until it went permanently into June in 1932. The first few playings were in October (1895), July (1896), September (1897), June (1898) and back to September (1899) again. It was on this date in 1899 that Willie Smith, playing out of the Midlothian Club, won the U.S. Open by 11 shots at Baltimore C.C. with a score of 315, which included an 82 in Round 2. 

An often overlooked golf feat--likely because it involved amateur golf--was the consecutive victories Lawson Little, Jr. had in both the Amateur Championship and U.S. Amateur. He won each in 1934 and 1935. The U.S. Amateur topped the achievement on this date in 1935 when Little, out of Presidio, Calif., defeated Walter Emery, of Twin Hills, Okla., 4 and 2, at The Country Club in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Only 13 players have won both prestigious amateurs in their career, and just four have won them in the same year. Little is the only player to win them in the same year twice, and he did it in style by doing it in consecutive years.

On this date in 1949, the LPGA Tour was officially formed at a meeting in New York. Playing legend Patty Berg was named president. On page 45 of the 64-page Sept. 14, 1949, New York Times, a headline read: Pro Group Formed for Women's Golf, Organization to Conduct Open Tourney Sept. 22-25--Miss Berg Elected President. Now 68 years later, the tour is stable and has a deep core of young stars.

One of the neat exhibitions in golf history was the World Series of Golf, which started off nicely in 1962, then got blown into a larger 72-hole event, then went back to the original concept as the Grand Slam of Golf, then disappeared from the schedule. On this date in 1965, Gary Player was the winner of the 36-hole format with the champions of the year's four majors playing at Firestone Country Club. Player, the U.S. Open winner, shot 70-69-139 to win $50,000 and beat Jack Nicklaus (Masters, 71-71-142, $15,000), Peter Thomson (Open Ch., 73-71-144, $7,500) and Dave Marr (PGA, 74-77-151, $5,000).

Years and years before Byeong-Hun An set the record in 2009 as the youngest champion of the U.S. Amateur at 17 years 11 months 13 days, Robert Gardner won on this date in 1909 to become the youngest champ at 19 years 5 months. Gardner, of Hinsdale, Ill., won at nearby Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton when he beat H. Chandler Egan, 4 and 3. Gardner's record stood until Tiger Woods won in 1994 at 18 years 7 months 29 days.

After highlighting several lesser-known Arnold Palmer Dates in Golf this past week, there's nothing obscure about today's date, when he would have been 88. Arnold Daniel Palmer was born on Sept. 10, 1929, and grew up in Latrobe, Pa. In 15 days, it will have been one year since his death. There is one obscure note to add about Arnie on this day the Walker Cup concludes in Los Angeles: He never played on a Walker Cup team. By the time he would have likely been picked, after winning the U.S. Amateur in 1954, he decided to turn pro by the end of the year and the next match wasn't until May 1955.

Now through what would have been Arnold Palmer's 88th birthday on Sept. 10, This Day in Golf will look at lesser-known Arnie dates: The Rubber City Open was a PGA Tour event played from 1954 to 1959 at Firestone Country Club. Arnie played all but the first one. He was T-36 in 1955, then was 2nd, 1st, T-12 and T-4. The 1956 Rubber City Open finished on this date, with Palmer shooting 69 for 2nd place. Here were his five results: 1955, July 28-31: 71-69-72-73—285, T-36, No Money; 1956, Sept. 6-9: 67-68-68-69—272, 2nd, $2,000; 1957, June 6-9: 71-66-67-68—272, 1st, $2,800, defeated Doug Ford in six-hole, sudden-death playoff; 1958, July 3-6: 72-68-68-68—276, T-12, $630; and 1959, Aug. 20-23: 66-69-68-69—272, T-4, $1,100.

Now through what would have been Arnold Palmer's 88th birthday on Sept. 10, This Day in Golf will look at lesser-known Arnie dates: It likely didn't take long for Arnie to realize the impact he was having on golf crowds and how his success was bringing popularity to the game. You can see in his scheduling that he tried to get to a variety of locales to bring attention to the tour. It said a lot that four years after his final tour victory and 22 years after he joined the tour, he made his one and only stop at the small-market B.C. Open in 1977. The first round was on Sept. 8, and Palmer fired a 65, likely feeling he should have come to Endicott, N.Y., earlier. But things slipped from there and his full line was 65-69-75-74—283, which tied him for 22nd and earned $1,780. But he had delivered some high-powered publicity to the area. 

Now through what would have been Arnold Palmer's 88th birthday on Sept. 10, This Day in Golf will look at lesser-known Arnie dates: Sept. 7, 1986, was the final day of the Chrysler Cup, a senior tour version of the Ryder Cup but with the Americans versus the Internationals. In that first year, the U.S. won quite easily, with Arnie as captain (he captained all five years it was played with a 4-1 record), and it was during the inaugural event at the TPC at Avenel course in Potomac, Md., that he aced the 187-yard No. 3 hole two days in a row using the same 5-iron.

Now through what would have been Arnold Palmer's 88th birthday on Sept. 10, This Day in Golf will look at lesser-known Arnie dates: Sept. 6, 1958, was the second round of the Utah Open at Salt Lake Country Club. Arnie followed a 65 with a 69, then shot 68 and 66 to shoot 268 and tie Fred Hawkins for second, one shot behind winner Dow Finsterwald. The T-2 was worth $1,350. A side note: While in Salt Lake City for the tournament, Palmer, who had won his first Masters earlier that year, looked over and approved the story he was doing with Golf Digest that became the November 1958 cover story, "How I Improved My Putting."

Georgian Watts Gunn had a strong amateur career, and was elected to the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame, but in the 1925 U.S. Amateur that ended on this date, he was no match for another Peach State amateur three years his senior--Bobby Jones. In the final at Oakmont Country Club, Jones cruised past Gunn, 8 and 7, to win his second National Amateur of an eventual total of five victories.

Two major champions who developed their legendary status in the hardscrabble days of small purses and ever-present hall-of-fame-caliber golfers celebrate birthdays on this date. Raymond Floyd turns 75 while Tom Watson is 68. The World Golf Hall of Fame members played high quality golf into their twilight years but also share the disappointment that they were one major shy of a lifetime Grand Slam. Watson never won the PGA while Floyd never captured The Open Championship.

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.