Judy Bell was born on this date in 1936. She perhaps may not be all that well known except to the most interested of golf fans but she was good enough to play on two Curtis Cup teams in the early 1960s as part of an excellent amateur career. But she was most noted as the first woman president of the U.S. Golf Association in 1996-1997. The Kansas native also served in other capacities with the USGA, and has been doing volunteer work for more than 30 years.
The most U.S. Opens any golfer has won is four, and four is the number of golfers who have done it. The first was Willie Anderson, and he won his fourth on this date in 1905, winning by two over Alex Smith at the Myopia Hunt Club in Hamilton, Mass. The other players to win four U.S. Opens, and the year they won their fourth, are Bobby Jones (1930), Ben Hogan (1953) and Jack Nicklaus (1980).
Several years of golf tournaments have been canceled due to World Wars I and II, but on this date in 1901, a golf championship was finished after a week's delay due to a death. U.S. president William McKinley was assassinated on Sept. 14 in Buffalo, N.Y., and the funeral service was held on September 19 in Ohio. The U.S. Amateur, being played at the Country Club of Atlantic City, was supposed to conclude on the 14th but was delayed until the 21st in honor of McKinley. Defending champion Walter Travis, who had been medalist, successfully won, 5 and 4, over Walter Egan.
On this date in golf 104 years ago, one of the milestone moments in golf history occurred when Francis Ouimet, an unheralded American, defeated British greats Harry Vardon and Edward (Ted) Ray in a playoff to win the U.S. Open. It was a monumental achievement for an American to beat the leading golfers in the world, which to that point had come from the home of golf in Great Britain. Ouimet shot 72 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., beating Vardon by five and Ray by six.
The month of September is a common life month with the notable men who have played the PGA Tour with the name "Palmer." Seven-time tour winner Johnny Palmer was born in July 1918 and died in September 2006. Golf legend Arnold Palmer was born on September 10, 1929, and died last September 25th. And on this date in 1976 in Amarillo, Tex., Ryan Palmer was born. From the women's side, Sandra Palmer was born on March 10, 1943.
The U.S. Amateur was a regular September event until 1986 when it became a regular August championship. The last time the U.S. Am finished on September 18 was in 1965 when Bob Murphy shot 291 to edge Bob Dickson by a shot at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa. (Two years later, Dickson would win by a shot over Vinny Giles.)
On this date in 1956, at Meridian Hills Country Club in Indianapolis, history was made when Ann Gregory became the first African-American woman to play in a USGA event. She lost in the first round of the U.S. Women's Amateur to Carolyn Cudone, 2 and 1.
This is an off-year for the Ryder Cup, but it's always fun to look at some past history. On this date in 1979 at The Greenbrier, the Ryder Cup ended after the Americans faced a team of Europeans for the first time. Up through 1977, the U.S. had an 18-3-1 record, and to make the event more competitive, continental Europe was added to what had been just a Great Britain & Ireland team. The U.S. still won in 1979, 1981 and 1983, but the European side broke through for its first victory in 1985 and the Ryder Cup has been a dogfight ever since.
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.