Herman Densmore Shute, better known as Denny, was born in Cleveland on this date in 1904, two years after Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen were born. Shute won 16 PGA Tour events, but held his own in the majors at a time when Snead, Hogan and Nelson were coming along. Shute won the 1933 Open Championship and went back to back in the PGA in 1936 and 1937. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2008.
Tall Australian Marc Leishman has been on a good roll in the last year, alternating wins with being in the hunt. He was in the mix again last weekend, losing a two-hole playoff to Justin Thomas at the CJ Cup in South Korea. In 2017 he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and then dominated at the BMW Championship. The 2009 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year celebrates his 34th birthday on this date.
World Golf Hall of Fame member Chi Chi Rodriguez celebrates his 82nd birthday today. Born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, Rodriguez' given name is Juan, but he got the nickname Chi Chi because he loved baseball and picked up on the name of local star Chi Chi Flores. One of the game's legendary showmen, Rodriguez won eight times on the PGA Tour, and 22 senior events from 1986 to 1993, plus two senior majors.
The 1967 Ryder Cup ended on this date with the usual final-day, Sunday Singles. But 50 years ago, there were eight morning matches and eight afternoon matchups as opposed to 12 singles matches total nowadays. The 1967 event was held at Champions Golf Club in Houston. The Americans had a 10-point lead heading into Singles, and won that session 10.5 to 5.5. Both Arnold Palmer and Al Geiberger won two matches each on the final day for the U.S., and Neil Coles was a two-time singles winner for Great Britain.
The LPGA Tour began in 1950, and on this date that year the final tournament of the season was played. Babe Zaharias and Patty Berg won 11 of the 15 events that first season, and Berg was the winner on Oct. 21, 1950, when she beat runner-up Betsy Rawls in the Hardscrabble Women's Invitation in Fort Smith, Ark.
Fifty years ago, at a time the United States was regularly bringing Great Britain down in the Ryder Cup, the match began on this date at Champions Golf Club in Houston. This is the match that featured the memorable line by U.S. captain Ben Hogan, who introduced his team in the opening dinner by saying each player's name and then intoning, "Ladies and gentlemen, the United States Ryder Cup team, the finest golfers in the world," and then sitting down. And this was a team without Jack Nicklaus, who was still serving his PGA membership waiting period and couldn't play despite the fact he'd won seven majors by then. Hogan's chutzpah was warranted; the Americans won 23.5 to 8.5.
The first U.S. Senior Women's Amateur was completed on this date in 1962. Held at Manufacturers' Golf and Country Club in Oreland, Pa., it was won by Maureen Orcutt with a score of 240, seven ahead of the legendary Glenna Collett Vare, who was 59 years old and had won six U.S. Women's Amateur titles. Orcutt also won the event in 1966.
The Lancome Trophy (or Trophée Lancôme) was a limited-field event played in the fall near Paris at Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, France, which had been a French Open site in 1965 and 1969. It initially was held to attract the world's stars in an unofficial event from 1970 to 1981 to generate interest in French golf, but then they grew the field to an official European Tour stop from 1982 until its demise in 2003. Even though Arnold Palmer was past his main playing powers in 1970, he was still the premier draw and he played 10 times from 1970 to 1982. He did well, too. On this date in the inaugural, Arnie shot 68 and tied for second. He would win in 1971 and finish runner-up in 1976. The Arnie record in the Lancome Trophy: 1970, 68-71-68—207, T-2; 1971, 66-65-71—202, 1st; 1972, 74-68-73-70—285, 4th; 1973, 74-71-73-70—288, 8th; 1974, 73-71-71-77—298, 4th; 1975, 69-74-75-70—288, 5th; 1976, 75-70-69-70—284, 2nd; 1977, 75-73-75-69—292, 8th; 1979, 72-75-73-72—292, 8th; 1982, 73-72-68-68—281, T-4.
The greatest championship in golf had its start on this date in 1860 when the first Open Championship was held at Prestwick Golf club in Ayrshire, Scotland. Just eight players were in the first playing, won by Willie Park Sr. by two shots over Tom Morris Sr., immortalized as Old Tom. The field played three rounds in one day over the 12-hole course. Park's winning score was 174.
This is the date, in 1983, that Jack Nicklaus said one of the greatest shots he'd ever seen was played during the final day of the Ryder Cup at PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Spain's Seve Ballesteros played a 3-wood from a fairway bunker on the par-5 18th that finished on the fringe, from where he secured a halve with Fuzzy Zoeller. It started a nip-and-tuck Sunday Singles conclusion in which Lanny Wadkins' heroic wedge shot on 18 guaranteed a halve in his match and the U.S. won a thrilling 14.5 to 13.5 match.
This is an off-year for the Ryder Cup, of course, but on this date in 1983, the playing that year was on Day 2 of three with the score tied at 8 heading into the final day of singles play. The RC was being played at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and the U.S. had won the eight team matches that day 4.5 to 3.5 to forge the 8-all tie. The Europeans were playing tough, headed by Seve Ballesteros, and giving the U.S. all it could handle.
Yesterday's Day in Golf put the spotlight on an inaugural event in amateur golf. Today's date does the same for a pro event. On this date in 1916, the first PGA Championship ended at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, N.Y., with "Long Jim" Barnes of England beating Scotland's Jock Hutchison, 1 up. The PGA wasn't played again for three years due to World War I.
The inaugural World Amateur Team Championship came to a rousing finish on this date in 1958 with the Australian team of Doug Bachli, Peter Toogood, Bruce Devlin and Robert Stevens edging the Bobby Jones-captained American team of Charles Coe, Bill Hyndman III, Billy Joe Patton and Dr. Frank Taylor Jr., 222-224, in a playoff. The two teams had tied after four rounds at 918, playing the Old Course at St. Andrews. Great Britain & Ireland was third at 919. The prize for the Aussies was the fabled Eisenhower Trophy.
Arnold Palmer won the Pensacola Open twice, in 1960 and 1963, and lost a playoff in 1964 to Gary Player. It's a sign of how devoted Arnie was to the game that he would play a small-market tournament on the Florida Panhandle 12 times, but it was that type of event that built the tour to what it is today and players then enjoyed the small-town atmosphere perhaps more than today's player. On Oct. 12, 1980, Palmer should have played the final round of Pensacola that year, but he had missed the cut with 70-77 two days earlier and it became his final time to play there. The event itself ended in 1988.
The U.S. Open of 1902 ended on this date at Garden City Golf Club on Long Island. The eighth playing was won by Laurie Auchterlonie of the Chicago Golf Club. The unveiling of the new rubber-core Haskell ball was credited with Auchterlonie becoming the first U.S. Open champion to shoot in the 70s all four rounds with 78-78-74-77--307. He won by six shots over Stewart Gardner and Walter Travis, two Garden City regulars.
The U.S. Open of 1902 began on this date at Garden City Golf Club on Long Island. Laurie Auchterlonie of the Chicago Golf Club was the leader by two shots after two rounds with 78-78-156. The special feat he achieved will be the highlight of Oct. 11's Day in Golf.
The Ryder Cup has been played up and down the calendar, although we mainly think of it as a fall event. On this date in 1965, it finished at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, with the U.S. winning the singles sessions 10.5 to 5.5 and winning overall 19.5 to 12.5 for Captain Byron Nelson.
Twice in its history the Presidents Cup began on an October 8: in 2009 and 2015. The U.S. defeated the International team by five in 2009 at Harding Park. In 2015 the Americans won by a point at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon City, South Korea.
An iconic moment in the world of golf feats took place on this date in 1965. Bob Mitera holed out his tee shot on the 447-yard 10th hole at Miracle Hill Golf Course in Omaha, Neb. The hole was originally listed at 444 yards but in 1976 the hole was re-measured and listed as 447. There has been plenty of intrigue about Mitera's ace over the years, but it has stood up as the longest straight hole-in-one ever.
In a Presidents Cup with more intrigue than the recently completed rout by the Americans at Liberty National in New Jersey, on this date in 2013, the U.S. won 18.5 to 15.5 at Muirfield Village in Ohio. Fred Couples was the U.S. captain, and just as happened last Sunday, the International team won the singles session in 2013, 7.5 to 4.5.