The golfer regarded as the GOAT celebrates a birthday today. Jack Nicklaus is 78, and still very much active in various businesses, design work and the occasional minor competition, such as last month's Father-Son Challenge in Florida.

One of the members of a unique brother duo that pulled off a rare feat was born on this date in 1928. Lionel Hebert was a native of Lafayette, La., and the winner of the 1957 PGA Championship. His older brother, Jay, won the 1960 PGA. Jay won seven tour events and Lionel five.

On this date 68 years ago, the LPGA Tour played the first round of its inaugural tournament, the Tampa Open at Palma Ceia Country Club, a club founded in 1916. Polly Riley, an accomplished amateur from Texas who played on six Curtis Cup teams, won with a score of 295, with Louise Suggs second, five shots back.

On this date in 1950, many newspaper editors were writing the headline "Sam Snead Spoils Storybook End for Ben Hogan" after Snead beat Hogan 72-76 in an 18-hole playoff to win the Los Angeles Open at par-71 Riviera. Hogan was attempting a comeback from his horrific car-bus highway accident in Texas in February 1949.

A lot of things can be accomplished over food. On this date in 1916, the PGA of America had its birth at a luncheon when department-store magnifico Rodman Wanamaker (yes, of PGA Championship trophy fame) brought together a group of top golf professionals at the Martinique Hotel at Broadway and West 32nd in New York to discuss the benefits of forming an association, hosted by a business group called the Taplow Club. On April 10, 1916, the PGA was founded when 78 members ratified a constitution and bylaws, including 35 charter members from the January meeting. Six months later, it was tournament time. The association held its first PGA Championship on Oct. 10-14, 1916, at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, N.Y., won by Jim Barnes.

PGA Tour player Jimmy Walker observes his 39th birthday on this date. Born in Oklahoma City, Walker broke through with a major victory at the 2016 PGA Championship at soggy Baltusrol. He has five other tour victories, and is trying to get back to being a major contender after dealing with lyme disease sickness during most of 2017. Walker is an incredible astrophotography enthusiast and posts his images for Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) as well as on his own website, www.darkskywalker.com.

Prior to the PGA Senior Championship settling into its now familiar summer date, it was held in January for several years. It finished on this date in consecutive years, 1948 and 1949, won by Charles McKenna and Marshall Crichton, respectively.

On this date in 1945, Byron Nelson won his first of a record 18 PGA Tour events in one season when he won the Phoenix Open and $1,333 first-place money. This was the year he also won a record 11 tournaments in a row and was given the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year Award.

By 1983, Arnold Palmer was closing in on 30 years on the PGA Tour and was 10 years past his final victory. On this date in '83, he shot what would be his best round of the year, a 66, in the first round of the Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open. He shot 69-68-72 the next three rounds for a 275 total and a tie for 10th.

This date in 1969 marked a big achievement for Charlie Sifford. The pioneering African-American golfer won the Los Angeles Open to go with the 1967 Greater Hartford Open as his two PGA Tour victories. He also won the Long Beach Open, but it was not tour-sanctioned. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004 for his lifetime achievement as a player and fighter for civil rights and equal treatment.

Arnold Palmer was golf's first millionaire, but on this date in 1970, Billy Casper became the second, just edging out Jack Nicklaus. The great Casper, then 38, defeated Hale Irwin in a one-hole playoff at Rancho Park, making a 5-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole. Irwin, 24, was trying to win for the first time and led by one with No. 18 to play. But his second shot hit a tree and he made bogey to fall into a tie. Casper started 1970 with $981,938 in 14 years on tour and won $20,000 for first place to go past a million.

Reference sources note that on this date in both 1915 and 1942, the World Wars caused the ruling bodies of golf in Great Britain and Canada in 1915 and the U.S. Golf Association in 1942 to cancel their golf schedules as conflicts raged. Regular play wouldn't resume until the wars ended.

Sergio Garcia will head into 2018 and try to build on his Masters victory last year at the age of 38. The Spaniard was born on this date in 1980. And I would be remiss if I, as a Packer fan, did not make note that today is also the birthday of the great Bart Starr, the Packers' iconic quarterback during the Vince Lombardi Era. Starr was born on this date in 1934 in Montgomery, Ala. Go Pack Go.

Dustin Johnson went low yesterday to win the T of C at Kapalua. On this date in 1966, Arnold Palmer went low with a nine-under 62 at Rancho Municipal in Round 3 of the Los Angeles Open, and then won it the next day by three shots over Paul Harney and Miller Barber. Arnie's first-place prize was $11,000.

Lou Graham was born on this date in 1938, putting him at the Big 8-0. The Nashville native was the improbable winner of the 1975 U.S. Open at Medinah, a topsy-turvy championship that had Tom Watson looking strong after 36, but had Graham tie John Mahaffey after 72 and winning an 18-hole playoff. Graham had six PGA Tour victories and played on three Ryder Cup teams.

A trio of memorable players was born on this date: 12-time tour winner and 1993 PGA champion Paul Azinger in 1960; Dr. Cary Middlecoff, a three-time major winner, born in 1921, and Nancy Lopez, born in 1957. Lopez won nearly 50 tour events, with three majors. Like Phil Mickelson, she was snakebit in the National Open. She finished runner-up four times.

Ken Venturi had yet to win a major when he won the Los Angeles Open on this date in 1959. He had won six times in two years when L.A. was played in 1959. He shot 63 in the final round to win by two shots over Art Wall.

One of America's finest amateur golfers was born on this date but you might not even be that familiar with him. Marvin (Vinny) Giles III was born Jan. 4, 1943. The 1966 University of Georgia graduate was a three-time All-American there. Giles was second in the U.S. Amateur three times before finally winning in 1972.  He also won the 1975 British Amateur. He was on four Walker Cup teams, was low amateur in the 1968 Masters and 1973 U.S. Open, and won the 2009 U.S. Senior Amateur. He was dominant in his native state of Virginia, winning seven State Amateurs and three Virginia Opens. He went on to run a successful player-agent business.

Tour events this time of year are played on the West Coast. On this date in 1988 and 1993, a couple of journeymen won on the Monterey Peninsula. In 1988, Lennie Clements won the Spalding Invitational Pro-Am in a four-man playoff, and in 1993, Mark Brooks had an easier time of it, winning by five shots over Bob May in the Pebble Beach Invitational. Defending champion Loren Roberts and Duffy Waldorf tied for third.

This week marks the return of the PGA Tour, with the usual first event of January, the Tournament of Champions. But there was a time when the Los Angeles Open led things off. On this date in 1959, for instance, the first round of the L.A. Open was played. It was the fourth time Arnold Palmer had played L.A., and he would win there in 1963. In '59, he shot 72 and would tie for ninth.