He’s not well-known today among golf fans but Walter Travis was born on this date in 1862 in Australia. He was a jack of all trades, but his playing accomplishments included winning the 1904 British Amateur and the 1900, 1901 and 1903 U.S. Amateur.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 40 years since the Spanish boy wonder, Sergio Garcia, was born on this date in 1980. At one time seen as a surefire major winner, it took until 2017 for Garcia to break through and win a major at the Masters.
On this date in 1962, Jack Nicklaus won his first money as a professional on tour. The Los Angeles Open finished at Rancho Municipal, with Nicklaus in a tie for 50th, earning $33.33, on rounds totaling 289. The winner was Phil Rodgers with 268. Arnold Palmer had 283 for T-18. Whenever Nicklaus would comment on this first PGA event in the following years, he would joke he always wondered where the extra penny went. Because he was one of three players at 50th, with Billy Maxwell and Don Massengale, and they had to share $100 among them, one person got an extra penny. Nicklaus and Massengale each got $33.33; the $33.34 went to Maxwell.
On this date in 1938, the 1975 U.S. Open winner Lou Graham was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and in 1983, Natalie Gulbis was born in Sacramento, California. Perceived as one of the LPGA’s glamour players, she famously broke through after six years as a pro by winning her lone victory, the 2007 Evian Masters.
Three of America’s most accomplished golfers were born on this date. In 1921 it was three-time major winner Cary Middlecoff in Halls, Tennessee; in 1957, Nancy Lopez was born in Torrance, California; she won 48 LPGA Tour titles, and in 1960, Paul Azinger, the 1993 PGA Champion, was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
A major champion in professional golf was born on this date in 1969. Shaun Micheel, winner of the 2003 PGA Championship, was born in Orlando, Florida. He is that rare major winner whose only tour victory was the major.
The 2001 PGA Championship winner David Toms, now mainly focused on the Champions Tour, was born on this date in 1967 in Monroe, Louisiana. He won the U.S. Senior Open in 2018.
U.S. golf pro Fred Haas Jr. was born on this date in 1916 in Portland, Arkansas. Haas was a five-time PGA Tour winner but one of his lesser known claims to fame is that he was grouped with Arnold Palmer in Arnie’s second ever PGA Tour event, the 1948 Dapper Dan Invitational at Alcoma Golf Club in Pittsburgh.
Two-time U.S. Amateur champion Marvin (Bud) Ward (in 1939 and 1941) died on this date in 1968 at age 54 after a cancer illness.
Jerilyn Britz, the winner of the 1979 U.S. Women's Open, was born on this day in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1943.
Champions Tour golfer Bob Gilder was born on this date in 1950 in Corvallis, Oregon. Gilder attended Arizona State and won six PGA Tour events.
Eldrick Tont (Tiger) Woods was born on this date in 1975 in Cypress, California.
Renowned golf course architect Pete Dye was born on this date in 1925 in Urbana, Ohio. Among his most notable designs is the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, venue for the annual Players Championship. The course’s main feature is the island green at the par-3 17th.
German golf star Martin Kaymer was born on this date in 1984. The one-time No. 1 golfer in the world has won two majors: the 2010 PGA Championship and 2014 U.S. Open.
Steady middle-of-the-road American golf professional Charley Hoffman was born on this date in 1976. The San Diego native has four PGA Tour victories and two top-10s in majors. His highest world ranking was 20th.
On this date in 1993, the Senior PGA Tour, repped by Raymond Floyd, Jack Nicklaus and Chi Chi Rodriguez, won the Wendy’s Three-Tour Challenge at Colleton RIver Plantation at Hilton Head Island, S.C., shooting 11 under par.
This date in golf history will always be observed primarily as the day Young Tom Morris died in 1875 at just age 24. A four-time winner of the Open Championship by then, four months before he died his wife and newborn son had died while she was giving birth. Young Tom was distraught and is commonly believed to have died of a broken heart but in medical chat it was listed as a pulmonary hemorrhage.
Margaret Curtis passed away on this date in 1965. She and sister Harriot were not only excellent players but were very charity minded. They were the ones to donate the cup that is played for in the Curtis Cup biennial competition between women amateurs from the U.S. and Great Britain & Ireland. In 2020 it will be held in Wales.
Herman Barron was born on this date in 1909, in Port Chester, New York. He was a club pro at the Fenway Club in Westchester County, New York, and taught for many years but he was successful as a pro player as well. He won the 1963 PGA Seniors Championship and his victory in the 1942 Western Open is credited as the first time a Jewish golfer won a PGA tour event.
In a meeting in New York on this date in 1894, the U.S. Golf Association was born with five charter member clubs.