On this date in 1922, amateur legend Billy Joe Patton was born in Morganton, North Carolina. He made a remarkable run at winning the Masters in 1954 that is still captivating to read about. Like his good friend Arnold Palmer, Patton attended Wake Forest College. Patton died in Morganton in 2011.
On this date in 1993, the PGA Seniors' Championship was won at PGA National by Tom Wargo, who parred the second hole of a playoff to beat Bruce Crampton.
On this date in 1994, the PGA Seniors' Championship ended at PGA National with Lee Trevino beating Jim Colbert by one stroke.
On this date in 1995, Raymond Floyd won the PGA Seniors' Championship at PGA National, by five shots over Larry Gilbert, Lee Trevino and John Paul Cain.
In what was a disappointment to traditionalists, the Masters, in its 43rd playing, had its first sudden-death playoff on this date in 1979. Fuzzy Zoeller won a two-hole playoff, making a birdie on the incredibly hard 11th hole, beating Ed Sneed and Tom Watson.
On this date in 1974, Gary Player won his second of three Masters titles, winning the 38th playing by two shots ahead of Dave Stockton and Tom Weiskopf.
Ben Hogan lost Masters playoffs to both Sam Snead and Byron Nelson. It was to Nelson on this date in 1942 as Nelson won the 9th Masters Tournament. As with Snead, Hogan lost an 18-hole playoff to Byron by one shot.
In back to back years, 1953 and 1954, the Masters Tournament finished on April 12. In 1953, Ben Hogan won the 17th tournament by five strokes over Ed Oliver. In 1954, Sam Snead beat Hogan by one shot in an 18-hole Monday playoff to win his third Masters.
On this date in two different years the winning score of 271 was shot, at the time a tournament record. In 1965 Jack Nicklaus won the 29th Masters, his second, beating Gary Player and Arnold Palmer by nine shots. In 1976, Raymond Floyd won his only Masters with 271, eight shots ahead of Ben Crenshaw. It was the 40th playing of the tournament.
On this date in 1960, Arnold Palmer birdied the final two holes to win the 24th Masters Tournament at Augusta National, edging Ken Venturi by one shot and adding a second Masters to his 1958 title. Palmer said to Venturi, “I wanted to win more than anything, Ken, but I'm truly sorry it had to be this way."
On this date in 1972, Jack Nicklaus won the 36th Masters Tournament, leading from start to finish and finishing three shots ahead of Bruce Crampton, Tom Weiskopf and Bobby Mitchell. It was Jack’s fourth of sixth Masters wins.
On this date in 1935, Gene Sarazen beat Craig Wood in a 36-hole playoff, 144-149, to win the Masters one day after their great duel that featured Sarazen’s famous double eagle on the 15th hole. Also on this day in 1886, English golfer Jim Barnes was born. He won four majors, the 1916 and 1919 PGA, 1921 U.S. Open and 1925 Open Championship.
On this date in 1946, the 10th Masters Tournament returned from being off for four years of World War II and was won by one of the most unlikeliest winners ever, Herman Keiser, by one shot over Ben Hogan, who would win five years later.
On this date in 1936, the Third Masters Tournament ended. After the wild finish the previous year when Gene Sarazen made his double eagle on the 15th hole, this one ended in a second victory for the 1934 inaugural winner Horton Smith, who beat Harry Cooper by one.
On this date in 1976, the entertaining and intense competitor, Henrik Stenson, was born in Gothenburg, Sweden. His main triumph was a sensational duel with Phil Mickelson to win the 2016 Open Championship at Troon, Scotland.
On this date in 1937, Byron Nelson won the Fourth Masters Tournament by two shots over Ralph Guldahl. Lord Byron was the first of the Great Triumvirate of him, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, all born in 1912, to win the tournament. He would win a second in 1942. Snead would not win until 1949 and Hogan 1951.
On this date in 1994, Raymond Floyd beat Dale Douglass with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff to win The Tradition senior tour event at Desert Mountain in Arizona.
On this date in 1939, the Sixth Masters Tournament ended with Ralph Guldahl holding off Sam Snead to win his only Masters. Guldahl shot 279 after a final-round 69, just good enough to beat Snead, who had 68, by a shot.
In two events on this day from different eras, in 1930, Bobby Jones won the Southeasternn Open in Atlanta and would go on to win the Grand Slam that year. And more than half a century later in 1984, Fred Couples at age 24 won the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass by one shot over Lee Trevino.
On this date in 1996, Fred Couples shot a final-round 64 to win the Players Championship, for the second time, at the Stadium Course. He was four ahead of Tommy Tolles and Colin Montgomerie.