On this date in 1979, the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club was won by Australian David Graham in a three-hole, sudden-death playoff with Ben Crenshaw.
On this date in 1945, the great American golfer Byron Nelson won the Canadian Open at Uplands & Thornhill CC. It was his 11th straight win in a season where he set a record for winning 18.
On this date in 1979, Sam Snead set the record for the oldest player to make a cut in a major championship when he did so at age 67 years, 2 months and 7 days at the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club.
On this date in 1959, Bob Rosburg won the PGA Championship at Minneapolis GC, taking the title by one shot over Doug Sanders and Jerry Barber.
On this date in 2004, Peter Jacobson won the U.S. Senior Open at Bellerive Golf Club, west of St. Louis, by one shot over Hale Irwin, a Missouri native.
On this date in 1961, the PGA Championship ended at Olympia Fields C.C. with Jerry Barber winning his only major in an 18-hole playoff with Don January by a score of 67 to 68.
On this date in 1995 the Senior Open Championship was won by Scottish free spirit Brian Barnes in a playoff over Bob Murphy of the U.S., at Royal Portrush G.C.
On this date in 2007, Tom Watson made a double bogey on the final hole but still won the Senior Open for the third time in five years, by one shot over Stewart Ginn and Mark O’Meara at Muirfield.
On this date in 1991, Jack Nicklaus shot a 65 to win an 18-hole playoff with Chi Chi Rodriguez in the U.S. Senior Open at Oakland Hills Country Club, winning by four shots.
Jordan Spieth, the slumping wunderkind of golf, was born on this date in 1993 in Dallas, Texas. He won the U.S. Open and Masters in 2015, was second in the PGA that year, and won the 2017 Open Championship but hasn’t won since then. He has 14 pro victories in all.
On this date in 1955, Doug Ford won the PGA Championship at Meadowbrook Country Club when he defeated Cary Middlecoff, 4 & 3, in the final. Ford won the other major of his career at the 1957 Masters.
On this date in 1982, Janet Alex (Anderson) shot a final-round 68 to win the U.S. Women’s Open at Del Paso Country Club, six shots ahead of four players in second.
On this date, back-to-back PGA Championships concluded. In 1966 Al Geiberger won by four shots at Firestone Country Club, and in 1967, Don January won an 18 hole playoff with Don Massengale at Columbine Country Club, 69 to 71.
On this date in 1995, John Daly won the Open Championship at the Old Course in St. Andrews, beating Costantino Rocca in a four-hole playoff. It was his second major victory. Two days earlier, two-time winner Arnold Palmer missed the cut in a final Open appearance.
The Open for the Ages, the mythical R&A project that took the place of the real thing and finished on Sunday with Jack Nicklaus the “winner” at St. Andrews, had an Old Course predecessor that featured plenty of drama among legends. On this date in 1984, Spain’s Seve Ballesteros birdied the 18th hole while Tom Watson bogeyed the 17th, giving Ballesteros a two-shot victory over Watson and Bernhard Langer. The defeat ended Watson’s two-year win streak and was Ballesteros’ second of three Open titles.
On this date in 1963 Jack Nicklaus won his first of five PGA Championships, this first one at the Dallas Athletic Club. He won by two shots over Dave Ragan. The huge Wanamaker winner’s trophy was so hot from sitting in the sun all day that Nicklaus had to use a towel like a pair of oven mitts to hold it.
On this date in 1980, Tom Watson won the Open Championship for the third time, winning by four shots over Lee Trevino at Muirfield with a final 13-under score.
On this date in 1964, the PGA Championship ended at Columbus Country Club with Bobby Nichols winning by three shots, having lead wire to wire. He won out over the two biggest stars of the time, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, the runner-ups.
Bill Wright became the first African-American golfer to win a national championship when he won the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship on this date in 1959. He defeated Frank Campbell, 3 and 2, in the 36-hole final in Denver.
On this date in 1983, Tom Watson won his fifth Open Championship, at Royal Birkdale, one shot ahead of Hale Irwin and Andy Bean. Watson blistered a 2-iron to the final green and two-putted for par. At age 33, and with five victories in eight years, it seemed a foregone conclusion Watson would catch and perhaps pass Harry Vardon’s record of six. But in every following chance for victory, something went wrong and a sixth title was never clinched.