For a second straight day, the history note is a golfer’s passing. On this date in 1916 , Scotsman Willie Smith, the winner of the 1899 U.S. Open, died at age 40 of pneumonia in Mexico City.
There are some dates in golf history that will forever be known for a certain event. An example is St. Patrick’s Day is forever marked as Bobby Jones’ birthday in 1902. Then there’s Christmas Day, which will always be known as the day Young Tom Morris died at just age 24 in 1875, having won four Open championships.
One of the least likely major champions in golf died on this date in 2003 at age 89. Herman Keiser won the 1946 Masters by one shot over Ben Hogan. Keiser won five times on tour, but was not seen as capable of winning a major, but he held off the immortal Hogan in one of golf’s major upsets of all-time.
Herman Barron, who won the PGA Senior Championship in its quiet pre-Senior Tour days in 1963, was born on this date in 1909 in Port Chester, New York. His other “claim to fame” was winning the 1942 Western Open and thereby becoming the first Jewish golfer to win a PGA Tour event. He won four tour events in all and had top-10 finishes in the U.S. Open and PGA.
Happy 126th birthday to the United States Golf Association, which is chronicled as forming on this date in a meeting in New York in 1894 with five charter clubs.
Walter Hagen, the winner of 11 major championships and the all-time grandest bon vivant of golf, was born on this date in 1892 in Rochester, New York.
Hannah Green, the Women’s PGA Championship winner of 2019, was born on this date in 1996 in Perth, Western Australia. She won two LPGA events in 2019, the other being the Cambia Portland Classic.
On this date in 1993, Larry Mize won the Johnnie Walker World Championship of Golf in demonstrative fashion, winning by 10 shots over Fred Couples. Marino Parascenzo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette began his final-day game story from Montego Bay, Jamaica, with this: “Larry Mize just flat killed the Johnnie Walker World Championship of Golf yesterday. He shot a closing 65 for a staggering 18-under-par 266. That gave him a 10-stroke victory over Fred Couples and his futile dynamite finish, a nine-birdie 64. Mize, with this third win of the year, won $550,000 out of the $2.7 million purse, the biggest payday of his life, and it put him over $1.3 million for the year.”
On this date in 1971, the iconic golfer Bobby Jones died from the effects of syringomyelia at 69 years old. The Georgia native passed away into immortality as the greatest amateur golfer ever and the winner of 13 major championships, including the 1930 Grand Slam, and the originator of the Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament.
On this date in 2014, former PGA club pro Gus Andreone, 103, had a hole-in-one on the 113-yard 14th hole at Palm Aire’s Lakes Course in Sarasota, Florida, becoming the oldest golfer to make an ace.
On this date in 1979, 2008 Masters winner Trevor Immelman was born in Cape Town, Western Cape, South African. Immelman now does commentary for CBS’ golf coverage.
On this date in 2019, the American team won six of the 12 Singles matches at Royal Melbourne to win the Presidents Cup, 16-14, for an eighth straight victory in the series.
The 1931 U.S. Open champion, Billy Burke, was born on this date in 1902 in Naugatuck, Connecticut.
The International and American teams split the final-day Singles session, 6-6, on this date in 1998 but that didn’t stop the Internationals from winning the Presidents Cup, 20½–11½, at Royal Melbourne GC, which is the International team’s only victory in 13 playings.
The first golf “tees” were no tees at all. Players would take a small amount of sand and build a little tower or pyramid to elevate the ball. But on this date in 1899, George F. Bryant of Boston is credited with getting a patent for a wooden golf tee.
On this date in 2009, Tiger Woods announced that the extramarital affairs he’d had that had caused a Thanksgiving-time fallout with his wife Elin was forcing him to take an indefinite leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage. Saying he was trying to save his marriage, Woods said, "I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father and person." Woods and his wife had been married five years and at the time had a 2-year-old daughter and a 10-month-old son.
One of the obscure runner-ups to Jack Nicklaus in a major was born on this date in 1950. A couple of the memorable images from Nicklaus’ 1978 Open Championship victory was the site, St. Andrews; Nicklaus’ argyle sweaters, and New Zealander Simon Owen, who turns 70 years old today. His second place at the Old Course in 1978 was his best finish in a major.
On this date in 1984, Australian great Peter Thomson won the PGA Seniors' Championship at PGA National Golf Club’s Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He won by three strokes over Don January. The defending champion Arnold Palmer tied for 11th.
On this date in 1985, siblings Laurie Rinker and Larry Rinker won the JCPenney Golf Classic at Bardmoor Country Club in Largo, Florida, at 21 under par.
The 12th PGA Championship ended on this date at Hillcrest Country Club in 1929 with defending champion Leo Diegel defeating Johnny Farrell, 6 & 4, in the final.