On this date in 1964, Sam Snead shot a four-under-par 68 at PGA National Golf Club to lead the 25th Senior PGA by three shots after two rounds. He would end up winning the 72-hole championship by three.
One of the more obscure major golf champions but boasting a cute nickname was born on this date in 1915. Melvin (Chick) Harbert was born in Dayton, Ohio. He won seven times on the PGA Tour but the PGA Championship was his specialty. He won it in 1954 and was also a two-time runner-up, in 1947 and 1952. The event was competed as match play those years. Harbert was 24-10 in the PGA match play from 1946 to 1957.
Paul Runyan had the rare distinction of winning the same senior major on the same date in consecutive years on the same course. In 1961 and 1962 Runyan won the Senior PGA at PGA National in Dunedin, Florida. In 1962, United Press began its wrap-up: “Little Paul Runyan clawed his way around the PGA National golf course two strokes under par today and won his second straight PGA seniors championship with a 72 hole score of 278 equal to the record he set last year and 10 under par. Runyan, never the leader until the last round, broke his way in front of the field with four birdies and a 33 on the front nine.”
Hall of Fame golfer Judy Rankin was born on this date in 1945 in St. Louis. After her playing career, she became one of the finest TV golf analysts and media contributors.
Just having celebrated the birthdate of the renowned Mickey Wright three days ago, born in 1935 in San Diego, today is the one-year remembrance of her passing on February 17 in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The World Golf Hall of Fame member won four U.S. Women’s Opens among her 82 victories.
South African golf legend Gary Player won the 1986 Senior PGA Championship on this date, winning by two shots over Lee Elder at PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
On this date in 1987, Chi Chi Rodriguez won the PGA Seniors' Championship at PGA National, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, by one shot over Dale Douglass.
The greatest women’s golfer of all time, Mickey Wright, was born on this date in 1935 in San Diego. She would win 13 majors in her 82 LPGA Tour victories. She died in 2020.
Golfer Patty Berg was born on this date 103 years ago in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, Berg was one of the original LPGA Tour founders. She grew up with future football coach Bud Wilkinson, just two years older, in her neighborhood.
On this date in 1989, the 50th PGA Seniors' Championship was played at PGA National GC and was won by Larry Mowry in a one-stroke victory over Al Geiberger and Miller Barber.
On this date in 1973, Arnold Palmer won his final PGA Tour event, the Bob Hope Classic, with a two-shot victory over Jack Nicklaus. Arnold had scores of 71-66-69-68-69—343, and won $32,000. The courses were Bermuda Dunes/Host course (72, 6,778), Indian Wells (72, 6,500), La Quinta (72, 6,530), Tamarisk (72, 6,863), Palm Springs, California. Arnie’s first victory had been the 1944 Canadian Open. Also, Helen Hicks, one of the founding members of the LPGA Tour, was born on this date in 1911 in Cedarhurst, New York. Hicks’ main victories were the 1937 Western Open and 1940 Titleholders Championship. She died in 1974 at age 63.
World Golf Hall of Fame member Greg Norman was born on this date in 1955 in Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia. He won the Open Championship twice but perhaps is just as well known for the majors he didn’t nail down after being in a strong position, the most notable being the 1996 Masters.
Sandy Lyle, one of the Fab Five along with Ballesteros, Faldo, Langer and Woosnam out of the UK, was born on this date in 1958 in Shrewsbury in western England. He won two majors, the 1985 Open and 1988 Masters, and was the playing partner in 1986 to Jack Nicklaus during Jack’s final-round romp to victory in the Masters.
Australian star Jan Stephenson won 16 times on the LPGA Tour, the first coming on this date in 1976. She finished at two-over-par 218 in the Sarah Coventry Naples Classic on Lely Country Club to edge Judy Meister and Sandra Haynie by one shot.
This date carries a somber tone in golf history. Scottish golfer Freddie Tait, who won the Amateur Championship in 1896 and 1898, died in 1900 at age 30, a victim of the 2nd Boer War. LPGA cofounder and 1947 U.S. Open winner Betty Jameson died in 2009, age 89. And three-time major winner Billy Casper died in 2015 at age 83.
On this date 50 years ago astronaut Alan Shepard hit the most far-out golf shots in the history of the universe. He used a makeshift golf club that had a Wilson Staff 6-iron head on it and hit two balls on the moon surface during the Apollo 14 mission.
Two-time Masters winner José María Olazábal was born on this date in 1966 in Hondarribia, Spain. A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, he won at Augusta in 1994 and 1999.
Byron Nelson, a member of one of America’s Big Three with Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, was born on this date in 1912 in Waxahachie, Texas, a part of Dallas-Fort Worth. Lord Byron won five majors and in 1945 won a record 19 tournaments.
The 18th Senior PGA Championship ended on this date in Dunedin, Florida, with Al Watrous winning an 18-hole playoff 72-75 with Bob Stupple.
Today was a day of golf infamy. On February 2, 1949, Ben Hogan and wife Valerie were returning home from the Phoenix Open to Fort Worth when a bus hit their car head-on near Van Horn, Texas. Initial reports indicated Ben had died, but he survived only to require months of recovery from severe injuries. He came back to play professional golf again and ultimately win nine majors.