The PGA Tour is in its Florida swing, this weekend at The Players Ch. at Ponte Vedra Beach. A University of Florida golfer, Andy Bean, was born on this date in 1953 in Lafayette, Georgia. Four of Bean’s 11 PGA Tour victories were won in Florida, including Doral three times.
On this date in 1961, Mickey Wright won the Miami Open by six shots over Louise Suggs. It was part of a unique start to the LPGA season where Suggs and Wright traded off winning the first seven events of the year. Suggs won five times and Wright twice.
The 1956 LPGA Titleholders Championship was won on this date at Augusta Country Club by Louise Suggs by one shot over Patty Berg. It was her third Titleholders victory.
Sandra Palmer, who played during Arnold Palmer’s productive years, was born on this date in 1943 in Fort Worth, Texas. She was often confused with being kin to Arnold but was not. She was slight in height at just 5-2 but was accurate with her fairways clubs and was good enough to win the 1975 U.S. Open, the same year she was LPGA Tour Player of the Year and leading money winner.
A two-time U.S. Open winner who doesn’t get much respect was born on this date in 1950 in Thorp, Wisconsin. Andy North won the National Open in 1978 and 1985, but only won one other tour event. He now does commentary for ESPN.
Raymond Floyd won the Doral Open in Miami on this date in 1992, setting up a first on the PGA Tour. After he turned 50 in early September later that year, he won the senior tour's GTE North Classic, becoming the first player to win on both tours in the same year.
On this date in 1959, Tom Lehman was born in Austin, Minnesota. After attending the University of Minnesota, Lehman turned pro in 1982. He struggled on the mini tours before becoming a solid performer on the PGA Tour. He won the Open Championship in 1996 for his biggest victory.
On this date in 1972, Jack Nicklaus won the rain-delayed Doral-Eastern Open on the Blue Monster Course at Doral by two over Lee Trevino and Bob Rosburg. Jack, then 32, picked up $30,000, which put him at $1,477,200.86 for his career, going ahead of Arnold Palmer’s total of $1,471,226.83. Palmer, 42, did not play at Doral and had been the all-time leader for about a decade.
Dale Douglass was a minor figure on the PGA Tour, no disrespect intended. He was born on this date in 1936 in Wewoka, Oklahoma, and won three PGA events. But Douglass did a major deal as a senior player. He won the 1986 U.S. Senior Open and the lifetime exemption allowed him to take a couple longevity records away from Arnold Palmer. Arnie had played in 25 straight U.S. Senior Opens, with one victory in 1981. When he stopped in 2005 he held all the longevity records but Douglass overtook him when he stopped playing in 2011. Douglass has most appearances with 26 to Arnie’s 25 and most consecutive starts with 26 to 25.
On this week of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, today we highlight Peter Jacobsen, who was born on this date in 1954 in Portland, Oregon. Jacobsen won not quite 10 times on the PGA Tour, but in Arnie’s life, he’s known as The King’s most popular partner. The two played as a team 23 times, most of anyone Arnold teamed with. Sadly, they never won the competition.
Julius Boros was born on this day in 1920 in Fairfield, Connecticut. He had a wide-ranging career at winning majors, the first in 1952 at the U.S. Open and second at the 1963 U.S. Open. He also won the 1968 PGA. The latter two he won at the expense of Arnold Palmer, who he sometimes called “my pigeon.”
Ian Woosnam, one of the main European stars that saw the continent usurp itself in major championships, was born on this date in 1958. “Wee Woosy” won the 1991 Masters as others faltered around him, and was a mighty asset in Europe’s surge in the Ryder Cup.
On this date in 1976, Jack Nicklaus won the Tournament Players Championship (later years The Players) at Inverrary Country Club in Lauderhill, Florida. Jack was back on his game, a long way from the 82 he had shot earlier in the year at the Bing Crosby Pro-Am. Nicklaus won by three strokes over J.C. Snead, played the par 5s 13 under par and didn't make a bogey in a final-round 65, seven under par. "
On this date in 1971, Jack Nicklaus won the 53rd PGA Championship at the first PGA National golf course, now known as BallenIsles, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Nicklaus won by two over Billy Casper. The victory completed a second career Grand Slam.
On today’s date in 1902, one of only five men to win the career Grand Slam was born in Harrison, New York. Gene Sarazen would win seven majors, including the Slam after he won the 1935 Masters. “The Squire” died in 1999.
On this date in 1965, Sam Snead shot a 68 to share the second-round lead in the 26th Senior PGA at five under par with Chick Harbert and Henry Ransom at Fort Lauderdale Country Club. Another 68 in the third round gave Sam control and he would win by four shots.
Tony Lema, the 1964 Open “champion golfer of the year” on the Old Course, was born on this date in 1934 in Oakland, California. Lema had one of the great personalities in golf history and was known as Champagne Tony for treating the media to a celebratory drink after a victory. Sadly, his full potential vanished suddenly in July 1966 when he and his wife and pilot died in a plane crash on their way from Akron, Ohio, to Illinois.
One of the most competitively pugnacious major champions, Zach Johnson, was born on this date in 1976 in Iowa City. He has won two majors, the Masters in 2007 and Open Championship in 2015, and in his 12 PGA Tour victories he’s also won The Colonial twice.
Wisconsin native and University of Illinois golfer Steve Stricker was born on this date in 1967. One of golf’s all-time best putters, Stricker won 12 times on the PGA Tour and was the 2019 U.S. Senior Open winner.
Amy Alcott, the five-time major winner and World Golf Hall of Fame member, was born on this date in Kansas City in 1956.