Just three days after the third PGA Tour commissioner in history, Tim Finchem, celebrated a birthday, the second commissioner, Deane Beman, observes a birthday, born in 1938. Before becoming the head of the tour in 1974, Beman was an accomplished player, winning the U.S. Amateur twice, British Amateur in 1959, and four PGA Tour events.
April was a popular time of the year to hold the Senior PGA Championship, which is the oldest of the senior majors, starting in 1937. On this date in 1991, Jack Nicklaus won his lone Senior PGA, at PGA National in Florida, with a 17-under 271 score.
Kathy Whitworth is the all-time LPGA Tour leader in victories with 88 and is the leader in most career seasons with a victory with 22. She and three others are tied for the most consecutive wins in scheduled events with four. Whitworth’s fourth came on April 20, 1969, in the Lady Carling Open.
In 1968, production of a one-piece, no-cut golf ball was announced, a major change in ball design. Also on this date, in 1947, retired PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem was born.
After finishes of 1st, 2nd, T-3, 2nd, T-34, T-4, T-36 and T-6 to start 1966, Arnold Palmer went into the Masters as a huge favorite. It was expected he’d continue his every-other-year victory streak. But he was off by one week and tied for fourth on April 11 at the Masters. Instead, on April 18, he won an 18-hole playoff with Gay Brewer, 69-73, to capture the Tournament of Champions.
Sam Snead won the Greater Greensboro Open (also known as the Wyndham Ch.) eight times. No. 7 came on April 17, 1960, when Snead shot his fourth-straight round in the 60s and finished two strokes ahead of Dow Finsterwald at Starmount Forest Country Club.
This weekend a winner will be crowned at the RBC Heritage who will take home well more than $1 million. Jimmy Demaret won a miniscule $2,000 on this date in 1950 when he won the North Fulton Open at the North Fulton Park Course in Atlanta (held April 13-16, 1950). His scores were 71-69-64-66—270.
A sad day in golf history: In the 1968 Masters, Roberto De Vicenzo signed an incorrect scorecard with a higher score than he actually shot on the 17th hole in the final round and finished one behind Bob Goalby. Born on this date: 1964 PGA champion Bobby Nichols in 1936…and World Golf Hall of Famer, the late Mr. De Vicenzo himself, in 1923.
In the final Masters Tournament held before its World War II break, Byron Nelson defeated Ben Hogan, 68-70, in a playoff to win the 1942 Masters on this date for his second green jacket. Born on this date: Davis Love III in 1964 and World Golf Hall of Fame member Marilynn Smith in 1929.
In a battle of juggernauts, Sam Snead defeated Ben Hogan, 70-71, to win the 1954 Masters, his third. A decade later, the date April 12, 1964, would mark the day Arnold Palmer won his seventh and final professional major, by six shots, at the Masters.
Arnold Palmer rued April 10, 1961, for the rest of his career. A lack of concentration after hitting his drive on the final hole in the fairway with a one-shot lead caused him to make a double-bogey 6, losing by one shot to Gary Player, who became the first international Masters champion.
Two-time Masters champion Seve Ballesteros was born on April 9 in 1957. On the course, Jimmy Demaret became the first three-time winner in 1950, and Jack Nicklaus won in 1972 to join Arnold Palmer as a four-time winner, which Jack later extended to six victories by 1986.
On April 8, 1962, Arnold Palmer made birdies on 16 and 17 to tie Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald at 280 at the end of regulation, then beat them the next day in a playoff with a 68 to Player's 71 and Finsterwald's 77.
As this year’s Masters gets underway today we recall this date in Masters history when in 1935 Gene Sarazen hit the shot heard round the world by making a double eagle on the 15th hole en route to tying Craig Wood after 72 holes. Sarazen won the 36-hole playoff on the following day by five shots.
Arnold Palmer shot a final-round 73 on April 6, 1958, but still won his first Masters by one stroke. On April 6, 1955, the Sarazen Bridge was dedicated; it’s the bridge that players cross up by the green on par-5 15th, the hole that Gene Sarazen famously double-eagled in his 1935 victory.
Amateur Ken Venturi led Round 1 of the Masters on April 5, 1956, with a 66, but by Sunday he had lost his form and shot 80 to lose to Jack Burke Jr. by one stroke. Also on this date, former Open Championship winner Henrik Stenson turns 46.
In Masters history, Byron Nelson went birdie-eagle on Nos. 12 and 13 on April 4, 1937, en route to a final-round 70 and two-shot victory over Ralph Guldahl. Lord Byron also won in 1942. Also at Augusta, on April 4, 1995, the Arnold Palmer Plaque behind the 16th tee was dedicated.
Craig Wood shot a 66 in the first round on April 3, 1941, to lead the Masters by five. He went on to lead wire to wire and win by three strokes over Byron Nelson.
After finishing as runner-up two years in a row, Ralph Guldahl won the sixth Masters by one shot over Sam Snead on April 2, 1939. Non-Masters notes: Born on this date were: Shane Lowry (1987), J.J. Henry (1975) and World Golf Hall of Fame member Ayako Okamoto (1951).
Johnny Farrell, the 1928 U.S. Open champion, was born on April 1, 1901, one year before Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen. Farrell was a longtime head professional at Baltusrol Country Club in New Jersey, site of numerous majors, and won 22 PGA Tour events. He died in June 1988.