The 1961 PGA Championship was due to conclude on July 30 at Olympia Fields in Illinois, but Don January and Jerry Barber tied at 277, just three under par. January was four shots ahead with three to play in regulation but Barber was a putting fiend, making 120 feet of putts on those holes, for a par and two birdies, to force the playoff. Twice Barber trailed by two shots in the playoff, but he came on to shoot 67 and win by one stroke on this date.
Today's date marks the 2006 Senior Open victory by American Loren Roberts in a playoff over Eduardo Romero of Argentina. On yesterday’s date, July 29, in another Senior Open result, this one at St. Andrews, Miguel Angel Jimenez won in 2018.
Diminutive Paul Runyan won his first of two PGA Championships on this date in 1934 when he defeated Craig Wood in 38 holes in the final at the Park Club of Buffalo, Williamsville, N.Y. At just 5-foot-7 and 130 pounds, Runyan gave up great length off the tee, but his prowess with fairway woods and his short game combined to be a great equalizer.
Jack Nicklaus tied with Chi Chi Rodriguez at two-over-par 282 at the 12th U.S. Senior Open Championship on this day at Oakland Hills' South Course. Nicklaus won the 18-hole playoff the next day 65-69.
The 1954 PGA Championship, the 36th playing, ended on this date when Chick Harbert beat Walter Burkemo, 4 and 3, at Keller Golf Club in St Paul, Minnesota.
The 1981 U.S. Women's Open was held at LaGrange Country Club, in a suburb of Chicago. It is noted for the great final-day battle between Pat Bradley and Beth Daniel, and for the ultimately failed effort by legendary Kathy Whitworth to win the major she never was able to win. Bradley birdied the final hole on this date after Daniel nearly eagled it, and that secured a nine-under-par total of 279 to win by one shot. Whitworth was third with 284 after taking a three-shot lead after 54 holes. But she shot 74 in the final round to Bradley's 66.
The 1982 U.S. Women's Open was completed on this date at Del Paso Country Club in Sacramento, California. Janet Alex shot a final-round 68 for 283 (−5) to finish six shots ahead of four runners-up, including Beth Daniel, Donna White, JoAnne Carner and Sandra Haynie. Carner led after 36 holes but shot 75-75 afterward to lose her advantage.
Don January won the 1967 PGA Championship on this date in the 49th PGA, played at Columbine Country Club in Columbine Valley, Colorado, a suburb south of Denver. January won his lone major in an 18-hole playoff with Don Massengale, 69-71, on the par-72 course. They had shot 281, seven under par, to finish regulation one shot ahead of Dan Sikes and Jack Nicklaus.
Mark Calcavecchia won a playoff with Australians Greg Norman and Wayne Grady on this date in the 1989 Open Championship at Troon. It was the first time the championship used a four-hole aggregate playoff to determine the winner. The three had tied at 13-under 275. Calcavecchia handily won the playoff at two under; Grady was one over and Norman's score was an X.
Seve Ballesteros memorably ended Tom Watson's bid to win a third straight Open Championship on this date in 1984 when he birdied the 18th at the Old Course while Watson was making bogey on No. 17. It would have been Watson's sixth Open, to tie him with Harry Vardon for the most all-time. With a normal Watson putting round, he would have won that championship, but he struggled on the greens early on and couldn't get going with the putter, shooting a 73. Ballesteros shot 12-under 276, two ahead of Watson and Bernhard Langer.
Jack Nicklaus won his first PGA Championship on this date in 1963 on the Blue Course at the Dallas Athletic Club. The course played tough. Nicklaus won at five under par by two shots over Dave Ragan. With the metal trophy sitting in heat more than 100 degrees, Jack had to pick up the trophy with a towel. Nicklaus won the long-drive contest on the eve of the first round with a drive more than 341 yards long.
Tom Watson put on a masterful performance in the 1980 Open Championship by shooting 271 at Muirfield, including a round of 69 on this date, and winning by four over second-place Lee Trevino.
The PGA Championship moved to the month of May in 2019, but it has actually been all around the calendar for much of its history. On this date in 1964, Bobby Nichols won the 46th playing at Columbus Country Club in Ohio. His nine-under 271 total beat a pair of heavyweights by three, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
Bill Wright, at age 23, became the first African-American to win a USGA event when he won the 1959 U.S. Public Links in Dennver.
On this date in 1958, the PGA Championship went a different direction than it had been going since 1916. The PGA began as a match-play event but switched to medal (stroke) beginning with the '58 playing. The transition had a quaint story line. The 1957 runner-up, Dow Finsterwald, was the first-round leader with a 67 at Llanerch Country Club in Havertown, Pa., by one shot over Jay Hebert, who was the brother of Lionel Hebert, who beat Finsterwald in the 1957 final. It gets better: "Finsty" hung in for the next two rounds then shot another 67 in Round 4 to win by two over Billy Casper.
When the U.S. Women's Open Championship finished on July 16 in the past, one result was a runaway and the other a close battle. Betsy King won in 1989 at Indian Wood in Lake Orion, Mich., by four shots over Nancy Lopez, while in 1995, Annika Sorenstam won by one stroke over Meg Mallon at The Broadmoor.
The U.S. Women's Open is not immune to the occasional out-of-the-blue winner that sometimes occurs in the men's Open. On this date in 1979, Jerilyn Britz was the women's winner at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn. The Minnesota native was 36 and had turned pro just five years earlier. The victory, by two over Debbie Massey and Sandra Palmer, was Britz' first and she would win just one more tour event, the Mary Kay Classic the next year of 1980 when she beat defending champion Nancy Lopez in a playoff.
A couple of U.S. Women's Opens ended on this date. In 1985, unheralded Kathy Baker won at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey by three shots over Judy Clark, and in 1991, Meg Mallon won by two shots at hot Colonial Country Club in Ft. Worth. She finished two strokes ahead of Pat Bradley.
The first U.S. Senior Women's Open began on July 12, with Amy Alcott shooting a four-over-par 77 to tie for 29th place after round 1. On this date in 1980, the regular Women's Open was concluding with far less drama. Alcott won at Richland Country Club in Nashville, Tenn., with a score of four under par. She went into the final round with an eight-shot lead, shot a one-over-par 72 and ended up winning by nine over Hollis Stacy. It was the second of back-to-back wins for Alcott, who had won the Mayflower Classic the previous week.
Salem (Mass.) Country Club, the Donald Ross-designed course, has had six national championships, the first being the 1932 U.S. Women's Amateur. It was followed by the 1954 Women's Open, 1977 Men's Senior Amateur, 1984 Women's Open, and the 2001 and 2017 Men's Senior Open. The '84 Women's Open began on July 12 and I recall attending the championship on the weekend with my wife. We had moved to the East Coast earlier in the year to work for Golf Digest, and in June had watched the men play the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. It was quite the introduction to National Open golf.