It was at this time in 2009 that Tiger Woods, who in 2021 emerged from a near fatal or debilitating car accident, said he was taking a sustained leave of absence from the golf tour because of the need to rehab his marriage due to infidelity that blew up around Thanksgiving. The Associated Press report said the move was “the biggest fallout yet from two shocking weeks filled with allegations of extramarital affairs. ‘I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person,’ Woods said on his Web site. Woods and his wife, Elin, have been married for five years and have a 2-year-old daughter and a 10-month-old son. The announcement came two weeks after Woods crashed his SUV into a tree outside his Florida home, setting in motion a stunning downfall for the world's No. 1 player who for 13 years rarely made news off the golf course. One woman who said she had a 31-month affair with Woods shared a voice mail that she said Woods left her two nights before his Nov. 27 accident.”
On this date in 1966, Arnold Palmer and partner Jack Nicklaus won the PGA National Team Championship, shooting scores of 63-66-63-64—256. And one of the giant killers in Arnold Palmer’s career was born on this date in 1937 in Cottonwood, Idaho. Don Bies, who won once on the PGA Tour, seven times on the senior and is still living, beat third-seeded Arnie on August 26, 1972, at the Country Club of North Carolina in the first round of the U.S. Professional Match-Play Golf Championship.
On this date in 1984, Australian great Peter Thomson won the 46th Senior PGA Championship at PGA National with a score of two-under 286, three shots ahead of Don January. It was one of nine titles Thomson won on the senior tour that year alone. And one of the most unlikely of major champions, Orville (Sarge) Moody, was born on this date in 1933 in Chickasha, Oklahoma. Moody won the U.S. Open of 1969, going through both stages of qualifying.
in 2001, the Hyundai Team Matches began on this date with the Champions Tour Semifinals of Tom Watson-Andy North defeating Arnold Palmer-Bruce Fleisher, 5 and 3. And Steve Elkington, whose 10 PGA Tour victories were highlighted by a 1995 PGA win, was born on this date in 1962 in Inverell, New South Wales.
Today’s date that will live in infamy does not feel like a golf one but there’s a good anecdote anyway: On this date in 1980, Arnold Palmer defeated Paul Harney in a one-hole, sudden-death playoff with a birdie to win the PGA Seniors' Ch. at Turnberry Isle C.C. And on this date in 1969, Palmer won the Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic with a final-round 65 and four-round aggregate of 270. He won $25,000. The previous week he had won the inaugural Heritage Golf Classic, giving him back-to-back victories.
On this date in 1981, Miller Barber won the PGA Seniors' Championship at Turnberry Isle by a pair of shots over Arnold Palmer. And on this day in 2003, Arnold Palmer played for the first time in the then titled Office Depot Father-Son Challenge, with grandson Sam Saunders. The two shot 65-67—132, to place 12th.
Don January, who won the regular PGA Championship, on this date in 1982 won the PGA Seniors' Championship, at PGA National, by one shot, edging Julius Boros, who was the 1968 PGA champ. Arnold Palmer finished T-3. And on this date in 1959, Palmer shot a round-3 66 at the Coral Gables Open to post a T-3. In 2004, Arnold and grandson Sam Saunders finished Day 2 of Father-Son Challenge, shooting a second straight 65 for a T-12 finish.
Arnold and Sandra Palmer weren’t related, but they had fun with the idea and played as partners in the Pepsi-Cola Mixed Team Championship. On this date in 1977, they finished four rounds with 69-69-70-67—275 and tied for third, five behind the winners Hollis Stacy and Jerry Pate. Also, Italian golfer Costantino Rocca was born on this date in 1956. A one-time Ryder Cup player, Rocca’s big spotlight moment was nearly winning the Open Championship of 1995 at St. Andrews, losing to John Daly in a four-hole playoff.
On this date in 1961, Arnold Palmer shot a final-round 68 for a four-round total of 278 at West Palm Beach C.C. to finish second by four shots to Gay Brewer in the West Palm Beach Open and earn $1,900. Also, U.S. Open champion of 1911 Mike Brady was born in the Boston area in 1887 and died at age 85 on this date in 1972 in Dunedin, Florida. He won nine PGA type tournaments.
On this date in 1979, Arnold Palmer shot a 66 in the Brazilian Open to tie for third with a 272 total, earning $3,300. Fidel de Luca won in a playoff with Robert De Vicenzo. Also on this date, Jay Haas, nephew to 1968 Masters winner Bob Goalby and who never got over the hump to win a major himself but did win two senior tour majors, was born in 1953 in St Louis. Haas has other golfers of renown in his family. Brother Jerry played the tour and is coach of the Wake Forest men’s golf team; sons Jay, Jr., and Bill also played the tour.
On this date in 1939, Lee Buck Trevino was born in Dallas, Texas. Regarded as one of the greatest ball-strikers in golf history, Trevino won six majors and 29 PGA Tour events and was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981. Also, on this date in 1973, Jack Nicklaus won the Walt Disney World Open at 13-under-par 275, one stroke ahead of Mason Rudolph. The victory made Nicklaus the first player to reach $2 million in career earnings on the PGA Tour.
On this date in 1969, Arnold Palmer ended a long winless drought by winning the first Heritage Classic at Hilton Head Island, S.C. Here is the game story lede from UPI: Arnold Palmer, unable to mount any semblance of a charge, staggered to his first tournament victory in nearly 15 months , firing a three-over-par 74 for a 282 and a three-stroke edge in the first Heritage classic. Palmer, three shots up on the field going into the final round, had nines of 38-36 over the lush 36-35—71 Harbour Town Golf Links, a spanking new layout built by Jack Nicklaus on this island retreat for the wealthy. Young Richard Crawford wound up second with a 73 for a 72-hole total of 285. Palmer pocketed a check for $20,000, pushing his earnings for 1969 to $80,081.28. He last won a tournament Sept. 15, 1968, when he was victorious at the Kemper Open. Arnie’s final tally was 68-71-70-74—283.
On this day in 1959, Arnold Palmer won the West Palm Beach Open, with rounds of 72-67-66-76—281, for $2,000. He defeated Gay Brewer and Pete Cooper in a four-hole, sudden-death playoff. Also, the inaugural Walt Disney World Open Invitational began on this date with a practice round at the Disney Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Jack Nicklaus would end up winning first prize of $30,000 in the rain-delayed event that ended on a Monday. Nicklaus won with a 15-under total of 273. The first prize of $30,000 pushed him up to $244,490 (and 50 cents) for the year to set a PGA record, breaking his own mark of four years earlier of $211,566.66.
One of the most distinguished gentlemen pros, Henry Picard, was born on this date in 1906 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The winner of the 1938 Masters and 1939 PGA, Picard was appreciated for his demeanor and character, and was well liked by subsequent generations of pros, such as Arnold Palmer. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in April 2006, 100 years after his birth. On this date in 1987, the first day of the Skins Game was held at TPC at PGA West in La Quinta, California. By the second day, Lee Trevino had won the most money with $310,000, with Jack Nicklaus and Fuzzy Zoeller next with $70,000 each. Arnold Palmer was shut out with no skins and no cash.
James Braid, one of the Great Triumvirate members with Harry Vardon and J.H.Taylor, died on this date in 1950 at age 80. Like Taylor, Braid was a five-time Open champion, winning it in 1901, 05-06, 08, 10. Also, on this date in 1966, Kathy Whitworth won the LPGA Titleholders Championship at Augusta Country Club with a 291 total, two better than Judy Kimball and Mary Mills, giving Whitworth back-to-back titles in the event.
Fred Herd, one of the foreign players who dominated the U.S. Open in the early years, was born on this date in 1873 in St. Andrews, Scotland. He won the fourth U.S. Open, in 1898, when it was played at the Myopia Hunt Club in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, which was the first U.S. Open to be competed at 72 holes. And on this date in 1920, the U.S. Golf Association unveiled the organization’s Green Section, its program to educate about and improve green-keeping at golf courses.
On this date in 1984, the second Skins Game ended with Jack Nicklaus winning with 9 skins and $240,000. Arnold Palmer had 0 skins. Others: Tom Watson 9 skins, $120,000; Gary Player 0 skins, $0. It was held at Desert Highlands in Scottsdale, Arizona, where the first Skins Game had been held the previous year. Also, Art Wall Jr., who battled Arnold Palmer in the amateur ranks then won the Masters behind and ahead of him in 1959, was born on this date in 1923 in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.
On this date in 1960, Arnold Palmer shot a 68 in the first round of the Mobile Sertoma Open en route to winning a few days later. Scott Hoch, whose career was sadly defined by his near miss in the 1989 Masters, was born on this date in 1955 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hoch missed a short putt to win the Masters on the 10th hole, the first hole of sudden death with Nick Faldo, who then won on the next hole with a birdie. But Hoch was a multi tour-winner who twice represented the U.S. in the Ryder Cup.
On this date in 2018, Phil Mickelson won the $9 million winner-take-all match with Tiger Woods in Las Vegas on the 22nd hole by making a four-foot putt to win the playoff. One of the most unusual endings in international team play took place on this date in the 2003 Presidents Cup at Fancourt Hotel and Country Club. The U.S. and International teams were tied at 17, putting Tiger Woods and Ernie Els into a playoff. Three holes later, the players were still tied and the match was declared a tie due to darkness and the cup was shared.
On this date in 1936, the 19th PGA Championship concluded at Pinehurst Country Club No. 2 with Denny Shute winning his first of two straight PGAs. He defeated Jimmy Thomson in the final, 3 and 2. And 62 years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, we remember how Arnold Palmer had been trying to arrange a golf game with the president. The two would have spoken the same language about vitality, new frontiers to explore, and of course, golf. There had been a mutual hope that the two could schedule a golf outing, but the president’s nagging back ailment prevented one such meeting. Palmer said he had been on his way to Palm Springs one time with the intention of playing with Kennedy, explaining, “We were going to play some golf and the White House called me and said, ‘Arnie, forget it.’ I said why, I want to do it. They said he hurt his back and was going to take some time off and not play for a while, and just couldn’t do it, and that was it.” Kennedy had, in fact, made news in July 1963 when he played golf for the first time in two years due to his back. He played five holes at the Hyannis Port Club in Massachusetts and bogeyed all five.