Timeline of golf history (1945-1999)

1945–1949

1945

1945 in sports

1945 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.Note — many sporting events did not take place because of World War II-American football:...

Byron Nelson

John Byron Nelson, Jr. was an American PGA Tour golfer between 1935 and 1946.Nelson and two other well known golfers of the time, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, were born within seven months of each other in 1912...

wins 18 tournaments in a calendar year to set an all-time PGA Tour

PGA Tour

The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

record-including a record 11 in a row and a record 19 consecutive rounds under 70. His total prize earnings during his 11-win streak, $30,000, is less than last place money for the PGA Tour Championship by 1992.

The Tam O'Shanter Open offers a then-record purse of $60,000.

1946

1946 in sports

-American football:* All-America Football Conference begins play. Cleveland Browns win the championship by beating New York Yankees 14-9.* Chicago Bears win the NFL crown by defeating the New York Giants 24-14 in New York.-Association football:England...

Sam Snead

Samuel Jackson Snead was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for most of four decades. Snead won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven majors. He failed to win a U.S...

travels to St Andrews to compete in the first post-war British Open

The Open Championship

The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...

, and is victorious, winning by four shots from Johnny Bulla

Johnny Bulla

John Guthrie Bulla was an American professional golfer.Bulla was born in Newell, West Virginia. He played on the PGA Tour, winning the 1941 Los Angeles Open, and finished runner-up three times in the majors, including twice to Sam Snead at the 1946 British Open and 1949 Masters...

and Bobby Locke

Bobby Locke

Arthur D'Arcy "Bobby" Locke was the first internationally successful South African professional golfer. He won four Open Championships.-Early years:...

.

Lloyd Mangrum

Lloyd Mangrum

Lloyd Eugene Mangrum was an American professional golfer. He was known for his smooth swing and his relaxed demeanour on the course, which earned him the nickname "Mr. Icicle".Mangrum was born in Trenton, Texas...

wins the U.S. Open in a second playoff, after three players - Mangrum, Byron Nelson

Byron Nelson

and Vic Ghezzi

Vic Ghezzi

Victor J. Ghezzi was an American golfer. He won 11 times on the PGA Tour including one major championship, the 1941 PGA Championship. He was selected for three Ryder Cup teams, 1939, 1941, and 1943 but each was canceled due to World War II...

- all tie with 72 in the first playoff.

The U.S. Women's Open is instituted. Patty Berg

Patty Berg

Patricia Jane Berg was an American professional golfer and a founding member and then leading player on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Her 15 major title wins remains the all-time record for most major wins by a female golfer...

is the first winner.

1947

1947 in sports

-American football:* Chicago Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Eagles 28-21 to win the NFL championship.-Association football:England* First Division – Liverpool win the 1946-47 title.* FA Cup – Charlton Athletic beat Burnley 1-0 after extra time...

Mildred "Babe" Zaharias

Babe Zaharias

Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias was an American athlete who achieved outstanding success in golf, basketball, and track and field...

becomes the first American to win the British Ladies Amateur

British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship

The British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship was founded in 1893 by the Ladies' Golf Union of Great Britain. Until the dawn of the professional era in 1976, it was the most important golf tournament for women in Great Britain and would eventually begin to draw golfers from continental Europe...

, at Gullane.

Golf is televised

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

for the first time, in a local St. Louis telecast of the U.S. Open.

Lew Worsham

Lew Worsham

Lewis Elmer Worsham, Jr. was an American professional golfer.Worsham was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. In 1947, he won the U.S. Open by defeating Sam Snead in an 18-hole playoff at the St. Louis Country Club in Clayton, Missouri after the two men had finished tied at 282 in regulation....

wins a playoff for the U.S. Open against Sam Snead

Sam Snead

. The playoff ends in controversy as Worsham asks officials to measure which ball is closest to the hole, just as Snead is about to putt. The measure proves Snead is to putt first, but he misses, and Worsham holes his putt for victory.

Amateur Frank Stranahan

Frank Stranahan

Frank Richard Stranahan was a successful amateur golf champion. Stranahan was also the number one power lifter in his weight class from 1945 to 1954 and he became known on the golf course and off as the "Toledo strongman" long before the modern game of golf and fitness...

finishes runner-up at both the U.S. Masters (two shots behind Jimmy Demaret

Jimmy Demaret

James Newton Demaret was an American professional golfer. He won 31 PGA Tour events in a long career between 1935 and 1957, and was the first three-time winner of the Masters....

), and the British Open (a shot behind Fred Daly

Fred Daly (golfer)

Frederick Daly was a Northern Irish professional golfer who was best known for winning The Open Championship of 1947 at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake.Daly was born in Portrush, County Antrim...

). Leading amateur players would continue to make occasional forays onto the leaderboards of major championships (excepting the PGA, for obvious reasons) until the early 1960s, since when it has become extremely rare for an amateur to finish in the top-ten.

Jim Ferrier

Jim Ferrier

James B. Ferrier was an Australian professional golfer from Manly, New South Wales. He became an American citizen in 1944.-Early years:...

becomes the first Australian to win a major championship, when he defeats Chick Harbert 2 and 1 in the final of the PGA Championship

PGA Championship

The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...

.

Golf World
Golf World
Golf World is a weekly magazine covering the game of golf published by Condé Nast Publications. It celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2007, and is therefore the oldest golf publication in the United States...

magazine is founded.

1948

1948 in sports

-American football:* University of Michigan wins college football national championship.* Cleveland Browns 49–7 Buffalo Bills in the All-America Football Conference championship game....

Henry Cotton wins his third British Open

The Open Championship

, at the age of 41.

Ben Hogan

Ben Hogan

William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game...

wins eleven tournaments during the season, including both the U.S. Open and PGA Championships.

Club professional Claude Harmon

Claude Harmon

Eugene Claude Harmon, Sr. was an American golfer.Harmon was born in Savannah, Georgia, and spent much of his boyhood in the Orlando area. A youthful prodigy, Harmon qualified for the U.S. Amateur at age 15 in 1931...

- invited after finishing twentieth in the previous year's U.S. Open - wins the Masters championship.

Bobby Locke

Bobby Locke

Arthur D'Arcy "Bobby" Locke was the first internationally successful South African professional golfer. He won four Open Championships.-Early years:...

sets a PGA Tour record with a 16-stroke winning margin in the Chicago Victory National Championship.

Herbert Warren Wind's authoritative "The Story of American Golf" is published.

The U.S. Junior Amateur is instituted. Ken Venturi

Ken Venturi

Kenneth Venturi is an American former professional golfer and golf broadcaster.-Early years and amateur career:Venturi was born in San Francisco, California. He learned golf from an early age, and developed his game at Harding Park Golf Course and other public courses in the area...

loses to Dean Lind in the first final.

The "USGA Golf Journal" is founded.

1949

1949 in sports

-American football:* Cleveland Browns 21–7 San Francisco 49ers for the All-America Football Conference championship. After the 1949 season, the Browns, 49ers and original Baltimore Colts all joined the NFL for the 1950 season....

In February, Ben Hogan

Ben Hogan

William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game...

is involved in a terrible car accident that nearly kills him, and leaves him unable to walk, let alone play golf, for the whole season. In his absence, Sam Snead

Sam Snead

enjoys his finest season, winning the Masters, the PGA Championship and finishing second at the U.S. Open to Cary Middlecoff

Cary Middlecoff

Emmett Cary Middlecoff was a dentist who gave up his practice to become a professional golfer on the PGA Tour in the 1940s....

.

Bobby Locke

Bobby Locke

Arthur D'Arcy "Bobby" Locke was the first internationally successful South African professional golfer. He won four Open Championships.-Early years:...

becomes the first South African to win the British Open

The Open Championship

.

Louise Suggs

Louise Suggs

Mae Louise Suggs is a retired professional golfer, one of the founders of the LPGA Tour and thus modern ladies' golf.-Amateur career:Born in Atlanta, Suggs had a very successful amateur career, beginning as a teenager...

wins the U.S. Women's Open by a record margin of 14 strokes.

Marie Roke of Wollaston, Massachusetts aces a 393 yard (359 m) hole—the longest ace ever recorded by a woman.

The U.S. side defeat Great Britain and Ireland 7–5 to win the Ryder Cup

Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup is a biennial golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour, and is contested every two years, the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe...

at Ganton, in Yorkshire. The following week, the team stay in England to accept invites to the News of the World Match Play; here, however, they are unable to take the trophy, for although Lloyd Mangrum

Lloyd Mangrum

reaches the semi-final, the eventual winner is Welshman Dai Rees

Dai Rees

David James Rees, CBE was one of the Britain's leading golfers either side of World War II.The winner of many prestigious tournaments in Britain, Europe and farther afield, Rees is best remembered as the captain of the Great Britain Ryder Cup team which defeated the United States at Lindrick Golf...

1950s

1950

1950 in sports

-American football:* NFL Championship – Cleveland Browns win 30–28 over the Los Angeles Rams* Oklahoma Sooners – college football champions.* Coaches Poll established to rank top 20 American college football teams-Association football:...

The LPGA

LPGA

The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...

is founded, replacing the ailing Women's Professional Golf Association.

Ben Hogan

Ben Hogan

William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game...

, only weeks after returning to the PGA Tour following a near-fatal auto accident, wins the U.S. Open at Merion.

1951

1951 in sports

1951 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* January 14 – The National Football League has its first Pro Bowl Game ....

Francis Ouimet

Francis DeSales Ouimet was an American golfer, who is frequently referred to as the "father of amateur golf" in the United States. He won the 1913 U.S. Open, and was the first American elected Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews...

becomes the first American Captain of the R & A.

The USGA

United States Golf Association

The United States Golf Association is the United States' national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the Rules of Golf. The USGA also provides a national handicap system...

and the R & A, in a conference, complete a newly revised Rules of Golf

Rules of golf

The rules of golf are a standard set of regulations and procedures by which the sport of golf should be played. They are jointly written and administered by the R&A the governing body of golf worldwide except in the United States and Mexico, which are the responsibility of the United States Golf...

. Although in 1951 the R & A and the USGA continue to differ over the size of the golf ball, all other conflicts are resolved in this momentous conference. The center-shafted putter is legalized worldwide. The out-of-bounds penalty is standardized at stroke-and-distance, and the stymie

Stymie

A stymie refers to an archaic rule in the game of golf.In singles match play when one player's ball blocked the path of another player's ball on the green, but were not within six inches of each other, the obstructing player's ball was not lifted....

is finally and forever abolished.

Golf Digest
Golf Digest
Golf Digest is a monthly golf magazine published by Condé Nast Publications in the United States. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competitive golf. Condé Nast Publications also publishes the more specialized , and Golf World Business. The...

is founded, with Bill Davis as editor.

On February 10, Al Brosch

Al Brosch

Alfred "Red" Brosch was an American professional golfer.Brosch worked pirmarily as a club pro but also played on the PGA Tour. He was the first player to shoot a round of 60 on the Tour, in the third round of the 1951 Texas Open...

became the first PGA player to shoot a round of 11 under par. Brosch set the record in the third round of the Texas Open at Brackenridge Park Golf Course in San Antonio, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

.

Despite competing in only 5 events in a playing schedule severely curtailed following his car crash, Ben Hogan

Ben Hogan

William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game...

finishes fourth on the U.S. Tour money list. From his five starts, Hogan wins the Masters, the U.S. Open and the World Championship of Golf. He finishes 2nd and 4th in his other two events - the Seminole Pro-Am and the Colonial Invitational.

1952

1952 in sports

1952 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* NFL Championship – Detroit Lions win 17–7 over the Cleveland BrownsGeorgia Tech wins national college football championship-England:...

Marlene Hagge wins the Sarasota Open when she is 18 years 14 days old—an LPGA record.

Patty Berg shoots an LPGA-record of 64 for an 18-hole round.

The National Hole-in-One Clearing House is established by Golf Digest.

1953

1953 in sports

1953 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* NFL Championship – Detroit Lions won 17–16 over the Cleveland Browns-England:* First Division – Arsenal win the 1952–53 title....

Tommy Armour

Thomas Dickson Armour was a Scottish-American professional golfer. He was nicknamed The Silver Scot.Armour was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and educated at Fettes College and the University of Edinburgh....

's "How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time" is published and becomes the first golf book ever to hit the best-seller lists.

Ben Hogan wins the first three legs of the modern Grand Slam

Grand Slam of Golf

You may wish to visit:*Grand Slam for coverage of the concept of a grand slam as applied to golf*PGA Grand Slam of Golf, for the annual four man tournament for the winners of the major golf championships for men....

(The Masters, U.S. Open, and British Open), but does not compete in the final leg, the PGA Championship

PGA Championship

.

The Tam O'Shanter World Championship becomes the first tournament to be nationally televised. Lew Worsham holes a 104 yard (95 m) wedge shot on the final hole for eagle and victory in one of the most dramatic finishes ever.

The Canada Cup is instituted, the first event that brings together teams from all over the world. After 1966 the tournament is known as the World Cup. The inaugural tournament is won by Argentina, whose two-man team of Roberto DeVicenzo

Roberto DeVicenzo

Roberto De Vicenzo is a former professional golfer from Argentina. He won more than 230 tournaments worldwide in his career including eight on the PGA Tour and most famously the 1967 Open Championship.-Biography:...

and Antonio Cerdá

Antonio Cerdá

Antonio Cerdá is an Argentine professional golfer.Cerdá finished second in the 1951 British Open to Max Faulkner, and second in the 1953 British Open to Ben Hogan, among seven consecutive top-ten finishes in the championship. He won several national opens in Europe in the 1950s and won the first...

beats a 9-team field that includes a United States team of Julius Boros

Julius Boros

Julius Nicholas Boros was a Hungarian-American professional golfer.-Early years:Boros was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut...

and Jim Turnesa

Jim Turnesa

James R. Turnesa was one of seven famous golfing brothers; Phil , Frank , Joe , Mike , Doug , Jim , and Willie...

. Within a couple of years, more than 30 nations are represented at the event, which becomes one of the most important fixtures on golf's calendar.

1954

1954 in sports

1954 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* NFL Championship – Cleveland Browns win 56-10 over the Detroit Lions* Ohio State Buckeyes - college football champions.-Artistic gymnastics:* 1954 World Championships...

Sam Snead

defeats Ben Hogan

Ben Hogan

William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game...

70–71 in a playoff for the U.S. Masters

Peter Thomson wins the British Open

The Open Championship

, the first of five victories he will achieve in the event.

Architect Robert Trent Jones

Robert Trent Jones

Robert Trent Jones, Sr. was a golf course architect who designed about 500 golf courses in at least 40 US states and 35 other countries all around the world...

, upon receiving complaints that he has made the par-3 fourth hole at Baltusrol

Baltusrol Golf Club

The Baltusrol Golf Club is a private 36-hole golf club located in Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey. Among the many prestigious tournaments it has hosted, Baltusrol was most recently the site of the 2005 PGA Championship. The course architect is A. W...

too hard for the upcoming U.S. Open, plays the hole to see for himself and records a hole-in-one.

The U.S. Open is nationally televised for the first time.

The Tam O'Shanter World Championship offers the first $100,000 purse for a golf tournament. Bob Toski wins the $50,000 first prize. Toski's three other tournament victories on the PGA Tour this year earn him a total of $8,000.

"All-Star Golf," a filmed series of matches, debuts on network television.

Babe Zaharias returns to the LPGA Tour following cancer surgery and wins the U.S. Women's Open.

The first PGA Merchandise Show is held in a parking lot in Dunedin, Florida

Dunedin, Florida

Dunedin is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The population was 35,691 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 36,632...

, outside the PGA National Golf Club. Salesmen work the show out of the trunks of their cars. The Show goes on to become one of the main events on the golfing calendar—by 1994 it grows to over 30,000 attendees, four days, and has become the single largest tenant of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, spilling over 220,000 square feet (20,000 m²) of exhibit space.

1955

1955 in sports

-American football:* NFL Championship – Cleveland Browns won 38-14 over the Los Angeles Rams* Oklahoma Sooners - college football champions.-England:* First Division - Chelsea win the 1954-55 title.* FA Cup - Newcastle United beat Manchester City 3-1....

Ben Hogan

William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game...

, chasing a record fifth U.S. Open title, surprisingly loses a playoff to rookie Jack Fleck

Jack Fleck

Jack Fleck is an American professional golfer best known for winning the 1955 U.S. Open. He is the oldest living U.S. Open champion....

.

On February 17, Mike Souchak

Mike Souchak

Michael Souchak was an American professional golfer who won 15 times on the PGA Tour in the 1950s and 1960s, and played for the 1959 and 1961 Ryder Cup teams.-Early years, college:...

began one of the most spectacular four-day performances in PGA history with a round of 60. In winning the Texas Open at the Brackenridge Park Golf Course in San Antonio, Texas

Texas

, three days later Souchak set a 72-hole record by finishing 27 under par. His rounds of 60–68–64–65 resulted in a total of 257. Souchak's record withstood the challenges of nearly 2,000 PGA events before Mark Calcavecchia

Mark Calcavecchia

Mark John Calcavecchia is an American professional golfer and a former PGA Tour member. During his professional career, he has won thirteen PGA Tour events, including the 1989 Open Championship. Calcavecchia currently plays on the Champions Tour.-Early years:Calcavecchia was born in Laurel,...

finally broke it in 2001.

1956

1956 in sports

1956's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* The men's Olympic Gold Medal:** Downhill: Toni Sailer, Austria** Slalom: Toni Sailer, Austria** Giant Slalom: Toni Sailer, Austria* The women's Olympic Gold Medal:** Downhill: Madeleine Berthod, Switzerland...

Cary Middlecoff

Emmett Cary Middlecoff was a dentist who gave up his practice to become a professional golfer on the PGA Tour in the 1940s....

, winner of the Masters the previous year, wins the U.S. Open title, by a shot from Ben Hogan

Ben Hogan

William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game...

and Julius Boros

Julius Boros

Julius Nicholas Boros was a Hungarian-American professional golfer.-Early years:Boros was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut...

. Peter Thomson, who would go on to win a third consecutive British Open championship, finishes fourth.

Jack Burke, Jr. wins both the Masters and the PGA Championship, his Masters victory coming after third-round leader, amateur Ken Venturi

Ken Venturi

, stumbles with an 80 in the final round.

The current yardage guides for par are adopted by the USGA.

1957

1957 in sports

1957 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* NFL Championship – Detroit Lions won 59-14 over the Cleveland Browns.*College football champions Auburn University-Association football:...

The Great Britain and Ireland team wins the Ryder Cup

Ryder Cup

Matches at Lindrick, ending a drought that dates back to 1935.

Harvie Ward

Harvie Ward

Edward Harvie Ward, Jr. was an American golfer best known for his amateur career. He is best known for winning both the U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur....

loses his amateur status for accepting expenses from sponsors for golf tournaments. The ruling is reversed in 1958.

Ben Hogan's Five Lessons is published.

1958

1958 in sports

1958 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* NFL Championship – December 28 the Baltimore Colts won 23-17 over the New York Giants in overtime. The game is later called the "Greatest game ever played"....

Arnold Palmer

Arnold Daniel Palmer is an American professional golfer, who is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men's professional golf. He has won numerous events on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour, dating back to 1955...

is allowed a controversial free drop to save par in the final round of The Masters

The Masters Tournament

The Masters Tournament, also known as The Masters , is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, it is the first of the majors to be played each year...

, and he goes on to defeat Ken Venturi.

1959

1959 in sports

1959 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* NFL Championship – Baltimore Colts won 31-16 over the New York Giants* August 14 - The American Football League is founded...

Art Wall enjoys his finest season, winning the U.S. Masters and topping the U.S. Tour Money list following three further victories. The year also marks the arrival as major champions of Gary Player

Gary Player

Gary Player DMS; OIG is a South African professional golfer. With his nine major championship victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of golf. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. Player has won 165 tournaments on six continents over six...

, winner of the British Open, and Billy Casper

Billy Casper

William Earl Casper, Jr. is an American professional golfer who was one of the most prolific tournament winners on the PGA Tour from the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s.-Early years:...

, winner of the U.S. Open.

Bill Wright, in winning the U.S. Amateur Public Links

U.S. Amateur Public Links

The U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship, often referred to as the Public Links or the Publinx, is a men's amateur golf tournament, one of 10 individual amateur championships organized by the United States Golf Association. The USGA typically calls the event the U.S. Amateur Public Links, which...

, becomes the first African-American to win a national championship.

Golf Magazine
Golf Magazine
Golf Magazine is a monthly golf magazine owned by Time Inc.. It was started in 1960 by Universal Publishing and Distributing, who sold it to Times Mirror in 1972. Time Inc. acquired it in 2000. It was the world's most widely read golf publication from August 2006 to January 2007. The magazine is...

is founded, with Charles Price as the first editor.

1960s

1960

1960 in sports

1960 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* The men's Olympic Gold Medal:** Downhill: Jean Vuarnet, France** Slalom: Ernst Hinterseer, Austria** Giant Slalom: Roger Staub, Switzerland** The women's Olympic Gold Medal:...

Arnold Palmer

comes back from six shots down in the final round to win the U.S. Open, with 20-year-old Amateur Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

Jack William Nicklaus , nicknamed "The Golden Bear", is an American professional golfer. He won 18 career major championships on the PGA Tour over a span of 25 years and is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional golfers of all time. In addition to his 18 Majors, he was runner-up a...

finishing runner-up. With his victory, Palmer completes the first two legs of the modern Grand Slam after winning The Masters in April, the first player to win both since Ben Hogan in 1953. He goes on to finish second to Australian Kel Nagle

Kel Nagle

Kelvin David George Nagle is an Australian professional golfer best known for winning The Open Championship in 1960. He won at least one tournament each year from 1949 to 1975.Nagle was born in North Sydney...

in the British Open to end his bid for the Grand Slam. Palmer's entry in the British Open is credited with reviving American interest in the championship, which had rarely attracted America's leading players since World War Two. Palmer went on to win the British Open in both 1961 and 1962.

Lifting, cleaning, and repairing ballmarks is allowed on the putting green for the first time.

1961

1961 in sports

1961 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* AFL Championship – Houston Oilers won 10-3 over the San Diego Chargers* NFL Championship – Green Bay Packers won 37-0 over the New York Giants...

Gary Player

becomes the first foreign player to win The Masters.

Caucasians-only clause stricken from the PGA constitution, and at the Greater Greensboro Open, Charlie Sifford

Charlie Sifford

Charles Sifford is an African American former professional golfer who helped to desegregate the PGA of America.Sifford was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He began work as a caddy at the age of thirteen...

becomes the first black golfer to play in a PGA co-sponsored tournament in the South.

1962

1962 in sports

1962 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* AFL Championship – Dallas Texans won 20-17 over the Houston Oilers in double overtime* NFL Championship – Green Bay Packers won 16-7 over the New York Giants...

Dr. Joseph Boydstone records 11 aces in one calendar year. Three were recorded in one round, at Bakersfield C.C., Calif.

Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

wins his first professional tournament, the U.S. Open, making him (among his many other notable records) one of very few players to win the U.S. Open as their first pro victory (Orville Moody

Orville Moody

Orville James Moody was an American professional golfer who won numerous tournaments in his career. He won the 1969 U.S. Open, the last champion in the 20th century to win through local and sectional qualifying....

and Jerry Pate

Jerry Pate

Jerome Kendrick "Jerry" Pate is an American golfer.Jerry Pate was born in Macon, Georgia. He attended the University of Alabama, where he played on the golf team. Pate had a distinguished amateur career. He won the U.S. Amateur in 1974, and the following year he was a member of victorious U.S....

would later emulate the feat).

Painted lines are first utilized to mark water hazards at the U.S. Open.

1963

1963 in sports

1963 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* January 29 – First inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced* AFL Eastern Division Playoff – Boston Patriots win 26–8 over the Buffalo Bills...

Arnold Palmer

becomes the first professional to earn over $100,000 in official prize money in one calendar year.

Mickey Wright

Mickey Wright

Mary Kathryn "Mickey" Wright is an American professional golfer. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.-Early life:...

wins a record 13 events on the LPGA Tour in one year.

Bob Charles

Bob Charles (golfer)

Sir Robert James Charles, ONZ, KNZM, CBE is a New Zealand professional golfer whose achievements over five decades rank him among the most successful left-handed golfers of all time, being the first lefty to win a golf major, winning more than 70 titles, and beating his age twice during a...

becomes the first New Zealander to win a major championship, winning the British Open after a playoff with American Phil Rodgers

Phil Rodgers

Phil Rodgers is an American professional golfer.Rodgers was born in San Diego, California. He won the 1958 NCAA Division I Championship while playing at the University of Houston...

.

The casting method for irons is first employed.

1964

1964 in sports

1964 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Men's Olympic Gold Medal:** Downhill: Egon Zimmermann, Austria** Slalom: Josef Stiegler, Austria** Giant Slalom: François Bonlieu, France* Women's Olympic Gold Medal:...

PGA National opens, in Palm Beach, Florida

Palm Beach, Florida

The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...

.

Mickey Wright sets the LPGA 18-hole record with a 62 at Hogan Park GC in the Tall City Open.

Norman Manley, an amateur from Long Beach, California

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

, scores holes-in-one on two successive par-4s at Del Valley CC, Calif. It is the first and only time this feat has been accomplished.

Tony Lema

Tony Lema

Anthony David "Tony" Lema was an American professional golfer, who rose to fame in the beginning of golf's modern era, but had his young life and career cut short in an aircraft accident. His most prestigious victory was the 1964 British Open.-Biography:Lema was born in Oakland, California, to...

, the colorful U.S. professional, wins the British Open at St Andrews. It would be Lema's greatest triumph before he was killed in an air crash in 1966, aged just 32.

Mark McCormack

Mark McCormack

Mark Hume McCormack was an American lawyer, sports agent for professional athletes and a prolific writer...

establishes the Piccadilly World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, which brings together the year's four major winners, and other invited leading players of the year from the British and American tours. The inaugural event is won by Arnold Palmer

Arnold Palmer

, who defeats Britain's Neil Coles

Neil Coles

Neil Chapman Coles, MBE is an English professional golfer. As of 2005, Coles is only the second man to win a professional golf tournament in six different decades, starting in the 1950s and extending into the 21st century.Coles was born in England...

in the final. Gary Player

Gary Player

would come to dominate the event for the following decade with five wins, twice defeating Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

in the final.

1965

1965 in sports

1965 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* AFL Championship Buffalo Bills won 23-0 over the San Diego Chargers* NFL Championship – Green Bay Packers won 23-12 over the Cleveland Browns on January 2, 1966-England:...

Sam Snead wins the Greater Greensboro Open, his 81st Tour victory, a record (the total was later revised

Golfers with most PGA Tour wins

This is a list of golfers who have won five or more official money events on the PGA Tour.Players under 50 years of age are shown in bold. On his 50th birthday a golfer becomes eligible to compete on the Champions Tour, and he is unlikely to add to his tally of PGA Tour wins after that date This is...

to 82). His victory is the eighth in the Greensboro event, also a record. Finally, he wins at the age of 52, also a PGA Tour record.

Jack Nicklaus sets a tournament record of 271 in winning The Masters.

Gary Player

Gary Player

wins the U.S. Open championship after a playoff with Australian Kel Nagle

Kel Nagle

, to complete a career "Grand Slam" of the four major professional titles. He becomes only the third player (Gene Sarazen

Gene Sarazen

Gene Sarazen was an American professional golfer, one of the world's top players in the 1920s and 1930s. He is one of five golfers to win all the current major championships in his career, the Career Grand Slam:U.S...

and Ben Hogan

Ben Hogan

William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game...

were the first two) to accomplish the feat.

Peter Thomson wins a fifth Open Championship, and in so doing proves that he can beat a field that includes the leading U.S. Tour professionals of the day, many of whom had ignored the event for his wins in the 1950s. On the final day, Thomson overtook Tony Lema

Tony Lema

, Bruce Devlin

Bruce Devlin

Bruce William Devlin is an Australian professional golfer, sportscaster and golf course designer.Devlin was born in Armidale, Australia. He turned pro in 1961 and joined the PGA Tour in 1962 after an amateur career in Australia which included a win at the Australian Amateur in 1959...

and Arnold Palmer

Arnold Palmer

to win.

Dave Marr

Dave Marr

David Francis Marr, Jr. was an American professional golfer and sportscaster, best known for winning the 1965 PGA Championship.-Early years:...

wins the PGA Championship, by two shots from Jack Nicklaus and Billy Casper. Although Marr would never win another major title as a player, he would go on to become one of the most popular and well-respected TV commentators on the game.

Mrs. William Jenkins Sr. of Baltimore, Maryland, double-eagles the par-five 12th hole at Longview GC, the longest ever recorded by a woman.

On October 7, 1965, a 50 mi/h wind gust helped golfer Robert Mitera sink history’s longest hole-in-one, a 447 yards (408.7 m) ace of the 10th hole at Omaha’s Miracle Hill Golf Club.

PGA Tour Qualifying School

Qualifying school

In professional golf the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S. based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the tour for the following season, otherwise known as a...

is inaugurated at PGA National, with 17 golfers of the 49 applicants winning their playing cards.

1966

1966 in sports

1966 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* FIS Alpine World Ski Championships –** Men's combined champion: Jean-Claude Killy, France** Women's combined champion: Marielle Goitschel, France-American football:...

Arnold Palmer blows a six-shot lead in the final round of the U.S. Open, dropping back into a playoff, which he loses, to a surging Billy Casper

Billy Casper

William Earl Casper, Jr. is an American professional golfer who was one of the most prolific tournament winners on the PGA Tour from the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s.-Early years:...

at Olympic. Although he remained one of the world's leading players for another decade, and one of its most influential and charismatic figures for the rest of his career, Palmer would never win another major championship.

Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

wins his first British Open

The Open Championship

championship, to become the fourth player to complete a career "Grand Slam", just a year after Gary Player became the third. It would be another 34 years before a fifth player (Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

) accomplished the feat.

1967

1967 in sports

1967 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* The first Alpine Skiing World Cup is organised for the three ski events: Downhill, Slalom and Giant Slalom:** Men's overall champion: Jean-Claude Killy, France...

After six finishes in the top three without a victory, Argentine Roberto DeVicenzo

Roberto DeVicenzo

wins a popular British Open victory at Hoylake, by two shots from Jack Nicklaus and by six from Gary Player and local favourite Clive Clark.

A year after losing the same event in a playoff to Jack Nicklaus, Gay Brewer

Gay Brewer

Gay Robert Brewer, Jr. was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and won the 1967 Masters Tournament....

wins the Masters.

Charlie Sifford

Charlie Sifford

, by winning the Greater Hartford Open, becomes the first African-American to win a PGA Tour event.

Catherine Lacoste becomes the first amateur to win the U.S. Women's Open.

The Canada Cup changes its name to the World Cup.

1968

1968 in sports

1968 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup:** Men's overall champion: Jean-Claude Killy, France** Women's overall champion: Nancy Greene, Canada-American football:...

Arnold Palmer passes the $1 million mark in career PGA earnings.

The PGA of America and the PGA Tour

PGA Tour

The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

officially split, with the tournament professionals

Professional golf tours

Professional golf tours are the means by which otherwise unconnected professional golf tournaments are organised into a regular schedule. There are separate tours for men and women, with each tour being based in a specific geographical region, although some of their tournaments may be held in other...

forming a breakaway group known as the Association of Professional Golfers. The breach is eventually healed, and a Tournament Players Division of the PGA is formed. Joe Dey is elected the next year as the first PGA Tour commissioner.

Roberto DeVicenzo

Roberto DeVicenzo

"ties" Bob Goalby after regulation play in The Masters, but signs an incorrect scorecard (that showed him having scored a 4 on the 17th hole instead of the 3 he actually took) and so loses the event by that stroke without a playoff. The sad decision is announced to incredulous spectators only after officials and tournament advisors including Bobby Jones

Bobby Jones (golfer)

Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones Jr. was an American amateur golfer, and a lawyer by profession. Jones was the most successful amateur golfer ever to compete on a national and international level...

do everything they can to scour the rulebook for a possible loophole.

Canada wins the World Cup of Golf—the event previously known as the Canada Cup, which they never won—in Italy. Their 2-man team of Al Balding

Al Balding

Allan George Balding was a Canadian professional golfer, who won four events on the PGA Tour. In 1955 he became the first Canadian to win a PGA Tour event in the United States; Canadians Ken Black and Jules Huot had won PGA Tour events in Canada in the 1930s.Balding was born in Toronto,...

and George Knudson

George Knudson

George Alfred Christian Knudson, CM was a Canadian professional golfer, who along with Mike Weir holds the record for the Canadian with the most wins on the PGA Tour, with eight career victories....

beat U.S. team Lee Trevino

Lee Trevino

Lee Buck Trevino is an American professional golfer. He is an icon for Mexican Americans, and is often referred to as "The Merry Mex" and "Supermex". He won six major championships over the course of his career.-Early life:...

and Julius Boros

Julius Boros

Julius Nicholas Boros was a Hungarian-American professional golfer.-Early years:Boros was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut...

by two shots.

Tommy Moore, age 6 years 1 month, 1 week, becomes the youngest player to score a hole-in-one. Moore also becomes, in 1975, the youngest player ever to score a double-eagle.

1969

1969 in sports

1969 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup:** Men's overall champion: Karl Schranz, Austria** Women's overall champion: Gertrud Gabl, Austria-American football:...

Ollie Bowers of Gaffney, South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

completes a record 542 rounds (9,756 holes) in one calendar year.

Tony Jacklin

Tony Jacklin

Anthony Jacklin CBE is an English golfer, who was the most successful British player of his generation. He was also the most successful European Ryder Cup captain ever.-Early life and education:...

becomes the first home player to win the British Open

The Open Championship

for 18 years, with a two-shot victory over Bob Charles

Bob Charles (golfer)

at Royal Lytham.

Jack Nicklaus concedes Tony Jacklin

Tony Jacklin

Anthony Jacklin CBE is an English golfer, who was the most successful British player of his generation. He was also the most successful European Ryder Cup captain ever.-Early life and education:...

's final putt and Britain ties the U.S. in the Ryder Cup Matches, after five consecutive defeats. The gesture is often hailed as "the greatest act of sportsmanship in history."

The trendsetting Harbour Town Golf Links opens on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, designed by Pete Dye

Pete Dye

Paul B. "Pete" Dye is a world-renowned golf course designer and a member of a famous family of course designers. He is married to fellow designer and former amateur champion Alice Dye.-Early life:Pete Dye was born in Urbana, Ohio...

with assistance from Jack Nicklaus.

1970s

1970

1970 in sports

1970 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion – Karl Schranz, Austria** Women's overall season champion – Michèle Jacot, France-American football:...

So often disappointed in final-round battles at Augusta, Billy Casper

Billy Casper

William Earl Casper, Jr. is an American professional golfer who was one of the most prolific tournament winners on the PGA Tour from the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s.-Early years:...

finally wins a Masters championship, after a playoff against fellow veteran Gene Littler

Gene Littler

Gene Alec Littler is an American professional golfer. Known for a solid temperament and nicknamed "Gene the Machine" for his smooth rhythmical swing, he once said that, "Golf is not a game of great shots. It's a game of the best misses. The people who win make the smallest mistakes."-Early years...

.

Tony Jacklin

Tony Jacklin

Anthony Jacklin CBE is an English golfer, who was the most successful British player of his generation. He was also the most successful European Ryder Cup captain ever.-Early life and education:...

becomes the first British winner of the U.S. Open for almost 50 years, at Hazeltine. As of 2009, he is the last European to win this event.

Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

wins a playoff against Doug Sanders

Doug Sanders

George Douglas Sanders is a former American professional golfer who won twenty PGA Tour events during his career.-Early years:Sanders was born in Cedartown, Georgia. He grew up in a poor family, and picked cotton as a teenager...

to win the British Open at St Andrews. Sanders, three times before a runner-up in major championships, missed a short putt on the final hole of regulation play to secure the title.

Bill Burke

Bill Burke

William R. "Bill" Burke was an American professional baseball pitcher and outfielder, who played in 1887 with the Detroit Wolverines, of the National League. He threw right-handed. Burke had a 0-1 record, with a 6.00 ERA, in two games, in his one year career...

, with a 57 at Normandie C.C., sets the all-time official record for low 18-hole score.

Thad Doker of Durham, N.C., records a record two-under par 70 in the World One Club Championship at Lochmere CC.

1971

1971 in sports

1971 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Gustav Thöni, Italy** Women's overall season champion: Annemarie Pröll, Austria-American football:...

JoAnne Carner

JoAnne Gunderson Carner is a former American professional golfer. Her 43 victories on the LPGA Tour led to her induction in the World Golf Hall of Fame. She is the only woman to have won the U.S. Girls' Junior, U.S. Women's Amateur, and U.S. Women's Open titles, and was the first person ever to...

wins the U.S. Women's Open, becoming the first person ever to win three different individual USGA

United States Golf Association

championship events. She had previously won the U.S. Girls' Junior once and the U.S. Women's Amateur five times.

Laura Baugh

Laura Baugh

Laura Zonetta Baugh is an American golfer, who played the LPGA Tour for 25 years. She is a published writer and golf broadcaster.-Early life, family:...

wins the U.S. Women's Amateur at 16 years 2 months of age.

Alan Shepard

Alan Shepard

Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA astronaut who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, in space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit...

hits a six-iron at "Fra Mauro Country Club" on the moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

.

Lee Trevino

Lee Trevino

enjoys an astonishing summer, winning the U.S. Open, the Canadian Open, and then the British Open Championship, in quick succession. He becomes the first player to win the U.S and British Opens in the same year since Ben Hogan in 1953. His British Open victory comes after a final-round duel with immediate crowd favourite Lu Liang-Huan

Lu Liang-Huan

Lu Liang-Huan , or "Mr. Lu" as he came to be known to British golf fans, was a successful Taiwanese golfer who won several important tournaments on the Asian and European circuits between 1959 and 1979.Lu was born in Taipei...

, from Taiwan - "Mr. Lu" - the first time any Asian golfer had finished in the top three of a major tournament.

Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

wins the PGA Championship - unusually played in February in 1971 - but then surprisingly loses the Masters, beaten in the final round by unheralded playing partner Charles Coody

Charles Coody

Billy Charles Coody is an American professional golfer, best known for winning the 1971 Masters Tournament.Coody was born in Stamford, Texas and raised in Abilene, Texas...

. Nicklaus would then lose a playoff for the U.S. Open to Lee Trevino.

The classic golf book Golf in the Kingdom by Michael Murphy

Michael Murphy (author)

Michael Murphy is the co-founder of the Esalen Institute, a key figure in the Human Potential Movement and author of both fiction and non-fiction books on topics related to extraordinary human potential.- Biography :...

, is published.

1972

1972 in sports

1972 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Gustav Thöni, Italy** Women's overall season champion: Annemarie Pröll, Austria-American football:...

Carolyn Cudone

Carolyn Cassidy Cudone was an American amateur golfer.Raised in Staten Island, New York, her mother played golf and encouraged Cudone to play the game. Her amateur golfing career was successful but she is best known for her performance as a seniors' golfer.Sometimes recorded as Mrs. Philip J...

wins the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur

United States Senior Women's Amateur Golf Championship

The United States Senior Women's Amateur Golf Championship was launched in 1962 as an annual tournament for female amateur golfing competitors at least 50 years of age. The format began as a 54-hole stroke play competition over three days until 1997 when it was changed to a match play event....

for a record fifth consecutive time.

Dick Kimbrough completes 364 holes in 24 hours at the 6,068 North Platte CC in Nebraska.

Tom Doty records 10-under-par in four holes at Brookwood CC, Illinois. His streak includes a double-eagle, two holes-in-one, and an eagle.

Spalding introduces the first two-piece ball, the Top-Flite.

Jack Nicklaus completes the first two legs of the modern Grand Slam

Grand Slam of Golf

winning the Masters and the U.S. Open (at Pebble Beach

Pebble Beach Golf Links

Pebble Beach Golf Links is a golf course located in Pebble Beach, California, on the west coast of the United States.Pebble Beach is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful courses in the world. It hugs the rugged coastline and has wide open views of Carmel Bay, opening to the Pacific Ocean,...

), but like Arnold Palmer in 1960, falters in the British Open by finishing second (to Lee Trevino

Lee Trevino

). Nicklaus was also the holder of the 1971 PGA Championship, and so would have become the first golfer to hold all four titles at the same time, although not the first to win four consecutive professional majors. Trevino's one-shot victory at Muirfield comes after he holes seemingly impossible chip shots from off the green at both the 16th and 18th holes in the third round, and then again at the 17th in the final round - snatching the tournament from under the nose of playing partner and home favourite Tony Jacklin

Tony Jacklin

Anthony Jacklin CBE is an English golfer, who was the most successful British player of his generation. He was also the most successful European Ryder Cup captain ever.-Early life and education:...

, who is so stunned he proceeds to three-putt the 17th from 15 feet (4.6 m) then bogey the last as well, to miss out on even second place. The young Jacklin would never again challenge seriously in a major championship.

1973

1973 in sports

1973 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Gustav Thöni, Italy** Women's overall season champion: Annemarie Pröll, Austria-American football:* O.J...

Ben Crenshaw

Ben Daniel Crenshaw is an American professional golfer.Crenshaw was born in Austin, Texas. He attended and played golf at Austin High School and the University of Texas, where he won three NCAA Championships from 1971 to 1973...

wins the NCAA title for a record 3rd consecutive time. Later in the year, after earning his PGA Tour card, he wins the first event he plays as a PGA Tour member, the San Antonio Texas Open.

Johnny Miller

Johnny Miller

John Laurence Miller is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour. He was one of the top players in the world during the mid-1970s; he ranked second in the world on Mark McCormack's world golf rankings in both 1974 and 1975 behind Jack Nicklaus. He is currently the lead golf...

fires a record 63 in the final round to win the U.S. Open at Oakmont.

Tom Weiskopf

Tom Weiskopf

Thomas Daniel Weiskopf is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. His most successful decade was the 1970s, and he won 16 PGA Tour titles between 1968 and 1982. After winding down his tournament career, Weiskopf has become a noted golf course...

enjoys his most successful season, with four U.S. tour victories capped by a victory in the British Open.

Tommy Aaron

Tommy Aaron

Thomas Dean Aaron is a former American professional golfer who was a member of the PGA Tour during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Aaron is best known for winning the 1973 Masters Tournament.- Early years :...

, the player whose mistakenly recorded 4 on Roberto DeVicenzo's card in 1968 was not noticed in time to prevent disaster, wins the U.S. Masters. Britain's young player Peter Oosterhuis

Peter Oosterhuis

Peter A. Oosterhuis is an English professional golfer and golf analyst.-Early years, amateur golf:Oosterhuis was born in London...

leads after 3 rounds but finishes third, the closest any British player had come to victory at Augusta at that time.

The graphite shaft is invented.

Jack Nicklaus wins the PGA Championship and breaks Bobby Jones' record for most major victories with his 14th. Nicklaus wins seven times in total on the U.S. Tour, for the second year in succession, to top the annual U.S. Money List for a sixth time, taking him clear of the record number of five that he had shared with Ben Hogan

Ben Hogan

William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game...

.

1974

1974 in sports

1974 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Piero Gros, Italy** Women's overall season champion: Annemarie Pröll, Austria-American football:...

Deane Beman

Deane R. Beman is an American professional golfer, golf administrator, and golf course architect.Beman was born in Washington, D.C. and graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he played for the varsity golf team. Following graduation, Beman had a career in the insurance...

is elected as the second PGA Tour commissioner.

Gary Player

Gary Player

, aged 39, enjoys arguably his most successful season, winning both the Masters Championship and the British Open. Meanwhile, on the U.S. tour, Johnny Miller

Johnny Miller

wins eight times, the most by any player in a single season since Arnold Palmer in 1960.

Roberto DeVicenzo scores six birdies, an eagle, and three more birdies for a record 11-under par for ten holes, at Valla Allende GC, Argentina.

Jerry Pate

Jerry Pate

wins the U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood C.C. in New Jersey, beating Curtis Strange

Curtis Strange

Curtis Northrup Strange is an American professional golfer. He is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. He spent over 200 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between their debut in 1986 and 1990.-Early years through college:Strange and his...

in the semi-final. The pair would go on to win 3 U.S. Open titles between them in distinguished careers.

The World Golf Hall of Fame

World Golf Hall of Fame

The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site serves both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 golf organizations from all over the world.The Hall of...

is opened in Pinehurst, North Carolina

Pinehurst, North Carolina

Pinehurst is a village in Moore County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 9,706 at the 2000 census. It is the location of the Pinehurst Resort, venue of the 1936 PGA Championship, the 1951 Ryder Cup. The host site for the 1999, 2005,& 2014 U.S. Open Golf Championships, the 2008 U.S....

.

Mike Austin hits a 515 yard (471 m) drive at the 1974 National Seniors Open in Las Vegas, Nev., the longest drive ever recorded in competition.

Jack Nicklaus' "Golf My Way" is published and rapidly becomes one of the best-selling sports books of all time.

Tom Weiskopf

Tom Weiskopf

strikes a 420 yard (384 m) drive in the greenside bunker on the 10th hole at Augusta National

Augusta National Golf Club

Augusta National Golf Club, located in Augusta, Georgia, is a famous men's golf club. Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts and designed by Alister MacKenzie on the site of a former indigo plantation, the club opened for play in January 1933. Since 1934, it has played host to the annual...

—the longest drive in Masters history.

Muirfield Village

Muirfield Village

Muirfield Village is an upscale golf-oriented community located in the Columbus suburb of Dublin, Ohio. Founded by Jack Nicklaus, and named after Muirfield, the village contains a golf course that is home to the Memorial Tournament each year. A statue of the founder can be found along Muirfield...

Golf Club opens from a Desmond Muirhead/Jack Nicklaus design.

The Tournament Players Championship is inaugurated.

1975

1975 in sports

1975 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Gustav Thöni, Italy** Women's overall season champion: Annemarie Pröll, Austria-American football:...

Lee Elder

Robert Lee Elder is an American golfer. He is best remembered for becoming the first African-American to play in the Masters Tournament in 1975.-Background and family:...

becomes the first black golfer to play in The Masters. The event is won by Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

, a fifth Masters victory which takes Jack clear of Arnold Palmer's record of four.

Both the U.S. Open and the British Open are characterized by well-known third-round leaders suffering poor final rounds to allow relatively unknown players to pass them and win. At Medinah, Frank Beard gives away a three-shot overnight lead, and Lou Graham emerges victorious; at Carnoustie, South Africa's Bobby Cole — winner of the individual and team titles at the previous year's World Cup — is the victim, allowing Tom Watson

Tom Watson (golfer)

Thomas Sturges Watson is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and now mostly on the Champions Tour....

to slip past for his first major victory.

Lee Trevino

Lee Trevino

, Jerry Heard

Jerry Heard

Jerry M. Heard is an American professional golfer who won several PGA Tour events in the 1970s.Heard was born in Visalia, California. He became a professional golfer in 1968 and joined the PGA Tour in 1969. His first professional win came in the American Golf Classic at the Firestone Country Club...

and Bobby Nichols

Bobby Nichols

Robert Herman Nichols is an American professional golfer, best known for winning the 1964 PGA Championship.Nichols was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He attended St. Xavier High School in Louisville and later played golf at Texas A&M University were his team won the Southwest Conference Championship...

are struck by lightning

Lightning

Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...

during the 1975 Western Open

Western Open

The Western Open, a professional golf tournament, was first played in 1899. At the time of its 2006 playing, the Western Open was the 3rd oldest active PGA Tour tournament, after the British Open and U.S. Open...

. The incident prompts new safety standards in weather preparedness at PGA Tour events, but one spectator is killed when struck by lightning during the 1991 U.S. Open at Hazeltine National

Hazeltine National Golf Club

Hazeltine National Golf Club is a golf club located in Chaska, Minnesota. It is a private club and therefore closed to guests not accompanied by a member. The golf course was designed by Robert Trent Jones and opened in 1962....

, and one at the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick

Crooked Stick Golf Club

Crooked Stick Golf Club is located just outside Carmel, Indiana, a northern suburb of Indianapolis. It was built in 1964 by the famous course architects Pete and Alice Dye. It was host to the PGA Championship that John Daly won in 1991 and the U.S. Women’s Open won by Lauri Merten in 1993. It was...

later that summer.

1976

1976 in sports

1976 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Ingemar Stenmark, Sweden** Women's overall season champion: Rosi Mittermaier, West Germany-American football:...

Nerveless rookie Jerry Pate

Jerry Pate

wins the U.S. Open championship, firing a spectacular approach shot over a lake to within two feet at the final hole, after playing partner John Mahaffey

John Mahaffey

John Drayton Mahaffey, Jr. is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments including 10 PGA Tour events....

had hit into the water attempting the same feat.

Judy Rankin

Judy Rankin

Judy Torluemke Rankin is an American professional golfer and golf broadcaster. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1962 and won 26 LPGA Tour events in all. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.-Amateur career:...

becomes the first LPGA professional to earn more than $100,000 in a season.

Richard Stanwood sets the record for fewest putts in one round—15—at Riverside GC in Pocatello, Idaho

Pocatello, Idaho

Pocatello is the county seat and largest city of Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the Pocatello metropolitan area, which encompasses all of Bannock...

.

The USGA institutes the Overall Distance Standard—golf balls that fly more than 280 yards (256 m) during a standard test are banned.

1977

1977 in sports

1977 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Ingemar Stenmark, Sweden** Women's overall season champion: Lise-Marie Morerod, Switzerland-American football:...

Al Geiberger

Allen Lee Geiberger, Sr. is an American professional golfer who has won numerous golf tournaments.Geiberger was born in Red Bluff, California...

shoots 59 at Colonial CC in the second round of the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, to set a new PGA Tour 18-hole record.

Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

dies after completing a round of golf in Spain. His Bing Crosby National Pro-Am continues for several years, but after relations sour between the PGA Tour and the Crosby family, AT&T takes over sponsorship of the event.

Police receive a telephoned threat against the life of U.S. Open leader Hubert Green

Hubert Green

Hubert Myatt Green is an American professional golfer who has won numerous professional golf tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level....

as he prepares to complete his final round. Green is informed of the threat but chooses to complete the tournament, and goes on to win.

The "sudden-death" playoff is used for the first time in a major championship, when Lanny Wadkins

Lanny Wadkins

Jerry Lanston "Lanny" Wadkins, Jr. is an American professional golfer. He ranked in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for 86 weeks from their debut in 1986 to 1988....

defeats Gene Littler

Gene Littler

for the PGA Championship played at Pebble Beach.

In what has been described as the most exciting tournament in history, Tom Watson

Tom Watson (golfer)

Thomas Sturges Watson is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and now mostly on the Champions Tour....

defeats Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

by one stroke in the British Open, at Turnberry. They were tied with each other after two rounds, and played together for the final 36 holes, during which they shot 65–65, and 65–66, respectively. Runner-up Nicklaus finished ten shots clear of third place.

Chako Higuchi of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

wins the LPGA Championship

LPGA Championship

The LPGA Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Wegmans LPGA Championship, is the second-longest running tournament in the history of the Ladies Professional Golf Association surpassed only by the U.S. Women's Open. It is one of four majors on the LPGA tour...

, making her the first Asian-born golfer to win a major championship.

1978

1978 in sports

1978 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Ingemar Stenmark, Sweden** Women's overall season champion: Hanni Wenzel, Liechtenstein-American football:...

The Legends of Golf is inaugurated at Onion Creek C.C. in Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

. Its popularity leads to the formation of the Senior PGA Tour

Champions Tour

The Champions Tour, a golf tour run by the PGA Tour, hosts a series of events annually in the United States and the United Kingdom for golfers 50 years of age and older. Many of the PGA Tour's most successful golfers have gone on to play on the Champions Tour.The Senior PGA Championship, founded in...

two years later.

Gary Player

Gary Player

, aged 43, wins the Masters championship for his ninth major title. As if not to be upstaged, later in the year Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

wins a third British Open title, taking his career total to fifteen.

John Mahaffey

John Mahaffey

John Drayton Mahaffey, Jr. is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments including 10 PGA Tour events....

wins the PGA Championship in a playoff, after Tom Watson

Tom Watson (golfer)

Thomas Sturges Watson is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and now mostly on the Champions Tour....

lets slip a five-shot lead during the final day. Watson, an eight-time major champion, would never win a PGA Championship to complete the career Grand Slam.

The ever-growing LPGA Tour finds a new superstar to make headlines that surpass even those from the men's game, as Nancy Lopez

Nancy Lopez

Nancy Marie Lopez is an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 and won 48 LPGA Tour events during her LPGA career, including three major championships.-Amateur career:...

, in her rookie season, wins five events in a row among nine victories in all.

1979

1979 in sports

1979 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Peter Lüscher, Switzerland** Women's overall season champion: Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Austria-American football:...

The Ryder Cup

Ryder Cup

is reformatted to add European continent players to the British and Irish side, making the event far more competitive. The move is prompted in no small part by the rise of golfers such as Seve Ballesteros. As if to emphasise the need for change, Ballesteros — already known simply as "Sevvy" to an adoring British public — wins the British Open at Lytham St Annes

Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club

Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England, is one of the courses in the Open Championship rotation. The Women's British Open has also been played on the course four times: once prior to being designated a major championship by the LPGA Tour, and three times since.The...

, becoming the first Spanish golfer to win a major, and the first from Continental Europe to win a major since Frenchman Arnaud Massy

Arnaud Massy

Arnaud Massy was one of France's most successful professional golfers.Massy was born in Biarritz, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France...

in 1907.

Taylor Made introduces the first metal woods.

Ed Sneed

Ed Sneed

Ed Sneed is an American professional golfer, sportscaster and course design consultant, who played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour....

bogeys each of the last three holes to lose a three-shot lead at the Masters, and drop back into a playoff which is then won by Fuzzy Zoeller

Fuzzy Zoeller

Frank Urban "Fuzzy" Zoeller, Jr. is an American professional golfer. He is one of three golfers to have won The Masters in his first appearance in the event. He also won the 1984 U.S. Open, which earned him the 1985 Bob Jones Award....

1980s

1980

1980 in sports

1980 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup:** Men's overall season champion: Andreas Wenzel, Liechtenstein** Women's overall season champion: Hanni Wenzel, Liechtenstein...

Tom Watson

Tom Watson (golfer)

Thomas Sturges Watson is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and now mostly on the Champions Tour....

is the first golfer to earn $500,000 in prize money in a single season.

The Senior PGA Tour

Champions Tour

is born, with four official events. The U.S. Senior Open is instituted. Roberto DeVicenzo

Roberto DeVicenzo

is the first winner.

Jack Nicklaus sets a record of 272 in the U.S. Open at Baltusrol. His mark is equalled in the 1993 U.S. Open by Lee Janzen

Lee Janzen

Lee McLeod Janzen is an American golfer who is best known for twice winning the U.S. Open, in 1993 and 1998.-Early years and amateur career:...

, also at Baltusrol, and later by Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

in 2000 at Pebble Beach and Jim Furyk

Jim Furyk

James Michael Furyk is an American professional golfer, 2010 FedEx Cup champion, and 2010 PGA Tour Player of the Year. He has won one major championship, the 2003 U.S. Open. Furyk is known for consistently playing at the top level and for a visibly unconventional, looping golf swing...

in 2003 at Olympia Fields

Olympia Fields Country Club

Olympia Fields Country Club is a golf club in Olympia Fields, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago, about 25 miles south of The Loop. It is a private club with two eighteen-hole courses, the North and the South. The North Course is considered one of the top three courses in the Chicago area, and...

. Isao Aoki

Isao Aoki

is one of Japan's most successful golfers. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004.Aoki was born in Abiko, Chiba, Japan. He was introduced to golf while caddying at the Abiko Golf Club as a schoolboy. He turned professional in 1964...

finishes second, the highest finish by a Japanese golfer at a major championship.

The USGA introduces the Symmetry Standard, banning balls such as the Polaris which correct themselves in flight.

Gary Wright completes 18 holes in a record 28 minutes 9 seconds at Twantin Noosa GC, Australia 6,039 yards (5,522 m).

1981

1981 in sports

1981 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup –** Men's overall season champion: Phil Mahre, USA** Women's overall season champion: Marie-Theres Nadig, Switzerland-American football:...

The Tournament Players Club

Tournament Players Club

Tournament Players Club is a chain of public and private golf courses operated by the PGA Tour. Most of the courses either are or have been hosts for PGA Tour events, with the remainder having frequently hosted events on the second-tier Nationwide Tour or the over-50s Champions Tour.The first...

at Sawgrass opens, with its controversial island green 17th hole, and immediately becomes the permanent host of the Tournament Players Championship. The TPC at Sawgrass

TPC at Sawgrass

The Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass, colloquially known as TPC at Sawgrass, is a well-known golf course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, a suburb of Jacksonville. Opened in 1980, it was the first of several Tournament Players Clubs to be built...

becomes the prototype for a dozen "stadium" TPC courses around the United States, built specifically to host PGA Tour co-sponsored events and affording better viewing for spectators.

The USGA institutes the U.S. Mid-Amateur for male amateur golfers 25 and older.

Kathy Whitworth

Kathy Whitworth

Kathy Whitworth is an American professional golfer. Throughout her playing career she won 88 LPGA Tour tournaments, more than anyone else has won on either the LPGA Tour or the PGA Tour. In 1981 she became the first woman to reach career earnings of $1 million on the LPGA Tour...

becomes the first woman to earn $1 million in career prize money.

Bill Rogers

Bill Rogers (golfer)

William Charles Rogers is an American professional golfer who is best known as the winner of the 1981 Open Championship....

wins the British Open, the Australian Open, and has victories in America and Japan.

Sol Kerzner, the owner of the Sun City resort complex in South Africa, creates golf's first $1m purse event - the Sun City Million Dollar Challenge. The inaugural event (and $500,000) is won by Johnny Miller

Johnny Miller

.

Nathaniel Crosby

Nathaniel Crosby

Nathaniel Patrick Crosby is an American golfer.Crosby was born at Hillsborough, California. He is the seventh child of the actor and singer Bing Crosby and the youngest of his three children from his second marriage to the actress Kathryn Grant.Crosby performed with his father, mother, brother...

, son of late film star Bing, wins the U.S. Amateur championship.

1982

1982 in sports

1982 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup:** Men's overall season champion: Phil Mahre, United States** Women's overall season champion: Erika Hess, Switzerland-American football:...

Kevin Murray double-eagles the 647 yard (592 m) second hole at the Guam Navy GC, the longest double-eagle ever recorded.

Tom Watson

Tom Watson (golfer)

Thomas Sturges Watson is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and now mostly on the Champions Tour....

holes one of the most famous shots in U.S. Open history, a delicate chip from the rough beside the 17th green at Pebble Beach that helps him to defeat Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

. A month later, Watson wins his fourth British Open title, in a tournament that will be remembered for the collapse of young American Bobby Clampett

Bobby Clampett

Robert Daniel Clampett, Jr. is a television golf analyst, golf course architect, writer, and professional golfer, who played on the PGA Tour from 1980 to 1995. Clampett began playing on the Champions Tour in April 2010....

. Virtually unknown (certainly to British fans) going into the event, Clampett began 67–66 to open up a 5-shot halfway lead. Still the leader after three rounds, he shot a sorry 77 in the final round to finish well down the field. Watson narrowly misses out on a fifth U.S. Money List crown in six years, as that honour goes to the fiery Craig Stadler

Craig Stadler

Craig Robert Stadler is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level....

, who wins the U.S. Masters in his finest season.

1983

1983 in sports

1983 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup:** Men's overall season champion: Phil Mahre, United States** Women's overall season champion: Tamara McKinney, United States-American football:...

The PGA Tour introduces the 'all-exempt' Tour, with the top 125 players from the 1982 money list exempt from weekly qualifying for tournaments, as opposed to the top 60 as before. A record 34 different players win tournaments, and no-one is able to win more than twice, an unprecedented occurrence. One who does win twice is 25-year-old Hal Sutton

Hal Sutton

Hal Evan Sutton is an American professional golfer.Sutton was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. A promising golfer at the Centenary College of Louisiana, he was named Golf Magazines 1980 College Player of the Year...

, 1982's rookie of the year, who becomes Player of the Year with victories in the Tournament Players Championship and PGA Championship. Isao Aoki

Isao Aoki

becomes the first Japanese golfer to win on the U.S. Tour, with victory in the Hawaiian Open. Aoki holes a 128 yards (117 m) wedge shot on the final hole for an eagle that allows him to defeat Jack Renner by one stroke.

Seve Ballesteros wins his second U.S. Masters, and is inspirational as a youthful European side come agonizingly close to defeating the United States in the Ryder Cup.

Tom Watson

Tom Watson (golfer)

Thomas Sturges Watson is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and now mostly on the Champions Tour....

wins a fifth British Open title - but his first in England not Scotland, after a scrambling final day that with nine holes to play saw seven players - Watson, Lee Trevino, Graham Marsh, Andy Bean, Hale Irwin, Raymond Floyd and home favourite Nick Faldo - all within a shot of the lead. Watson almost retains his U.S. Open crown as well, but loses by a shot to Larry Nelson

Larry Nelson

Larry Gene Nelson is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level.Nelson was born in Fort Payne, Alabama and grew up in Acworth, Georgia, northwest of Atlanta...

, who holes a 60 feet (18.3 m) downhill putt on Oakmont's 16th green on his way to victory.

1984

1984 in sports

1984 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine Skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup:** Men's overall season champion: Pirmin Zurbriggen, Switzerland** Women's overall season champion: Erika Hess, Switzerland...

Desert Highlands opens in Phoenix from a design by Jack Nicklaus utilizing only 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) irrigated for 18 holes, instead of the typical 100–150 for a major course. The success of Nicklaus' concept of "target golf" ushers in the era of environmentally sensitive desert design.

Ben Crenshaw

Ben Crenshaw

, after five second-place finishes in Major championships, finally wins one, as he beats his long-time friend Tom Kite to take his first U.S. Masters title.

Seve Ballesteros defeats Tom Watson

Tom Watson (golfer)

Thomas Sturges Watson is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and now mostly on the Champions Tour....

in one of the most dramatic finishes ever at the British Open

The Open Championship

at St Andrews. As Ballesteros birdied the final hole to a huge roar from his adopted "home" fans, Watson pushed his approach at the famous 17th "Road Hole" through the green and against a wall, dropping a crucial shot.

At the age of 44, Lee Trevino

Lee Trevino

wins a sixth major championship, the PGA Championship. It is ten years since his last one. 48-year-old Gary Player

Gary Player

is runner-up.

1985

1985 in sports

1985 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup:** Men's overall season champion: Marc Girardelli, Luxembourg** Women's overall season champion: Michela Figini, Switzerland-American football:...

Nancy Lopez

sets the LPGA 72-hole record with 268 in the Henredon Classic.

Bernhard Langer

Bernhard Langer

Bernhard Langer is a German professional golfer. He is a two-time Masters champion, and was one of the world's leading golfers throughout the 1980s and 90s, being the first official number one ranked player in 1986...

becomes the first German golfer to win a Major Championship, when he wins the U.S. Masters. Later in the summer, Sandy Lyle

Sandy Lyle

Alexander Walter Barr "Sandy" Lyle, MBE is a Scottish professional golfer. Lyle has won two major championships during his career. Along with Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam, he became one of Britain's top golfers during the 1980s...

becomes the first British player to win the Open Championship for 16 years, despite a nervy finish at Sandwich. These successes are topped off in the Autumn when Europe regains the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1957, beating the United States at The Belfry

The Belfry

The Belfry is a golf resort in Wishaw, Warwickshire, England, very near the Sutton Coldfield district of Birmingham, and owned since 2005 by Irish businessman Sean Quinn....

in England.

In one of the most unlikely U.S. Open championships in history, a Taiwanese, a South African and a Canadian are all narrowly beaten by an American — one who hadn't won a tournament for seven years. Former champion Andy North

Andy North

Andrew Stewart North is an American professional golfer who is best known for winning the U.S. Open twice.- Early years :North was born in Thorp, Wisconsin, and raised in Monona, Wisconsin...

held off Tze-Chung Chen

Tze-Chung Chen

Tze-Chung Chen is a Taiwanese professional golfer. In the U.S., he is often referred to as T.C. Chen. His older brother, Tze-Ming Chen, is also a professional golfer. In 1982, T.C. Chen became the first professional golfer from Taiwan to earn a PGA Tour card...

, Denis Watson

Denis Watson

Denis Leslie Watson is a professional golfer from Zimbabwe.Watson was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia and educated at Oriel Boys High School, Chisipite...

and Dave Barr

Dave Barr (golfer)

David Allen Barr is a Canadian professional golfer who has played on the Canadian Tour, PGA Tour and Champions Tour.Barr was born in Kelowna, British Columbia. He attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma and was a member of the golf team. He finished as runner-up in the 1972 Canadian...

for his second major victory. Later in the year, Hubert Green

Hubert Green

Hubert Myatt Green is an American professional golfer who has won numerous professional golf tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level....

, like North without a victory for several years, also won his second major title, at the PGA Championship.

Calvin Peete

Calvin Peete

Calvin Peete is an American professional golfer. He was the most successful African-American on the PGA Tour, with 12 wins, before the emergence of Tiger Woods....

wins the Tournament Players Championship with a course record 72-hole score of 274. Although not a major championship, this is the most significant tour victory to this date by a black golfer.

The $1m Alfred Dunhill Cup

Alfred Dunhill Cup

The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000. It was for three man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championship". It was a "special approved event" on the European Tour, which means that it was...

at St Andrews is inaugurated, a three-man matchplay competition that aims to replace the World Cup of Golf — a largely ignored event for several years now - as the premier international team event. Australia win the opening version, their team of Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

, Graham Marsh

Graham Marsh

Graham Vivian Marsh MBE was one of the leading Australian professional golfers of his generation.-Career outline:Marsh was born in Kalgoorlie, Australia...

and David Graham

David Graham (golfer)

Anthony David Graham is a former professional golfer from Australia.Born in Windsor, Australia, Graham turned professional in 1962 at age 16 and spent much of his career in the United States, playing on the PGA Tour. Turning age 50 in 1996, he joined the Senior PGA Tour, later known as the...

defeating a United States side of Mark O'Meara

Mark O'Meara

Mark Francis O'Meara is an American professional golfer who was a prolific tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s...

, Raymond Floyd

Raymond Floyd

Raymond Loran "Ray" Floyd is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour....

and Curtis Strange

Curtis Strange

3–0 in the final.

The USGA introduces the Slope System to allow golfers to adjust their handicaps to allow for the relative difficulty of a golf course compared to players of their own ability.

1986

1986 in sports

1986 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup –** Men's overall season champion: Marc Girardelli, Luxembourg** Women's overall season champion: Maria Walliser, Switzerland-American football:...

Jack Nicklaus

, at the age of 46, shoots a final-round 65 at The Masters to win his 18th professional major championship, and 20th in all. His final-day charge takes him past virtually all of the leading players of the generation below him, including Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Watson

Tom Watson (golfer)

Thomas Sturges Watson is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and now mostly on the Champions Tour....

and Tom Kite

Tom Kite

Thomas Oliver Kite, Jr. is an American professional golfer and golf course architect. He spent 175 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 1989 and 1994....

. In June, Raymond Floyd

Raymond Floyd

Raymond Loran "Ray" Floyd is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour....

also rolls back the years to win the U.S. Open, aged 44.

The Sony Rankings system, now the Official World Golf Rankings

Official World Golf Rankings

The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of male professional golfers...

, is introduced, the first formally recognised ranking system for men's golf. The first-ever number one, in April 1986, is 1985 Masters Champion Bernhard Langer

Bernhard Langer

.

Bob Tway

Bob Tway

Robert Raymond Tway IV is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments including eight PGA Tour victories. He spent 25 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings in 1986-87....

sinks a bunker shot at the final hole to beat Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

in the PGA Championship. Norman had held the lead on Sunday morning in each of the four major championships of 1986, but was able to win only the British Open. Tway's stroke began a celebrated series of miracle shots holed by various golfers to defeat Norman in major events.

The Pete Dye-designed PGA West opens amid great controversy concerning the difficulty of the course.

The Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational offers the first $1 million purse on the PGA Tour. The $207,000 first prize is won by Greg Norman, who finishes the year top of both the U.S. Money List and the World Rankings.

The PGA Tour Team Charity Competition debuts. By 1987, Tour-related contributions to charity exceed $100,000,000, and by 1992 they reach a total of $200,000,000.

1987

1987 in sports

1987 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Pirmin Zurbriggen, Switzerland** Women's overall season champion: Maria Walliser, Switzerland-American football:...

The Links at Spanish Bay opens, the first true links course in the Western United States. It is a co-design by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., Tom Watson, and former USGA President Frank "Sandy" Tatum.

Judy Bell becomes the first woman elected to the USGA Executive Committee.

Larry Mize

Larry Mize

Lawrence Hogan "Larry" Mize is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and currently plays on the Champions Tour...

holed a 40 yards (36.6 m) pitch shot to defeat Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

in a play-off for the U.S. Masters. The previous year, Norman had beaten Mize in a playoff for the Kemper Open after Mize hit a short pitch shot across a green and into a lake. Norman, a 10-time winner around the globe in 1986, would not win again on the U.S. Tour for over twelve months.

At the British Open

The Open Championship

, Nick Faldo

Nick Faldo

Sir Nicholas Alexander "Nick" Faldo, MBE is an English professional golfer on the European Tour who now mainly works as an on air golf analyst. Over his career, he has won six majors: three Open Championships and three Masters. He was ranked the World No...

plays a flawless last round of 18 consecutive pars to win his first major championship. The victory rewarded Faldo's efforts to completely re-model his swing, that had seen him virtually leave the Tour for two years.

Larry Nelson

Larry Nelson

wins his third major championship in six years, defeating Lanny Wadkins

Lanny Wadkins

Jerry Lanston "Lanny" Wadkins, Jr. is an American professional golfer. He ranked in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for 86 weeks from their debut in 1986 to 1988....

in a playoff for the PGA Championship. The victory means that three of Nelson's nine career U.S.Tour wins to date have come in majors.

Europe win the Ryder Cup

Ryder Cup

on American soil for the first time, and rub salt into the wounds by defeating an American team captained by Jack Nicklaus, at the Muirfield Village course which Nicklaus designed. The result provides final confirmation of the recent swing in global dominance away from the American players; at the end of 1987, only one of the world's top six (Curtis Strange

Curtis Strange

, in 5th) is American, while four (Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer

Bernhard Langer

, Sandy Lyle

Sandy Lyle

and Ian Woosnam

Ian Woosnam

Ian Harold Woosnam OBE is a Welsh professional golfer.Nicknamed 'Woosie', 'Woosers', or the 'Wee Welshman', Woosnam was one of the "Big Five" generation of European golfers, all born within 12 months of one another, all of whom have won majors, and made Europe competitive in the Ryder Cup...

) are European, while the world number one remains Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

.

The Nabisco Championships (later The Tour Championship

The Tour Championship

The Tour Championship was historically the final event of golf's PGA Tour season. Since 2007, it has been the final event of the FedEx Cup, the competition for the first official championship trophy for the PGA Tour season. From 1987 to 1996, several courses hosted the event...

) debuts as a season-ending event for the top 30 money winners. The first winner is Tom Watson

Tom Watson (golfer)

Thomas Sturges Watson is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and now mostly on the Champions Tour....

, breaking a three year victory drought. Earlier in the year, Watson narrowly missed victory at the U.S. Open, finishing second to unheralded Scott Simpson

Scott Simpson (golfer)

Scott William Simpson is an American professional golfer.Simpson was born in San Diego, California. He attended the University of Southern California, where he was two-time medalist at the NCAA Championship . He turned professional in 1977 and graduated in 1978...

.

Walter Dietz, a blind golfer, aces the 155 yard (142 m) seventh hole at Manakiki G.C., California.

1988

1988 in sports

1988 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Pirmin Zurbriggen, Switzerland** Women's overall season champion: Michela Figini, Switzerland-American football:...

Links Magazine is founded (originally Southern Links), with Mark Brown as editor-in-chief.

Lori Garbacz orders a pizza between holes at the U.S. Women's Open to protest slow play.

Square-grooved clubs such as the PING Eye2 irons are banned by the USGA, which claims that tests show the clubs give an unfair competitive advantage to PING customers. The PGA Tour also bans the clubs in 1989. Karsten Manufacturing, maker of the clubs, fights a costly two-year battle with both the USGA and the PGA Tour to have the ban rescinded after winning a temporary injunction. Eventually both organizations drop the ban, while Karsten acknowledges the right of the organizations to regulate equipment and pledges to make modifications to future designs.

Sandy Lyle

Sandy Lyle

becomes the first British player to win the U.S. Masters. Lyle sweeps his approach shot to the last green out of a fairway bunker to within 15 feet (4.6 m), and sinks the resulting birdie putt for a one-shot victory over Mark Calcavecchia

Mark Calcavecchia

.

Seve Ballesteros wins his third British Open

The Open Championship

championship in the first-ever Monday finish to the 72 holes, after the whole of Saturday's scheduled third round at Royal Lytham was lost to torrential rain. The victory, one of several around the globe for Ballesteros in 1988, helps him to finish the year on top of the Sony World Rankings.

Curtis Strange

Curtis Strange

wins the season-ending Nabisco Championships at Pebble Beach, and his $360,000 paycheck lifts his official 1988 Tour earnings to $1,147,644, and thus he becomes the first player to win over $1,000,000 in a single season. Earlier in the year Strange defeated Nick Faldo in a play-off for his first major title, the U.S. Open.

1989

1989 in sports

1989 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Marc Girardelli, Luxembourg** Women's overall season champion: Vreni Schneider, Switzerland-American football:...

Four golfers, Doug Weaver, Mark Wiebe

Mark Wiebe

Mark Charles Wiebe is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the Champions Tour. He has also played on the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour.Wiebe was born in Seaside, Oregon and grew up in Escondido, California...

, Jerry Pate

Jerry Pate

and Nick Price

Nick Price

Nicholas Raymond Leige Price is a South African-Zimbabwean Professional golfer and an inductee in the World Golf Hall of Fame. In the mid-1990s, Price reached number one in the Official World Golf Rankings.-Background:...

, hit aces on the par-three sixth hole on the same day in the U.S. Open at Oak Hill

Oak Hill Country Club

Oak Hill Country Club, located in the Town of Pittsford, New York, a suburb of Rochester, has a rich history of golf. It started out in 1901 as only 9 holes on 85 acres on the banks of the Genesee River in Rochester. The clubhouse was no more than a converted farm house...

. Curtis Strange

Curtis Strange

retains his U.S. Open crown (the first player to do so since 1951) after Tom Kite

Tom Kite

Thomas Oliver Kite, Jr. is an American professional golfer and golf course architect. He spent 175 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 1989 and 1994....

hits a final day 78 to let slip a third round lead.

Nick Faldo

Nick Faldo

sinks a 100 foot (30 m) birdie putt on the second hole at Augusta National in The Masters, the longest putt holed to date in a major tournament. Faldo goes on to win The Masters, abetted by Scott Hoch

Scott Hoch

Scott Mabon Hoch is an American golfer, who represented his country in the Ryder Cup in 1997 and 2002.Hoch was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was a member of the golf team at Wake Forest University before graduating in 1978. He also played on the winning U.S. team in the Eisenhower Trophy...

missing a short putt to win the event — a downhill effort of little more than 2 foot (0.6096 m) on the first playoff hole.

Mark Calcavecchia

Mark Calcavecchia

wins the British Open in a novel 4-hole playoff format, against Australians Wayne Grady

Wayne Grady

Wayne Desmond Grady is an Australian professional golfer.Grady was born in Brisbane. He turned professional in 1978. He is best known for winning the PGA Championship, one of golf's four majors, in 1990. He was also runner up at The Open Championship in 1989, losing in a playoff against Greg...

and Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

. Calcavecchia hits a five-iron out of the rough at the final hole to within six feet for the winning birdie.

Payne Stewart

Payne Stewart

William Payne Stewart was an American professional golfer who won three majors in his career, the last of which occurred only months before he died in an airplane accident at the age of 42....

, noted for his flamboyant dress (plus-fours and a sponsorship deal that sees him wear the often garish colours of the nearest NFL team) wins the PGA Championship, after a late collapse by Mike Reid

Mike Reid (golfer)

Michael Daniel Reid is an American professional golfer.Reid was born in Bainbridge, Maryland. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1976 and turned professional the same year. During his collegiate golf career, Reid was selected for All-American honors from 1973-1976...

1990s

1990

1990 in sports

1990 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Pirmin Zurbriggen, Switzerland-American football:...

Hall Thompson

Hall Thompson was an American businessman and developer from Birmingham, Alabama who established the Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club in 1977 as an invitation-only private golf club...

of Shoal Creek GC, on the eve of the PGA Championship at Shoal Creek, defends his club's policy of not admitting black members. Amidst a public outcry, Shoal Creek 1990 is forced to change its policy and the PGA Tour and the USGA insist that in future all clubs submit to a standard set of guidelines on membership policies. Cypress Point Club and Aronimink, among others, decide they are unable to comply and withdraw from the professional tournament arena.

Bill Blue resigns after a short reign as LPGA Commissioner. Charles Mecham is selected as his successor.

Construction begins on Shadow Creek Golf Club, the most expensive golf course ever built, with cost estimates ranging from $35 to $60 million as Tom Fazio creates an oasis in the Las Vegas desert. The club in 1994 vaults into eighth place on the Golf Digest top-100 course rankings, sparking controversy.

The R & A, after 38 years, adopts the 1.68 inches (42.7 mm) diameter ball, and for the first time since 1910 The Rules of Golf are standardized throughout the world.

The initial Solheim Cup

Solheim Cup

The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian-American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving force behind its creation.The inaugural Cup was held in 1990,...

is played at Lake Nona G.C., Orlando, commencing a biennial USA vs. Europe competition for women, a recognition of the growing strength of women's golf on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Ben Hogan Tour is launched as a minor league for the PGA Tour, following the increased success of mini-tours such as the U.S. Golf Tour in 1989.

Nick Faldo

Nick Faldo

retains his U.S. Masters title, once again in a play-off (this time against Raymond Floyd

Raymond Floyd

Raymond Loran "Ray" Floyd is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour....

). Later in the year, he adds the British Open

The Open Championship

, in a tournament that is effectively decided in the third round, where Faldo shoots a 67 while co-leader Greg Norman struggles to a 76. At the U.S. Open, however, Faldo narrowly misses out, as 45-year-old veteran Hale Irwin holes an unlikely 40 feet (12.2 m) putt at the last to edge him out by a shot. Irwin wins his third U.S. Open (eleven years after his second) following a playoff against Mike Donald.

Australian Wayne Grady

Wayne Grady

, who lost a playoff at the British Open in 1989, bounces back to win the PGA Championship. Fred Couples, chasing too hard, misses several short putts on the back nine when apparently poised to snatch victory.

1991

1991 in sports

1991 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Marc Girardelli, Luxembourg** Women's overall season champion: Petra Kronberger, Austria-American football:...

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C., the first course to be awarded the Ryder Cup Matches before the course has been completed, is the scene of the United States' first victory in the event since 1983. The competition comes down to a twisting putt of seven feet (2 m) on the 18th hole missed by Bernhard Langer

Bernhard Langer

in the final match (against Hale Irwin

Hale Irwin

Hale S. Irwin is an American professional golfer. He is one of the few players in history to have won three U.S. Opens and was one of the world's leading golfers for much of the 1970s and 1980s. He has also developed a career as a golf course architect.Irwin was born in Joplin, Missouri, but was...

).

Unknown John Daly

John Daly (golfer)

John Patrick Daly is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour.Daly is known primarily for his driving distance off the tee , his non-country club appearance and attitude, and his rough-and-tumble personal life. Daly remains one of the most popular and intriguing figures on the PGA Tour...

wins the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick when, as ninth alternate, a slot in the tournament opens up for him on the night before the Championship begins. Daly wins an army of fans overnight with his prodigious hitting from the tees and an apparently fearless approach to putting. The golfer who withdrew and gave Daly his place, Nick Price

Nick Price

, wins the PGA Championship in 1992 at Bellerive

Bellerive Country Club

Bellerive Country Club is a golf country club located in Town and Country, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. The course will be hosting the 2013 Senior PGA Championship, and also the 100th annual PGA Championship, which will be held in 2018.-History:...

.

Phil Mickelson

Phil Mickelson

Philip Alfred Mickelson is an American professional golfer. He has won four major championships and a total of 39 events on the PGA Tour. He has reached a career high world ranking of 2nd in multiple years. He is nicknamed "Lefty" for his left-handed swing, even though he is otherwise right-handed...

, an amateur, wins the PGA Tour's Northern Telecom Open.

Diminutive Welshman Ian Woosnam

Ian Woosnam

holds off the challenges of Tom Watson

Tom Watson (golfer)

Thomas Sturges Watson is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and now mostly on the Champions Tour....

and José María Olazábal

José María Olazábal

José María Olazábal Manterola is a Spanish professional golfer who has enjoyed success on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and has won two major championships.-Career outline:...

to win The Masters

The Masters Tournament

. The win is the most important in an increasing list of tournaments that Woosnam has won around the world since 1987, and helps him to overtake Nick Faldo

Nick Faldo

at the top of the World Rankings.

Australian Ian Baker-Finch

Ian Baker-Finch

Ian Michael Baker-Finch is an Australian professional golfer, who is best known for winning The Open Championship in 1991.-Early years:...

, who was best remembered by British fans for being the 23-year-old player who had led the 1984 Open Championship after three rounds before hitting a 79 on the final day, again leads after three rounds but this time wins the British Open

The Open Championship

in comfortable style with a superb 66, against playing partner Mark O'Meara

Mark O'Meara

Mark Francis O'Meara is an American professional golfer who was a prolific tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s...

's 69.

Oversized metal woods are introduced, with Callaway Golf's Big Bertha quickly establishing itself as the dominant brand, the Big Bertha driver becomes one of the biggest-selling clubs of all time.

Harvey Penick

Harvey Penick

Harvey Morrison Penick was an American golf professional and coach, who coached many Hall of Fame players. Late in life, he became a best-selling writer. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002, seven years after his death.-Golf career:Penick was born in Austin, Texas...

's Little Red Book becomes the all-time best selling golf book.

1992

1992 in sports

1992 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup* Men's overall season champion: Paul Accola, Switzerland* Women's overall season champion: Petra Kronberger, Austria-American football:...

All three American major championships are won by players who had enjoyed successful U.S. Tour careers but had, until 1992, only been able to finish runner-up at best in the majors. First, at the Masters, Fred Couples

Fred Couples

Frederick Steven Couples is an American professional golfer who competes on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. A former World No. 1, he has won numerous events, most notably the 1992 Masters Tournament. In August 2011 he won his maiden senior major at the Senior Players Championship...

wins after final-round battle with Raymond Floyd

Raymond Floyd

Raymond Loran "Ray" Floyd is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour....

. Then, Tom Kite

Tom Kite

Thomas Oliver Kite, Jr. is an American professional golfer and golf course architect. He spent 175 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 1989 and 1994....

(U.S. Tour leading money-winner as long ago as 1981) emerges victorious at the U.S. Open after a windswept final round at Pebble Beach that sees many of the third-round leaders shoot high scores. And finally, Nick Price

Nick Price

- twice a runner-up at the British Open Championship - wins the PGA Championship, the start of a period of good form that would take him to the world number one position by the end of 1994. The year's other major, the British Open, is won by Nick Faldo

Nick Faldo

- his fifth major title in five years. Faldo rises to the World number one position in 1992.

Simon Clough and Boris Janic complete 18-hole rounds in five countries in one day, walking each course. They played rounds in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, and completed their journey in 16 hours, 35 minutes.

Brittany Andres, age 6 years 19 days, scores an ace at the 85 yard (78 m) second hole at the Jimmy Clay G.C. in Austin, Texas.

1993

1993 in sports

1993 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Marc Girardelli, Luxembourg** Women's overall season champion: Anita Wachter, Austria-American football:...

An ownership group led by Joe Gibbs

Joe Gibbs

Joe Jackson Gibbs is a former American football coach, NASCAR Championship team owner, and two time NHRA Pro Stock team owner. He was the 20th and 26th head coach in the history of the Washington Redskins...

and Arnold Palmer

Arnold Palmer

announce plans for The Golf Channel

The Golf Channel

Golf Channel, known as The Golf Channel before the July 2008 dropping of The, is an American cable television network with coverage focused on the game of golf. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, the American headquarters and studio are currently located in Orlando, Florida...

, a 24-hour, 365-day cable service.

Bernhard Langer

Bernhard Langer

wins his second U.S. Masters title, but the event is remembered for the criticism aimed by some commentators at Chip Beck for laying up short of the water at the 15th hole, apparently defending his second place rather than risking all to challenge Langer's 3-shot lead.

Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

also wins a second major title, the British Open. Playing scintillating golf, Norman's total of 267 is the lowest ever recorded in a major championship. However, the following month, Norman misses out on the PGA Championship, beaten in a sudden-death playoff by Paul Azinger

Paul Azinger

Paul William Azinger is an American professional golfer and occasional on air golf analyst. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 1988 and 1994.-Early years:...

. The defeat means Norman has lost playoffs in each of the four majors, a dubious honour he shares with Craig Wood

Craig Wood (golfer)

Craig Ralph Wood was an American professional golfer in the 1930s and 1940s, the winner of 21 PGA Tour titles including two major championships and a member of three Ryder Cup teams ....

, who lost playoffs in three of them and also the 1934 PGA Championship (in match play

Match play

Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; this is as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes...

) final in extra holes.

Men's Golf

Major championship
Men's major golf championships
The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf...

results:
1. April - Masters Tournament - Bernhard Langer
  Bernhard Langer
  Bernhard Langer is a German professional golfer. He is a two-time Masters champion, and was one of the world's leading golfers throughout the 1980s and 90s, being the first official number one ranked player in 1986...
2. June - U.S. Open
  U.S. Open (golf)
  The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
  
  - Lee Janzen
  Lee Janzen
  Lee McLeod Janzen is an American golfer who is best known for twice winning the U.S. Open, in 1993 and 1998.-Early years and amateur career:...
3. July - The Open Championship
  The Open Championship
  The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
  
  - Greg Norman
  Greg Norman
  Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...
4. August - PGA Championship
  PGA Championship
  The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...
  
  - Paul Azinger
  Paul Azinger
  Paul William Azinger is an American professional golfer and occasional on air golf analyst. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 1988 and 1994.-Early years:...

PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

leading money winner for the year: Nick Price
Nick Price
Nicholas Raymond Leige Price is a South African-Zimbabwean Professional golfer and an inductee in the World Golf Hall of Fame. In the mid-1990s, Price reached number one in the Official World Golf Rankings.-Background:...

- $1,478,557
Senior PGA Tour leading money winner: Dave Stockton
Dave Stockton
David Knapp Stockton is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour....

- $1,175,944
Ryder Cup
Ryder Cup
The Ryder Cup is a biennial golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour, and is contested every two years, the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe...

: United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

team won 15-13 over the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

team in world golf.

Women's Golf

U.S. Women's Open - Lauri Merten
Lauri Merten
Lauri Merten is an American golfer. She also competed under the names Lauri Peterson Lauri Merten (born July 6, 1960) is an American golfer. She also competed under the names Lauri Peterson Lauri Merten (born July 6, 1960) is an American golfer. She also competed under the names Lauri Peterson...
LPGA Championship
LPGA Championship
The LPGA Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Wegmans LPGA Championship, is the second-longest running tournament in the history of the Ladies Professional Golf Association surpassed only by the U.S. Women's Open. It is one of four majors on the LPGA tour...

- Patty Sheehan
Patty Sheehan
Patty Sheehan is an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1980 and won six major championships and 35 LPGA Tour events in all. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame....
Betsy King
Betsy King
Betsy King is an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 and won six major championships and 34 LPGA Tour victories in all.-Career:...

: leading money winner on the LPGA
LPGA
The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...

tour, earning $595,992.

1994

1994 in sports

1994 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* January 29 – death of Ulrike Maier , Austrian skier, who broke her neck when she crashed during a World Cup downhill race at Garmisch-Partenkirchen...

Nick Price

enjoys a phenomenal year, leading the U.S. Money List for the second successive season and winning both the British Open and PGA Championships. His win at the British Open comes courtesy of a 5 feet (1.5 m) eagle putt at the 17th in the final round.

Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

, shoots a course-record 264 to win the Tournament Players Championship around the famed Pete Dye designed Sawgrass course.

Ernie Els

Ernie Els

Theodore Ernest "Ernie" Els is a South African professional golfer, who has been one of the top professional players in the world since the mid-1990s. A former World No. 1, he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature along with his fluid, seemingly effortless golf swing...

wins a three-way playoff to become the second South African winner of the U.S. Open, against Colin Montgomerie

Colin Montgomerie

Colin Stuart Montgomerie, OBE is a Scottish professional golfer, often referred to by one of his nicknames 'Monty'. He has had one of the finest careers in European Tour history, having won a record eight Order of Merit titles, including a streak of seven consecutively from 1993 to 1999, and 31...

and Loren Roberts

Loren Roberts

Loren Lloyd Roberts is an American professional golfer.-Early life:Roberts was born in San Luis Obispo, California. He competed for San Luis Obispo Senior High School and Cal Poly-SLO...

. José María Olazábal

José María Olazábal

José María Olazábal Manterola is a Spanish professional golfer who has enjoyed success on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and has won two major championships.-Career outline:...

becomes the second Spaniard to win the U.S. Masters, defeating third-round leader Tom Lehman by two shots.

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

becomes the youngest man ever to win the U.S. Amateur, at age 18. Several players had previously won aged 19, including Jack Nicklaus in 1959.

Men's Golf

Major championship
Men's major golf championships
The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf...

results:
1. April - Masters Tournament - José María Olazábal
  José María Olazábal
  José María Olazábal Manterola is a Spanish professional golfer who has enjoyed success on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and has won two major championships.-Career outline:...
2. June - U.S. Open
  U.S. Open (golf)
  The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
  
  - Ernie Els
  Ernie Els
  Theodore Ernest "Ernie" Els is a South African professional golfer, who has been one of the top professional players in the world since the mid-1990s. A former World No. 1, he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature along with his fluid, seemingly effortless golf swing...
3. July - The Open Championship
  The Open Championship
  The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
  
  - Nick Price
  Nick Price
  Nicholas Raymond Leige Price is a South African-Zimbabwean Professional golfer and an inductee in the World Golf Hall of Fame. In the mid-1990s, Price reached number one in the Official World Golf Rankings.-Background:...
4. August - PGA Championship
  PGA Championship
  The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...
  
  - Nick Price
  Nick Price
  Nicholas Raymond Leige Price is a South African-Zimbabwean Professional golfer and an inductee in the World Golf Hall of Fame. In the mid-1990s, Price reached number one in the Official World Golf Rankings.-Background:...

PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

leading money winner for the year: Nick Price
Nick Price
Nicholas Raymond Leige Price is a South African-Zimbabwean Professional golfer and an inductee in the World Golf Hall of Fame. In the mid-1990s, Price reached number one in the Official World Golf Rankings.-Background:...

- $1,499,927
Senior PGA Tour leading money winner: Dave Stockton
Dave Stockton
David Knapp Stockton is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour....

- $1,402,519

Women's Golf

U.S. Women's Open - Patty Sheehan
Patty Sheehan
Patty Sheehan is an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1980 and won six major championships and 35 LPGA Tour events in all. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame....
LPGA Championship
LPGA Championship
The LPGA Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Wegmans LPGA Championship, is the second-longest running tournament in the history of the Ladies Professional Golf Association surpassed only by the U.S. Women's Open. It is one of four majors on the LPGA tour...

- Laura Davies
Laura Davies
Laura Jane Davies CBE is an English professional golfer.She is considered the most accomplished English female golfer of modern times being the first non-American to finish at the top of the LPGA money list...
Laura Davies
Laura Davies
Laura Jane Davies CBE is an English professional golfer.She is considered the most accomplished English female golfer of modern times being the first non-American to finish at the top of the LPGA money list...

: leading money winner on the LPGA
LPGA
The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...

tour, earning $687,201.

1995

1995 in sports

1995 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Alberto Tomba, Italy** Women's overall season champion: Vreni Schneider, Switzerland-American football:...

Days after the death of his long-time friend and mentor Harvey Penick

Harvey Penick

, Ben Crenshaw

Ben Crenshaw

wins a second U.S. Masters championship with an emotional victory over Davis Love III

Davis Love III

Davis Milton Love III is an American professional golfer.Love was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina before turning professional in 1985. He earned his PGA Tour card in the fall of 1985, on his first attempt. He quickly established himself on the PGA...

and Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

.

Norman also narrowly misses out at the U.S. Open, finishing second for the 7th time in a major, behind Corey Pavin

Corey Pavin

Corey Allen Pavin is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour. He spent over 150 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 1986 and 1997.-Biography:...

.

John Daly

John Daly (golfer)

proves that his 1991 PGA Championship was not a fluke, as he wins the Open Championship at St Andrews after a playoff with Italian Costantino Rocca

Costantino Rocca

Costantino Rocca is the most successful male golfer that Italy has produced. After a long career on the European Tour he is now playing on the European Seniors Tour. He has five European Tour wins and is best known for his second place finish in the 1995 Open Championship.-Career outline:Rocca...

. Rocca holes a long putt at the last to force the playoff as Daly, in the clubhouse, watches on, but Daly dominates the 4-hole playoff.

Steve Elkington

Steve Elkington

Stephen John Elkington is an Australian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He spent over 50 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings from 1995 to 1998.-Early years and education:...

wins a sudden-death playoff to collect his first major at the PGA Championship. Colin Montgomerie

Colin Montgomerie

loses, the second year in succession he had lost a playoff in a major (a record he shares with Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson).

Men's Golf

Major championship
Men's major golf championships
The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf...

results:
1. April - Masters Tournament - Ben Crenshaw
  Ben Crenshaw
  Ben Daniel Crenshaw is an American professional golfer.Crenshaw was born in Austin, Texas. He attended and played golf at Austin High School and the University of Texas, where he won three NCAA Championships from 1971 to 1973...
2. June - U.S. Open
  U.S. Open (golf)
  The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
  
  - Corey Pavin
  Corey Pavin
  Corey Allen Pavin is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour. He spent over 150 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 1986 and 1997.-Biography:...
3. July - The Open Championship
  The Open Championship
  The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
  
  - John Daly
  John Daly (golfer)
  John Patrick Daly is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour.Daly is known primarily for his driving distance off the tee , his non-country club appearance and attitude, and his rough-and-tumble personal life. Daly remains one of the most popular and intriguing figures on the PGA Tour...
4. August - PGA Championship
  PGA Championship
  The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...
  
  - Steve Elkington
  Steve Elkington
  Stephen John Elkington is an Australian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He spent over 50 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings from 1995 to 1998.-Early years and education:...

PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

leading money winner for the year: Greg Norman
Greg Norman
Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

- $1,654,959
Senior PGA Tour leading money winner: Jim Colbert
Jim Colbert
James Joseph Colbert is an American professional golfer.Colbert was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He attended Kansas State University, where he finished second in the NCAA golf championships in 1964, before graduating and turning professional in 1965.Colbert won eight times on the PGA Tour,...

- $1,444,386
Ryder Cup
Ryder Cup
The Ryder Cup is a biennial golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour, and is contested every two years, the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe...

: Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

won 14½ to 13½ over the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

in world team golf.

Women's Golf

U.S. Women's Open - Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam is a Swedish-American professional golfer whose achievements rank her as one of the most successful golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer...
LPGA Championship
LPGA Championship
The LPGA Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Wegmans LPGA Championship, is the second-longest running tournament in the history of the Ladies Professional Golf Association surpassed only by the U.S. Women's Open. It is one of four majors on the LPGA tour...

- Kelly Robbins
Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam is a Swedish-American professional golfer whose achievements rank her as one of the most successful golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer...

: leading money winner on the LPGA
LPGA
The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...

tour, earning $666,533

1996

1996 in sports

1996 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Lasse Kjus, Norway** Women's overall season champion: Katja Seizinger, Germany-American football:...

In one of the most astonishing final rounds in the tournament's history, Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

loses a 5-shot third round lead to lose by 6, as Nick Faldo

Nick Faldo

's superb 67 contrasts with Norman's dreadful 78.

After a career seemingly curtailed several years previously by a motorcycle accident, Steve Jones

Steve Jones (golfer)

Steven Glen Jones is an American professional golfer who is best known for winning the U.S. Open in 1996.- Early life and education :Jones was born in Artesia, New Mexico. He was a semi-finalist at the U.S. Junior Amateur in 1976...

wins the U.S. Open. Both Davis Love III and Tom Lehman

Tom Lehman

Thomas Edward Lehman is an American professional golfer.Lehman was born in Austin, Minnesota, but Alexandria, Minnesota is credited as his official Minnesota hometown. He attended the University of Minnesota, graduating with a degree in Business/Accounting and turned professional in 1982. It took...

finish just short of Jones. Lehman (as at the 1994 Masters and 1995 U.S. Open) leads on Saturday night but cannot hold on. At the British Open, Lehman again leads after three rounds, but this time is able to finish the job, winning his first major title. The PGA Championship also goes to a first-time major winner as Mark Brooks

Mark Brooks (golfer)

Mark David Brooks is an American professional golfer.Brooks was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a three-time All-American as a member of the golf team. He turned professional in 1983.Brooks has seven wins on the PGA Tour, including one major,...

beats Kenny Perry

Kenny Perry

James Kenneth Perry is an American professional golfer who currently plays on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour, for which he became eligible following his 50th birthday.-Early years:...

in a sudden-death playoff after a two-shot swing (Perry bogeyed and Brooks birdied) at the 72nd hole.

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

became the first golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles. This was the sixth consecutive year in which he won a USGA

United States Golf Association

championship, one short of Bobby Jones

Bobby Jones (golfer)

Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones Jr. was an American amateur golfer, and a lawyer by profession. Jones was the most successful amateur golfer ever to compete on a national and international level...

' record of seven. In September, he turned professional. He receives a number of sponsors' invitations to PGA Tour events, but is still expected by most to have to return to the qualifying school to earn a full players' card for 1997. However, in the last five regular tournaments of the year on the PGA Tour

PGA Tour

The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

, his finishes were 5–3–1–3–1, placing him among the tour's top 30 money-winners for the year and thereby qualifying him for the season-ending The Tour Championship

The Tour Championship

. Woods was named the PGA Tour's Rookie of the Year.

Although unable to win a major championship, Colin Montgomerie

Colin Montgomerie

tops both the World Money List and the World ranking points list for 1996. Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

however narrowly remains the official world number one as the system takes into account points earned over a 24-month period.

Men's Golf

Major championship
Men's major golf championships
The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf...

results:
1. April - Masters Tournament - Nick Faldo
  Nick Faldo
  Sir Nicholas Alexander "Nick" Faldo, MBE is an English professional golfer on the European Tour who now mainly works as an on air golf analyst. Over his career, he has won six majors: three Open Championships and three Masters. He was ranked the World No...
2. June - U.S. Open
  U.S. Open (golf)
  The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
  
  - Steve Jones
  Steve Jones (golfer)
  Steven Glen Jones is an American professional golfer who is best known for winning the U.S. Open in 1996.- Early life and education :Jones was born in Artesia, New Mexico. He was a semi-finalist at the U.S. Junior Amateur in 1976...
3. July - The Open Championship
  The Open Championship
  The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
  
  - Tom Lehman
  Tom Lehman
  Thomas Edward Lehman is an American professional golfer.Lehman was born in Austin, Minnesota, but Alexandria, Minnesota is credited as his official Minnesota hometown. He attended the University of Minnesota, graduating with a degree in Business/Accounting and turned professional in 1982. It took...
4. August - PGA Championship
  PGA Championship
  The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...
  
  - Mark Brooks
  Mark Brooks (golfer)
  Mark David Brooks is an American professional golfer.Brooks was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a three-time All-American as a member of the golf team. He turned professional in 1983.Brooks has seven wins on the PGA Tour, including one major,...

PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

leading money winner for the year: Tom Lehman
Tom Lehman
Thomas Edward Lehman is an American professional golfer.Lehman was born in Austin, Minnesota, but Alexandria, Minnesota is credited as his official Minnesota hometown. He attended the University of Minnesota, graduating with a degree in Business/Accounting and turned professional in 1982. It took...

- $1,780,159
Senior PGA Tour leading money winner: Jim Colbert
Jim Colbert
James Joseph Colbert is an American professional golfer.Colbert was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He attended Kansas State University, where he finished second in the NCAA golf championships in 1964, before graduating and turning professional in 1965.Colbert won eight times on the PGA Tour,...

- $1,627,890

Women's Golf

U.S. Women's Open - Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam is a Swedish-American professional golfer whose achievements rank her as one of the most successful golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer...
LPGA Championship
LPGA Championship
The LPGA Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Wegmans LPGA Championship, is the second-longest running tournament in the history of the Ladies Professional Golf Association surpassed only by the U.S. Women's Open. It is one of four majors on the LPGA tour...

- Laura Davies
Laura Davies
Laura Jane Davies CBE is an English professional golfer.She is considered the most accomplished English female golfer of modern times being the first non-American to finish at the top of the LPGA money list...
Karrie Webb
Karrie Webb
Karrie Ann Webb AM is Australia's most successful female professional golfer, and one of the top players in the history of global women's golf. She currently plays mainly on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and also turns out once or twice a year on the ALPG Tour in her home country. She is a member of...

is the leading money winner on the LPGA
LPGA
The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...

tour with earnings of $1,002,000 becoming the first ever woman to earn more than a million dollars in one golf season.

1997

1997 in sports

1997 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Luc Alphand, France** Women's overall season champion: Pernilla Wiberg, Sweden-American football:...

In his first major championship as a professional, Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

becomes the youngest-ever Masters Champion at 21 years 3 months, while setting a 72-hole scoring record of 270 (18 under par), and winning by a record margin (12 shots). He also becomes the first golfer of either Asian or African descent to win a men's major title. Woods wins three other tournaments in 1997 to top the U.S. Money list in what is effectively his rookie season. Even though Woods becomes the first player to earn more than $2m in a season, however, his earnings are surpassed by the leading player on the Senior PGA Tour, Hale Irwin

Hale Irwin

, who wins 9 times.

Ernie Els

Ernie Els

wins a second U.S. Open, once again defeating Colin Montgomerie in a close finish. Tom Lehman, once again, led after three rounds, but again was unable to win the title.

25-year-old Justin Leonard

Justin Leonard

Justin Charles Garrett Leonard is an American professional golfer.Leonard was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He attended Lake Highlands High School and graduated in 1990. He attended the University of Texas at Austin and was the individual NCAA champion in 1994. He was a two-time All-American...

made up a 5-shot final-round deficit with a 65 to win his first major championship, the British Open, by two shots from Jesper Parnevik

Jesper Parnevik

Jesper Bo Parnevik is a Swedish professional golfer. He spent 38 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings in 2000 and 2001.-Early years:...

and Darren Clarke

Darren Clarke

Darren Christopher Clarke is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who currently plays on the European Tour and has previously played on the PGA Tour. He has won 22 tournaments worldwide on a number of golf's main tours including the European Tour, the PGA Tour, the Sunshine Tour and the...

. A month later, Leonard finished runner-up to Davis Love III

Davis Love III

at the PGA Championship.

Men's Golf

Major championship
Men's major golf championships
The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf...

results:
1. April - Masters Tournament - Tiger Woods
  Tiger Woods
  Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...
2. June - U.S. Open
  U.S. Open (golf)
  The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
  
  - Ernie Els
  Ernie Els
  Theodore Ernest "Ernie" Els is a South African professional golfer, who has been one of the top professional players in the world since the mid-1990s. A former World No. 1, he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature along with his fluid, seemingly effortless golf swing...
3. July - The Open Championship
  The Open Championship
  The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
  
  - Justin Leonard
  Justin Leonard
  Justin Charles Garrett Leonard is an American professional golfer.Leonard was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He attended Lake Highlands High School and graduated in 1990. He attended the University of Texas at Austin and was the individual NCAA champion in 1994. He was a two-time All-American...
4. August - PGA Championship
  PGA Championship
  The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...
  
  - Davis Love III
  Davis Love III
  Davis Milton Love III is an American professional golfer.Love was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina before turning professional in 1985. He earned his PGA Tour card in the fall of 1985, on his first attempt. He quickly established himself on the PGA...

PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

leading money winner for the year: Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

- $2,066,833
Senior PGA Tour leading money winner: Hale Irwin
Hale Irwin
Hale S. Irwin is an American professional golfer. He is one of the few players in history to have won three U.S. Opens and was one of the world's leading golfers for much of the 1970s and 1980s. He has also developed a career as a golf course architect.Irwin was born in Joplin, Missouri, but was...

- $2,343,364
Ryder Cup
Ryder Cup
The Ryder Cup is a biennial golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour, and is contested every two years, the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe...

: Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

won 14½–13½ over the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

in world team golf.

Women's Golf

U.S. Women's Open - Alison Nicholas
LPGA Championship
LPGA Championship
The LPGA Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Wegmans LPGA Championship, is the second-longest running tournament in the history of the Ladies Professional Golf Association surpassed only by the U.S. Women's Open. It is one of four majors on the LPGA tour...

- Christa Johnson
Christa Johnson
Christa Johnson is an American professional golfer.Johnson was born in Arcata, California. She attended the University of Arizona....
Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam is a Swedish-American professional golfer whose achievements rank her as one of the most successful golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer...

: leading money winner on the LPGA
LPGA
The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...

tour, earning $1,236,789.

1998

1998 in sports

1998 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Hermann Maier, Austria** Women's overall season champion: Katja Seizinger, Germany-American football:...

At the age of 41, Mark O'Meara

Mark O'Meara

Mark Francis O'Meara is an American professional golfer who was a prolific tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s...

wins his first major championship, the Masters, becoming one of the few champions in history to birdie the last hole to win. Runner-up is 26-year-old David Duval

David Duval

David Robert Duval is an American professional golfer and former World No. 1 who competes on the PGA Tour.-Early years:...

who would win four times on the regular tour to lead the money list, as Tiger Woods - after his meteoric first season - wins just once. In July, O'Meara wins a second major title - this time the British Open, after a playoff with Brian Watts

Brian Watts

Brian Peter Watts is an American professional golfer.Watts was born in Montreal, Canada to European parents, but is now a U.S. citizen who lives in Oklahoma. He played collegiately at Oklahoma State and won the NCAA Division I Championship in 1987.Watts turned professional in 1988. He played...

, an American golfer whose career had mostly been played on the Japan Golf Tour

Japan Golf Tour

The Japan Golf Tour is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third highest annual prize fund out of the regular men's professional tours after the PGA Tour and the European Tour. However since the early 1990s, the growth in prize money has not kept pace with...

. Watts is forced to play a bunker shot at the 72nd hole with only one foot in the sand, needing a par to force the playoff, and very nearly holes the shot. The British Open is also notable for the remarkable tournament enjoyed by 18-year-old amateur Justin Rose

Justin Rose

Justin Peter Rose is a South African-born English professional golfer who plays most of his golf on the PGA Tour while keeping his membership on the European Tour...

, who finishes fourth after being in touch with the lead throughout the final round.

Lee Janzen

Lee Janzen

Lee McLeod Janzen is an American golfer who is best known for twice winning the U.S. Open, in 1993 and 1998.-Early years and amateur career:...

wins a second U.S. Open title, and as in 1993, Payne Stewart

Payne Stewart

William Payne Stewart was an American professional golfer who won three majors in his career, the last of which occurred only months before he died in an airplane accident at the age of 42....

finishes runner-up. Stewart's 20 feet (6.1 m) putt to tie at the last rolls across the lip but does not drop.

Fijian Vijay Singh

Vijay Singh

Vijay Singh, CF , nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer who was Number 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings for 32 weeks in 2004 and 2005. He has won three major championships and was the leading PGA Tour money winner in 2003, 2004 and 2008...

, a regular winner on both the European and U.S. Tours since the early 1990s, wins the PGA Championship. With a round to play, both player of the season Mark O'Meara and 1997's sensation Tiger Woods are within five shots of the lead, but Singh holds on for victory. Singh, an Indian Fijian

Indians in Fiji

Indo-Fijians are Fijians whose ancestors came from India and various parts of South Asia, South-East Asia and Asia itself. They number 313,798 out of a total of 827,900 people living in Fiji...

, becomes the second golfer of Asian descent to win a men's major.

Se Ri Pak

Se Ri Pak

Pak Se Ri is a South Korean professional golfer, playing on the LPGA Tour. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in November 2007.-Career overview:...

becomes the first South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

n on the LPGA Tour and makes an immediate impact, winning two majors (the LPGA Championship

LPGA Championship

and U.S. Women's Open) and two other events. She proved to be only the first of a wave of Korean players on the tour; a decade after her arrival in the U.S., she was joined on the LPGA Tour by 44 other Koreans, and the tour's single biggest source of revenue was the sale of TV broadcast rights in South Korea. The season's first major was also won by a golfer of Asian descent; the Nabisco Dinah Shore was won by Pat Hurst

Pat Hurst

Pat Hurst is an American professional golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour.Hurst's father is American and her mother is originally from Japan. She was born in San Leandro, California and raised in California.-Amateur career:...

, an American with a white

White American

White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...

father and Japanese

Japanese American

are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...

mother.

Men's Golf

Major championship
Men's major golf championships
The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf...

results:
1. April - Masters Tournament - Mark O'Meara
  Mark O'Meara
  Mark Francis O'Meara is an American professional golfer who was a prolific tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s...
2. June - U.S. Open
  U.S. Open (golf)
  The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
  
  - Lee Janzen
  Lee Janzen
  Lee McLeod Janzen is an American golfer who is best known for twice winning the U.S. Open, in 1993 and 1998.-Early years and amateur career:...
3. July - The Open Championship
  The Open Championship
  The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
  
  - Mark O'Meara
  Mark O'Meara
  Mark Francis O'Meara is an American professional golfer who was a prolific tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s...
4. August - PGA Championship
  PGA Championship
  The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...
  
  - Vijay Singh
  Vijay Singh
  Vijay Singh, CF , nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer who was Number 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings for 32 weeks in 2004 and 2005. He has won three major championships and was the leading PGA Tour money winner in 2003, 2004 and 2008...

PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

leading money winner for the year: David Duval
David Duval
David Robert Duval is an American professional golfer and former World No. 1 who competes on the PGA Tour.-Early years:...

- $2,591,031
Senior PGA Tour leading money winner: Hale Irwin
Hale Irwin
Hale S. Irwin is an American professional golfer. He is one of the few players in history to have won three U.S. Opens and was one of the world's leading golfers for much of the 1970s and 1980s. He has also developed a career as a golf course architect.Irwin was born in Joplin, Missouri, but was...

- $2,861,945

Women's Golf

Major championship
Women's major golf championships
Women's golf has a set of major championships which parallels that in men's golf, but the women's system is younger and has been less stable than the men's. Many professional stroke play events for women are played over three rounds , but the majors are played over four rounds , which is the...

results:
- Nabisco Dinah Shore Championship
  Kraft Nabisco Championship
  The Kraft Nabisco Championship is one of the four major championships on the LPGA Tour. It was founded in 1972 by Dinah Shore and has been classified as a major since 1983...
  
  : Pat Hurst
  Pat Hurst
  Pat Hurst is an American professional golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour.Hurst's father is American and her mother is originally from Japan. She was born in San Leandro, California and raised in California.-Amateur career:...
- LPGA Championship
  LPGA Championship
  The LPGA Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Wegmans LPGA Championship, is the second-longest running tournament in the history of the Ladies Professional Golf Association surpassed only by the U.S. Women's Open. It is one of four majors on the LPGA tour...
  
  : Se Ri Pak
  Se Ri Pak
  Pak Se Ri is a South Korean professional golfer, playing on the LPGA Tour. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in November 2007.-Career overview:...
- U.S. Women's Open: Se Ri Pak
  Se Ri Pak
  Pak Se Ri is a South Korean professional golfer, playing on the LPGA Tour. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in November 2007.-Career overview:...
- du Maurier Classic: Brandie Burton
Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam is a Swedish-American professional golfer whose achievements rank her as one of the most successful golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer...

: leading money winner on the LPGA
LPGA
The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...

tour, earning $1,092,748

1999

1999 in sports

1999 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Lasse Kjus, Norway** Women's overall season champion: Alexandra Meissnitzer, Austria-American football:...

After several years suffering from a recurring foot injury that at times left him unable to walk, José María Olazábal

José María Olazábal

José María Olazábal Manterola is a Spanish professional golfer who has enjoyed success on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and has won two major championships.-Career outline:...

wins a second U.S. Masters crown. Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

is yet again left trailing in the victor's wake, finishing third.

Payne Stewart

Payne Stewart

William Payne Stewart was an American professional golfer who won three majors in his career, the last of which occurred only months before he died in an airplane accident at the age of 42....

wins his second U.S. Open, and third major title in all, by a shot from Phil Mickelson

Phil Mickelson

. In October, Stewart would be among the victims of an air accident, caused by a sudden loss of cabin pressure in their Learjet.

In one of the most extraordinary and ultimately farcical major championships in history, unknown local player Paul Lawrie

Paul Lawrie

Paul Stewart Lawrie MBE is a Scottish professional golfer who is best known for winning The Open Championship in 1999.-Life and career:...

wins the British Open championship at Carnoustie, after similarly unknown French player Jean van de Velde contrives to take a seven at the par-four final hole, when six would have won the title. The error is caused initially by a wildly pushed second shot that ricochets off the grandstand and into thick rough, from where Van de Velde chops his third shot into a burn in front of the green. Van de Velde drops back into a playoff with Lawrie and Justin Leonard

Justin Leonard

, who had also previously found the burn at the 72nd hole in an attempt to put pressure on Van de Velde.

23-year-old Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

wins his second major title, the PGA Championship, by a shot from 19-year-old Spaniard Sergio García

Sergio García

Sergio García Fernández is a Spanish professional golfer who plays on both the United States PGA Tour and the European Tour. He has spent much of his career in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings...

. Despite losing, García hits the most memorable shot of the tournament, a brilliant deliberate slice from the roots of a tree that finds the green in the final round.

David Duval

David Duval

David Robert Duval is an American professional golfer and former World No. 1 who competes on the PGA Tour.-Early years:...

wins four events on the U.S. Tour before the Masters, including the Tournament Players' Championship, and briefly becomes number one in the World rankings. He finishes the year second on the ranking list behind Woods.

The United States regain the Ryder Cup

Ryder Cup

in a controversial end to the singles matches at Brookline. As Justin Leonard holes a lengthy putt in his crucial match with José María Olazábal, several U.S. players and their wives dash across the green to congratulate him, some of them across Olazábal's line, neglecting to respect the fact that the Spaniard still had a putt to win. Olazábal misses his putt, but the Europeans were aggrieved at what they perceived as a lack of sporting behavior.

The World Golf Championships

World Golf Championships

The World Golf Championships are a group of four annual events for male professional golfers created by the International Federation of PGA Tours, with a fifth to be added in 2012...

, which bring together the leading players in the World Rankings for four events each season (one at match play

Match play

, two at stroke play

Stroke play

Stroke play, also known as medal play, is a scoring system in the sport of golf. It involves counting the total number of strokes taken on each hole during a given round, or series of rounds...

, and one - the revamped World Cup - a two-man team event), are inaugurated. The first event, the 64-man WGC-Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship, provides a surprise champion in Jeff Maggert

Jeff Maggert

Jeffrey Allan Maggert is an American professional golfer.Maggert was born in Columbia, Missouri and was raised on a golf course in The Woodlands, Texas, where he attended McCullough High School. He attended Texas A&M University, where he was an All-American member of the golf team.Maggert turned...

; Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

wins the following two.

Men's Golf

Major championship
Men's major golf championships
The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf...

results:
1. April - Masters Tournament - José María Olazábal
  José María Olazábal
  José María Olazábal Manterola is a Spanish professional golfer who has enjoyed success on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and has won two major championships.-Career outline:...
2. June - U.S. Open
  U.S. Open (golf)
  The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
  
  - Payne Stewart
  Payne Stewart
  William Payne Stewart was an American professional golfer who won three majors in his career, the last of which occurred only months before he died in an airplane accident at the age of 42....
3. July - The Open Championship
  The Open Championship
  The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
  
  - Paul Lawrie
  Paul Lawrie
  Paul Stewart Lawrie MBE is a Scottish professional golfer who is best known for winning The Open Championship in 1999.-Life and career:...
4. August - PGA Championship
  PGA Championship
  The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...
  
  - Tiger Woods
  Tiger Woods
  Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

leading money winner for the year: Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

- $6,616,585
Senior PGA Tour leading money winner: Bruce Fleisher
Bruce Fleisher
-Early years and amateur career:Fleisher was born in Union City, Tennessee. He became involved in golf at age 7 by working as a caddie with his two brothers. Fleisher attended Miami-Dade Junior College and Furman University. In 1968 at age 19, he became the third youngest player to win the U.S....

- $2,515,705
Ryder Cup
Ryder Cup
The Ryder Cup is a biennial golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour, and is contested every two years, the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe...

: United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

won 14½ to 13½ over Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

in world team golf.

Women's Golf

U.S. Women's Open - Juli Inkster
Juli Inkster
Juli Inkster is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. With a professional career spanning 27 years to date, Inkster's 31 wins rank her second in wins among all active players on the LPGA Tour; she has over $11 million in career earnings...
LPGA Championship
LPGA Championship
The LPGA Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Wegmans LPGA Championship, is the second-longest running tournament in the history of the Ladies Professional Golf Association surpassed only by the U.S. Women's Open. It is one of four majors on the LPGA tour...

- Juli Inkster
Juli Inkster
Juli Inkster is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. With a professional career spanning 27 years to date, Inkster's 31 wins rank her second in wins among all active players on the LPGA Tour; she has over $11 million in career earnings...
Karrie Webb
Karrie Webb
Karrie Ann Webb AM is Australia's most successful female professional golfer, and one of the top players in the history of global women's golf. She currently plays mainly on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and also turns out once or twice a year on the ALPG Tour in her home country. She is a member of...

: leading money winner on the LPGA
LPGA
The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...

tour, earning $1,591,959

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