Tournament Golf and Champions
The governing body of golf in the United States is the United States Golf Association (USGA), which was founded in 1894. The organization, whose headquarters are in Far Hills, New Jersey, rules on ball and club specifications and such regulations as hazards and scoring. It works with the Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrews in reviewing international rules. The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA) was founded in 1916, 15 years after the first Professional Golfers' Association was established in Great Britain. It conducts the PGA and PGA Senior tournaments and Ryder Cup competition between members of the American and British PGAs. Both amateurs and professionals compete in open tournaments. Among major tournaments that have the support of the PGA are the United States Open, United States Women's Open, PGA, Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), Masters, British Amateur, British Open , Canadian Open, and United States Amateur and United States Women's Amateur (also known as National Amateurs). Beginning in 1981, the name of the pro circuit was officially changed to the Tournament Players Association (TPA) Tour. Tournament golf became well established as a spectator sport in the United States during the 1920s. Such colorful professionals as Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, and Tommy Armour added much to the game's public image and popularity. One of the most outstanding early amateurs was Robert T. Jones, Jr., of Atlanta, Ga., who between 1923 and 1930 won five United States Amateurs, four United States Opens, three British Opens, and a British Amateur four of these in 1930 for an unprecedented Grand Slam. Tournament golf suffered during the depression, but after World War II the circuit flourished with such players as Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Jimmy Demaret, and Lloyd Mangrum. Purses and gates increased steadily during the 1950s. With the emergence of Arnold Palmer in the late 1950s and Jack Nicklaus in the early 1960s, tournament golf once again captured the imagination of sports fans everywhere. Nicklaus became the first golfer to win more than 200,000 dollars in a single season (1971) and also the first to earn more than 300,000 (1972). Tom Watson was the first whose season's earnings topped 400,000 (1979) and 500,000 (1980). Curtis Strange was the first million-dollar-a-year player (1988). Tom Kite, the 1989 Player of the Year, set a single-season money-winning record with 1.4 million dollars.
By the late 1960s only one player had earned more than one million dollars in his career. Palmer was the first golfer whose career earnings passed the million-dollar mark (1968). Nicklaus, the only golfer to be chosen five times as the PGA Player of the Year, was the first to earn more than 2 million (1973), 3 million (1977), 4 million (1983), and 5 million (1988) dollars. Kite reached 6 million dollars in 1990. Others whose career earnings had passed the 2-million mark by the mid-1980s were Lee Trevino, Watson, Tom Weiskopf, Hale Irwin, and Lanny Wadkins. Outstanding among the early woman golfers was Joyce Wethered, who won the British Ladies' Amateur four times between 1922 and 1929. The Women's Amateur Championship, originated in 1895, produced such champions as Beatrix Hoyt, Alexa Stirling, Margaret Curtis, and Virginia Van Wie all three-time winners and six-time winner Glenna Collett Vare. Winners since 1938 have included such diverse players as Patty Berg, Louise Suggs, Mildred (Babe) Zaharias, JoAnne Gunderson Carner, and Anne Quast. The first three later turned professional and formed the nucleus of the LPGA. Judy Rankin was the first woman golfer to earn more than 100,000 dollars in a season (1976); Beth Daniel, 200,000 (1980); Carner, 300,000 (1982); Nancy Lopez, 400,000 (1985); Betsy King, 500,000 (1989); and Daniel, 600,000 (1990). In 1981 Kathy Whitworth became the first woman golfer with career earnings of more than 1 million dollars. The 2-million mark was reached by Pat Bradley and then Carner in 1986 and by Amy Alcott in 1988. In 1990 Bradley topped 3 million. All of these women are Americans. The only golfer to win all four of the top professional tournaments at least twice was Jack Nicklaus. At 21 he was the youngest player since Bobby Jones to win the United States Open, and at 46 he was the oldest to win the Masters. When he became golf's first 5-million-dollar man in 1988, no other player had amassed as many major titles. Jack William Nicklaus was born in Columbus, Ohio, on Jan. 21, 1940. His father, a pharmacist, took up golf as therapy for an ankle injury, and Jack tagged along on the greens. He played his first round when he was 10. In 1959, while a student at Ohio State University, he became the youngest golfer in 50 years to win the United States Amateur.During that year he was defeated only once in 30 matches. He won the Amateur again in 1961 before he turned professional at an exhibition on Dec. 30, 1961. Nicklaus won no tournaments during his first five months as a pro, but his legendary career took off in June 1962 when he defeated Arnold Palmer at the United States Open. He won that title again in 1967, 1972, and 1980. There were six lean years without a major victory and two years with no victory at all before Nicklaus won his sixth Masters in 1986 by shooting a final-round 65. (The five other Masters titles were gained in 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, and 1975.)
He is considered the greatest final-round player ever. Slow and deliberate, yet powerful, Nicklaus was called the Blond Bear for his sunlit blond hair and sturdy bearing. He won the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) championship (1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, and 1980), the British Open (1966, 1970, and 1978), and six Australian Open titles. He has designed several golf courses and has written books on golf.