These Masters Golf Winners

Among the highest honors a professional golfer can achieve in their career is to be one of the Masters Golf winners. The Masters, of course is one of the biggest events in golf. One of the four champion ship tournaments on the PGA Tour, this event is held at Augusta, Georgia\’s Augusta National Golf Club, which is unique among the hosts of the major tournaments in being a members-only club, something which has sparked some controversy in the past.

The Masters Tournament is also known as the U.S. Masters and it is an official event of the PGA Tour, the Japan Golf Tour, and the PGA European Tour. This event is by invitation only and is entirely controlled by the Augusta National Golf Club. Because this event is by invitation only there are fewer players in this tournament than most major championships. This is the first tournament to be played of the year scheduled in the first week of April.

Masters golf winners are awarded a green jacket by tradition. This green jacket was frowned upon at first because of the color but is considered an honor to wear today. The jacket has been a tradition since 1949. The winner of the tournament that is given the green jacket is allowed to wear it for one year. After the year is complete they must return the jacket to the clubhouse of the Augusta National Golf Club for the next winner of the tournament. Today, the tradition is that the winner of the tournament returning the jacket will place it on the new winner of the tournament the following year.

Naturally, there is also a cash prize to be won; Masters Golf winners receive awards out of a total purse of $7.5 million. The champion of the tournament wins a gold medal and $1.35 million and the runner up receives a silver medal and a cash prize, while the lowest scoring player of the day goes home with a crystal vase. Any player who scores a double eagle or a hole in one is given a large crystal bowl; players who score an eagle receive a set of fine crystal goblets. A crystal bowl is also awarded to the winner of the par 3 event held the day before the tournament proper begins.

Some Masters golf winners have earned this honor several times in their careers; Jack Nicklaus is the undisputed all time champion in the Masters, with 6 championship wins between 1963 and 1986. Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer are tied for second with four Masters wins. Gary Player of South Africa is the first player to be a winner of the Masters; he took the championship in 1961.

Masters golf winners are among the best golfers in the world ” and since this tournament is open only to players who have been invited by the Augusta National Golf Club, even being asked to participate in this tournament is quite an honor in itself, whether or not the player goes home as one of the Masters golf winners. With the biggest names in the sport and a large amount of prize money as well as the famed green jacket at stake, fans watch this even closely every year.

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Nicklaus Bio

Jack Nicklaus, also called “The Golden Bear” was a remarkable man even as a child. The son of a Columbus, Ohio pharmacist, Nicklaus beat polio as a child and went on to become of the greatest golfers ever to step onto the green. At the age of ten, Nicklaus began golfing and by the time he was 13, he had already broken 70 playing 18 holes.

As a junior player he won the Ohio Open in 1956 at sixteen years of age, the US Amateur twice (1959 and 1961), and an NCAA Championship in 1961. When Nicklaus played in the 1960 US Open he had a 282 and finished second behind golf great Arnold Palmer. He was also a part of and won the US Eisenhower Trophy with his team in 1960 with a four-round score of 269-this record still stands today.

Nicklaus was playing on the pro circuit by 1962, when he won his first US Open. Defeating Arnold Palmer in this tournament made him a household name overnight. He would win the Masters twice in the 1960’s even though it would be 1970 before he would win his next US Open. He took nine more major titles in the 1970s, breaking the 13 title record held by Bobby Jones. His last major tournament can in 1986, when he was 46; the oldest player to win this tournament.

He joined the Senior PGA Tour in 1990, where he racked up 10 wins by 1996 – eight of which were major tournament wins. His made his last Senior PGA tournament appearances in 2005. However, he has stayed active in the sport, writing on the subject, designing courses and even holding his own PGA tournament, the Memorial tournament. Hi runs one of the world’s leading golf course design firms and has written autobiographical titles as well as instructional works on playing the Nicklaus way.

Perhaps Nicklaus’ popularity came with golf’s popularity when he beat Arnold Palmer in 1962 at Oakmont in the US Open. With the emergence of television, Jack’s charisma, good looks, and true rivalry with Palmer attracted many viewers to golf-something they hadn’t seen before on TV. He won an unheard of prize money of $60,000 in 1962 and reached third place on the tour’s money list, and named Rookie of the Year. In 1963, one of his best years, he won the Masters and the PGA Championship.

In 1964, he won the British Open at St. Andrews and established a new record for lowest score in the last thirty-six holes-66-68. His Masters win in 1965 set a tourney record of 271-which stood until Tiger Woods shot 270 in 1997. In the 1968, The Golden Bear let his physical condition slip, which most felt affected his playing skills, but Jack improved in the fall of 1969 where he returned to top form. Sadly, he lost one of his biggest supporters and mentors, his father, Charlie Nicklaus in 1970.

Interviewed in 1970 after the death of his father, Nicklaus said: “I was playing good golf, but it really wasn’t that big a deal to me one way or the other. And then my father passed away and I sort of realized he had certainly lived his life through my golf game. I really hadn’t probably given him the best of that. So I sort of got myself back to work. So 1970 was an emotional one for me from that standpoint-it was a big boost.” Whatever the reason Nicklaus was certainly a record setter – he was the first player to win all four major tournaments twice in the course of his career.

In 1974, Jack Nicklaus became one of the first inductees to the World Golf Hall of Fame which he followed up on the next year by winning his 5th Masters Tournament and 4th PGA championship, as well as being named Athlete of the Year by ABC’s Wide World of Sports. It would be impossible for anyone but The Golden Bear himself, but Nicklaus took his 6th and final Masters Title in 1986. He still shares a record (with Tiger Woods) for having won all of the major championships three times). Nicklaus will always be a legend in the game for is amazing achievements and his work to support and popularize the game, something which he continues to do to this day. Jack Nicklaus may have retired, but it seems he’s still an unstoppable force in the golf world.

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A look at senior golf tournaments and their winners

When it comes to the game of golf, senior players can still enjoy the thrill of competion by participating in tournaments both locally and internationally. Many of the senior golfers choose to compete in the tournaments and so many have names that are very familiar. It was not until 1980 that the winners of the Senior Tours were recognized but since then they have been, and deservedly so.

Seniors can play golf and they are recognized today for their golf efforts when they participate in some of the golf tournaments that are set up by the PGA and other organizations. Senior golf tournament winners must be 50 years of age or older. The Champions Tour is the leading senior tour and it is U.S. based. It was established in 1980 and is a very popular tour. There are five major championships that are a part of the senior tour. Each event plays over three rounds.

The tournament did not start with five events as, over the past twenty years, they were added to it. As mentioned above PGA started the senior golf tournaments in 1980 and The United States Senior Open was also involved. The Senior Players Championship became part of the Tour in 1983. It was followed by the Tradition six years later, and in 1993, the Champions Tournament also took on the Senior British Open Championship.

The Senior PGA is the oldest of the major events for senior golf tournament winners. These events began back in the 1930s. The Champions Tour consisting of the previous four tournaments are what gave golf its success and why the senior tour is considered to have begun in the 1980s. However, the actual senior PGA tour began when the big names in golf actually became of age to be considered seniors like Arnold Palmer and Gary Player. At this point, a division was created for them so they could continue the sport and bring in new golfers their age.

The senior golf tournament winners have varied over the years from American and other differing countries. Jack Nicklaus holds the most titles for senior major wins with a total of 8. In addition, he also holds the regular major win title with a total of 18 wins in his early years of golf. Names you will see today as the most popular winners for the events include Jay Haas with the title for at the Senior PGA Championship, Bruce Vaughan for the Senior British Open, Eduardo Romero for the U.S. Senior Open, The Tradition is led by Fred Funk, and D. A. Weibring holds the title for the latest Senior Players Championship.

Ever since the well known golfers ie, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer, started playing in the seniors league, other seniors have been able to join as well. Just because a golfer gets older he or she can still participate and the events described above give them the ideal opportunity to do so. These senior golfing events are part of famous tournaments, such as the PGA Championship, the US Open, etc, and they allow great golfers to continue to compete for the trophy and for the title.

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Arnold Palmer – The Man From Latrobe

Arnold Daniel Palmer was born on September 10, 1929 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, or as the residents there call it “Laaatrobe,” with an emphasis on the “A.” Considered to be one of the greatest golf players in history he has won a number of events including the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour dating back to 1955. Given the nickname, “The King,” he is popular among both fans and golf pros around the world. Part of golf’s Big Three that included Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, with the emergence of televised sports in the 1950’s, Palmer and his Big Three buddies made golf interesting, and watchable.

Arnold began early, having learned his love for the game from his father, Deacon; a greens keeper at the Latrobe Country Club. At the tender age of seven, Palmer scored a 70 at the nearby Bent Creek Country Club, an impressive achievement, especially considering his age. Palmer cut his teeth in the game on the then only nine hole Latrobe Country Club course, on which he was allowed to play early in the morning and late in the afternoon when members did not have tee times scheduled.

Palmer attended Wake Forest University on a golf scholarship and later served three years in the Coast Guard, during which he married Winifred Walker (whom he met while playing in a Pennsylvania tournament). In his first season as a professional player, Palmer won the Canadian Open, which helped spark interest in the career of this rising young star.

Palmer won the 1958 Masters, his first major tournament win and quickly became one of the most popular golfers in the world. He signed with the agent Mark McCormack, who says that he was interested in representing Palmer because of “his good looks, his modest background, the way he played golf, his risk taking and wearing his heart on his sleeve, and his involvement in so many exciting early televised finishes.” Palmer quickly achieved international fame, winning the English Open (one of the first American golfers to do so). He scored a string of victories including the US Open in 1960, another English Open in 1961 and the PGA Masters in 1960, 1963 and 1964. Between 1960 and 1962, Palmer took 29 PGA Tour event trophies.

Palmer was also named Professional Athlete of the Year in 1960 by Sports Illustrated. The same year, he won the Sportsman of the Year award. These awards won him a growing fan base which became known as “Arnie’s Army”. Palmer continued to win one or more PGA Tour events every year until 1971 (when he won four), even against Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player – an impressive achievement.

The winner of four Vardon Trophies for low average score and a member on six different Ryder Cup teams, Palmer was by 1980 eligible for the PGA Senior Tour – an event which his famous name brought success to. The event would eventually be renamed the Champions Tour; Palmer won ten events on this tour and thanks to the talent of his agent McCormack, Palmer earned more in endorsements, charity events and sponsorships than any other player in the sport. Arnold Palmer has even won the highest honor given to civilians in the US – the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award, which was presented to Palmer by President Bush.

In 2004, Arnold played in The Masters for the last time-his 50th consecutive appearance and when he missed the cut at the 2005 US Senior Open, he then announced he would not play any further senior majors, retiring from golf in 2006. To the delight of Arnie’s Army, one of his most memorable events was during the 2004 Bay Hill Invitational where standing over 200 yards from the 18th green, he lashed his second shot onto the green with a driver. Even Arnold smiled and celebrated the moment along with his grandson/caddie, Sam Saunders.

Arnold Palmer remains active in the golf world, being involved in the Bay Hill Club and Lodge (which is where the Arnolf Palmer Invitational is held), being one of the driving forces behind the Golf Channel and assisting in the building of one of China’s first golf courses. Palmer also started the Arnold Palmer Design Company and since 1971, he has been owner of the Latrobe Country Club where he got his first taste of the game. Golf Digest ranked Palmer as one of the top ten players of all time and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and a winner of the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award (which he won in 1988). Palmer lives in Orlando, Florida where he still enjoys getting in a round of golf – and being an ambassador for the game of golf to the world.

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