1969 PGA Tour
The 1969 PGA Tour season was played from January 9 to December 7. The season consisted of 49 official money events. Billy Casper, Raymond Floyd, Dave Hill, and Jack Nicklaus won the most tournaments, three each, and there were 14 first-time winners. Frank Beard was the leading money winner with earnings of $164,707. Orville Moody was voted the PGA Player of the Year[1] and Dave Hill won the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average.
This is generally regarded as the first season of an independent PGA Tour.[2] The tour began to break off from the PGA of America in August 1968. The players formed a Tournament Players Division within the PGA of America, "a freestanding corporation run by a 10-member tournament policy board of four players, three PGA executives and three consulting businessmen."[3]
Tournament results[]
The following table shows all the official money events for the 1969 season. "Date" is the ending date of the tournament. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event. Majors are shown in bold.
| Date | Tournament | Location | Winner | Score | 1st prize ($) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 12 | Los Angeles Open | California |  Charlie Sifford (2) |
276 (−8) | 20,000 | |
| Jan 12 | Alameda County Open | California | Dick Lotz (1) |
290 (+2) | 10,000 | Alternate event |
| Jan 20 | Kaiser International Open Invitational | California | Miller Barber (4) |
135 (−9) | 13,500 | |
| Jan 27 | Bing Crosby National Pro-Am | California | George Archer (6) |
283 (−5) | 25,000 | |
| Feb 2 | Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational | California | Jack Nicklaus (28) |
284 (−4) | 30,000 | |
| Feb 9 | Bob Hope Desert Classic | California | Billy Casper (41) |
345 (−15) | 20,000 | |
| Feb 16 | Phoenix Open Invitational | Arizona | Gene Littler (21) |
263 (−21) | 20,000 | |
| Feb 23 | Tucson Open Invitational | Arizona | Lee Trevino (3) |
271 (−17) | 20,000 | |
| Mar 2 | Doral Open Invitational | Florida | Tom Shaw (1) |
276 (−12) | 30,000 | |
| Mar 9 | Florida Citrus Open Invitational | Florida | Ken Still (1) |
278 (−10) | 23,000 | |
| Mar 18 | Monsanto Open Invitational | Florida | Jim Colbert (1) |
267 (−17) | 20,000 | |
| Mar 23 | Greater Jacksonville Open | Florida | Raymond Floyd (3) |
278 (−10) | 20,000 | |
| Mar 30 | National Airlines Open Invitational | Florida | Bunky Henry (1) |
278 (−10) | 40,000 | |
| Apr 6 | Greater Greensboro Open | North Carolina | Gene Littler (22) |
274 (−10) | 32,000 | |
| Apr 13 | Masters Tournament | Georgia | George Archer (7) |
281 (−7) | 20,000 | |
| Apr 14 | Magnolia Classic | Mississippi | Larry Mowry |
272 (−8) | 5,000 | Satellite event |
| Apr 20 | Tournament of Champions | California |  Gary Player (12) |
284 (−4) | 30,000 | |
| Apr 20 | Azalea Open Invitational | North Carolina | Dale Douglass (1) |
275 (−9) | 5,000 | Alternate event |
| Apr 20 | Tallahassee Open Invitational | Florida | Chuck Courtney (2) |
282 (−6) | 5,000 | Alternate event |
| Apr 27 | Byron Nelson Golf Classic | Texas |  Bruce Devlin (4) |
277 (−3) | 20,000 | |
| May 4 | Greater New Orleans Open Invitational | Louisiana | Larry Hinson (1) |
275 (−13) | 20,000 | |
| May 11 | Texas Open Invitational | Texas | Deane Beman (1) |
274 (−10) | 20,000 | |
| May 18 | Colonial National Invitation | Texas | Gardner Dickinson (6) |
278 (−2) | 25,000 | |
| May 25 | Atlanta Classic | Georgia | Bert Yancey (5) |
277 (−11) | 23,000 | |
| Jun 1 | Memphis Open Invitational | Tennessee | Dave Hill (5) |
265 (−15) | 30,000 | |
| Jun 8 | Western Open | Illinois | Billy Casper (42) |
276 (−8) | 26,000 | |
| Jun 15 | U.S. Open | Texas | Orville Moody (1) |
281 (+1) | 30,000 | |
| Jun 22 | Kemper Open | North Carolina | Dale Douglass (2) |
274 (−14) | 30,000 | |
| Jun 29 | Cleveland Open Invitational | Ohio | Charles Coody (2) |
271 (−9) | 22,000 | |
| Jul 6 | Buick Open Invitational | Michigan | Dave Hill (6) |
277 (−11) | 25,000 | |
| Jul 12 | British Open | England |  Tony Jacklin (2) |
280 (−4) | 10,200 | |
| Jul 13 | Minnesota Golf Classic | Minnesota | Frank Beard (7) |
269 (−15) | 20,000 | |
| Jul 20 | IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic | Pennsylvania | Dave Hill (7) |
279 (−9) | 30,000 | |
| Jul 27 | American Golf Classic | Ohio | Raymond Floyd (4) |
268 (−12) | 25,000 | |
| Aug 3 | Westchester Classic | New York | Frank Beard (8) |
275 (−13) | 50,000 | |
| Aug 10 | Greater Milwaukee Open | Wisconsin | Ken Still (2) |
277 (−11) | 20,000 | |
| Aug 17 | PGA Championship | Ohio | Raymond Floyd (5) |
276 (−8) | 35,000 | |
| Aug 17 | Indian Ridge Hospital Open Invitational | Massachusetts | Monty Kaser (1) |
274 (−10) | 7,400 | Alternate event |
| Aug 24 | AVCO Golf Classic | Massachusetts | Tom Shaw (2) |
280 (−4) | 30,000 | |
| Sep 2 | Greater Hartford Open Invitational | Connecticut | Bob Lunn (3) |
268 (−16) | 20,000 | |
| Sep 7 | Michigan Golf Classic | Michigan | Larry Ziegler (1) |
272 (−12) | 20,000 | |
| Sep 28 | Alcan Open | Oregon | Billy Casper (43) |
274 (−14) | 55,000 | |
| Sep 28 | Robinson Open Golf Classic | Illinois | Bob Goalby (9) |
273 (−15) | 15,000 | Alternate event |
| Oct 19 | Sahara Invitational | Nevada | Jack Nicklaus (29) |
272 (−12) | 20,000 | |
| Oct 26 | San Francisco Open Invitational | California | Steve Spray (1) |
269 (−15) | 20,000 | |
| Nov 3 | Kaiser International Open Invitational[4] | California | Jack Nicklaus (30) |
273 (−15) | 28,000 | |
| Nov 9 | Hawaiian Open | Hawaii | Bruce Crampton (7) |
274 (−14) | 25,000 | |
| Nov 30 | Heritage Golf Classic | South Carolina | Arnold Palmer (55) |
283 (−1) | 20,000 | |
| Dec 7 | Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic | Florida | Arnold Palmer (56) |
270 (−18) | 25,000 | |
| Dec 7 | West End Classic | Bahamas | Jim Wiechers (1) |
274 (−14) | 5,000 | Satellite event |
Money leaders[]
| Rank | Player | Country | Earnings ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frank Beard | United States |
175,223 |
| 2 | Dave Hill | United States |
156,432 |
| 3 | Jack Nicklaus | United States |
140,167 |
| 4 | Gary Player | South Africa |
123,897 |
| 5 | Bruce Crampton | Australia |
118,955 |
| 6 | Gene Littler | United States |
112,737 |
| 7 | Lee Trevino | United States |
112,417 |
| 8 | Raymond Floyd | United States |
109,956 |
| 9 | Arnold Palmer | United States |
105,128 |
| 10 | Billy Casper | United States |
104,689 |
Source:[7]
Awards[]
| Award | Winner | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Money winner | Frank Beard | United States
|
| PGA Player of the Year | Orville Moody | United States
|
| Scoring leader (Vardon Trophy) | Dave Hill | United States
|
References[]
- ^ "Golfer of the year". The Southeast Missourian. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. AP. November 19, 1969. p. 13. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
- ^ "Pro golf struggle is settled; PGA forms tourney group". Milwaukee Journal. December 14, 1968. p. 18.
- ^ Gorant, Jim (August 8, 2018). "War for the Tour: The day the PGA Championship nearly died". Golf.com.
- ^ Tourney was added to schedule after Kaiser tourney in January was rain-shortened to 36 holes causing only half the prize money to be paid out.
- ^ "1969 winners sorted by age". PGA Tour. July 9, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
- ^ Johnson, Sal; Seanor, Dave, eds. (2009). The USA Today Golfers Encyclopedia. New York, New York: Skyhorse Publishing. pp. 675–82. ISBN 978-1-60239-302-8.
- ^ Rew, Karen (December 26, 1969). "Frank Beard Boosting Business of Pro Golf". Mansfield News Journal. Mansfield, Ohio. AP. p. 23.
External links[]
Categories:
- PGA Tour seasons
- 1969 in golf