1969 PGA Tour

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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 United States Charlie Sifford (2) 276 (−8) 20,000
Jan 12 Alameda County Open California United States Dick Lotz (1) 290 (+2) 10,000 Alternate event
Jan 20 Kaiser International Open Invitational California United States Miller Barber (4) 135 (−9) 13,500
Jan 27 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am California United States George Archer (6) 283 (−5) 25,000
Feb 2 Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational California United States Jack Nicklaus (28) 284 (−4) 30,000
Feb 9 Bob Hope Desert Classic California United States Billy Casper (41) 345 (−15) 20,000
Feb 16 Phoenix Open Invitational Arizona United States Gene Littler (21) 263 (−21) 20,000
Feb 23 Tucson Open Invitational Arizona United States Lee Trevino (3) 271 (−17) 20,000
Mar 2 Doral Open Invitational Florida United States Tom Shaw (1) 276 (−12) 30,000
Mar 9 Florida Citrus Open Invitational Florida United States Ken Still (1) 278 (−10) 23,000
Mar 18 Monsanto Open Invitational Florida United States Jim Colbert (1) 267 (−17) 20,000
Mar 23 Greater Jacksonville Open Florida United States Raymond Floyd (3) 278 (−10) 20,000
Mar 30 National Airlines Open Invitational Florida United States Bunky Henry (1) 278 (−10) 40,000
Apr 6 Greater Greensboro Open North Carolina United States Gene Littler (22) 274 (−10) 32,000
Apr 13 Masters Tournament Georgia United States George Archer (7) 281 (−7) 20,000
Apr 14 Magnolia Classic Mississippi United States Larry Mowry 272 (−8) 5,000 Satellite event
Apr 20 Tournament of Champions California South Africa Gary Player (12) 284 (−4) 30,000
Apr 20 Azalea Open Invitational North Carolina United States Dale Douglass (1) 275 (−9) 5,000 Alternate event
Apr 20 Tallahassee Open Invitational Florida United States Chuck Courtney (2) 282 (−6) 5,000 Alternate event
Apr 27 Byron Nelson Golf Classic Texas Australia Bruce Devlin (4) 277 (−3) 20,000
May 4 Greater New Orleans Open Invitational Louisiana United States Larry Hinson (1) 275 (−13) 20,000
May 11 Texas Open Invitational Texas United States Deane Beman (1) 274 (−10) 20,000
May 18 Colonial National Invitation Texas United States Gardner Dickinson (6) 278 (−2) 25,000
May 25 Atlanta Classic Georgia United States Bert Yancey (5) 277 (−11) 23,000
Jun 1 Memphis Open Invitational Tennessee United States Dave Hill (5) 265 (−15) 30,000
Jun 8 Western Open Illinois United States Billy Casper (42) 276 (−8) 26,000
Jun 15 U.S. Open Texas United States Orville Moody (1) 281 (+1) 30,000
Jun 22 Kemper Open North Carolina United States Dale Douglass (2) 274 (−14) 30,000
Jun 29 Cleveland Open Invitational Ohio United States Charles Coody (2) 271 (−9) 22,000
Jul 6 Buick Open Invitational Michigan United States Dave Hill (6) 277 (−11) 25,000
Jul 12 British Open England England Tony Jacklin (2) 280 (−4) 10,200
Jul 13 Minnesota Golf Classic Minnesota United States Frank Beard (7) 269 (−15) 20,000
Jul 20 IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic Pennsylvania United States Dave Hill (7) 279 (−9) 30,000
Jul 27 American Golf Classic Ohio United States Raymond Floyd (4) 268 (−12) 25,000
Aug 3 Westchester Classic New York United States Frank Beard (8) 275 (−13) 50,000
Aug 10 Greater Milwaukee Open Wisconsin United States Ken Still (2) 277 (−11) 20,000
Aug 17 PGA Championship Ohio United States Raymond Floyd (5) 276 (−8) 35,000
Aug 17 Indian Ridge Hospital Open Invitational Massachusetts United States Monty Kaser (1) 274 (−10) 7,400 Alternate event
Aug 24 AVCO Golf Classic Massachusetts United States Tom Shaw (2) 280 (−4) 30,000
Sep 2 Greater Hartford Open Invitational Connecticut United States Bob Lunn (3) 268 (−16) 20,000
Sep 7 Michigan Golf Classic Michigan United States Larry Ziegler (1) 272 (−12) 20,000
Sep 28 Alcan Open Oregon United States Billy Casper (43) 274 (−14) 55,000
Sep 28 Robinson Open Golf Classic Illinois United States Bob Goalby (9) 273 (−15) 15,000 Alternate event
Oct 19 Sahara Invitational Nevada United States Jack Nicklaus (29) 272 (−12) 20,000
Oct 26 San Francisco Open Invitational California United States Steve Spray (1) 269 (−15) 20,000
Nov 3 Kaiser International Open Invitational[4] California United States Jack Nicklaus (30) 273 (−15) 28,000
Nov 9 Hawaiian Open Hawaii Australia Bruce Crampton (7) 274 (−14) 25,000
Nov 30 Heritage Golf Classic South Carolina United States Arnold Palmer (55) 283 (−1) 20,000
Dec 7 Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic Florida United States Arnold Palmer (56) 270 (−18) 25,000
Dec 7 West End Classic Bahamas United States Jim Wiechers (1) 274 (−14) 5,000 Satellite event

Source:[5][6]

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[]

  1. ^ "Golfer of the year". The Southeast Missourian. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. AP. November 19, 1969. p. 13. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
  2. ^ "Pro golf struggle is settled; PGA forms tourney group". Milwaukee Journal. December 14, 1968. p. 18.
  3. ^ Gorant, Jim (August 8, 2018). "War for the Tour: The day the PGA Championship nearly died". Golf.com.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "1969 winners sorted by age". PGA Tour. July 9, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ Rew, Karen (December 26, 1969). "Frank Beard Boosting Business of Pro Golf". Mansfield News Journal. Mansfield, Ohio. AP. p. 23.

External links[]

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