1957- British golfer British golfer Nick Faldo has won six major golf events and more than 30 titles on the European Professional Golf Association tour, primarily from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Though Faldo is a great golfer, he has not been a popular nor particularly high profile figure in the United States, in part because of his personality. Faldo only achieved success when he changed his…
1980- Spanish golfer Noticeably fun-loving and light-hearted among other more dignified golfers, Sergio "El Nino" Garcia shed his amateur status at age nineteen after accumulating twenty-one amateur victories. In 1999 as he claimed six tournament wins and picked up his first endorsement contract, he was regarded as the most promising professional golfer the year. Dubbed a wunderkind …
1969- South African golfer Golfer Retief Goosen's self-doubt would keep him in the shadows of fellow South African and friendly rival Ernie Els for many years. Playing primarily on the European Tour, Goosen enjoyed a quiet and mildly successful career while his friend Els competed with golf's superstars on the U.S. Tour. That would all change when Goosen, without much fanfare, won th…
1902-1971 American golfer Although he retired from competitive golf in 1930, at age twenty-eight, Bobby Jones is widely regarded as the greatest golfer of all time. While earning three college degrees Jones played golf as an amateur, winning thirteen of the twenty-one national championships he entered in the United States and Great Britain between 1923 and 1930. In 1930 he achieved the golfing &#x…
1972- American golfer How physical is the game of golf? And do professional sports associations have the right to set their own rules? These questions were brought to new light by one golfer, Casey Martin, as he attempted to join the ranks of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA). Martin suffers from a rare birth defect called Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome, which severely weakened his righ…
1955- Australian golfer Greg Norman is professional golf's all-time leading money winner. He was the first golfer to reach $10 million in earnings and from 1986 through 1990, was ranked number one four times. He won the British Open in 1986 and 1993. Norman, nicknamed the "Great White Shark," during the 1981 Masters tournament, is extremely popular with the public and the medi…
1929- American golfer Arnold Palmer wrote in his 1997 autobiography, A Golfer's Life, that his father gave him a big piece of advice that served him well through the years. He said, "Get the right grip. Hit the ball hard. Go find the ball, boy, and hit it hard again." Palmer found the right grip, hit the ball hard, and—more often than not—often found the ball in …
1939- American golfer Completely self-taught, Lee Trevino's unorthodox swing has made golf pros shudder throughout his career. With a wide stance and a closed club face, he drives through the ball with a flat baseball-type swing. By the standards of traditional golf, he does everything wrong, which somehow turns out right. Trevino, who has long shunned golf instructors, once told the San An…
1939- American golfer Kathy Whitworth's professional golfing career spanned 32 years. From 1959 to 1991, she was a consistent figure in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). She started out with the LPGA when it was just beginning to take hold and participated in bringing it into its own. During that time she broke ground that set high standards for the women who follow in her fo…