1912-1997 American golfer Ben Hogan was one of the greatest golfers of all time, but his greatness stemmed from his personality as much as from any innate skills at golf. Hogan was known for his icy concentration, for his marathon practice sessions, but most of all for battling back from a near-fatal 1949 car crash and returning to golf when the doctors said that he would never walk again. Power G…
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…
1974- Australian golfer Australian golf star Karrie (pronounced "kahr-rie," rhymes with "starry") Webb has been fighting Annika Sorenstam for the title of the best female golfer in the world since Webb joined the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour in 1995. Webb, who was only 20 when she joined the tour, has been compared repeatedly to Tiger Woods, since bo…
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…
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 …
1957- American golfer When Nancy Lopez burst onto the scene of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour during her rookie year in 1978 by winning a record five consecutive tournaments, she gave new life to the women's tour. Then-LPGA's director of publicity, Chip Campbell, told Golf World, "Thank the dear Lord, along came Nancy Lopez. She was a savior. What did Win…
1940- American golfer For over four decades Jack Nicklaus has been one of the greatest players to ever pick up a club. The man known as the Golden Bear is one of only five golfers to ever win all four major tournaments. But more than that, Nicklaus remained dominant in the sport for nearly three decades, with twenty-five years separating his first and last Masters win. He consistently returned to …
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…
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…
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…
1970- Swedish golfer Swedish star Annika Sorenstam is one of the best players, male or female, in the history of golf. This hard-working young woman has shattered numerous records in the course of her career; in 2001 alone she tied or broke thirty of them. Yet even though her dominance in the sport of golf seems nearly unchallenged, she still continues to push herself to work harder and to further…
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…
1935- American golfer Professional golfer Chi Chi Rodríguez has entertained generations of golf fans with his powerful drives, his victory dances, and his wisecracks. Rodríguez has been declared the longest-driving golfer ever on a pound-for-pound basis: The five-foot-seven-inch golfer, who weighed 117 pounds when he began playing on the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA)…
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…
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 …
1949- American golfer Tom Watson won eight major golf tournaments, including five British Opens, and challenged Jack Nicklaus for golf supremacy in the late 1970s. Regarded as a failure under pressure in his early years, Watson silenced critics by winning all major tournaments but the PGA at least once. He was twice a Masters champion and took the U.S. Open once. "Beginning in 1977, Watson …
1966- American golfer John Daly has won two major golf tournaments, one of them against unspeakable odds. He has also self-destructed through substance abuse, only to repeatedly bounce back. People admire his personal tenacity as much as his towering tee shots; many fans see Daly as one of them. "They've stuck by him through two PGA Tour suspensions, two trips to alcohol rehab center…
