Lou Graham

For other uses, see Lou Graham (disambiguation).

Lou Graham
Personal information
Full name	Louis Krebs Graham
Born	(1938-01-07) January 7, 1938 (age 87) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st)
Sporting nationality	United States
Career
College	Memphis State University
Turned professional	1964
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour Champions Tour
Professional wins	7
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	6
Other	1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	T6: 1977
PGA Championship	T6: 1977
U.S. Open	Won: 1975
The Open Championship	T47: 1975

Louis Krebs Graham (born January 7, 1938) is an American professional golfer. Graham won six PGA Tour tournaments including the 1975 U.S. Open.

Early life

Graham was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He started playing golf when he was seven years old. He attended Nashville's Father Ryan High School, and then Memphis State University, now the University of Memphis, in Memphis, Tennessee, where he played on the golf team for three years.

Later, Graham was drafted into the U.S. Army. While in the Army, Graham served as a member of the Old Guard—Company E of the Third U.S. Infantry Regiment—the ceremonial Honor Guard that guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. During his Army career, he made the Army golf team that won the Inter-Service championship in 1961.

Professional career

Graham joined the PGA Tour in September 1964. His first win was at the Minnesota Golf Classic at Hazeltine National Golf Club in 1967 during his third full year on the tour. Graham won again in 1972 at the Liggett Myers Open, followed by the U.S. Open in 1975. Graham had only three wins in fifteen years, and then in 1979, he won three more times in the space of eleven weeks. For this achievement, he won Golf Digest's 1979 Comeback of the Year award. ^[1]

Graham played on three Ryder Cup teams (1973, 1975, 1977), and was a member of the victorious 1975 World Cup Team. He was inducted as a charter member of the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame in 1992. During his career, he won over $1.4 million on the PGA Tour and over $600,000 in Senior Tour career earnings. ^[1]

Graham's greatest success in major championships has been at the U.S. Open. He won in 1975 at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois beating John Mahaffey by two strokes in a playoff. In 1977, he finished second – losing by one stroke to Hubert Green at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also had a previous T-3 finish at the Open in 1974. ^[2] On the Senior Tour (now known as the Champions Tour), his best finish was a T-3 at the AT&T Championship in 1990.

Awards and honors

• In 1979, Graham won Golf Digest's Comeback of the Year award. ^[1]
• In 1992, he was inducted as a charter member of the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame. ^[3]

Professional wins (7)

PGA Tour wins (6)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Jul 30, 1967	Minnesota Golf Classic	−2 (76-68-70-72=286)	1 stroke	Bobby Verwey
2	Aug 27, 1972	Liggett & Myers Open	−3 (71-74-70-70=285)	Playoff	David Graham, Hale Irwin, Larry Ziegler
3	Jun 23, 1975	U.S. Open	[phone]=287)	Playoff	John Mahaffey
4	Jul 22, 1979	IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic	−11 (68-70-71-64=273)	Playoff	Bobby Wadkins
5	Sep 9, 1979	American Optical Classic	−9 (68-67-71-69=275)	1 stroke	Ben Crenshaw
6	Oct 7, 1979	San Antonio Texas Open	−12 (69-64-69-66=268)	1 stroke	Eddie Pearce, Bill Rogers, Doug Tewell

PGA Tour playoff record (3–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1971	Greater Hartford Open	George Archer, J. C. Snead	Archer won with birdie on first extra hole
2	1972	Liggett & Myers Open	David Graham, Hale Irwin, Larry Ziegler	Won with birdie on third extra hole D. Graham and Ziegler eliminated by par on first hole
3	1975	U.S. Open	John Mahaffey	Won 18-hole playoff; Graham: E (71), Mahaffey: +2 (73)
4	1979	IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic	Bobby Wadkins	Won with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Dec 7, 1975	World Cup (with Johnny Miller)	−22 (134-142-140-138=554)	10 strokes	Taiwan − Hsieh Min-Nan and Kuo Chie-Hsiung

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1975	U.S. Open	4 shot deficit	[phone]=287)	Playoff1	John Mahaffey

¹Defeated Mahaffey in an 18-hole playoff – Graham 71 (E), Mahaffey 73 (+2).

Results timeline

Tournament	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Masters Tournament							CUT
U.S. Open	CUT	CUT	23	CUT	T28
The Open Championship
PGA Championship						T8	CUT

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
Masters Tournament		CUT		T17	CUT	T40	T12	T6	CUT	T23
U.S. Open	T46	T37	T19	CUT	T3	1	T28	2	T35	T25
The Open Championship						T47
PGA Championship	T22	CUT	T33	T30	T48	T54	T22	T6	CUT	T10

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985
Masters Tournament	T26
U.S. Open	T51	CUT	T39	T50	CUT	CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship	CUT	CUT		T42

  Win

  Top 10

  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	0	0	1	4	10	6
U.S. Open	1	1	1	3	3	6	21	14
The Open Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
PGA Championship	0	0	0	0	3	5	15	10
Totals	1	1	1	3	7	15	47	31

• Most consecutive cuts made – 11 (1974 U.S. Open – 1977 U.S. Open)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (1977 Masters – 1977 PGA)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985
The Players Championship	5	T29	T56	T61	2	T43	T60	72	T70	WD	CUT	CUT

  Top 10

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

U.S. national team appearances

Professional

• Ryder Cup: 1973 (winners), 1975 (winners), 1977 (winners)
• World Cup: 1975 (winners)

References

1. "Lou Graham - Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame". Tennessee Golf Association. Archived from the original on February 15, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2006.
2. "Lou Graham". Golf Major Championships.
3. "Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame Inductees". tennesseegolfhalloffame.com. Retrieved May 11, 2025.

External links

• Lou Graham at the PGA Tour official site