Lou Graham

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Lou Graham
Personal information
Full nameLouis Krebs Graham
Born (1938-01-07) January 7, 1938 (age 86)
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st)
Sporting nationalityFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Career
College Memphis State University
Turned professional1964
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
Champions Tour
Professional wins7
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour6
Other1
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.

Contents

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

Professional wins (7)

PGA Tour wins (6)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (5)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
1Jul 30, 1967 Minnesota Golf Classic −2 (76-68-70-72=286)1 stroke Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg Bobby Verwey
2Aug 27, 1972 Liggett & Myers Open −3 (71-74-70-70=285)Playoff Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Graham, Flag of the United States.svg Hale Irwin,
Flag of the United States.svg Larry Ziegler
3Jun 23, 1975 U.S. Open +3 (74-72-68-73=287)Playoff Flag of the United States.svg John Mahaffey
4Jul 22, 1979 IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic −11 (68-70-71-64=273)Playoff Flag of the United States.svg Bobby Wadkins
5Sep 9, 1979 American Optical Classic −9 (68-67-71-69=275)1 stroke Flag of the United States.svg Ben Crenshaw
6Oct 7, 1979 San Antonio Texas Open −12 (69-64-69-66=268)1 stroke Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Pearce, Flag of the United States.svg Bill Rogers,
Flag of the United States.svg Doug Tewell

PGA Tour playoff record (3–1)

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

Other wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runners-up
1Dec 7, 1975 World Cup
(with Flag of the United States.svg Johnny Miller)		−22 (134-142-140-138=554)10 strokesFlag of the Republic of China.svg  Taiwan − Hsieh Min-Nan and Kuo Chie-Hsiung

Major championships

Wins (1)

YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up
1975 U.S. Open 4 shot deficit+3 (74-72-68-73=287)Playoff1 Flag of the United States.svg John Mahaffey

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

Results timeline

Tournament1963196419651966196719681969
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open CUTCUT23CUTT28
The Open Championship
PGA Championship T8CUT
Tournament1970197119721973197419751976197719781979
Masters Tournament CUTT17CUTT40T12T6CUTT23
U.S. Open T46T37T19CUTT31T282T35T25
The Open Championship T47
PGA Championship T22CUTT33T30T48T54T22T6CUTT10
Tournament198019811982198319841985
Masters Tournament T26
U.S. Open T51CUTT39T50CUTCUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship CUTCUTT42
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

Summary

TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament 000014106
U.S. Open 1113362114
The Open Championship 00000011
PGA Championship 0000351510
Totals11137154731

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament197419751976197719781979198019811982198319841985
The Players Championship 5T29T56T612T43T6072T70WDCUTCUT
  Top 10

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

U.S. national team appearances

Professional

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The 1975 U.S. Open was the 75th U.S. Open, held June 19–23, at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois, a suburb northwest of Chicago. Lou Graham defeated John Mahaffey by two strokes in an 18-hole Monday playoff to win his only major championship.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "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.
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