Samuel Jackson Snead was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for the better part of four decades and widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Snead was awarded a record 94 gold medallions, for wins in PGA of America Tour events and later credited with winning a record 82 PGA Tour events tied with Tiger Woods, including seven majors. He never won the U.S. Open, though he was runner-up four times. Snead was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.
The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open national championship of golf in the United States. It is the third of the four men's major golf championships, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour. Since 1898 the competition has been 72 holes of stroke play, with the winner being the player with the lowest total number of strokes. It is staged by the United States Golf Association (USGA) in mid-June, scheduled so that, if there are no weather delays, the final round is played on the third Sunday. The U.S. Open is staged at a variety of courses, set up in such a way that scoring is very difficult, with a premium placed on accurate driving. As of 2023, the U.S. Open awards a $20 million purse, the largest of all four major championships.
Jack William Nicklaus, nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is a retired American professional golfer and golf course designer. He is widely considered to be either the greatest or one of the greatest golfers of all time. He won 117 professional tournaments in his career. Over a quarter-century, he won a record 18 major championships, three more than second-placed Tiger Woods. Nicklaus focused on the major championships—the Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship—and played a selective schedule of regular PGA Tour events. He competed in 164 major tournaments, more than any other player, and finished with 73 PGA Tour victories, third behind Sam Snead (82) and Woods (82).
Thomas Sturges Watson is an American retired professional golfer on the PGA Tour Champions, formerly on the PGA Tour.
Stroke play is a scoring system in the sport of golf. In the regular form of stroke play, also known as medal play, the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes. In a regular stroke play competition, the winner is the player who has taken the fewest strokes over the course of the round, or rounds. Other forms of stroke play include Stableford, whereby points are gained based on hole scores, maximum score, in which there is a limit to the number of strokes that may be taken on each hole, and par, where holes are won or lost against a target score on each hole.
David Robert Duval is an American professional golfer and former World No. 1 Golfer who competed on the PGA Tour and currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. Duval won 13 PGA Tour tournaments between 1997 and 2001; including one major title, The Open Championship in 2001.
Frederick Steven Couples is an American professional golfer who has competed on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. A former World No. 1, he has won 64 professional tournaments, most notably the Masters Tournament in 1992, and the Players Championship in 1984 and 1996. Couples became the oldest person to make the cut in the Masters Tournament history during the 2023 Tournament at 63 years, six months, and five days.
Hale S. Irwin is an American professional golfer. He was one of the world's leading golfers from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. He is one of the few players in history to win three U.S. Opens, becoming the oldest ever U.S. Open champion in 1990 at the age of 45. As a senior golfer, Irwin ranks second all-time in PGA Tour Champions victories. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in Champions Tour history. He has also developed a career as a golf course architect.
The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the major championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the most prestigious tournaments in golf. Historically, the national open and amateur championships of Great Britain and the United States were regarded as the majors. With the rise of professional golf in the middle of the twentieth century, the majors came to refer to the most prestigious professional tournaments.
Justin Charles Garrett Leonard is an American professional golfer. He has twelve career wins on the PGA Tour, including one major, the 1997 Open Championship.
The CJ Cup Byron Nelson is a golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, currently hosted by TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, northeast of Dallas. Held in May, it is one of two PGA Tour stops in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex – which until the 2020-21 PGA Tour, was the only metropolitan area to host two events on separate courses in the area. The tournament is the leading fundraiser for charity on the PGA Tour and has raised more than $143 million. For much of its history, it was the only PGA Tour stop named after a professional golfer, and remains one of only two such events, along with the Arnold Palmer Invitational. As host, Byron Nelson (1912–2006) commonly made appearances during the tournament. It is hosted by the Salesmanship Club of Dallas, a 600-member civic organization, and has benefited the club's nonprofit Momentous Institute since its inception.
The Desert Classic is a professional golf tournament in southern California on the PGA Tour. Played in mid-winter in the Coachella Valley, it is part of the tour's early season "West Coast Swing."
In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the tour for the following season, otherwise known as a "tour card", meaning that they can play in most of the tour's events without having to qualify. They join the leaders on the previous year's money list/order of merit and certain other exempt players as members of the tour.
Jeffrey Allan Maggert is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions.
Martin Charles Campbell Laird is a Scottish professional golfer, playing on the PGA Tour. He has won four PGA Tour events in his career, most recently the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in 2020. Until Russell Knox earned his card via the 2011 Nationwide Tour, Laird was the only Scottish player on the PGA Tour.
James Robert Herman is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour.
Jason Kenneth Kokrak is an American professional golfer who plays in the LIV Golf League. Previously he played on the PGA Tour.
Martin Roesink is a Dutch professional golfer. In the mid-1960s he had much success in Australasian region, posting several high finishes culminating with a win at the 1967 New Zealand Wills Masters. The following year he tried out for the PGA Tour and was successful, performing as medallist at the fall Q-School. He played on the PGA Tour for five seasons, recording a number of top tens, including a runner-up finish in 1970. Since then, he has worked primarily as a club professional and golf manager in the American state of Ohio.
The 2002 Senior British Open, for sponsorship reasons named Senior British Open presented by MasterCard, was a professional golf tournament for players aged 50 and above and the 16th British Senior Open Championship, held from 25 to 28 July at Royal County Down Golf Club in Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
