Golf Compendium

Which golfers finished the year 2023 in the Top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking? Who was No. 1? Below is the year-end list of 2023's top-ranked golfers.

What is the Masters Tournament record for lowest score after three rounds, or 54 holes? That record is 200 strokes, and the mark is currently shared by two golfers.

Who was the No. 1 player in women's golf at the end of 2023? Which golfers finished the year ranked the highest in the Rolex Rankings, the official world rankings of women's golf? Below is the year-end list of 2023's top-ranked golfers.

The PGA Championship is one of the four major championships of men's professional golf. And like the other three majors, it features a cut after the second round. Golfers who do well in the PGA Championship make a lot of money. But what about those golfers who miss the cut? Do they get a lot — or any — money?

The team of archeologists had been toiling deep in the Amazon jungle for months and months, clearing choking undergrowth away from the faint traces of the great Lost City.

The CJ Cup was a pro golf tournament on the PGA Tour from the mid-2010s into the early 2020s. It was played during the fall portion of the schedule, typically in October. The tournament took place in South Korea the first half of its run, and in the United States as it wound down.

Do you call a mulligan a mulligan, or does your group of golf buddies have a different name for this feature of recreational golf? We golfers have our own slang, in this case starting with "mulligan" itself. Here we'll list many other terms golfers use to mean the same thing.

The format named Lucky Sevens is played by teams of four. It is usually played as an association playday format or a charity tournament or company outing format. Lucky Sevens requires the use of playing cards to determine which scores to count on each hole.

Bruce Fleisher was a golfer who won big when he was young, went many years without winning, then won even bigger as a senior tour golfer. A two-time USGA national champion, Fleisher's PGA Tour career didn't live up to expectations after a U.S. Amateur title that came before he turned 20. But he made up for it in a highly successful, lucrative Champions Tour career.

What is the Masters Tournament record for lowest score in back-to-back rounds? That record is 130. So far, only one player in the tournament's history has gone that low over consecutive rounds.

ABCD is a tournament format for teams of four golfers, and it requires the use of handicaps. That's because the tournament begins with organizers sorting golfers into A-, B-, C- and D-level players (A's being the lowest handicappers, D's being the highest). Each team consists of one player from each level. This is a very common way of assembling teams for charity tournaments, company events, association playdays and the like. But if the tournament is named an ABCD Tournament, it might progress in one of the following ways.

(For this joke, you can substitute the name(s) of any pro golfer(s) you wish.) The Pope met with his cardinals to discuss a proposal from the prime minister of Israel.

The cut rule at the British Open usually sends more than 70 golfers into the third and fourth rounds. The players who miss that cut go home. But do they go home with a paycheck in their pockets? When a golfer misses the cut in the Open Championship, do they get paid?

Jack Fleck is remembered in golf history as the giant-slayer, the massive underdog who pulled off one of the greatest surprise wins ever. That win was a U.S. Open, and the giant Fleck had to beat in a playoff to get that win was Ben Hogan. Fleck was not a one-hit wonder, however. He won a couple more times on the PGA Tour afterward. Later, he added a big senior championship. And all of those wins happened in playoffs.

Want to have some fun — and put some money on the line — before or after your round of golf? The putting game called Stymies, played on the practice putting green, might fit the bill.

Jose and Johnny are playing a spectacular new golf course built on very scenic terrain — cliffsides and gulleys and ravines. They reach the 6th hole, where Jose slices a ball into a thickly wooded, deep ravine.

Which golfer holds the record for playing in the most Masters tournaments? How many golfers have played this major championship 40 or more times? Gary Player is the answer to the first question, and all the golfers with 40 or more Masters appearances are listed below.

In the golf game known as Flagsticks, golfers are using the flagstick on each green as a unit of measurement. Winning a "stick" in this game means the golfer has accomplished one of two things:

Wiffi Smith's story is a great what-if in LPGA history. After a stellar amateur career during which her personality and booming drives made her a star, Smith was expected to become a big star at the pro level, too. And she did: Over four seasons on the LPGA Tour in the late 1950s to 1960, Smith had eight wins and challenged in multiple majors. Her on- and off-course personality endeared her to fans and led one LPGA Hall of Famer to call her "a daring, mischievous angel." But at age 24, her career was ended by injury.

The Volunteers of America Classic was an LPGA Tour golf tournament that was played in the Dallas, Texas, area 11 times from the early 2010s into the early 2020s. The tournament name often included "Texas Shootout" or "North Texas Shootout," and sometimes was shortened by fans and media to "VOA Classic."

The 18-hole scoring record in The Masters is 63. But, so far, nobody has scored a 63 in the fourth and final round of the tournament. A score of 64 is the best-ever in the tournament's final round.

Barney and his friend Hector were playing a round of golf with their wives early on a Sunday. It was a four-ball, better-ball format with a little bit of cash on the line.

Have there been any pairs of brothers in golf history who both won major championships? Yes, there have been several. But they are all in the distant past: The most-recent brothers to join the following list did so in 1960.

Winning The Masters Tournament mean writing one's name in golf's record books. It means the winner's name goes down in history. It also mean someone just banked a whole lot of money.

Johnny Fischer was a prominent amateur golfer in the 1930s whose biggest victory was in the U.S. Amateur. He was famous for pulling off come-from-behind victories. Fischer was also one of the first golfers to win both the NCAA and U.S. Amateur championships, and he was one of the last golfers to win a big tournament playing clubs with wooden shafts.

The U.S. Open is one of the four major championships of men's professional golf. And like all of those majors, it has a cut at the midway point — following the second of four rounds. The golfers who contend in the U.S. Open make a lot of money. But what about the golfers who miss the cut? Do they receive any payout from the U.S. Open prize fund? If so, how much?

What is the lowest stroke total ever scored in a golf tournament on the PGA Tour? That record currently stands at 253, shared by two golfers. The first golfer to record a 253 for 72 holes on the PGA Tour did so in 2017; the most-recent golfer to do so did it in 2023.

Dow Finsterwald had a relatively brief period at the top of his game, from the mid-1950s to early 1960s, but he packed a lot of accomplishments into that period. He was the runner-up at the last match-play PGA Championship, and the winner of the first stroke-play PGA Championship. He recorded the first 61 in PGA Tour history — while still an amateur. He won 12 tournaments and finished second more than twice as many times. He played in four Ryder Cups and captained in another.

The Southgate Ladies Open was a professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour played from the late 1960s into the mid-1970s. It took place in Kansas, always in August or September. Half of the tournaments played were won by Kathy Whitworth.

Making it into the field at The Masters Tournament is a routine thing for the best golfers, and the thrill of a career for many others. But for all of them, big money awaits for a victory or high finish. But what about for those golfers who miss the cut? Do they get paid? What is the Masters payout, if any, for golfers who miss the cut?

The Charlie Sifford Award is an honor bestowed annually by the World Golf Hall of Fame to recognize the recipients' "spirit in advancing diversity in golf."

What is the Masters Tournament record for most years in a row making the cut? That record is 24 consecutive years and counting, because the golfer who holds the mark is still active and still making cuts.

Jim Ferree was a golfer on the PGA Tour in the 1950s and 1960s, and then on the Senior Tour from its earliest seasons in the 1980s into the 1990s. He won on both tours, and also served as the model for an early version of the Senior Tour's logo.

The Constellation Energy Classic was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour that was played in the Baltimore, Maryland, area in the late 1990s into the mid-2000-aughts. It was a 54-hole tournament that might also be recalled under its original name, State Farm Senior Classic.

Which golfer holds the record for making the most cuts in The Masters Tournament? Jack Nicklaus, which is probably no surprise to anyone reading.

A married couple is out for their weekly round of golf, enjoying a great day and great play. But on the ninth green, something terrible happens. The wife screams in agony and collapses to the green.

"Break-club" is an old — very old — golf term. So old that it appears in the original written rules of golf , 13 rules set down in 1744 by the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith. The fourth of those 13 rules was this:

What is the lowest number of putts a golfer has ever needed to complete an 18-hole round on the LPGA Tour? One golfer in LPGA history played an official tournament round taking one fewer putt than there are holes in a round. The record is 17 putts, and to set that record the golfer who holds it needed a few hole-outs from off the green.

Judy Kimball won a major championship on the LPGA Tour in 1962, and played the tour for approximately two decades. Her final wins were in 1971. She was an outstanding putter and twice set all-time LPGA Tour records for fewest putts in a round.

Which golfers have won the most major championships combined between the PGA Tour and Champions Tour? The golfer with the highest combined total of regular majors and senior majors is, no surprise, Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus is the only golfer so far to reach 20 combined victories, and his total is in the mid-20s.

Which golfer holds the record for most wins via playoff in PGA Tour history? Two golfers share that record, they were friends and rivals, and they were two of the greatest golfers in tour history.

A young man, his father and his grandfather were about to tee off to start their round when an incredibly good-looking woman walked up to the tee box.

You reach the putting green and discover your approach shot has left a nice, deep pitch mark on the soft surface. You reach into your pocket for your trusty, two-pronged divot tool (a k a pitch tool, ball mark tool) only to discover you don't have it. But you do have a golf tee. Can you use the tee to fix that pitch mark?

Which golfer holds the all-time record for most wins in a single season on the European Tour? That record-holder is Seve Ballesteros , which is not surprising given that Ballesteros won more European Tour tournaments overall than anyone else.

Denny Shute was a PGA Tour golfer whose professional victories ranged from the late 1920s through the late 1930s. Those pro wins included three majors championships: one British Open and two PGA Championships. Shute was a golfer who was reserved on the course. A short-hitter, he relied on a stellar short game. He also played on three American teams in the Ryder Cup.

The women's McCormack Medal is awarded annually by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (the R&A) to the golfer ranked No. 1 in the women's World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) following the last elite amateur tournament of the year.

The McCormack Medal is awarded annually by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (the R&A) to the golfer ranked No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) following the last elite amateur tournament of the year.

Chuck was a popular member at the golf club, but he just finished a terrible round of golf and wasn't in a mood to visit the clubhouse after walking off the 18th green. So he headed straight out to the parking lot and started changing his shoes.

Nairn Golf Club is in the town of Nairn, against the Moray Firth, in northern Scotland. Nairn is roughly 17 miles northeast of Inverness and 90 miles northwest of Aberdeen. The club has 27 holes of golf and 1,500 members.

There is a whole segment of golf putting drills that involve going around the hole in a circle, repetitively sinking putts, from close range at first and then longer. Such circular putting drills can also be modified into a putting game — one that should help improve your putting over time, too, in addition to giving you a shot at winning some of your friends' money.

George Dunlap was an American amateur golfer who was one of the best during a very brief career that mostly took place in the 1930s. He won a U.S. Amateur Championship and played in the Walker Cup three times. Strongly associated with Pinehurst, Dunlap won the prestigious North and South Amateur there seven times.

Golf fans and media sometimes debate the "best golfer without a major" — those golfers who've won a lot but have not yet claimed a major championship. And on GolfCompendium.com, we have the list of golfers who won the most all-time on the PGA Tour but never won a major . But sometimes, most of the time probably, frequent tour winners eventually do win a major. And that's what this article is about: The golfers who won a lot on the PGA Tour before winning a major.

It was a sunny Saturday morning, a little before 8 a.m. I was on the first hole at Tall Maples National Golf Club and beginning my pre-shot routine, when a piercing voice came over the clubhouse loudspeaker:

What is a "stadium course" or "stadium golf course"? It is a golf course that was designed to host spectator events, was designed with the expectation of hosting spectator events, and, therefore, incorporates design elements intended to make it easier for fans to watch golf there.

The term "signature hole" is heard often in the golf world, used both by rank-and-file golfers and by those who are in the business of golf (golf course managers, developers, realtors, marketers). The meaning of the term is a bit different depending on which of those two camps is using it. But, in general, "signature hole" refers to a golf course's best or most-memorable hole.

What is the worst score ever made on a single hole during a PGA Tour tournament? The answer is 19, and that record is shared by three golfers.

Dale Douglass was a PGA Tour golfer from the mid-1960s into the 1980s, winning several times. But his career really bloomed after he turned 50 and joined the Champions Tour. He became one of the most successful golfers in the early history of the senior circuit, including winning the U.S. Senior Open in 1986.

The San Jose Classic, known for most of its brief history as the Konica San Jose Classic, was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour in the 1980s. It took place in California as one of the late-season tournaments on the LPGA schedule.

What is the highest number of playoffs one golfer has played on the PGA Tour in a single season? The answer is four, and two Hall of Famers share that record. And in both cases, the two record-holders each played in one sudden-death playoff, but three 18-hole playoffs.

The PGA Tour dates to 1916, and the history of some of the major championships goes back farther. And in that long history, winners who are not yet 21 years old are hard to find. There have been only a handful of them — and even fewer who won multiple PGA Tour titles before reaching the age of 21.

Horton Smith was a PGA Tour golfer who burst on the scene in the late 1920s with one of the best initial runs in tour history: After winning twice in his rookie year of 1928, Smith had eight wins in 1929. Most of those wins happened before he turned 21 year old. Smith eventually became one of the first tour golfers to achieve at least 30 career wins. He won the very first Masters Tournament and was also The Masters' first double-champion .

Wayne and Wanda head out to the golf course for a quick nine holes. On the first tee, Wayne turns to Wanda and says, "What do you say we make this time worth something. Play you for $5?" Wanda agrees, and they start their rounds.

What is a "quail-high" shot in golf? It is one in which the ball flies low and on a flat trajectory — a shot where the golf ball never gets too high off the ground.

Which golfers won the most tournaments on the PGA Tour but never won a major championship? The list is below, and it is topped by a Hall of Fame golfer who won almost 30 times on the PGA Tour.

Danny was a religious golfer. Every Sunday morning, he headed to the golf course. It didn't matter what the weather was like. It could be raining and 45 degrees, but Danny didn't care. It was off to the course. Every single Sunday morning for years.

Winning a lot of pro tournaments is a hard thing to do in golf. Winning a major championship in pro golf is the thing to do to etch your name in the record books. But are there any golfers who've won a lot of tournament without winning any major championships? Of course! And here we are going to take a look at the all-time leaders plus the active leaders in wins who never won (or haven't yet won) a major.

A Ringer Tournament is played over multiple rounds, usually over multiple days. At the end of the designated time period, golfers partcipating in the tournament compare their scores in each round played, taking their lowest score from each hole to create a new, single, 18-hole score.

Macdonald Smith was a Scotland-born, American-naturalized golf star whose tournament wins stretch from the early 1910s to the mid-1930s. And there were a lot of tournament wins: Smith has the second-highest total of official PGA Tour victories of any golfer who did not win a major championship , and the highest total of any golfer not yet in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

This Tournament Players Championship should not be confused with the U.S. PGA Tour's Players Championship, which used the "Tournament Players Championship" name in its early years. The tournament we're writing about here was on the European Tour in the late 1970s and early 1980s. After its first two years, the tournament carried title sponsors, and its best-remembered name during those years is Haig Whisky TPC.

"Dodo" is — make that was — a term used for a score of 3-under-par on a given golf hole. But just like the flightless bird the score is named after, the golf usage of "dodo" eventually went extinct.

Do you have a favorite golf course that you love to play as often as you can? Do you know what your "ringer score" is on that course? A ringer score, also called a "ringer round," is the total score a golfer makes counting only his lowest scores on each hole of a golf course that is played multiple times within a given time period.

Which golfer has played in the most Ryder Cups? And which golfer has played the most matches in his Ryder Cup appearances? Phil Mickelson holds one of those records and shares the other.

Johnny Revolta was a PGA Tour golfer who was a consistent winner through the 1930s. He won enough to rank among that decade's best, and those victories included a PGA Championship. He later became a top instructor, called a "genius of the short game" by Ben Hogan, and wrote multiple books with his teachings.

The Inverness Invitational Four-Ball was a tournament on the PGA Tour during the 1930s to 1950s. It was a short-field, 2-man team event, with golfers in the field playing after receiving invitations in the mail from the host club, Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

The golf term "pitch mark" most commonly refers to a small depression in the surface of the putting green that is sometimes made by a golf ball as it strikes the green. "Pitch mark" can also refer to a depression in the sand within a bunker, also made by a descending golf ball.

In the history of the Solheim Cup, which golfer has made the most appearances as a player? And which golfer has played in the most combined singles, fourballs and foursomes matches? In both cases, the record-holder is Laura Davies.

Who has the most career wins on the Ladies European Tour? That golfer who is No. 1 on the list below is Laura Davies, and she has more than twice at many LET victories as the golfer in second place.

Mickey Walker is an English golfer who was one of the most prominent members of the Ladies European Tour in the years immediately after that tour's founding in the late 1970s. Before that, Walker had a brief but spectacular amateur career, including reaching the championship match three years running in the British Women's Amateur and winning two of them. After her LET success, Walker was selected as the captain for Team Europe in each of the first four Solheim Cups.

The British Women's Matchplay Championship was a golf tournament in the early years of the Ladies European Tour. In fact, the tournament debuted in the LET's very first season.

"Umbrella" is the name of golf game or side bet played within a quartet of golfers who have paired off into 2-person teams. In the Umbrella Game, there are points at stake on each hole for achieving one of five goals. How many points depends on the hole being played, because in Umbrella the points match the hole number.

Brandon staggered into a hospital emergency room, badly battered and bruised. A nurse and a doctor rushed over to help him to an examining room.

The Solheim Cup was first played in 1990. Since then, how many holes-in-one have been scored in the biennial competition? Through 2021, there had been exactly one. But in the 2023 Solheim Cup, another player finally holed out for an ace, too. The very first Solheim Cup ace was made by Anna Nordqvist, and here it is:

Tom was a man of faith, and a man of the golf course. He played golf every Sunday religiously, but only after attending church services. Tom was getting on in years, and one day after feeling ill, he said to his wife, "I sure hope there is golf in the afterlife. I feel terrible!"

Abe Mitchell never won the British Open, but that was about the only thing missing from this English golfer's career. Mitchell arrived on the scene in the 1910s, and his career flourished in the 1920s and into the 1930s. In the generation after the " Great Triumvirate ," Mitchell formed another "Big 3," of a sort, in British golf with George Duncan and Archie Compston . Great Triumvirate member J.H. Taylor once called Mitchell, "the finest player who never won an Open Championship."

Three-Putt Poker is a golf betting game that combines an element of poker with the golfers' performance on the greens. Specifically, in 3-Putt Poker (just as in "regular" golf) golfers want to avoid three-putts and accrue one-putts. A 3-putt in this game will literally cost you money, while a 1-putt will increase your odds of winning the game pot.

In the history of the Solheim Cup, only one golfer aged 50 or older has played. The recordholder for oldest Solheim Cup golfer is Juli Inkster, who was 51 years, 2 months and 30 days old when she played in the 2011 Solheim Cup .

The youngest golfer ever to play in the Solheim Cup was just 17 years old when she set the record during the 2013 Solheim Cup . And that same year, there was an 18-year-old on the other team who became the second-youngest Solheim Cup player.

Which golfer has won the most points for his team in the Ryder Cup? The all-time Ryder Cup points leader is Sergio Garcia, who earned nearly 30 points for Team Europe over his Ryder Cup career.

Herbert Jolly was a professional golfer from the Channel Islands who won tournaments in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s. He is best-known today for being a part of the very first Great Britain team in the inaugural Ryder Cup. Jolly's other claim to fame is beating the legend Walter Hagen in the championship of a match-play tournament.

The history of the Ryder Cup dates to 1927, and in that time there have only been six holes-in-one made during the match-play competition. The first Ryder Cup ace was in 1973, the most-recent in 2006. And only one of the six was by a golfer from Team USA.

The 2025 Walker Cup will be the 50th time this competition, which dates to 1922, is played. The Walker Cup is played every two years between teams of amateur male golfers, one team representing Great Britain & Ireland, the other representing the United States.

Women's professional golf tournaments on the LPGA Tour can offer prize funds of a couple million dollars or more. Payouts to the winner from such a tournament purse top several hundred thousand dollars and go up, with payouts descending based on place of finish. So how much money do the players on the winning and losing teams in the Solheim Cup earn? The answer is the same: None.

The history of the Solheim Cup, the biennial competition between Team Europe and Team USA, dates to 1990. In that time, which golfer has earned the most points for her team? The record-holder is Laura Davies, with 25 points won. Davies barely beats out Annika Sorenstam for this record.

The Ryder Cup is one of the highest-profile events in professional golf. Every other year, 24 golfers (12 per team) plus two team captains and several more assistant captains per side gather for three days of intense, gritty golf. Do any of them get paid? Is there prize money at the Ryder Cup? The answer is yes. And no. It depends on which team you're talking about:

Who is the oldest golfer to play in the Ryder Cup? In the event's history, which dates to 1927, there have been three golfers aged 50 or over who've played. The oldest of them all was 51-year-old Raymond Floyd.

Charles Whitcombe was an English golfer with professional victories stretching from the early 1920s to the late 1930s. He never won The Open Championship, but was considered among the best of his era and was a prominent figure in the early history of the Ryder Cup. In his time, he was the best-known of the three Whitcombe brothers, who all posted multiple tournament victories and played in the Ryder Cup.

Who is the youngest golfer ever named to a Ryder Cup team? That golfer is Sergio Garcia, and he is also the only teenager to play in the prestigious biennial competition. But there have been a handful of other players younger than 21 in the tournament.

The namesake of the Walker Cup is George Herbert Walker. And the Walker Cup is just the third-most-famous thing named after him: His grandson and great-grandson were both named for him, and were both Presidents of the United States.

Do you know how to play the Shootout game? We should probably say "games," rather than "game," because there are several different formats golfers play or might encounter that go by the name Shootout. We explain three of them in this article.

The oldest golfer ever to play in the Walker Cup was in his mid-50s, and the youngest-ever Walker Cup golfer wasn't yet 17 years old.

Joyce Ziske was a professional golfer in the first decade of the LPGA Tour's history. Despite only playing from 1955-60, she compiled multiple wins including a major, and had a strong record overall in LPGA major championships . But she retired at the age of 26.

The Hershey Open was a pro golf tournaments in the 1930 and early 1940s that was part of the PGA circuit of the time and is today recognized as a PGA Tour event. It is most-famous as the site of Ben Hogan's first PGA Tour victory.

How many golfers have won both the U.S. Amateur Championship and the individual championship in the men's NCAA Division I tournament? That number currently stands at 14 golfers. But within that group of 14 there is a smaller set, just five, who won both those prestigious tournaments in the same year.

How many golfers have won the U.S. Amateur Championship back-to-back? That number currently stands at nine, although no golfer has done it since the mid-1990s. Only one golfer, though, has won the U.S. Amateur back-to-back- to-back : Tiger Woods.

Round Robin is the name of a golf game for a group of four golfers in which the golfers pair off on each hole to play 2-vs.-2. Who plays with who? That's the fun part of the game: Partners change every six holes, so that over the course of the 18 holes all four golfers get to partner each of the other three in the quartet.

What is the largest number of golfers ever to take part in a playoff at a PGA Tour tournament? The record is six golfers — a 6-man playoff has happened three times in PGA Tour history. Surprisingly, none of those three, 6-player, sudden-death playoffs lasted more than two holes.

Jim Simons was a PGA Tour player in the 1970s and 1980s who won several tournaments. He is best-remembered for two other things: He nearly won a U.S. Open while still an amateur; and he played a big part in popularizing metal woods when those clubs were still struggling to find a place in golfers' bags.

A golfer who wins one or the other of the U.S. Women's Amateur and the NCAA Division I Women's Championship is claiming one of the two biggest titles in American amateur women's golf. But a golfer who wins both? She earns a place on a very short list of golfers who've achieved that distinction.

In golf, "forced carry" is the term for when a golfer must play a stroke over an intervening penalty area (such as a body of water), bunker or other potential hazard in order to advance toward the green. There is no option to roll the ball through such a shot, or play around the problem area. In other words, the golfer is forced to carry the danger area in order to advance his or her golf ball.

The Chicago golf format starts each golfer with a negative amount of points, then awards points for positive achievements during the round. The object is to move from negative points into positive points (known as "clearing your hurdle") and the golfer (or team) who gets farthest into positive territory is the winner.

What is the largest margin by which any champion has won the Women's British Open? The overall record is 11 strokes, but the largest margin of victory during the tournament's major championship era is nine strokes.

The LPGA Tour record for most wins in a single season is 13, and the golfer who won those 13 tournaments in 1963 is Mickey Wright. In the LPGA's history, only a handful of golfers have reached double-digit victories in a single season.

Ramon Sota was from the generation of Spanish golfers that preceded Seve Ballesteros' arrival on the world scene. And, in fact, he was Seve's uncle. That's probably how he is most-remembered today, but Sota won multiple national opens on the European circuit that preceded the modern European Tour, and in some years was considered the best golfer from Continental Europe.

The Long Island Classic (also called the Commerce Bank Championship) was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour, the PGA Tour-owned senior circuit for golfers ages 50-and-over. It was played for two decades in the summer, typically coming in June or July on the senior tour schedule. The tournament was always played on Long Island in New York. It was the site of Gary Player's final win on the Champions Tour.

On a golf course, a "barranca" is a (usually) dry ditch, gully or ravine that is (often) littered with rocks and/or desert-type vegetation.

What are the lowest scores for a single, 18-hole round in the history of the PGA Tour? The current 18-hole scoring record is 58, and only one golfer so far has posted that score for an official PGA Tour round. There have also been 14 59s on the PGA Tour, for a total of 15 sub-60 scores.

"Bowmaker" is the name of a golf tournament format, a name that is much more commonly used in the U.K. than in the U.S. But golfers outside Britain probably are familiar with format, just under a different name.

What is the lowest score for nine holes in the history of the PGA Tour? The all-time record is 26, an average of less than three strokes per hole. And only one golfer so far has gone that low.

Mike Souchak was a PGA Tour golfer who won 15 times on the tour in the 10-year span of 1955-64. He never won a major, but did come close multiple times in the U.S. Open. Souchak's name was part of the PGA Tour record book for decades after his career ended thanks to multiple scoring records he set in the 1955 Texas Open. He also made the American Ryder Cup team twice.

The Agua Caliente Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour that was played in Mexico. It was played over a 30-year span, but with a long hiatus so that only nine tournaments took place in those years.

Who are the best singles match players in the history of the Walker Cup? The list you'll find below includes some big names, and they are the names of golfers who went unbeaten in singles matches over a minimum of four matches played.

How many golfers, over the course of a career, have won both the British Open and the Senior British Open? Not many! The current count stands at four.

"Blind Bogey" is the name of a golf tournament format. Or, rather, it's a name used for several different formats. We'll go over the most-common version of Blind Bogey and also explain two other formats that also use the name.

What are the best rounds in the history of the Women's British Open? There have been only a handful of scores as low as 63 in this major championship of women's golf. But 62 is the tournament record.

What is the biggest blown lead after 54 holes in the British Open? Two golfers share this record, it's just one of those record nobody wants. The biggest lead after three rounds by any golfer who failed to win is five strokes. The two golfers who share the record are Macdonald Smith and Jean Van de Velde.

The Bisque format is a golf game or competition format in which handicap strokes are used, but with a twist. In the Bisque game, golfers do not apply their handicap strokes in the normal manner (using them according to the ranking of handicap holes listed on the scorecard). Rather, they can use their handicap strokes on any holes they wish — so long as they announce it before teeing off on a given hole.

The 2026 British Open will be the 154th edition of this major championship of men's professional golf. Officially named The Open Championship, this tournament dates to 1860. It is run by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (the R&A).

Today, all PGA Tour playoffs (except majors and The Players Championship) use the sudden-death format . But once upon a time, 18-hole playoffs were the standard. The last 18-hole playoff of any kind on the PGA Tour was in a major championship, but what about at non-major tour events? What was the last 18-hole playoff at a non-major?

What is the 72-hole scoring record in the Women's British Open? It currently stands at 269, shared by two golfers who won with that score at the same golf course seven years apart.

Carole Jo Kabler (who played under the name Carole Jo Skala during her competitive peak on the LPGA Tour) was both a USGA champion and an LPGA champion. She won the U.S. Girls' Junior title in the 1950s, and won multiple times on the LPGA Tour in the 1970s.

The Desert Inn Classic, originally called the Sealy LPGA Classic, was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. It was played in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the early 1970s.

Do you know what the playoff format is on the PGA Tour? We're talking about "regular" PGA Tour tournaments, the non-majors and non-special events. Putting those majors/specials aside, the playoff format at all other PGA Tour tournaments is sudden death.

Yes, there are multiple amateur golfers who won the British Open — but not many, and not for a long time. A total of six Opens have been won by amateurs, but only three golfers account for those six victories. And that last win by amateur in the Open Championship was in 1930.

When the term "captain's choice" is included in a format's name, it usually is a synonym for "scramble." Does that mean that a golf tournament or competition format called a 1-Person Captain's Choice is just another name for a one-man scramble? Yes. Now let's explain what that means.