Arnold Palmer's Largest Margins of Victory
What was Arnold Palmer's biggest runaway victory? In 1962, he won a PGA Tour event by 12 strokes — the biggest margin of victory of his career.
Palmer won a lot of tournaments over his long career, 62 of them on the PGA Tour alone. And that 12-stroke win was one of 10 PGA Tour titles Palmer won by at least five shots. Two of those were major championships.
This is one of the rare categories in which Palmer outdid his friendly rival Jack Nicklaus over his career: Palmer had 10 5-stroke wins on the PGA Tour, Nicklaus had nine. And Nicklaus' largest winning margin on the PGA Tour was nine strokes compared to Palmer's 12.
Palmer's Wins by 5 or More on the PGA Tour
- 12-stroke winning margin — 1962 Phoenix Open Invitational. Palmer finished at 15-under 269 with scores of 64, 68, 66 and 69. The four, distant runners-up were Nicklaus, Billy Casper, Don Fairfield and Bob McCallister.
- 7 strokes — 1960 Baton Rouge Open Invitational. Palmer's scores were 71-71-69-68, a 279 total that was 9-under-par. Jay Hebert, Doug Sanders and Ron Reif tied for second place.
- 7 strokes — 1961 Baton Rouge Open Invitational. One year after winning this tournament by seven strokes ... Palmer did it again. His 266 score (65-67-68-66—266) was 14-under. Wes Ellis finished second.
- 6 strokes — 1962 British Open. When Arnie made his Open Championship debut in 1960, he finished second by one stroke to Kel Nagle. In 1962 he won The Open for the second consecutive year, and this time by six over runner-up ... Kel Nagle. Palmer's scores were 71, 69, 67 and 69. His 276 total was 12-under par.
- 6 strokes — 1964 Masters. The second of the two majors on this list, Palmer also won this one at 12-under-par 276. With scores of 69, 68 and 69, Palmer led by five after three rounds. A 70 in the final round produced the final six-shot winning margin over runners-up Nicklaus (who started the final round nine behind) and Dave Marr.
- 6 strokes — 1971 National Team Championship. Palmer's partner in this two-man team tournament was Nicklaus, so it's no surprise they won. They finished at 27-under 257 (62-64-65-66), six shots in front of the teams of Julius Boros/Bill Collins, and Bob Charles/Bruce Devlin.
- 5 strokes — 1958 Pepsi Championship. Scored 66-69-67-71, 11-under par 273. The runner-up was Jay Hebert.
- 5 strokes — 1962 American Golf Classic. Finished at 4-under 276 (67-69-70-70) to beat second-place Mason Rudolph.
- 5 strokes — 1967 Los Angeles Open. Palmer had rounds of 70-64-67-68 for a 15-under total of 269. The runner-up was Gay Brewer.
- 5 strokes — 1971 Westchester Classic. Had scores of 64, 70, 68 and 68 for a total of 270, 18-under par. Hale Irwin and Gibby Gilbert tied for second place.
Palmer's Wins by 5 or More on the Senior Tour
Palmer had 10 career wins on the Champions Tour before the tour even acquired that name. But only one qualifies for this list:- 11 strokes — 1985 Senior Tournament Players Championship. The second-largest winning margin of Palmer's career across all pro tours, he scored 67-71-68-68 to finish at 14-under 274. The distant runners-up were Miller Barber, Lee Elder, Gene Littler and Charles Owens.
Other Big Winning Margins for Palmer
- 5 strokes — 1966 Australian Open. Palmer scored 67-70-66-73, a 20-under-par total of 276. Nagle finished second.
- 5 strokes — 1967 World Cup. This was a 2-man team, international event, and Palmer and Nicklaus were Team USA. Palmer had rounds of 68, 70, 71 and 67, 12-under-par 276, to claim the individual trophy. Nicklaus and Bob Charles were the runners-up.
Related articles:
