Golf Compendium

Rives McBee was a professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1960s and 1970s. He made a big splash in golf before reaching the tour, and he had multiple second-place finishes on tour. But McBee didn't actually win until he reached the Champions Tour, then he won multiple times.

The PGA Championship is one of the four majors of men's professional golf. And The Players Championship is the most-important non-major on the PGA Tour, so important it is sometimes referred to as " the fifth major ." Has any golfer won both these big titles in the same year? Yes — but it has only happened once.

The 1993 U.S. Senior Open was the 14th time this major championship of men's senior (ages 50 and over) golf was played. And for the second time, the winner was Jack Nicklaus.

The PGA Championship was first played in 1916, and since then many of golf's greatest have won this major championship. But not all of them. Here are our picks for greatest golfers who never won the PGA.

Once described by the New York Times as "a pro who looks like a professor," Henry Williams Jr. was actually a club professional who played the PGA mostly on the side in the 1950s and into the 1960s. He won once on tour, but came close to winning a major — he made it into the championship match in the PGA Championship during that tournament's match-play era.

What is the largest margin of victory on the European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour)? The overall record is 15 strokes by a very famous golfer in a very famous tournament — a major championship. The biggest winning margin in any non -major, official tournament on the European Tour is 14 strokes.

The United States Golf Association stages many national championship tournaments throughout each year for each stage of golfer: juniors, amateurs, professionals and seniors. And Jack Nicklaus won a few of those big events during his career. But how many? Let's run down the list of USGA championships won by Nicklaus.

It doesn't matter how you win the PGA Championship, just that you win it. And the golfers on the two lists below all won this major, but they did take slightly different routes to their victories. Some went low in the final round of their wins, others scored higher but held on. First we'll list the lowest final-round scores by golfers who won the PGA Championship, and then the highest final-round scores by winners.

The 1981 U.S. Senior Open was the second time this major championship of men's senior professional golf was played. Arnold Palmer emerged as the champion after a three-man, 18-hole playoff.

Jerry McGee was a professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour from the late 1960s into the early 1980s, then spent many years playing on the senior tour. He won multiple times on the PGA Tour.

The Star Bank LPGA Classic was a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour, played from the mid-1990s into the early 2000s. It took place under multiple names and was played in Ohio. Annika Sorenstam and Laura Davies were among the champions.

The 1991 U.S. Senior Open was the 12th time this major championship of men's senior professional golf was played. Jack Nicklaus earned the first of his two wins in this tournament, but needed an 18-hole playoff to do it.

The Tradition (currently known as the Regions Tradition for sponsorship reasons) is a golf tournament on the Champions Tour, and one of the major championships of men's senior professional golf . What is the lowest winning score in this major's history, and which golfers have gone the lowest?

What is the biggest lead after three rounds in the history of the stroke-play PGA Championship? This major began its life as a match-play tournament, but has been stroke play since 1958. In the time since, only four times has anyone held a 54-hole lead of five strokes or more.

The 1990 U.S. Senior Open was the 11th time this major championship of senior golf was played. The final round was a duel between Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus, with Trevino emerging as the champion.

The 2026 U.S. Senior Open will be the 46th time this major championship of senior (ages 50-and-over) golf will be played. Run by the United States Golf Association, the U.S. Senior Open was first played in 1980.

Scottie Scheffler's record on the PGA Tour, beginning in the early 2020s, was extraordinary. But what about his record in playoffs? With the sudden-death format, great golfers don't necessarily have great playoff records. So let's find out what Scheffler's record looks like.

"Champion's Leap" is the name of one of the best-known traditions at any of the major championships in women's professional golf , or any other LPGA Tour tournament. It is the celebratory, flying leap taken by the golfer who wins the Chevron Championship into water near the 18th green. Let's go over some details of this fun frolic, starting with how the Champion's Leap came to be.

Winning back-to-back titles in the LPGA Tour major today known as the Chevron Championship has proved an elusive achievement. The tournament's history dates to 1972. But in all that time, only two golfers have won in consecutive years. And only one of those two golfers won it back-to-back after the tournament became a major.

What is the PGA Championship's tournament record for best total score following the first three rounds? Only a handful of golfers have played the first three rounds in fewer than 200 strokes. And the PGA Championship record for 54-hole score is 196.

The 2029 PGA Championship will be the 111th edition of this major championship. Staged by the PGA of America, the PGA Championship dates to 1916, making it the third-oldest of the men's professional majors.

The 2029 Masters Tournament will be the 92nd time this major championship is played. The Masters dates to 1934 and is one of the four majors of men's professional golf. The format is four rounds, 72 holes of stroke play.

What is the biggest lead any golfer has held after three rounds in The Masters tournament? That largest 54-hole lead is nine strokes, a record that was set by Tiger Woods in 1997.

What is the largest lead any golfer has held following two rounds of The Masters? The answer is six strokes. A 6-shot lead is the biggest 36-hole lead in Masters history.

A Monkey Foursome tournament is an old-timey golf format — it goes back at least to the 1920s — most commonly seen as a sort of meet-and-greet lark for golf association playdays. It involves teams of four golfers, with the catch being each golfer gets to use only one club — and the four team members each have a different club.

The 1946 U.S. Women's Open was the very first time this major championship was played. For the only time in its history, the USWO used a match-play format. And the USGA wasn't even in charge of it yet. But Patty Berg was definitely in charge as the tournament's first champion.

Every Masters Tournament includes a handful of amateur golfers, and sometimes those amateur golfers make a splash. But what are the best scores posted by amateurs in The Masters? Below you'll find the tournament records for amateurs for nine holes, 18 holes, 36 holes and 72 holes.

Winning a Green Jacket is one of the biggest achievements in golf, but we can imagine it feeling even sweeter to a golfer who has played the tournament many times — waiting many years — to get his (first) Masters Tournament victory. That's what we are looking at here: Those golfers who won The Masters but only after playing it many years.

What is the largest lead any golfer has taken into the final round of The Masters without converting it into a victory? Six strokes, and that golfer's collapse is one of the most-infamous in our sport's history.

There was an ace in the very first Masters Tournament played, and they've been scoring holes-in-one in The Masters ever since. Just not a ton of them — it's still true that the majority of Masters played pass without any aces made. But below we show you all the aces that have been scored at Augusta National during the tournament, first arranged by hole, and then listed year-by-year.

George McLean played tournaments in the earliest years of the PGA Tour and continuing into the 1930s. He had multiple strong showings in the PGA Championship, and was a member of Team USA in a competition that was part of the Ryder Cup's origins.

The record for largest come-from-behind victory in The Masters Tournament is nine strokes. That is the margin by which Jack Burke Jr. trailed at one point in the final round of the 1956 Masters before coming back to win. In this article, we'll list the largest final-round comeback victories in The Masters, plus a few other Masters tournament records for come-from-behind wins.

"Average Score" is the name of a competition format for teams of two golfers. The two golfers on a side each play their own ball into the hole. And on each hole, their two scores are averaged to produced the team's score.

The 1947 U.S. Women's Open was just the second time this tournament was played. But it was the first time the tournament used a stroke-play format. In its debut the year before, match play was the format.

Grace Lenczyk had a brief but exceptional career at the top of U.S. women's amateur golf in the late 1940s and early '50s. She won a U.S. Women's Amateur title, also shared for a time an all-time scoring record, and played another round one author in the 1950s called "probably the greatest round" to that point in women's golf history. But Lenczyk's career barely lasted five years.

Golfers have many slang terms or phrases that refer to a specific golf score, such as " Dolly Parton " for a score of 8 on a hole, or " abominable snowman " for a score of 9. "Shooting your temperature" is one of the phrases, but it applies to a golfer's full score for the round rather than just a single hole.

Points for Par is the name of a golf tournament format for individual golfers playing stroke play and using handicaps. On most holes during this tournament, a player earns point by making a net par or better. But on a few holes, the golfer loses points if he fails to score net par or better.

The 1948 U.S. Women's Open was the third time this major championship was played, and just the second time it was a stroke-play tournament. The champ was Babe Zaharias, who won by eight strokes.

Mac McLendon was a PGA Tour player from the late 1960s into the early 1980s. After winning some state titles and collegiate titles as an amateur, he claimed four victories on the tour in the 1970s.

You've signed up to play in a golf tournament next weekend at your club. What's the format? The notice on the clubhouse billboard only says "Mystery Tournament." Hmm, that's odd — Mystery Tournament? What does that mean? It means you won't know the scoring format — or even whether you are competing as an individual or as part of a team — until the tournament is over.

The 1949 U.S. Women's Open was the fourth time this major championship was played. The winner, Louise Suggs, set a record for margin of victory that still stands today.

Dick Metz was a PGA Tour winner in the 1930s and 1940s who was well-known in his time as a frequent contender. He probably should have won a U.S. Open, but experienced a major collapse the year of his best chance. He later won a tournament, though, that is today called a senior major.

Which winners of The Players Championship have earned those victories with the lowest final-round scores, or best down-the-stretch scoring? Let's look at both to see the best finishes that led to victory in this huge tournament.

The list of winners at The Players Championship goes back to the 1970s. How many times in that span has the so-called " fifth major " ended with a playoff? And what is the playoff format for this tournament?

The par-3, island green , 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, home of The Players Championship, is one of the most-famous holes in golf. And the focus there is often on golfers who don't do well — who plop a shot into the water that surrounds the green. But what about golfers who do great on that hole? Has anyone birdied the famous 17th hole in all four rounds of The Players Championship?

The 1950 U.S. Women's Open was the fifth time this championship took place. Babe Zaharias won the trophy for the second time.

If you hear a golfer or someone on a golf broadcast refer to the "home hole," do you know what that is? If you are new to golf, maybe not. But this is a simple definition: the "home hole" is the 18th hole of the golf course.

The Thomasville Open was a men's professional golf tournament staged in Thomasville, Georgia, for half a dozen years beginning in the mid-1930s. Part of the PGA Tour, the tournament had an impressive roster of champions.

If you are not a golfer, or are just starting out in the game, you might need an explanation of the phrases "break par," "breaking par," and "broke par." These are terms golfers use to describe their scores, and they all refer to playing in fewer strokes than par. Let's go over how golfers use these terms and provide some examples to make their meaning clear.

The format known as 1-2-3 Points (not to be confused with 1-2-3 Best Ball , a very different game) is an individual stroke-play game that can be used for tournaments, or within a quartet of golfers. The "1-2-3" in the title refers to the number of points a golfer can earn on each hole based on his score.

The 1951 U.S. Women's Open was the sixth time this tournament was played. The winner was Betsy Rawls, a rookie on the LPGA Tour.

All you need to know about how the golf game known as One-Club Challenge works is right there in the name. In this format, golfers get to use just a single golf club throughout the round. And that club is used on all strokes, including putts.

"Even par" and "level par" are golf scoring terms that mean a golfer's score is the same as par, whether for a single hole (for example, scoring 4 on a par-4 hole ) or for the full course (e.g., scoring 72 on a par-72 course). "Level par" and "even par" can also be applied to any stretch or collection of holes within a round.

The 1952 U.S. Women's Open was the seventh time this major championship was played. Louise Suggs became the tournament's second two-time winner with a record-setting score.

Angel Miguel was one of the top Spanish golfers on the European circuit in the 1950s and 1960s. Called by many in his home country "a pioneer of golf in Spain," Miguel's biggest trophy was the individual title in the 1958 World Cup (not to mention numerous national opens, including two Spanish Opens).

The Agfa-Gevaert Tournament was a professional golf tournament played in England for close to 10 years in the 1960s and 1970s. It was part of the British and European circuit that preceded the formation of today's European Tour.

"Over par" is a golf scoring term that means a golfer has completed a hole, a collection of holes, or the full round in more strokes that the par of those holes. A golfer is over par, for example, if she plays a par-72 golf course in 80 strokes.

The 1953 U.S. Women's Open was the eighth time this major was played, but it was the first time it was conducted by the USGA, which took over the tournament from the LPGA. Betsy Rawls became champion by beating Jackie Pung in a playoff.

Eric Monti won three times on the PGA Tour in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also noted as a teacher of the game, particularly to some very famous celebrities who were members at the club in Los Angeles where Monti served as pro for more than 40 years.

"Under par" is a golf scoring term that means a golfer has completed a hole, a collection of holes, or the full round in fewer strokes than the par of those holes. A golfer is under par, for example, if she plays a par-72 golf course in just 70 strokes.

The 1954 U.S. Women's Open was the ninth time this major championship was played. The winner was Babe Didrikson Zaharias by a whopping 12 strokes. It was her final appearance as a player in this championship.

If you play a round of golf in which you suffer any combination of lip-outs , rolling the ball right over the edges of the cup, or running the ball right up to the lip of the hole without it falling in, then you have a case of liprosy.

Do you know what golfers are referring to when they talk about "the lip"? "Lip" is very commonly used by golfers the world over, although it can refer to one of two different parts of a golf course: the holes on the green, or some or all of the bunkers on the course. In both cases, "lip" is a reference to the rim or edge of the hole or bunker.

The Transamerica Senior Championship was a professional golf tournament on the Champions Tour, played from the late 1980s into the early 2000s. It was played in California wine country in the latter part of the senior circuit's schedule, typically October.

A "crowned green" is a putting green whose highest point is in its interior, as opposed to being along one of the edges. Many putting greens generally slope from one side to the other — for example, from back to front, in which case the high point of the green will be on that back edge. But on a crowned green, the high point is somewhere inside the edges, often near the middle.

In the golf tournament format known as Designated Round, golfers play multiple rounds over the course of an extended period (for example, over a month's time), but only one of those rounds counts for this game. The catch is that the "designated round" is the one you announce before teeing off as the round you are going to use.

The 1955 U.S. Women's Open was the 10th time this major championship was played. The winner was the tournament's first international champion, and she led wire-to-wire for the victory.

Orville Moody played the PGA Tour from the 1960s into the 1980s, recording just one official tour win — but it was the U.S. Open. He was always an excellent ball striker, but was also always plagued by putting woes. Until, that is, until he became one of the earliest converts to the long putter as he joined the Senior PGA Tour. His senior career included two wins in majors, one of which was the U.S. Senior Open.

There is an old scoring term in golf, a type of score called a "double buzzard." Even if you don't know what it means (yet), you can probably guess from the name that it's a score no golfer wants to make.

The golf tournament format known as Blind Partner is one in which the golfers playing do not know who their partners are until the tournament is over. Tournament organizers wait until the last group tees off before drawing names to form the partnerships.

The 1956 U.S. Women's Open was the 11th time this major championship was played. The winner was playing it for the first time, and she won it by beating an amateur golfer in an 18-hole playoff.

In its golf usage, "dormant" refers to a period of rest, or nongrowth, for certain grasses used on some golf courses. Bermudagrasses go dormant in the winter, for example. That doesn't mean that the bermudagrass dies (even though it turns brown), but more like it takes a time-out during the cold part of the year.

Do you know what the term "dual greens" refers to on a golf course? When this term is applied, a golfer will encounter something that isn't that common in the golf world: a hole that has two, rather than one, putting greens.

The 1957 U.S. Women's Open was the 12th time this major championship was played. And for the third time, the winner was Betsy Rawls. But Rawls was declared the winner only after a golfer who finished one stroke lower was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.

The BMW Masters was a men's professional golf tournament played in Shanghai, China, in the 2010s. Although it had a short history, this tournament — which was part of the European Tour its final four years — had several notable events and distinctions.

Some golf tournament organizers will employ what is known as the "Peoria System" for tournaments in which most of the golfers do not have real handicap indexes. The Peoria System is essentially a math formula that produces a single-day handicap for the golfers playing so that net scores can be use for tournament standings.

The 1958 U.S. Women's Open was the 13th time this championship was played. For Mickey Wright, it was her first USWO title, but far from her last. And she achieved several tournament firsts this year.

Who was the No. 1 player in women's golf at the end of 2025? 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 2025's top-ranked golfers.

Which golfers finished the year 2025 in the Top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking? And who ended the year as the No. 1-ranked player? Following is the list of the highest-ranked golfers of 2025 in the men's world rankings.