Who was golf's first millionaire from playing golf
"Golf Films (Golf Channel) = Golf Films (Golf Channel) = Golf Films is a franchise of films produced by Golf Channel– which originated in 1995 as the first U.S. single-sport cable network, co-founded by golf legend Arnold Palmer. The biographical films cover a wide range of key figures and events that have changed the game in unique ways, in particular over the last century. Contents Golf Channel is an American pay television network owned by the NBC Sports Group subsidiary of NBCUniversal division of Comcast. The channel focuses on coverage of the sport of golf, including live coverage of tournaments,"
"annually ever since except for war years, is the longest-running golf championship, and the oldest of the four major championships. Allan Robertson Allan Robertson (11 September 1815 – 1 September 1859) was considered to be one of the first professional golfers. In the mid-19th century golf was played mainly by well-off gentlemen, as hand-crafted clubs and balls were expensive. Professionals made a living from playing for bets, caddying, ball and club making, and instruction. Robertson was the most famous of these pros. Tradition has it that Robertson himself was never beaten as an individual when playing for money. He sometimes"
"bringing its total of funds raised to over US$60 million. Player was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the youngest of Harry and Muriel Player's three children. When he was eight years old his mother died from cancer. Although his father was often away from home working in the gold mines, he did manage to take a loan in order to buy a set of clubs for his son Gary to begin playing golf. The Virginia Park golf course in Johannesburg is where Player first began his love affair with golf. At the age of 14, Player played his first round"
"Mike Reid (golfer) Michael Daniel Reid (born July 1, 1954) is an American professional golfer who has won two PGA Tour events and two senior majors on the Champions Tour. Reid finished in the top-10 70 times on the PGA Tour and became the first golfer to earn a million dollars prior to winning a single professional tournament. In 1989, Reid came close to winning two major championships, the Masters Tournament and the PGA Championship, leading both of them during closing holes of the final round. Reid was born in Bainbridge, Maryland, the son of an Air Force officer. He"
"John Henry Taylor John Henry ""J.H."" Taylor (19 March 1871 – 10 February 1963) was an English professional golfer and one of the pioneers of the modern game of golf. Taylor is considered to be one of the best golfers of all time. He was also a significant golf course architect. Taylor was born in Northam, Devon. He was a member of the fabled Great Triumvirate of the sport in his day, along with Harry Vardon and James Braid, and he won The Open Championship five times. Born into a working-class family, and orphaned as a boy, he began work"
"won by 4 strokes and took the first million dollar prize in golf. The winner-take-all idea was dropped for 1988, although the first prize remained as $1,000,000. The format remained largely unchanged through 1999, with the first prize always $1,000,000, although the field increased from 8 to 10 in 1989 and to 12 from 1993. There were two playoffs during this period. In 1996 Colin Montgomerie beat Ernie Els with a birdie at the third extra hole, while in 1998 Nick Price beat Tiger Woods with a birdie at the fifth extra hole. In 2006, the tournament carried World Rankings"
"effect on the popularity of golf, as he is an indefatigable player and catalyzes great interest in the game through his writing and public speaking. Alexander H. Findlay, later to become the Father of American Golf, was the first in the world to score a 72 in competition for 18 holes at the Mercantile Golf Club in Montrose, Scotland. 1887 ""The Art of Golf"" by Sir Walter Simpson is published. The Quogue Field Club was founded in Quogue, New York. The original course had 18 holes, but after the Hurricane of 1938 the club lost 3 holes to the bay"
"of the Sun City resort complex in South Africa, creates golf's first $1m purse event - the Sun City Million Dollar Challenge. The inaugural event (and $500,000) is won by Johnny Miller. Nathaniel Crosby, son of late film star Bing, wins the U.S. Amateur championship. 1982 Kevin Murray double-eagles the 647 yard (592 m) second hole at the Guam Navy GC, the longest double-eagle ever recorded. Tom Watson holes one of the most famous shots in U.S. Open history, a delicate chip from the rough beside the 17th green at Pebble Beach that helps him to defeat Jack Nicklaus. A"
"$10 million prize. Rose was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to English parents, and moved to England at the age of five where he started to play golf seriously at Tylney Park Golf Club, near his then home in Hook, Hampshire. Rose broke 70 for the first time at the age of 11 and was a plus three handicap by 14. He played in the Walker Cup in 1997 as a 17-year-old. At the age of 17, Rose burst to worldwide prominence at 1998 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. He holed a dramatic shot from the rough from about 50"
"Young Tom Morris Thomas Morris (20 April 1851 – 25 December 1875), known as Young Tom Morris, was a Scottish professional golfer. He is considered one of the pioneers of professional golf, and was the first young prodigy in golf history. He won four consecutive titles in the Open Championship, an unmatched feat, and did this by the age of 21. Morris was born in St Andrews, the ""Home of Golf"", and died there on Christmas Day, 1875, aged 24. His father, Old Tom Morris, was the greenkeeper and professional of the St Andrews Links, and himself won four of"
"Kathy Whitworth Kathrynne Ann Whitworth (born September 27, 1939) is an American professional golfer. Throughout her playing career she won 88 LPGA Tour tournaments, more than anyone else has won on either the LPGA Tour or the PGA Tour. In 1981 she became the first woman to reach career earnings of $1 million on the LPGA Tour. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Whitworth was born in Monahans, Texas. Whitworth lived in Jal, New Mexico where her father owned a hardware store. She began playing golf at age of 15 and won the 1957 and"
"Charlie Sifford Charles Luther Sifford (June 2, 1922 – February 3, 2015) was a professional golfer who was the first African American to play on the PGA Tour. He won the Greater Hartford Open in 1967 and the Los Angeles Open in 1969. He also won the United Golf Association's National Negro Open six times, and the PGA Seniors' Championship in 1975. For his contributions to golf, Sifford was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004. He was awarded the Old Tom Morris Award in 2007, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014, and an honorary doctorate"
"professionals"", also known as ""Tournament golfers"" or ""Pro golfers"", who make their income from prize money and endorsements are a small elite within the profession. The very best golfers can make up to 8-figure incomes in U.S. dollars from tournament play alone. If endorsement income is taken into account, Tiger Woods was the highest earning sportsman in the world for much of the first decade of the 21st century according to ""Forbes"" magazine. He lost this status in 2011 after losing many of his endorsement contracts following his 2009 sex scandal. For the less successful professional, trying to make a"
"The idea of a 24-hour golf network came from media entrepreneur Joseph E. Gibbs of Birmingham, Alabama, who first thought of such a concept in 1991. Gibbs felt there was enough interest in golf among the public to support such a network, and commissioned a Gallup Poll to see if his instincts were correct. With the support of the polling behind him, Gibbs and legendary golfer Arnold Palmer then secured $80 million in financing from several cable television providers to launch the network, which was among the first subscription networks developed to cover one singular sport. Announced in February 1993,"
"year decreased from 6.9 million in 2000 to 4.6 million in 2005, according to the National Golf Foundation. The NGF reported that the number who played golf at all decreased from 30 to 26 million over the same period. In February 1971, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first person to golf anywhere other than Earth. He smuggled a golf club and two golf balls on board Apollo 14 with the intent to golf on the Moon. He attempted two drives. He shanked the first attempt, but it is estimated his second went more than 200 yards. Number of golf courses"
"The first to do so was Rory McIlroy, who was when he became the No. 1 amateur and when he first became the world No. 1 professional. Lydia Ko was the second to accomplish this feat, she was only and held the ranking for a record 130 consecutive weeks, and she was a mere when she first reached the pinnacle of the Rolex Rankings. Jordan Spieth was the most recent person to accomplish this feat, he was when he topped the amateur rankings and when he reached No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Events are ranked in eight"
"and focuses on their complex and bittersweet relationship. It is based on Kevin Cook's Herbert Warren Wind Book Award–winning 2007 biography, ""Tommy's Honor: The Story of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, Golf's Founding Father and Son"". Young Tom Morris Thomas Morris (20 April 1851 – 25 December 1875), known as Young Tom Morris, was a Scottish professional golfer. He is considered one of the pioneers of professional golf, and was the first young prodigy in golf history. He won four consecutive titles in the Open Championship, an unmatched feat, and did this by the age of 21. Morris"
"Chi-Chi Rodríguez Juan Antonio ""Chi-Chi"" Rodríguez (born October 23, 1935) is a Puerto Rican professional golfer. The winner of eight PGA Tour events, he was the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Rodríguez was born into a poor family in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. He was one of six siblings. His father used to earn $18 a week as a laborer and cattle handler. When Rodríguez was seven years old, he helped the family by earning money as a water carrier on a sugar plantation. One day Juan wandered off into a golf"
"Walter Hagen Walter Charles Hagen (December 21, 1892 – October 6, 1969) was an American professional golfer and a major figure in golf in the first half of the 20th century. His tally of 11 professional majors is third behind Jack Nicklaus (18) and Tiger Woods (14). Hagen is widely considered one of the greatest golfers ever. Hagen won the U.S. Open twice, and in 1922 he became the first native-born American to win the British Open, and won the Claret Jug three more times. He also won the PGA Championship a record-tying five times (all in match play), and"
"of U.S.-based players following a funding-raising campaign by an American golf magazine. On September 27, 1920 ""Golf Illustrated"" wrote a letter to the Professional Golfers' Association of America with a suggestion that a team of twelve to twenty American professionals be chosen to play in the British Open, to be financed by popular subscription. At that time no American golfer had won the British Open. The idea was that of James D. Harnett, who worked for the magazine. The PGA of America made a positive reply and the idea was announced in the November 1920 issue. The fund was called"
"the golfers and rabbit farmers ended in 1821 when a local landowner and golfer named James Cheape of Strathtyrum bought the land and is credited with saving the links for golf. The course evolved without the help of any one architect for many years, though notable contributions to its design were made by Daw Anderson in the 1850s and Old Tom Morris (1865–1908), who designed the 1st and 18th holes. Originally, it was played over the same set of fairways out and back to the same holes. As interest in the game increased, groups of golfers would often be playing"
"not possible to make a living solely from playing tournament golf until some way into the 20th century (Walter Hagen is sometimes considered to have been the first man to have done so). In the developed world, the class distinction is now almost entirely irrelevant. Golf is affordable at public courses to a large portion of the population, and most golf professionals are from middle-class backgrounds, which are often the same sort of backgrounds as the members of the clubs where they work or the people they teach the game, and educated to university level. Leading tournament golfers are very"
"with the PGA of America. The PGA European Tour has a 60% interest in Ryder Cup Europe, with each of its junior partners holding 20%. Professional golf began in Europe, specifically in Scotland. The first professionals were clubmakers and greenkeepers who also taught golf to the wealthy men who could afford to play the game (early handmade equipment was expensive) and played ""challenge matches"" against one another for purses put up by wealthy backers. The first multi-competitor stroke play tournament was The Open Championship, which was introduced in 1860. That year it was for professionals only, and it attracted a"
"of the album, but he only listened to it once, preferring music by vocalists such as Dean Martin. Chi-Chi Rodríguez Juan Antonio ""Chi-Chi"" Rodríguez (born October 23, 1935) is a Puerto Rican professional golfer. The winner of eight PGA Tour events, he was the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Rodríguez was born into a poor family in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. He was one of six siblings. His father used to earn $18 a week as a laborer and cattle handler. When Rodríguez was seven years old, he helped the family by"
"golfers, among them the legendary Gene Sarazen. That year Tippet was introduced to property millionaire and keen golfer Carl Graham Fisher, possibly by Sarazen who was a friend of both men. Fisher, who had been responsible for the development of Miami Beach, was then considering building a number of golf courses in Miami. Tippet was recommended to design them and became closely associated with Fisher for the next few years. Golf was enjoying an enormous boom in popularity in America in the years immediately following the First World War as an enriched middle class, excluded from more elitist country sports,"
"1907. The United States Golf Association opens the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women's Amateur to golfers not affiliated with private clubs. Taylor Made introduces the first metal woods. Ed Sneed bogeys each of the last three holes to lose a three-shot lead at the Masters, and drop back into a playoff which is then won by Fuzzy Zoeller. 1980 Tom Watson is the first golfer to earn $500,000 in prize money in a single season. The Senior PGA Tour is born, with four official events. The U.S. Senior Open is instituted. Roberto DeVicenzo is the first winner. Jack Nicklaus sets"
"that year to take up a position at the host club. He received $150 cash out of a prize fund of $335, plus a $50 gold medal; his club received the Open Championship Cup trophy, which was presented by the USGA. In the beginning, the tournament was dominated by experienced British players until 1911, when John J. McDermott became the first native-born American winner. American golfers soon began to win regularly and the tournament evolved to become one of the four majors. Since 1911, the title has been won mostly by players from the United States. Since 1950, players from"
"first golf tournament to be broadcast nationally in the United States and golf's first $100,000 tournament, the Tam O'Shanter World Championship of Golf, in spectacular fashion. He holed out a wedge from 104 yards for an eagle-2 to win over Chandler Harper by Worsham made his only Ryder Cup appearance in 1947 and won both of his matches. Like most tour players of his generation, he earned his living primarily as a club professional, and was the longtime pro at Oakmont Country Club, northeast of Pittsburgh, He died at age 73 in Poquoson, Virginia. Worsham was honored as the ""Sportsperson"
"money in golf. Soon after Tiger turned professional, Merchant was fired by Earl Woods. Woods was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998. He died from a heart attack at his home in Cypress, California in 2006 at the age of 74. He was buried at Sunset Cemetery in Manhattan, Kansas. The Earl Woods National Youth Golf Academy at Colbert Hills Golf Course in Manhattan, Kansas is named in his honor. It was host to the first First Tee National Academy in 2000. On April 8, 2010, Nike released a television commercial, created by the Wieden + Kennedy ad agency, featuring"
"Dawn Coe-Jones Dawn Coe-Jones (October 19, 1960 – November 12, 2016) was a Canadian professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour, and a member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. She was the first female Canadian golfer to surpass $1million in career earnings, announcing the arrival of Canadian female golfers upon the world stage in the 1990s. Coe-Jones was born in Campbell River, British Columbia. Growing up in Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island, she worked as a teenager at March Meadows Golf Course in Honeymoon Bay. She had an outstanding amateur career, scoring back-to-back wins in the B.C."
"its first English-born Open Champion, John Ball. The game also spread further across the empire. By the 1880s golf clubs had been established in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. Singapore followed in 1891. Courses were also established in several continental European resorts for the benefit of British visitors. 17th-century America: In December 1650, near Fort Orange (modern city of Albany, New York), a group of four men were playing Kolf in pairs for points. On July 22, 1657 several men were cited and warned not to play Kolf on Sundays. On December 10, 1659 an ordinance was"
"most golf courses per capita in the world. Golf in the modern world originated from a game played on the eastern coast of Scotland in the Kingdom of Fife during the 15th century. Golf was officially introduced in Scotland in 1421. The game quickly spread throughout Europe due to the royal endorsement of King Charles I who brought the game to England. One of the oldest and most popular courses at the time was the Royal Curragh Golf Club, which opened in 1856. It quickly spread to Ireland from Scotland. The Professional Golfers’ Association (Great Britain and Ireland) was founded"
"Willie Anderson (golfer) William Law Anderson (21 October 1879 – 25 October 1910) was a Scottish immigrant to the United States who became the first golfer to win four U.S. Opens, with victories in 1901, 1903, 1904, and 1905. He is still the only man to win three consecutive titles, and only Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, and Jack Nicklaus have equalled his total of four championships. He is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Born in North Berwick, in East Lothian, Scotland, Anderson was educated at the public school in North Berwick and was a licensed caddie"