March 3, 1946: They played two rounds in one Sunday on the site of what is now the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club. Rain delayed by one day the start of the war-delayed St. Petersburg Open, the first since 1942. Sam Snead was the defending champion - he also had won in 1939 and '41 - but neither he nor anyone else could keep up with Ben Hogan. Snead finished alone in second, five strokes behind Hogan's 15-under 269. Hogan's 5-under front nine in the final trip around the Sunset golf course blew away his two closest challengers, actor Joe Kirkwood (typecast as Joe Palooka in 13 of his 15 films from 1946 to 1960) and Vic Ghezzi. Hogan dominated Nos. 7 and 9, the two par-5 holes, playing them at 8 under with one par, an eagle and six birdies over the four rounds. He coasted to victory, going 2-over on the back nine. World War II was over but reminders remained. Monday's report of the tournament noted that seventh-place finisher "Lloyd Mangrum, twice wounded in combat, returned from the ETO (European Theater of Operations) just two months ago."
Tampa Women's Open
Palma Ceia Country Club
Jan. 22, 1950: The Tampa Women's Open was 4 years old when the brand-new LPGA staged its inaugural tournament at the Palma Ceia Country Club and, for the fourth time, Louise Suggs was trying to win it. She was one of the Big Four (along with Babe Zaharias, Patty Berg and Betty Jameson) of women's pro golf. All had won the U.S. Women's Amateur championship; all had won the National Women's Open after turning pro; three had won at Tampa; Suggs had finished second twice and third once. This would be more of the same. Polly Riley beat her by five strokes. It was at least a partial victory for Suggs. She finished second at even-par 300 but because Riley was an amateur Suggs got to take home the $1,000 first-place prize.
St. Petersburg Open
Pasadena Country Club
March 23, 1958: Arnold Palmer saved his best for last, an eagle and five birdies on the final day that propelled him past Dow Finsterwald. Palmer led after two rounds but played the first 12 on Saturday 5 over par. By day's end he was four strokes back. At No. 1 on Sunday, Palmer sank a 12-footer for birdie while Finsterwald took a bogey-5. Then Palmer took two shots to get within 60 feet on No. 2, a 530-yard par-5. He pitched a 9-iron from the apron and the ball dropped for an eagle-3. One stroke separated them; Palmer pulled even at No. 15. Still tied at No. 18, Finsterwald took three shots to get within 15 feet of the hole; Palmer needed two to get within 20. After backing away when his 2-year-old daughter, Peggy, cried, he putted within 18 inches, Finsterwald overshot the hole and Palmer sank his winner. One month later he won the Masters, his first major.
St. Petersburg Open
Lakewood Country Club
March 17, 1963: It would be 13 years before Ray Floyd would wear the green jacket of a Masters winner at Augusta National. For now, wearing this green would be quite enough, thank you. His St. Patrick's Day victory in the St. Petersburg Open was his first as a pro and brought him his first payday on the tour. Floyd trailed Dave Marr by three strokes after three rounds. Within six holes they were tied. With a birdie on No. 16, Floyd took the lead for good, but he really won it on No. 17. After barely getting out of a sand trap, he was 25 feet from the pin. A bogey would mean a playoff and if Marr, playing behind him, birdied No. 16, it would be over. But Marr didn't. And Floyd's putt broke right at the last instant and fell over the left lip of the cup. "A lot of pros kept telling me that I was good enough to win on the tour," Floyd said. And instead of playing just to make the cut, he changed his outlook. "In this one," he said, "I went out with only one intention: to win it."
Orange Blossom Classic
Sunset Hills Golf and Country Club
March 22, 1970: Two years ago it had been the St. Petersburg Orange Blossom Open; the year before it had been the Orange Blossom Open; this time it was the Orange Blossom Classic. No matter. The name at the top of the leaderboard was the same: Kathy Whitworth. She would win it five times from 1965 to 1974. This was a workmanlike effort, an even-par 72 final round for an even-par 216. Whitworth and Carol Mann were tied after 36 holes, one behind Sue Roberts, at 21 the tournament's second-youngest entry. When an LPGA official at No. 12 warned the threesome (ostensibly Mann) to speed up or be penalized, Roberts, rushing, double-bogeyed that hole and two more. She finished 10 strokes behind Whitworth. Mann and Whitworth were tied until No. 17, when Mann overshot the green, pitched poorly and two-putted for bogey. Needing a birdie on No. 18 to force a playoff, Mann managed to reach the green in two, then stroked her 35-foot putt and watched it trickle to the right and die 1 foot from the cup.
Orange Blossom Classic
Pasadena Golf Club
Feb. 23, 1975: Five weeks after earning her LPGA card, Amy Alcott played and was the youngest competitor in the 22-year-old tournament, the LPGA's oldest. It was Alcott's third pro tournament and she was one day past her 19th birthday. She handled 20-25 mph gusts of wind and the pressure of a front-nine charge by Sandra Post, nailing a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole for the one-stroke victory. Her 9-under 207 broke the tournament record by two strokes. "Needless to say, this is the greatest birthday present I've ever had," Alcott said. It was the first of 29 career wins, including five majors, that led to her 1999 induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Pepsi Mixed Team Championship
Bardmoor Country Club
Dec. 4, 1977: For the first time in 13 years, since the last St. Petersburg Invitational, the stars of the PGA Tour returned to Tampa Bay, none with more of a flourish than 1976 U.S. Open winner Jerry Pate and 1977 U.S. Women's Open champion Hollis Stacy. They captured the Pepsi Mixed Team Championship (which later became the JCPenney Classic), born a year earlier in Miami, by one stroke over Curtis Strange and Nancy Lopez. And they did it in most unusual form. For 53 holes Pate had done the chipping, Stacy the putting. But on No. 18, needing par to force a playoff, one ball sat 130 yards from the pin, the other 155. Pate said Stacy should hit the 130-yarder; Stacy said Pate should hit from 155. Pate's point was more persuasive - the 25-yard difference. "I didn't want to hit it," she said, "but Jerry kept saying, "Don't worry. Don't worry.' " Her shot landed 7 yards from the pin and he sank the birdie putt for the win.
Michelob-Egypt Temple Seniors Classic
Carrollwood Golf and Country Club
April 4, 1981: There was no way Arnold Palmer could lose his first seniors tournament. Not with a six-stroke lead and nine holes to play. Doug Ford was six strokes behind and Don January seven back at the turn. "The only way I figured I could beat Palmer is if he did what he did." What Palmer did was boyey the 12th hole ... and the 13th ... and the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th, allowing Ford and January to pass him - January forcing a playoff with a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 18. Each made the green at the first extra hole. Ford, 20 feet from the pin, missed. January, 18 inches away, didn't. And Palmer, who finished one stroke back? "I don't even know what happened," he said. "I started pushing and squeezing and yanking, and I did something wrong to every one. I was trying to do a lot of things and I couldn't do anything."
GTE Suncoast Classic
TPC of Tampa Bay
Feb. 18, 1996: Jack Nicklaus had won nine of 34 Senior PGA Tour starts, but he hadn't won in 10 months and was beginning to feel every bit of his 56 years. He entered the final round five strokes behind leader Isao Aoki, who proceeded to self-destruct. Aoki had bogeys at the ninth, 10th and 12th holes and a quintuple-bogey 9 at the 345-yard, par-4 13th. By then, J.C. Snead was hot on the trail of the Golden Bear. Nicklaus put an end to that with an eagle on No. 14, taking a two-stroke lead. Snead birdied No. 17 but both parred No. 18. "I don't care whether you're 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or 56," Nicklaus said. "It's special. It doesn't feel any different (than the others). I feel like I'm 25 right now."
JCPenney Classic
Innisbrook Resort
Dec. 8, 1996: Tigermania was in full growl during the final round. The largest crowd in the tournament's 18 years swarmed the Copperhead course to get a glimpse of Tiger Woods, professional golf's hottest thing since graphite clubs. Woods and partner Kelli Kuehne began, and finished, the round one stroke off the pace. Mike Hulbert and Donna Andrews, who shared the lead going into the final round, won it in relative obscurity. "Dealing with all the huge crowds is a lot harder than it looks," Kuehne said. "I've always been able to stop and sign every autograph that anybody asked. But it gets amazing, even startling, being in Tiger's company." Said Woods, grinning: "It's this way every day, every tournament for me."
