American Golf Classic (Former PGA Tour Tournament)
First played: 1961
Last played: 1976
The tournament's first champion, Jay Hebert, won the inaugural American Golf Classic one year after winning the 1960 PGA Championship on the same golf course, Firestone Country Club. Hebert birdied the final hole of regulation, then downed Gary Player in a playoff.
The tournament had only one multiple champion, but he was a good one: Arnold Palmer. Palmer won in 1962 and 1967, and also was runner-up in 1963 and 1965. Jack Nicklaus won once, in 1968, and lost in a four-man playoff to Frank Beard in 1970.
The tournament scoring record of 268 was set by Raymond Floyd in 1969. The largest margin of victory was five strokes, by Palmer over Mason Rudolph in 1962.
Also known as: No other names — it was always called the American Golf Classic.
Winners of the American Golf Classic
1961 — Jay Hebert, 278 (def. Gary Player in playoff)1962 — Arnold Palmer, 276
1963 — Johnny Pott, 276
1964 — Ken Venturi, 275
1965 — Al Geiberger, 280
1966 — Not played
1967 — Arnold Palmer, 276
1968 — Jack Nicklaus, 280 (def. Frank Beard and Lee Elder in playoff)
1969 — Raymond Floyd, 268
1970 — Frank Beard, 276
1971 — Jerry Heard, 275
1972 — Bert Yancey, 276 (def. Tom Ulozas in playoff)
1973 — Bruce Crampton, 273
1974 — Jim Colbert, 281 (def. Gay Brewer, Forrest Fezler and Raymond Floyd in playoff)
1975 — Not played
1976 — David Graham, 274
Golf Courses: The tournament was played at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. In most of the same years the American Golf Classic was played, Firestone was also hosting the World Series of Golf. At the time, the World Series of Golf was a 4-person event for the winners of the year's majors. After the end of the American Golf Classic, the World Series of Golf evolved into a full-field, 72-hole tournament, and later still became the Bridgestone Invitational.
