Pensacola Open Golf Tournament (PGA Tour)

The Pensacola Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour that was played from the mid-1950s into the late 1980s. It was played in Florida, 72-hole, stroke-play format.

First played: 1956

Last played: 1988

The first two playoffs in Pensacola Open history happened in back-to-back years, 1964 and 1965, and they were doozies. In 1964, Gary Player won a three-man, 18-hole playoff by scoring 71 to Arnold Palmer's 72 and Miller Barber's 74. In the 1965 tournament, Doug Sanders defeated Jack Nicklaus with a birdie on the third hole of sudden death.

In 1960, Palmer birdied the final hole to win by one stroke and achieve his third consecutive victory in as many weeks on tour. ... When Lee Elder won the 1974 event, he qualified for the following year's Masters, where he became the first black golfer to play that tournament. Elder got the victory by birdying the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff against Peter Oosterhuis. ... Curtis Strange's first pro win happened here in 1979.

In the 1967 tournament, Gay Brewer became the first golfer in PGA Tour history to card a total in back-to-back rounds of 125 or lower. His 191 total was then a record for 54 holes on the PGA Tour. And Brewer won the tournament on 262, which held up as the tournament's 72-hole scoring record.

In 1986, Ernie Gonzalez won the tournament when rain forced it to be called after just 36 holes. It was Gonzalez's only PGA Tour victory, and it was also just the third time in PGA Tour history there was a left-handed winner.

Also known as: Pensacola Open Invitational, Monsanto Open Invitational, Monsanto Open

Winners of the Pensacola Open

1956 — Don Fairfield, 275
1957 — Art Wall Jr., 273
1958 — Doug Ford, 279
1959 — Paul Harney, 269
1960 — Arnold Palmer, 273
1961 — Tommy Bolt, 275
1962 — Doug Sanders, 270
1963 — Arnold Palmer, 273
1964 — Gary Player, 274 (def. Miller Barber, Arnold Palmer in playoff)
1965 — Doug Sanders, 277 (def. Jack Nicklaus in playoff)
1966 — Gay Brewer, 272
1967 — Gay Brewer, 272
1968 — George Archer, 268
1969 — Jim Colbert, 267
1970 — Dick Lotz, 275
1971 — Gene Littler, 276
1972 — Dave Hill, 271
1973 — Homero Blancas, 277
1974 — Lee Elder, 274 (def. Peter Oosterhuis in playoff)
1975 — Jerry McGee, 271
1976 — Mark Hayes, 275
1977 — Leonard Thompson, 268
1978 — Mac McLendon, 272 (def. Mike Reid in playoff)
1979 — Curtis Strange, 271
1980 — Dan Halldorson, 275
1981 — Jerry Pate, 271
1982 — Calvin Peete, 268
1983 — Mark McCumber, 266
1984 — Bill Kratzert, 270
1985 — Danny Edwards, 269
1986 — Ernie Gonzalez, 128 (shortened by bad weather)
1987 — Doug Tewell, 269
1988 — Andrew Magee, 271

Golf Courses: Among the courses to host the Pensacola Open were Tiger Point Golf & Country Club in Gulf Breeze, Fla.,; plus Perdido Bay Country Club and Pensacola Country Club, both in Pensacola.