Motor City Open Tournament on the PGA Tour

The Motor City Open was a PGA Tour tournament played intermittently in the Detroit area from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. Despite the instability of the tournament, its roster of champions is quite impressive.

First played: 1948

Last played: 1962

Although the Motor City Open was played over a 15-year span, it was played only eight times. The seven other years, it was skipped. In one of those years, it was skipped because the host tournament at the time successfully bid for the PGA Championship, and staged that tournament instead.

Every one of the Motor City Open's winners were highly successful PGA Tour players: three of them were future Hall of Famers, a fourth was a major championship winner.

The most famous thing that ever happened in this tournament is the tie in 1949 between Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum (two of the Hall of Famers). How did they tie? They held a sudden-death playoff, but after 11 holes they were still going. At that point, they decided to call it a tie and the players agreed to split the first- and second-place money. It is the longest, sudden-death playoff in PGA Tour history.

Winners of the Motor City Open

1948 — Ben Hogan
1949 — (tie) Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum
1950 — Lloyd Mangrum
1951 — No tournament
1952 — Cary Middlecoff
1953 — No tournament
1954 — Cary Middlecoff
1955 — No tournament
1956 — Bob Rosburg
1957 — No tournament
1958 — No tournament
1959 — Mike Souchak
1960 — No tournament
1961 — No tournament
1962 — Bruce Crampton

Golf courses: The first site in 1948 was Meadowbrook Country Club in Northville, Mich.; the last in 1962 was Knollwood Country Club in West Bloomfield, Mich. Meadowbrook hosted four times, making it the most frequently used golf course. The other two golf courses used during the tournament's run were Red Run Golf Club in Royal Oak, Mich., and Western Golf and Country Club in Redford, Mich.