Golf Compendium

Did you know that the fairway on golf courses wasn't always called the "fairway"? The original term was "fair green," or "fairgreen." It sounds weird, doesn't it?

John Ball was a giant of British golf in the 19th and early 20th centuries, winning a record eight British Amateur Championships — plus one Open. He achieved several important firsts in major championship history. And he remains the only golfer other than Bobby Jones to win the British Open and Amateur championships in the same year.

In Gee Chun made her tournament debut a special one — she rallied on the back nine in the final round to earn her first career win on the LPGA Tour. Chun joined Patty Berg, Kathy Cornelius and Birdie Kim as the only golfers to this point in U.S. Women's Open history to win the tournament on her first try.

Dorothy "Dot" Kirby was a golfer who won big amateur tournaments in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. And although she never turned professional, she also won a couple of LPGA major championships .

The list below shows the golfers who have led the LPGA Tour in greens in regulation (GIR) each year back to 1992, which is as far back as the LPGA statistics go for GIR.

Jack Nicklaus has one of the most-impressive records of all-time in the U.S. Open golf championship. Not surprising! Still, you might be surprised to see how many tournament records Nicklaus still holds.

The Heineken Classic was a golf tournament played in Australia from the early 1990s into the 2000s. It originated as an event on the PGA Tour Australasia, and the European Tour co-sanctioned it for the second half of its run.

"6 In 60" (or "Six in Sixty") is the name of a golf format that friends, competitors and golf associations can use when they want to stage a competition but in very little time. The number "6" refers to the number of holes being played; the number "60" refers to the minutes it should take all golfers to finish the assigned course.

So far, in the history of the PGA Tour, there have been 12 sets of brothers in which two (or more) of those brothers both won official PGA Tour tournaments.

Al Balding was a Canadian golfer who won multiple times on the PGA Tour in the 1950s, as well as many national titles in his home country over several decades. He was the first golfer from Canada to win a PGA Tour tournament played in the United States.

The answer to the headline question is yes: In the history of the U.S. Women's Open, the biggest tournament in women's golf, one amateur golfer has won. Multiple other amateur golfers have come close.

American golfers dominated the first several decades of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament. Not surprising: The tournament dates to 1947, and it wasn't until the 1970s that international golfers (golfers from outside the United States in this case) started playing the LPGA Tour in numbers.

What is the tournament record at the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament for most wins? That record is four, and it is shared by two of the biggest names in LPGA Tour history.

The U.S. Women's Open is the biggest tournament in women's professional golf, and in its history two golfers younger than 20 have won it. Amazingly, those two golfers were the exact same age at the times of their respective wins. In this article, we'll take a look at who those record-holders are, plus run down the list of other youngest winners of this major championship.

Who is the oldest golfer to win the U.S. Women's Open, the premiere event in women's professional golf? It wasn't Annika Sorenstam, if that was who you were guessing.

Which golfer holds the LPGA Tour record for winning the same tournament the most years consecutively? In LPGA history, there is one golfer who won the same tournament five years running. And there is one other golfer who won the same tournament four years running.

You've probably heard the golf expression, "nice putt, Alice," or "hit it, Alice!" The former is sometimes said sarcastically to a golfer who really botched a putt — a bad yank to one side, or leaving the ball well short of the hole. The latter phrase is a pejorative aimed at a golfer who left an approach shot or putt short. Just who is Alice? Is Alice anyone at all, or is it just a sexist insult (basically, "you hit like a girl")?

The CIMB Classic was a golf tournament in Malaysia that originated on the Asian Tour, then also became a PGA Tour tournament. It was the first official PGA Tour tournament played in Southeast Asia.

The PGA Tour is the preeminent men's professional golf tour in the world, and the Champions Tour (officially named PGA Tour Champions) is the top-flight for senior (50-and-over) male golfers. So most tour pros, when their PGA Tour careers taper off and they hit 50 years old, continue playing on the Champions Tour. Golf fans often see lists of the golfers with the most PGA Tour wins , or the most Champions Tour wins. But what about all those wins combined?

"Chicken run" is a term for a type of golf tournament. And while you might not have heard of a chicken run tournament before, you probably do know what it is — synonyms include "twilight tournament" and " sundowner ."

The Lucky International Open was a 72-hole golf tournament on the PGA Tour for much of the 1960s, with an impressive roster of champions. It was played at Harding Park Golf Club, a municipal golf course in San Francisco, California.

A "resort course" is exactly what it sounds like: a golf course that is part of a larger resort facility. But use of the term "resort course" comes with certain implications and expectations for golfers.

Laurie Auchterlonie was part of a famous St. Andrews golf family, and also part of the wave of late 19th/early 20th century Scottish golfers who moved to the United States as golf was growing there. He was a winner of the U.S. Open in that tournament's first decade.

Which golfer holds the all-time PGA Tour record for finishing in the Top 10 on the money list the most consecutive years? If you've narrowed your guesses down to Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, you're closing in on the answer. The golfer who holds this record finished in the Top 10 on the PGA Tour money list 17 years in a row.

Ben Arda was a Filipino pro golfer whose biggest successes were in the 1960s and 1970s. He played on the Japan Tour and on the precursor to the Asian Tour. Along the way, he became the first golfer from the Philippines to play in two of the majors.

"Hard Work" is the name of a golf game that is a variation on the standard skins game format. That variation? In Hard Work, the easier holes on the golf course are worth less, and the more difficult holes are worth more.

Dang it, you just hit into the sand again. Another bunker. If it's been one of those days on the golf course, you might follow such a shot with a few choice words. Yes, those kinds of words, but also the kinds of words that follow: Slang germs for golf bunkers and sand.

George Archer won more than a dozen times on the PGA Tour from the 1960s into the 1980s, including The Masters. Then he won nearly 20 more times on the Champions Tour. His is remembered as one of the tallest pros to be that successful, and as one of his era's best putters.

The Turtle Bay Championship, originally and for many years called the Kaanapali Classic, was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour. It was played for more than 20 years in Hawaii, usually in January as one of the earliest events on the Champions Tour schedule.

Which LPGA Tour golfer holds the record for the most individual years posting a victory on tour? You won't be surprised to learn that the record-holder is the LPGA's all-time winningest golfer. And her record? She posted LPGA victories in more than 20 different years.

The McCall's LPGA Classic was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour that was played a half-dozen times in the 1990s. It took place in Vermont. It was 72 holes for all but its last playing, when it was shortened to 54 holes.

Carolyn Hill won only once on the LPGA Tour. But that one victory got this U.S. Women's Amateur champ into the pro record books: When she won in 1994, she set an LPGA Tour record for most starts before earning one's first victory.

You play on one of the world's best golf tours for years ... and years ... without winning. Then, finally, that first win comes. It was a long wait, but it sure was worth it.

Many experiments over the years have been done to test the psychology of putting and, specifically, whether confidence in one's putting has a quantifiably positive effect on a golfer's putting success. One of our favorites was done back in 2011 and reported on by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Which golfer recorded the largest margin of victory in one of the major championships of men's professional golf? Who won a major by the most strokes? Below you'll find the answer to that question, along with a longer list of the largest margins of victories in majors.

"Oh, buddy, you air mailed that one," one golfer says to another. Is that a good or a bad thing? What, in a golf context, does "air mail" mean?

Have you ever heard one golfer refer to other golfers as being part of "the dawn patrol"? What does that mean, anyway? It means those golfers are very early risers.

The Eastern Open, also called the Eastern Women's Open, was a golf tournament that debuted before the LPGA Tour existed, then became part of the LPGA Tour in 1950. It was played eight times from the late 1940s into the early 1960s.

Beverly Hanson was a very successful (three major wins) player in the first decade of the LPGA Tour's existence, and, owing to her colorful personality, one of the tour's most popular players of the 1950s.

It's been more than 20 years since one of the most-iconic and well-remembered golf television commercials of all-time first appeared on TV screens. I'm talking about the ball-bouncing commercial with Tiger Woods by Nike Golf.

Below in the list of annual victory leaders on the LPGA Tour; that is, the golfer who, each year, led the world's top women's golf tour in wins. You'll see many names that you probably expected to see. But perhaps a few surprises, as well.

What is the "Miami scramble" golf tournament format? It's a traditional scramble with a twist: the golfer whose drive is selected has to skip the following strokes until the team reaches the green.

Henry Picard was a quiet but highly respected pro — both as a touring pro and as a club professional — who won a pair of major championships and 26 PGA Tour tournaments total, most of them in the 1930s. He was a major influence on golfers across multiple generations, from Sam Snead and Ben Hogan to Beth Daniel.

Gary Player played in The Masters Tournament 52 times, more than any other golfer. And he won three of those years — he was just the fifth golfer to win The Masters at least three times . Below you'll find a recap of Player's three victories, plus his yearly scores and finishes in every Masters Tournament he played.

The LPGA Tour has five major championships, and the golfers who win those majors go down in women's golf history. And the ones who win them with the lowest scores in relation to par? They go down on the list below.

Who is the oldest golfer to make the cut in a PGA Tour tournament? For more than 40 years, the answer to that question was Sam Snead. But in 2022, another golfer claimed the record for himself: Jay Haas. Haas broke Snead's record in a team tournament, so we'll discuss both efforts. We'll also take a look at the very short list of golfers at least 64 years old who've made a cut since 1970.

Ross Somerville, often known by the nickname Sandy, was a Canadian amateur golfer who won many provincial and national titles in his home country from the 1920s into the 1960s. He has the distinction of being first at a couple notable achievements: Somerville was the first Canadian golfer to win the U.S. Amateur Championship; and he scored the first hole-in-one in the Masters Tournament.

Sam Snead has a special place in the history of The Masters Tournament: He was the first winner presented with the green jacket. And he won three Masters tournaments total. Below is the list of Snead's finishes every year he played the tournament.

Below you'll find the list of all the golfers who have earned low amateur honors at The Masters Tournament, one of the major championships of men's professional golf.

Augusta National Golf Club is a place, and The Masters Tournament an event, brimming over with history. One way to sift through some of that history is to look at the firsts — the important steps that have been taken in the evolution of the club and tournament.

What is the golf game named "Hogan"? It's a points game the rewards accuracy: hitting fairways, hitting greens, getting it close to the hole. And yes, of course, the Hogan game is named after Ben Hogan, who was a precise shotmaker tee-to-green.

Who is the youngest winner of The Masters in tournament history? And just how many youngsters (25 and under) have won this particular major championship over its history? It's time to find out.

Bob Ferguson was a Scottish golfer in the 1800s who won the Open Championship three consecutive years in the early 1880s. He played with and against the Morrises, among others, but his playing days were curtailed by health problems.

The 2013 Masters will always be about Adam Scott's victory, but also a little bit about the controversial Tiger Woods ruling . Woods took a bad drop and then, the following day, was docked two strokes for playing from the wrong place. He could have been disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard, but wasn't, thanks to a ruling by the Masters' rules committee, chaired by Fred Ridley. Ridley was all over TV on the Saturday of the tournament explaining and defending the ruling. Return with me now to the 1981 Masters to consider another Augusta National ruling on a bad drop.

Have any golfers won The Masters Tournament — one of the major championships of men's pro golf and probably the most famous golf tournament going — the very first time they played in the tournament? Yes.

How many times has a golfer won on the PGA Tour and Champions Tour in the same calendar year? And who did it first? The answer to the second question is: Raymond Floyd. As for the first question: Only three golfers have pulled off this feat.

Do par-6 holes exist on golf courses around the world? Yes, but they are not common. How long does a hole have to be to be called a par-6? Nearly 700 yards for men, nearly 600 yards for women — but there are other factors besides length that determine what the par rating of a golf hole is.

Paul Harney was, for a time in the mid-1960s and early 1970s, considered one of the best-playing club pros in the world. That's because he also played part-time on the PGA Tour (after beginning his career as a full-time player) and pulled off multiple victories.

When you see a local golf tournament called a Jack and Jill, that just means that it involves men and women partnering as teammates or team members.

How many golfers in the history of the Champions Tour have won the Senior Career Grand Slam? Not many! So far, only two. And one of those two golfers won five different senior majors, while the other only won four different senior majors.

You join up with a group of golfers on the first tee, and they tell you they are playing Greenies today. Do you want to join the game? Well, you better know what the Greenies side game or betting game is, then.

A score of 59 is no longer the record-low on the PGA Tour, but it remains a magical number in golf — playing a round in fewer than 60 strokes. So how do you think the golf betting game known as "59" works? Let's find out.

"Goat track" is golf slang for a poorly maintained (or minimally maintained) golf course. It is mostly used as an insult, but sometimes can be applied affectionately by golfers who aren't put off by rough conditions.

Margie Masters was a golfer who was a winner on the LPGA Tour exactly once. But she holds a significant place in the story of LPGA and Australian golf nonetheless: She has the distinction of being not only the first Australian winner on the U.S. LPGA, but the first golfer from Australia to be a member of the LPGA Tour.

If you signed up for a golf tournament called a Five of Clubs tournament, what would expect the format to be? You might guess that you'd be allowed to use only five golf clubs to play the tournament. And you'd be right.

Eliminator is a golf tournament format for 4-person teams, and is a best-ball format with a twist: As a player's score is used for the team score, he is eliminated from counting as the team score on ensuing holes, until only one player is left whose score is eligible to be used. Then the process starts over.

Arnold Palmer won 62 times on the PGA Tour in his long and glorious career, and more than one-quarter of those wins happened as a result of playoffs. Of course, Palmer lost in playoffs, too. So that's what we are going to examine: Arnie's playoff record.

You know what a hook shot is in golf, right? Well, a duck hook is a really bad hook. But that's glib, so let's go a little deeper.

When you hear the term "double cut" applied to a golf tournament — "This tournament has a double cut" or "uses a double cut" — what does that mean? It means that instead of having just a single cut, the tournament uses two cuts.

Sometimes a golf course will double-cut its putting greens. What does that mean? Well, it means exactly what it sounds like: cutting (mowing) the putting greens twice as often as normal. Which is to say: mowing the greens twice in the same day rather than just once.

The 2023 Solheim Cup was the 18th time the competition was played. It is a biennial, team, match play tournament between squads of professional women golfers, one for the United States and one for Europe. The 2023 match was halved, so Europe, as the defending champion, retained the Cup. That made the all-time standings 10 wins for Team USA, seven wins for Team Europe, with one tie.

"Daytona" is the name of a golf betting game for two teams of two players each (two vs. two). The key to Daytona (which is also known by the name Las Vegas) is on each hole, the two golfers on a side don't combine their scores together, but rather pair their scores to form a new number.

The Thunderbird Invitational was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour that was played seven times in the 1950s. It always took place at Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.

A "daily fee golf course" (or just "daily fee course") is a golf course that is open to the general public but that is privately owned and operated.

Born in Scotland, Willie Anderson became the first golf star in the United States. From the late 1800s until his untimely death in 1910, Anderson won big tournaments and set new records. He was the first golfer to win the U.S. Open four times, and remains the only golfer who has won it three consecutive years. Anderson also was the first golfer to finish below 300 in a 72-hole pro tournament.

Has any golfer won four consecutive major championships? The answer is yes: Three golfers have achieved that feat. But none of them won the grand slam. The grand slam is winning all four professional majors in the same year. What we are talking about is winning four majors in a row, whether those wins happened in the same year or not.

What is a concession in golf? In match play (not stroke play) the option exists under the Rules of Golf for one golfer or one side to concede a putt, a hole or even a match to another golfer.

When golfers refer to the "grand slam," they are talking about winning all of the professional major championships in a single calendar year. But the meaning of "grand slam" has changed in the course of golf history, and there are other permutations of the term, too.

Which golfer, from age 30 through age 39, won the most golf tournaments on the PGA Tour? That's the question we answer here.

"Appearances" is the name of a side bet in golf that pays out to the golfer who tees off first on the most holes during the round. Teeing off first is determined by which golfer had the lowest score on the preceding hole.

Best Nines is the name of a golf game for two golfers playing one-on-one, or four golfers playing two-vs.-two. It is essentially three games (or three bets, if you want to phrase it that way) in one: the golfers or sides compete to win the front nine, to win the back nine, and to win the overall 18.

Jack Nicklaus had a good record in playoffs on the PGA Tour, as you'd expect. But some of you probably expect his playoff record to better than it actually was. In this article, we'll go over that record: every PGA Tour playoff Nicklaus played, who was in it with him, and the outcomes of them all.

Have you ever heard of an old golf club called the "mid iron" or "mid-iron"? It has nothing to do with the clubs that today we refer to collectively as the mid irons or middle irons — that grouping of several irons that falls in-between the long irons and short irons .

John Barnum was a part-time tour golfer in the 1950s and 1960s who, at a late age, finally won a PGA Tour tournament. And although that was his only win on the top-level golf tour, he set a tour record there and also achieved another notable first.

The Cajun Classic Open Invitational was a 72-hole, stroke play golf tournament that was part of the PGA Tour from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. It was played in Louisiana.

Which golfer has the distinction of being the oldest ever at the time he earned his first PGA Tour victory? And just how old was he? The answers to those questions are: John Barnum and 51 years old.

When you hear a golfer (or a golf announcer on television or streaming service) talk about the "high side" or "pro side" of the hole, what does that mean? We often hear the term as part of the expression "he missed it on the high side," or "if you're going to err, err on the pro side." So let's go into this a bit and explain how golfers use these terms.

Buddy Allin was a decorated soldier in the U.S. Army who returned home from war and went almost directly to the top golf tour. In the early to mid-1970s, he won five times on the PGA Tour.

Big Break Indian Wells was the 15th season of the Golf Channel series The Big Break , a competition series in which golfers matched games in various challenges and one cast member was eliminated each week. Big Break Indian Wells aired in 2011, premiering on the network on May 16, 2011. It ran for 10 episodes.

The term "fluffy lie" is applied by golfers when a golf ball is sitting up in high or even long rough, so that there is space underneath the ball between the ball and the ground.

What is the PGA Tour record for winning the same tournament the most years in a row? That record is four — four consecutive wins in the same tournament. It's been done five times, by four golfers.

Betty Jameson was a pioneer of the women's professional golf scene, turning pro at a time when there were probably fewer than a dozen women pro golfers. She won major championships, including a U.S. Women's Open, and was one of the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour. Although her LPGA win total of 13 doesn't stack up to some of her contemporaries, Jameson was one of the most important figures in women's golf in the 1940s and early 1950s.

The Leeds Cup, or Leeds Challenge Cup, debuted in the first years of the 20th century, and for nearly half a century attracted the top golfers among British tournament professionals.

Once upon a time in golf's history, the lands on which golfers played were public lands that were frequently criss-crossed by townsfolk, either walking or riding in (or pushing) carts or wagons. The wheels of those carts and wagons left impressions in the ground — ruts, or tracks. So what would a golf club designed specifically to extricate golf balls from wagon wheel ruts or cart wheel tracks be called?

What is a "cuppy lie" on the golf course? The key in understanding it is to think of, well, a cup. The expression "cuppy lie" is one that announcers on golf television and streaming broadcasts sometimes use to describe the way a golf ball is sitting after it comes to rest. Here's what it means:

How many father-and-son tandems in the history of the PGA Tour have both recorded tournament wins? So far, there have been 10 such duos, and they include a few very big names in golf history.

Dave Ragan was a PGA Tour golfer who won several tournament in the 1950s and 1960s, and also challenged Jack Nicklaus at a PGA Championship. He then spent many years as a highly regarded golf instructor.

2-1-1 is the name of a golf game for a group of four golfers who pair off into two-player teams. The 2-1-1 in the title of the game refers to the number of points available to be won on each hole.

Roger Wethered was a top amateur golfer in Great Britain in the 1920s and 1930s, one who won the British Amateur and made the championship match two other times. But he's probably best-known today as the golfer who almost chose playing in a cricket match to playing in a playoff for the British Open.

In 2010, a fire broke out on Shady Canyon golf course in Irvine, Calif. Another fire hit Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, Calif. Investigators could find no cause for the fires, but had a suspicion that the fires may have started due to sparks caused by a golf club hitting rock.

What is the bomb-and-gouge style of golf? What kind of golf is a bomb-and-gouge golfer playing? Basically, the term means paying more attention to distance off the tee, and less to accuracy: Hit it as far as you can (bomb it) and then, if necessary, muscle the ball out of the rough (gouge it).

What is the biggest gap — the longest amount of time — in tour history between a golfer's first PGA Tour win and that same golfer's last PGA Tour win? The all-time record is over 30 years. Meaning the record-holder's last win happened 30 years after his first win.

Have any golfers won the U.S. Open the very first time they played the tournament? Yes, it has happened five times. But it's been more than 100 years since the last time it happened.

One of the most obscure U.S. Open champs, Joe Lloyd was an English golfer who came to America part-time and became what we now call a major champion in 1897. He also has the distinction of being the first golf professional in France.

Which golfer has posted the lowest scores in back-to-back rounds in a U.S. Open golf tournament? And how low did he go?

The 2020 U.S. Open was the 120th time this major championship of men's professional golf was played. And the champion was the only golfer who finished under par.

The Office Depot Championship was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour that began in South Carolina and ended in Los Angeles. In six of the nine years it was played, it was won by a member of the then-LPGA Tour's "Big 3."

Bettye Danoff never won on the LPGA Tour, but she still has a very important place in tour history: She was one of the tour's 13 founding members. She had some amateur wins of note in the 1940s, and played LPGA events into the 1970s. Danoff also once ended a 17-tournament winning streak by Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

"Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green" is the name of a statistical category on the PGA Tour that compares a golfer's performance in all elements of the game other than putting against the similarly measured performances of all other golfers in the field.

Below you'll find the list of all the golfers who have earned low amateur honors at the U.S. Open golf championship. The list goes back to the very first U.S. Open played in 1895, when exactly one amateur completed the tournament, thus earning the low amateur honor.

Who are the best amateur performers in the history of the U.S. Open golf championship? Well, the best is Bobby Jones (pictured), given that he won four times. We'll take a look here at all the amateurs who've won a U.S. Open, plus a few other U.S. Open tournament records relating to amateur golfers.

The surprise winner of the 1946 Masters was Herman Keiser. And for decades after he won — for the rest of his life, really — Keiser was convinced that Augusta National Golf Club members had tried to stop him from winning.

"Strokes Gained: Approach the Green" is the name of a statistical category on the PGA Tour that measures a golfer's performance relative to the field in approach shots played into greens.

Horace Rawlins was an English golf professional whom happenstance brought into the field at the very first U.S. Open, which he then won. Rawlins worked at multiple golf clubs in the United States, and still holds two U.S. Open tournament records.

"Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green" is the name of a statistic on the PGA Tour that measures a golfer's performance on shots played from around the green — short pitches, chip shots, bunker shots — against the performance on those shots of the tournament field as a whole.

The Emerald Coast Classic, which was named The Boeing Championship at Sandestin by the time the event ended, was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour from the mid-1990s through the middle of the first decade of the 21st century.

The PGA Tour statistic known as Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee was introduced in 2016, and has been calculated back to 2004 using ShotLink data. "SG: Off-the-Tee" is a measure of a PGA Tour player's performance on drives hit on par-4 and par-5 holes compared to the rest of the field.

In the 1938 U.S. Open, a little-known club professional named Ray Ainsley wrote his name into the U.S. Open record books. Unfortunately for Ainsley, it was for doing something wrong: scoring 19 on a single hole.

Ever hear a golfer (or golf announcer) use the phrase "circle on the scorecard"? If you've wondered what that expression means, it means this: a birdie.

The U.S. Open golf tournament has ended in a playoff many times since its beginning in 1895. Those playoffs have taken place over 18 holes, 36 holes — even, one year, 72 holes. There have been 2-player and 3-player playoffs, but not yet a 4-player playoff.

Arizona Shuffle is the name of a golf tournament format in which the golfers on a team (usually 4-person, but sometimes 3-person teams) are playing their own golf balls throughout, and on each hole a different number of the team members' scores are combined for the team score.

How many golfers have won the U.S. Open wire-to-wire? The total so far is 17, with nine of those leading start to finish but being tied for the lead after one or more rounds; and eight of them leading start-to-finish and leading outright after every round.

A pitch and putt golf course is a course with only short holes — holes that typically are all so short as to require literally only pitch shots and putts.

The British Amateur Championship is run by the R&A, and its official title is simply The Amateur Championship. Many golfers (mostly in the United States) call it the British Amateur to distinguish it from the U.S. Amateur.

Who are the oldest golfers to win tournaments on the pro golf tours? That's the question we answer here. Below is the rundown, going tour by tour, and also including the major championships of men's and women's golf.

The record for most wins in the U.S. Open golf championship is four, and it is shared by four golfers. Two other golfers have won it twice each. And there are currently another 17 golfers with two wins in the U.S. Open.

We've seen lots of golf tournaments over the years played in poor weather. But what's the worst weather ever at a pro tour event? Terrible weather that raked the golf course, yet the tour pros kept playing in it? Ask 100 pro golfers, you might get 100 answers. Unless you ask the golfers who played in the 1973 John Player Classic on the European Tour.

Edith Cummings was a Jazz Age golfer who acquired the nickname "The Fairway Flapper" because of her love of parties, dancing and drinking. She got famous as a golfer — winning a U.S. Women's Amateur Championship in the 1920s — only after she was already famous as a socialite. She inspired a character in The Great Gatsby and was the first golfer ever to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

The Daily Mail Tournament was a men's professional golf tournament played in the U.K. from the 1910s until the 1950s, although with two gaps in its history. It was at various times among the leading tournaments in Europe, and was named after the newspaper that sponsored the tournament.

The term "water ball" is used by golfers to refer to a golf ball they or someone else hit into the water; a cheaper or less pristine golf ball that you substitute for a better ball just before attempting to clear a body of water; or someone else's golf ball that you have retrieved from the water for your own use.

Various Pars is the name of a golf format most associated with golf association playdays, golf league tournaments and the like. In Various Pars you (or your team) play 18 holes, but only nine of your scores count for your final score. Which holes? Holes of ... various pars.

Buck White was a golf professional who played PGA Tour events in the 1940s and 1950s, and even won three of them. He also set a senior golf record that stood for more than 50 years.

Brigitte Varangot was a French golfer who was one of the best women golfers in Europe in the 1960s. Because there was no professional golf tour for women in Europe at that time, Varangot played as an amateur. And she won many titles in her native France, plus in the U.K., including the biggest title available to European women golfers at that time, the British Women's Amateur Championship.