Looking Back: Woodlawn Invitational Golf Tournament

The Woodlawn Invitational was a high-payout professional golf tournament played in Germany on an American air base from the late 1950s through the late 1960s. It was sponsored by the United States Air Force.

First played: 1958

Last played: 1968

John Panton won the tournament the first three years it was played. The only other multiple champion was Denis Hutchison. Bernard Hunt won it once and finished runner-up two other times.

The tournament record 72-hole score was 264 by Hunt; the largest margin of victory was six by Hutchison in 1963. Hutchison also set the 18-hole tournament record of 62 in his 1964 victory.

The tournament was played on Woodlawn Golf Course, which was on Ramstein Air Base, a United States Air Force military base in Germany. The event debuted with a prize fund of $5,000, one of the largest in Europe. Only the British Open paid more than the Woodland Invitational's $2,000 first-place check in its first year.

The Air Force raised the prize fund through raffles, but when the American military discontinued raffles in 1968 the tournament ended, too.

Also known as: Woodland International Invitational, Woodlawn Open

Winners of the Woodlawn Invitational

1958 — John Panton, 275
1959 — John Panton, 267
1960 — John Panton, 271
1961 — Bernard Hunt, 264
1962 — Max Faulkner-p, 273
1963 — Denis Hutchison, 271
1964 — Denis Hutchison, 272
1965 — Tadashi Kitta-p, 274
1966 — Donald Swaelens-p, 278
1967 — Fred Boobyer, 276
1968 — Frank Phillips-p, 137 (shortened due to rain)

p-Playoff Results: Faulkner over Bob Charles in 1963, Kitta over Barry Franklin in 1965, Swaelens over Jean Garaialde in 1966, Phillips over Martin Roesink in 1968.