Golf Compendium

The NCAA Men's Division I Golf Championship is the tournament that crowns the individual champ of college golf in the United States. The NCAA, which governs collegiate sports in America, established the tournament in 1939. But the list below goes back farther than that, all the way to 1897, when the first college golf championship was played long before the NCAA existed.

The 2021 U.S. Women's Open was the 76th time this major championship was played. The winner was the first golfer from her country to claim this title, and also tied, to the day, the tournament record for youngest winner.

Willie Smith was a Scotsman who moved to America and then to Mexico. One of a famous set of golfing brothers, he won a U.S. Open in the 19th century, and was runner-up in two others in the first decade of the 1900s. He also was the first champion of the Western Open, a club pro in the earliest days of golf in Mexico, and once survived an attack on his club by armed forces in the Mexican Revolution.

The 2022 U.S. Women's Open was the 77th time this golf tournament was played. The winner earned her victory by setting a new tournament score record.

The Quality Chek'd Classic, known as the Waco Tribune Herald Ladies Classic the last time it was played, was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour in the mid-1960s to early/mid-1970s. It was played in Waco, Texas.

What's the worst score Tiger Woods has ever had on the PGA Tour since turning pro? That depends on what category of score you're talking about — 18 holes, 72 holes or 72 holes in relation to par . But that's OK, because we cover all three categories below.

One way of considering a golfer's peak is to look only at his single, best year. And we've done that in our list of golfers with the most PGA Tour wins in a single season . Another way to think of "peak" is not as a single year, but as a stretch of seasons. That's what we do here. The list below shows the PGA Tour golfers who won the most tournaments over three successive tour seasons.

The U.S. Open is the second-oldest major championship in men's golf, and the oldest of the three United States-based majors. It was first played in 1895. That's a long history, and many golfers have made their mark on that history.

Picture the cup on the golf green. Inside the hole on the putting green you will find a cup, or liner, usually plastic these days but sometimes metal. Inevitably, it is either manufactured in the color of white, or painted white post-production. Why?

Carol Mann was one of the giants of the LPGA Tour in the 1960s. Her playing career stretched into the 1980s, but she was also influential as an LPGA president and, for years after her retirement from tournament golf, as someone involved in women's sports on the administrative side. But it is as a golfer on the LPGA were Mann made her name, racking up win totals that still rank highly in the history of women's golf.

The 2024 PGA Championship was the 106th edition of this tournament. The winner was a first-time major champion who set a scoring record in the first round and sank the winning putt with the final stroke of the tournament.

In men's professional golf, there are four major championships: the British Open, U.S. Open, PGA Championship and Masters. Winning all four of them over the course of one's career is called the Career Grand Slam. There is no special phrase for winning three out of the four, but that is a rare achievement, too.

One name of the golf course in Spicewood, Texas, that is approximately 30 miles west/northwest of Austin, near Lake Travis, is Pedernales Golf Club. But it's much better known by it's other name: Willie Nelson's Pedernales Cut-N-Putt.

Do you know the meaning of "carry" in a golf context? Golfers use phrases such as, "I need 150 yards of carry," or "you carried that bunker, no problem," or "what's the carry over that water"? Let's go into it to under the golf definition.

Chick Harbert was a Michigan golf great who won a PGA Championship in the 1950s and reached the championship match in the PGA two other years. He won multiple times on the PGA Tour (once beating Ben Hogan in a playoff), many times in Michigan state tournaments, and also captained Team USA in the Ryder Cup.

The Esso Golden Tournament was a men's professional golf tournament on the British PGA/European circuit of the 1960s. It used an unusual format that required all the golfers in the field to play 14, 18-hole matches to determine the winner.

Moles are burrowing animals and golfers hate burrowing animals (at least those that dig their holes on golf courses). You know what else can dig a hole on a golf course? Taking multiple swings to get out of a sand trap . And that is what the golf side bet known as Moles is all about.

The U.S. Open tournament record for victories if four, shared by multiple golfers. Who was the first golfer to win the U.S. Open four times? For that matter, who was the first double winner, and the first three-time champ? In all cases, the answer is the same: Willie Anderson .

The Tradition is the name of a golf tournament on the Champions Tour, and the tournament is counted as one of the five major championships of senior golf by that tour. That makes all the golfers who appear on the list of winners below senior major winners.

What is the lowest 18-hole score ever recorded in the U.S. Open golf tournament — the lowest round in tournament history? That score is 62, and it was first achieved in 2023 — twice.

The PGA Championship is one of the four "major championships" of men's professional golf. It is run by the PGA of America, and the PGA selects each golf course that serves as the site of the tournament.

Chandler Harper was a winner on the PGA Tour in the 1950s and a golfer who set victory records in his native Virginia. Harper won a PGA Championship, and he also set a PGA Tour scoring record that stood for nearly 60 years.

Tiger Woods has four wins in the PGA Championship, second-most all-time. He also has three runner-up finishes in this major, also second-most all-time.

Want to play a game on the golf course the combines the skill of golf with the luck of a poker deal? The game named "Luck of the Draw" might be for you. This game rewards good golf scores with playing cards, and at the end of the round you try to form a better poker hand than your playing companions.

In the history of the PGA Championship, which golfers have recorded the most Top 5 finishes? How about finishing in the Top 10 most often? You can view those lists here, along with the golfers who had the most Top 25 finishes.

Tiger Woods, one of the most famous people on the planet, and Elin Nordegren, who was a nanny when they met, once had one of the best-known celebrity marriages. It was one that seemed from the outside — and was always presented this way from the inside — idyllic. Of course, the Woods-Nordegren marriage soon came crashing (literally) down.

Two golfers in PGA Championship history have won that major five times each, and Jack Nicklaus is one of them. His PGA Championship appearances span a period of 39 years, during which he played the tournament all but two years.

Tom Creavy was a professional golfer who was turning heads on tour while still in his teens and winning a major championship before he turned 21. He was a tall, slim golfer with a smooth swing and a soft-spoken nature. The strength of his game was putting. But his tournament career was cut short by back problems and he retired from competitive play while still young.