Kansas City Open (Former PGA Tour Event)

The Kansas City Open was a men's professional golf tournament played on the PGA Tour from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. It was a 72-hole, stroke-play tournament. It took place in the Greater Kansas City, Missouri, area, although several times on the Kansas side of the border.

First played: 1949

Last played: 1959

Cary Middlecoff was the biggest-name champion in the Kansas City Open, winning twice, back-to-back, and both times in 18-hole playoffs. In the 1951 tournament, Middlecoff scored 68 in the playoff, beating Dave Douglas and Doug Ford each by four strokes.

In the 1952 playoff, Middlecoff scored 66, the lowest round of the tournament. He beat Jack Burke Jr. by by six strokes. (Burke set a PGA Tour record in 1952 for appearing in the most playoffs in a single season — four. His loss to Middlecoff was one of those four playoffs, in which Burke went 2-2.)

There was one more playoff in the Kansas City Open, but by the time it happened in 1959 the format had changed to sudden death. Dow Finsterwald won that one over Don Fairfield with a birdie on the first extra hole.

Middlecoff was this tournament's only multiple champ. One-time winners Lloyd Mangrum and Finsterwald each had one runner-up finish, too.

The tournament's scoring record of 268 was set by Wally Ulrich in 1954.

Winners of the Kansas City Open

1949 — Jim Ferrier, 277
1950 — Lloyd Mangrum, 271
1951 — Cary Middlecoff, 278 (def. Dave Douglas, Doug Ford in playoff)
1952 — Cary Middlecoff, 276 (def. Jack Burke Jr. in playoff)
1953 — Ed Oliver, 269
1954 — Wally Ulrich, 268
1955 — Dick Mayer, 271
1956 — Bo Wininger, 273
1957 — Al Besselink, 279
1958 — Ernie Vossler, 269
1959 — Dow Finsterwald, 275 (def. Don Fairfield in playoff)

Also known as: "Kansas City Open" was the official tournament name for all but the last year, when it was known as the "Kansas City Open Invitational."

Golf courses: Swope Park Golf Course in Kansas City, then a municipal course, was the site of the first tournament. Milburn Country Club in Overland Park, Kansas, hosted in 1950-53 plus 1956; Blue Hills Country Club (1954, 1959) and Hillcrest Country Club (1955, 1957-58), both in Kansas City, were also host sites.

Sources:
The (Massillon, Ohio) Evening Independent. "Middlecoff Tops Burke in Playoff," Associated Press, August 19, 1952.
Kansas City Times. "Bow to Old Pro," October 10, 1951.
Mackey, Dick. "Dow Wins in Extra Hole," Kansas City Times, September 8, 1959.
PGA Tour. PGA Tour Media Guide, All-Time Records, Most Playoffs in a Single Season.