Johnny Palmer: PGA Tour Winner in 1940s, '50s
Full name: John Cornelius Palmer
Date of birth: July 3, 1918
Place of birth: Eldorado, North Carolina
Date and place of death: September 14, 2006, in Albermarle, North Carolina
His Biggest Wins
Palmer is credited with seven PGA Tour wins:- 1946 Nashville Invitational
- 1947 Western Open
- 1948 Philadelphia Inquirer Open
- 1949 Houston Open
- 1949 World Championship of Golf
- 1952 Canadian Open
- 1954 Colonial National Invitational
- 1947 Utah Open
- 1954 Mexican Open
- 1957 Oklahoma Open
- Carolinas Open: 1941, 1949, 1950
- Carolinas PGA Championship: 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1954
In the Majors
Palmer first played in a major championship in the 1941 U.S. Open, and last in the 1960 U.S. Open. In-between, he made 32 other starts in majors, with seven Top 10 finishes.His first Top 10 was a tie for sixth in the 1947 U.S. Open. Two years later Palmer placed in the Top 8 in all three majors he entered (he never played the British Open), including his career-best, solo second in the 1949 PGA Championship.
In that match-play major, Palmer beat Mike Turnesa, 1-up on the second extra hole, in the first round. Then he dispatched Clay Gaddie (8 and 6) and Lew Worsham (2 and 1). In the quarterfinals, Henry Williams fell, 7 and 6. And in the semifinals Palmer bested Lloyd Mangrum, 6 and 5. That set up a championship match against Sam Snead. Palmer was 2-up after nine holes, but by the end of the morning 18 (36-hole final), Snead had squared the match. And Snead led 2-up after 27 holes. When Snead birdied the 31st hole to go 3-up, Palmer's chances dimmed, and Snead closed out the final and the tournament three holes later, winning 3 and 2.
Earlier in 1949, Snead also pipped Palmer at The Masters. Palmer led by one stroke after three rounds of The Masters. And he had a solid 72 in the final round. But Snead closed with a 67, with Palmer sliding to fourth place. And Palmer tied for eighth in 1949 U.S. Open.
Palmer reached the quarterfinals twice more in the PGA Championship, 1950 and 1955; and tied 10th in the 1950 U.S. Open.
More About Johnny Palmer
Before there was Arnold Palmer, there was Johnny Palmer on the PGA Tour. Arnold's rookie season was 1955. Johnny's full-time tour career was about to wind down by that point.And, first things first: No, Johnny Palmer was not related to Arnold Palmer (nor to Sandra Palmer, an LPGA star in the 1970s). Johnny won seven times in his tour career. Arnold won 65 times and set all kinds of tour records.
But Johnny Palmer set an all-time PGA Tour record, too. In the 1948 Tucson Open, Palmer closed with scores of 62-64 in the third and fourth rounds, coming from well back to finish runner-up to Skip Alexander. And that made Palmer (Johnny) the first golfer in PGA Tour history to score 126 for any back-to-back rounds. That remained the tour record for consecutive rounds. Others matched Palmer's 126, but it wasn't until the 1967 Pensacola Open that Gay Brewer became the first golfer to score 125 in back-to-back PGA Tour rounds.
Johnny Palmer grew up in Badin, North Carolina, where he learned the game when he started caddying at age 13 at Stanly County Country Club. The game he developed was one without much length (he was a short hitter off the tee), but a strong game around and especially on the greens.
He turned pro at age 20 in 1938. But he kept his full-time job at the local aluminum plant, working on his golf game only in his off hours. That didn't hold Palmer back much: He made his first start in an official PGA Tour event at the 1941 Greater Greensboro Open. (That same year he won the first of his three Carolinas Open titles.)
Along with everyone else in the world in the 1940s, Palmer's life was interrupted by World War II. He spent several years in the U.S. Army Air Corps, flying missions as a gunner on B-29s. That included 32 missions over Japan.
When he got out of the Air Corps, Palmer quit the aluminum plant and joined the PGA Tour in 1946. And he didn't have to wait long for his first tour win. Twenty-eight years old, he claimed the 1946 Nashville Invitational by beating Dutch Harrison in an 18-hole playoff, 69 to 70.
Although Palmer never won a major, he did win several big tournaments. His victory in the 1947 Western Open (by one stroke over Bobby Locke and Ed Oliver) was one of those. He finished the year sixth on the money list.
Off the tour in 1948, Palmer won the first of his five Carolinas PGA Championship titles. On the tour that year, he won the Philadelphia Inquirer Open by four strokes over Ben Hogan. And he made it into an 18-hole playoff at the 1948 Portland Open against Hogan and Fred Haas, but shot 75 (Haas won with a 70, Hogan scored 71). He again finished sixth on the money list.
Palmer's big year was 1949. He won twice on the PGA Tour, first by one stroke over Cary Middlecoff at the Houston Open. And then in the World Championship of Golf (Tam O'Shanter), where he beat Jimmy Demaret in an 18-hole playoff, 68 to 70. (He also won both the Carolinas Open and Carolinas PGA Championship off the tour.)
In 21 starts in 1949, Palmer had the two victories plus two second-place finishes, six thirds, and 15 total Top 10 finishes. He finished in the Top 8 in all three majors, including runner-up in the PGA Championship. His other second-place finish, in the Philadelphia Inquirer Open, happened the week before the PGA Championship.
Palmer finished a career-best third on the money list (behind only Sam Snead and Middlecoff). And he capped off the year with his only Ryder Cup appearance, although he lost the two matches he played. In that 1949 Ryder Cup, a 7-5 Team USA win, Palmer and Dutch Harrison fell to Team GB&I's Max Faulkner/Jimmy Adams, 2 and 1, in foursomes. In singles, Palmer lost to Adams, 2 and 1.
It was three years until his next tour victory, but it was another big one: the 1952 Canadian Open (a tournament that carried much more weight for tour players then than it does today). He won by 11 strokes with a score of 263, lowering the tournament's 72-hole record by five shots.
The last of his seven PGA Tour wins was in the 1954 Colonial (another big title at the time). He also won the Mexican Open off the tour that year, plus the last of his Carolinas PGA Championship titles. Palmer's last significant (though non-tour) victory was in the 1957 Oklahoma Open.
Palmer began cutting back his tour appearances after 1955, but continued playing sporadically. His final start on the tour wasn't until 1970.
PGA Tour statistics show Palmer made 295 starts in official tour events over his career. In addition to his seven career wins, he finished second 13 times, third-place 14 times, was in the Top 5 in 53 total tournaments, and finished in the Top 10 113 times.
Palmer turned 50 in 1968, when the PGA Senior Tour was still 12 years away from creation. He did make eight starts, from 1980 to 1983, on the circuit that was later renamed the Champions Tour. His best finish was 42nd at the 1982 Hilton Head Seniors International, when he was 64 years old.
Palmer served as the head professional at multiple golf clubs over the years. Those included Tulsa (Okla.) Country Club, Riverside Country Club in Robbins, N.C., and Statesville (N.C.) Country Club. He was also a teaching professional at Pinehurst Country Club. He spent time on the Golf Digest teaching panel, and Spalding made Palmer-branded golf balls and clubs into the 1970s.
Today, the Carolinas Section of the PGA of America awards the Johnny Palmer Trophy annually to the golfer with the lowest scoring average in the section's biggest tournaments.
Palmer is a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame, and Carolinas Section PGA Hall of Fame.
Sources:
(Book titles are affiliate links; commissions earned)
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Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame. Members, Johnny Palmer, https://www.carolinasgolfhof.org/members-c1834/i4zu7dnx27/Johnny-Palmer.
Elliott, Len, and Kelly, Barbara. Who's Who in Golf, 1976, Arlington House Publishers.
Greensboro (N.C.) News and Record. Sports, PGA Record Report, PGA Records at a Glance, July 12, 1959.
Lovan, Debrah. "John Cornelius Palmer, Pro Golfer (1918-2006)," Badin Historic Museum, https://badin-museum.org/john-cornelius-palmer-pro-golfer-1918-2006/.
North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Hall of Famers, Johnny Palmer, https://ncshof.org/2023/01/johnny-palmer/.
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PGATour.com. Players, Johnny Palmer, https://www.pgatour.com/pgatour-champions/player/01912/johnny-palmer/results.
Scharff, Robert. Golf Magazine's The Encyclopedia of Golf, 1970, Harper and Row.
Steel, Donald, and Ryde, Peter. The Encyclopedia of Golf, 1975, The Viking Press.
Youngstown (Ohio) Vindicator. "Palmer Sets Golf Record," Associated Press, July 20, 1952, Canadian Open record: https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XvtfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_VcMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4270%2C4058876.