Lou Graham

Louis Krebs Graham (born January 7, 1938) is an American professional golfer who won six PGA Tour tournaments including the 1975 U.S. Open. Most of his wins were in the 1970s.

Lou Graham
Personal information
Full nameLouis Krebs Graham
Born (1938-01-07) January 7, 1938
Nashville, Tennessee
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st)
Nationality United States
Career
CollegeMemphis State University
Turned professional1964
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Champions Tour
Professional wins7
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour6
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT6: 1977
PGA ChampionshipT6: 1977
U.S. OpenWon: 1975
The Open ChampionshipT47: 1975

Lou Graham was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He started playing golf when he was seven years old. He attended Nashville's Father Ryan High School, and then Memphis State University, now the University of Memphis, in Memphis, Tennessee, where he played on the golf team for three years. Later, Graham was drafted into the U.S. Army. While in the Army, Graham served as a member of the Old Guard—Company E of the Third U.S. Infantry Regiment—the ceremonial Honor Guard that guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. During his Army career, he made the Army golf team that won the Inter-Service championship in 1961.

Graham joined the PGA Tour in September 1964. His first win was at the Minnesota Golf Classic at Hazeltine National Golf Club in 1967 during his third full year on the tour. Graham won again in 1972 at the Liggett Myers Open, followed by the U.S. Open in 1975. Graham had only three wins in fifteen years, and then in 1979, he won three more times in the space of eleven weeks. For this achievement, he won Golf Digest's 1979 Comeback of the Year award.[1]

Graham played on three Ryder Cup teams (1973, 1975, 1977), and was a member of the victorious 1975 World Cup Team. He was inducted as a charter member of the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame in 1992. During his career, he won over $1.4 million on the PGA Tour and over $600,000 in Senior Tour career earnings.[1]

Graham's greatest success in major championships has been at the U.S. Open. He won in 1975 at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois beating John Mahaffey by two strokes in a playoff. In 1977, he finished second – losing by one stroke to Hubert Green at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also had a previous T-3 finish at the Open in 1974.[2] On the Senior Tour (now known as the Champions Tour), his best finish was a T-3 at the AT&T Championship in 1990.

Professional wins (7)

PGA Tour wins (6)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (5)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 Jul 30, 1967 Minnesota Golf Classic −2 (76-68-70-72=286) 1 stroke Bobby Verwey
2 Aug 27, 1972 Liggett & Myers Open −3 (71-74-70-70=285) Playoff David Graham, Hale Irwin,
Larry Ziegler
3 Jun 23, 1975 U.S. Open +3 (74-72-68-73=287) Playoff John Mahaffey
4 Jul 22, 1979 IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic −11 (68-70-71-64=273) Playoff Bobby Wadkins
5 Sep 9, 1979 American Optical Classic −9 (68-67-71-69=275) 1 stroke Ben Crenshaw
6 Oct 7, 1979 San Antonio Texas Open −12 (69-64-69-66=268) 1 stroke Eddie Pearce, Bill Rogers,
Doug Tewell

PGA Tour playoff record (3–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 1971 Greater Hartford Open George Archer, J. C. Snead Archer won with birdie on first extra hole
2 1972 Liggett & Myers Open David Graham, Hale Irwin,
Larry Ziegler
Won with birdie on third extra hole
D. Graham and Ziegler eliminated with par on first hole
3 1975 U.S. Open John Mahaffey Won 18-hole playoff;
Graham: E (71),
Mahaffey: +2 (73)
4 1979 IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic Bobby Wadkins Won with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runners-up
1 Dec 7, 1975 World Cup
(with Johnny Miller)
−22 (134-142-140-138=554) 10 strokes  TaiwanHsieh Min-Nan and Kuo Chie-Hsiung

Major championships

Wins (1)

YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up
1975U.S. Open4 shot deficit+3 (74-72-68-73=287)Playoff1 John Mahaffey

1Defeated Mahaffey in an 18-hole playoff – Graham 71 (E), Mahaffey 73 (+2).

Results timeline

Tournament 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open CUT CUT 23 CUT T28
The Open Championship
PGA Championship T8 CUT
Tournament 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Masters Tournament CUT T17 CUT T40 T12 T6 CUT T23
U.S. Open T46 T37 T19 CUT T3 1 T28 2 T35 T25
The Open Championship T47
PGA Championship T22 CUT T33 T30 T48 T54 T22 T6 CUT T10
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
Masters Tournament T26
U.S. Open T51 CUT T39 T50 CUT CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship CUT CUT T42
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament000014106
U.S. Open1113362114
The Open Championship00000011
PGA Championship0000351510
Totals11137154731
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 11 (1974 U.S. Open – 1977 U.S. Open)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (1977 Masters – 1977 PGA)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
The Players Championship 5 T29 T56 T61 2 T43 T60 72 T70 WD CUT CUT
  Top 10

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

U.S. national team appearances

Professional

See also

References

  1. "Lou Graham - Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame". Tennessee Golf Association. Archived from the original on February 15, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2006.
  2. "Lou Graham". Golf Major Championships.
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