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USGA INSIDER HISTORY

August: This Month In Golf History

By Colin Brown, USGA

| Aug 15, 2016 | FAR HILLS, N.J.

An ecstatic Nancy Lopez hugs her mother, Marina, after capturing the 1974 U.S. Women's Amateur championship.(Courtesy USGA Museum)

August is a busy month for USGA championships --and golf in general. Here is a cross-section of events that made headlines in the game:

Aug. 6, 1936

Thirteen women, tired of staying home on weekends while their husbands played golf at Washington’s all-black, all-male Royal Golf Club, hold their first meeting as the Wake-Robin Golf Club. They pushed the process of desegregating the public courses in the District of Columbia by sending a petition to Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes. Ickes approved the construction of a nine-hole course in 1939, known as Langston Golf Course, and eventually in 1941 he issued an order opening public golf courses to all.   

Aug. 10, 1974

Nancy Lopez defeats Lauren Howe, 7 and 5, to win her second U.S. Girls’ Junior title. That victory is tied for the largest winning margin in a U.S. Girls’ Junior final.

Aug. 10, 1980

Eight-time USGA champion Jack Nicklaus wins his 17th major championship with his seven-stroke victory in the PGA Championship. Having won his fourth U.S. Open two months earlier at Baltusrol Golf Club, Nicklaus became the third golfer to win both majors in the same year.  

Aug. 13, 1988

Pearl Sinn wins the U.S. Women’s Amateur, 6 and 5, over Karen Noble. After winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Link two months earlier, Sinn became the first woman to win two USGA championships in the same year.

Aug. 16, 1969

Catherine Lacoste wins the U.S. Women’s Amateur two years after winning the U.S. Women’s Open. She remains the only amateur to win the U.S. Women’s Open.

Aug. 21, 1914

Walter Hagen defeats Chick Evans by one stroke in the U.S. Open at Midlothian Country Club to win his first major championship. Hagen would win 10 more majors in his career, ranking third all-time behind Jack Nicklaus (18) and Tiger Woods (14).

Aug. 24, 1997

Matt Kuchar wins the U.S. Amateur, defeating Joel Kribel, 2 and 1, at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club.

Aug. 25, 1996

Nine-time USGA champion Tiger Woods wins his third-consecutive U.S. Amateur championship and his sixth straight USGA title. He is the only player in history to win the U.S. Junior Amateur, U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open (all of which he won three times).   

Aug. 26, 1990

Phil Mickelson defeats high school classmate Manny Zerman, 5 and 4, to win the U.S. Amateur. He joined Jack Nicklaus as the second golfer to win the NCAA Championship and the U.S. Amateur in the same year.

Colin Brown is social media content coordinator for the USGA. Contact him at cbrown@usga.org.