1965 PGA Championship Book Laurel Valley Golf Club Arnold Palmer open ryder tpc

Description

1965 PGA Championship book autographed by Arnold Palmer
The
1965 PGA Championship
was the 47th
PGA Championship
, played August 12–15 at
Laurel Valley Golf Club
in
Ligonier, Pennsylvania
, a suburb southeast of
Pittsburgh
.
Dave Marr
won his only
major championship
, two strokes ahead of runners-up
Billy Casper
and
Jack Nicklaus
.
[2]
[3]
[4]
Marr was the co-leader after 54 holes with
Tommy Aaron
, a stroke ahead of
Gardner Dickinson
and two shots ahead of major champions Nicklaus and Casper.
[5]
Aaron shot 78 and Dickinson 74 on Sunday, while Marr matched an even-par 71 with Nicklaus and Casper.
[6]
Not far from his hometown of
Latrobe
, Laurel Valley was co-founded by
Arnold Palmer
in 1959,
[7]
[8]
who had another disappointing major in his home state and finished 14 strokes back, tied for 33rd.
[9]
Three years earlier, he lost an 18-hole playoff to Nicklaus in the
U.S. Open
at
Oakmont
near
Pittsburgh
, then finished tied for 17th five weeks later at the
PGA Championship
at
Aronimink
, outside
Philadelphia
. (Palmer won the other two majors of 1962, the
Masters
and the
Open Championship
, but never won the PGA Championship for a
career grand slam
.)
After the practice rounds, a 60-foot (18 m)
fir
tree was installed on the par-5 third hole to prevent corner-cutting from the tee to an adjacent fairway, over the objections of the club professional.
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
This was the final PGA Championship appearance for two-time champion
Ben Hogan
, age 53, who tied for 15th place. After his near-fatal auto accident in early 1949, Hogan's legs could not withstand the grueling match play schedule and he did not play again in the championship until it became a stroke play event. He missed the 54-hole cut by a stroke in
1960
and tied for ninth place in
1964
. Hogan won the title as a match play event in
1946
and
1948
. Twenty former champions were in the field and twelve made the cut. Palmer was assessed a two-stroke penalty in both of the first two rounds and was at 147 (+5), ten shots back.
[12]
A decade later, Laurel Valley hosted the
Ryder Cup
in
1975
, the last Ryder Cup held in the U.S. without players from continental
Europe
.