The Pensacola Open was a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

tournament on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

. The inaugural version of the tournament was played in 1956 and its last edition in 1988.

Tournament highlights

* 1960:

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

birdies the 72nd hole to win by one shot over Doug Sanders. It is Palmer's third consecutive win in as many weeks. * 1966: Defending champion Doug Sanders is ahead by four shots after 36 holes when he is disqualified for not signing his scorecard. * 1967:

Gay Brewer Gay Robert Brewer Jr. (March 19, 1932 – August 31, 2007) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and won the 1967 Masters Tournament. Life Brewer was born in Middletown, Ohio, and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. As an am ...

successfully defends his Pensacola Open. He shoots a then record 191 for 54 holes and wins by six shots over local pro

Bob Keller Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) ...

. * 1968: George Archer birdies the last three holes on Sunday on his way to a 65 and a one-shot win over Dave Marr and Tony Jacklin. * 1972: Dave Hill wins for the first time in two years. He birdies the 72nd hole to beat Jerry Heard by one shot. * 1974:

Lee Elder Robert Lee Elder (July 14, 1934 – November 28, 2021) was an American professional golfer. In 1975, he became the first African-American to play in the Masters Tournament, where he missed the cut. Elder was invited to the tournament after he wo ...

birdies the 4th hole of a sudden death playoff to defeat

Peter Oosterhuis Peter Arthur Oosterhuis (born 3 May 1948) is an English professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who ...

and win for the first time ever on the PGA Tour. With the win, Elder becomes the first black golfer to qualify for the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first ma ...

. * 1979: Future two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange wins for the first time on the PGA Tour. He beats Billy Kratzert by one shot. * 1981: Pensacola resident Jerry Pate wins by three shots over

Steve Melnyk Steven Nicholas Melnyk (born February 26, 1947) is a former American professional golfer and golf sportscaster best known for his success as an amateur golfer. Melnyk won both the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur. Early years Melnyk was bor ...

. * 1982: Calvin Peete wins by seven shots over Hal Sutton and Dan Halldorson. It is Peete's 4th PGA Tour win for the year tying him for the most with Craig Stadler. * 1986: As rain shortens the Pensacola Open to only 36 holes,

Ernie Gonzalez Ernie Gonzalez (February 19, 1961 – May 15, 2020) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1980s. He won the only title of his career in 1986. By doing so, he became only the third left-handed golfer to win a ...

becomes the first left-handed golfer to win on the PGA Tour since Bob Charles won the 1974 Greater Greensboro Open. * 1988: Andrew Magee wins the last Pensacola Open. He beats Bruce Lietzke, Ken Green, and Tom Byrum by one shot.Magee cops Pensacola Open crown
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Tournament hosts

''This list is incomplete.'' *1988 Tiger Point Golf & Country Club in

Gulf Breeze, Florida Gulf Breeze is a city in Santa Rosa County, Florida. It is a suburb of Pensacola, and is in the Pensacola Metropolitan Area. The population estimate was 6,900 in 2020. Gulf Breeze is located just north of Pensacola Beach, and south of Pensaco ...

*1978–1987 Perdido Bay Country Club in

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principa ...

*1958–1977 Pensacola Country Club in Pensacola, Florida

Winners

Notes

References

External links

Tournament results (1970-1988) at GolfObserver.com
{{Former PGA Tour Events Former PGA Tour events Golf in Florida Sports in Pensacola, Florida Recurring sporting events established in 1956 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1988 1956 establishments in Florida 1988 disestablishments in Florida