Golf Central

On this day in 1990, an unheralded shiny new 21-year-old pro from Las Vegas named Robert Gamez - who had turned up at the Northern Telecom Tucson Open at the TPC at Star Pass in Arizona - won the thing in his very first start.

Gamez coasted in, cruising home with a closing 2-under 70 as none of the veterans in a star-studded field were able to put any pressure on him. With the win, Gamez earned $162,000 and an eternal place as the answer to one of golf's priceless pieces of trivia: Who are the only golfers to have won a PGA Tour event in their very first start on the Tour? (The answer is four, by the way ...)

When Gamez won at Tucson in '90, he became the first Tour rookie to win his first official start since Ben Crenshaw did it in 1973. The others are Marty Fleckman (1967) and Garrett Willis (2001). (Editor's note: That quartet of hot starters have combined for 24 PGA Tour wins. Gamez owns three of those, Crenshaw 19, and Fleckman and Willis only the one each).

But believe it or not, Gamez wasn't through with the trivia game. Gamez won for the second time in 1990 at Bay Hill and tied for 12th in that year's Open Championship at St Andrews, leading Paul Azinger to proclaim: "If you guys are waiting for the next superstar, this guy may be it." Which just proves that Azinger, the 2008 US Ryder Cup captain, isn't always right even though he thinks he is. Instead, Gamez has turned in a career marred by injury and inconsistency. He lost his Tour card three times, but kept grinding along like a good old soldier.

And this is where Gamez really earned his stripes in the trivia department: When he won for the third time at the 2005 Valero Texas Open, the 37-year-old Gamez set the mark for the longest stretch without a win on the PGA Tour: a stretch of 15 years, 6 months and 394 events.

He's still battling on, as well ... Now 39, he's made only 30 cuts in his last 60 starts on the Tour, but at 132nd on the 2007 money list Gamez has conditional Tour status. He plugged away this week to finish in a tie for 50th at the Sony Open in Hawaii ...

Speaking of firsts, it was also on this day in 1882 that the Myopia Hunt Club in Winchester, Massachusetts was incorporated, becoming the first country club in the United States. And in the lasts department, on this day in 1951, the legendary Byron Nelson, now semi-retired for competition, won the Crosby at Pebble Beach for his 52nd and final PGA Tour victory ...

And speaking of good soldiers, it was on this day in 1960 that Corporal Elvis Aaron Presley earned his stripes (literally), being promoted to sergeant near the end of a four-year hitch in the US Army. Drafted in 1957, Elvis served his Army stint with the 3rd Armored Division and was honourably discharged in March, 1960 ...

And since you might have a Monday pub quiz, here are some more useless facts for your armoury:

• What day did the American Revolution officially end? Well, the final big battle of the war was the British defeat at Yorktown in 1781, but the Brits didn't signed the Treaty of Paris under September of 1783. It wasn't until January 14, 1784 (on this day!) that the American Congress ratified the treaty, officially ending hostilities. So tell your quizmaster he's not so smart after all.
• Which football legend said "It's time to make way for a younger man" on this day in 1969? Well, Sir Matt Busby, that's who, stepping down after managing Manchester United since 1945 (he returned for one season, 1970-71). And just in case there's any argument with your quizmaster, Sir Matt is the longest-serving Man United manager; Sir Alex Ferguson has managed the most games for the club. So there.
• And which two armies fought in the Third Battle of Panipat, in northern India, on this day in 1761? Well, it was a massive battle between the Afghans and the Marhatas (the Afghans, under Ahmad Shah Durrani, with their superior cavalry, won the day). For bonus points, tell the quizmaster that the First Battle of Panipat (1526) was between the Mughals and the Delhi sultanate; and the Second Battle of Panipat (1556) was between the Mughals and the Sultan of Bengal. The Mughals won both of those, too.

So, it's padayish rawaz day unbaraksha!, as they say in Pashto, to a pair of pretty good golfers: Gibby Gilbert, who won three times on the PGA Tour and six times on the Senior Tour, is 67; and Aussie Graham Marsh, who won nearly 100 titles worldwide including the 1997 US Senior Open, is 64.

It's also happy birthdays to rapper-actor James Todd Smith (LL Cool J, 40); the Academy Award-winning actress Faye Dunaway (67); director Steven Soderbergh (45), who won an Oscar for Traffic; and all-round rocker Dave Grohl (39), who stepped out from behind the drum kit of Nirvana to take over guitar/vocal duties of the Foo Fighters; and wacko celebrity chef and nature boy Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (43).

It also would have been a birthday for the Alsatian-German humanitarian/philosopher Dr Albert Schweitzer (b. 1875), the 1952 Nobel Prize winner, who once wrote "respect for all life is the highest principal", but didn't get a lot of respect when he kicked it in 1965.