Golf Central

It was on this day in 1935 that a certain Babe Zaharias paid the price for being really bloody good at loads of other sports other than golf. Indeed, Babe's professional activities in other sports such as track and field and basketball saw the golfing powers that be rule her ineligible for amateur events. Not that she really ever had any trouble in professional golf events mind you, winning an impressive 41 LPGA Tour titles in her lifetime.

Bobby Jones: I'll have a Ginsters, a Mars Bar and a Lucozade please mate...

Bobby Jones's résumé was pretty impressive before 1930; the fact that he'd already won nine national championships, three U.S. Opens, four U.S. Amateur titles and two British Opens  ensured he'd no doubt go down as one of the game's greats. Coming into the 1930 season, however, Jones set his sights on golf's holy grail: The Grand Slam. And it was on this day in 1930 that Jones indeed set the ball in motion for golf's greatest achievement by beating Cyrill Trolley (great name) in the fourth round of the British Amateur at St.Andrews. After Tolley had missed a crucial 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th, Jones then preceded to craftily lay a stymie in his opponent's path in the playoff, winning the match 1 up. Jones went on to win the British Amateur, the first leg of his monumental achievement, the other three tournament victories coming at the British Open, U.S Open and U.S Amateur.

On this day in 1976, a 24-year-old Roger Maltbie quite clearly had the golfing Gods shining down on him. Finding himself at the third play-off hole (17th) of the inaugural Memorial Tournament at Ohio's Muirfield Village Golf Club against Hale Irwin, Maltbie's ball bounced off the tip of a gallery stake that allowed him to save par. If that wasn't a clear cut sign that it was going to be Maltbie's day, he then went on to birdie the fourth play-off hole to clinch what would be the second of five PGA Tour victories (we thought you may like to know that). He now plies his trade as an on-course analyst for NBC (we thought you may like to know that also).

It was all change for professional ladies golf on this day in 1949, as the Women’s Golf Association changed its name what we now know as the Ladies Professional Golf Association (that'll be LPGA if you couldn’t figure it out). Patty Berg was elected as LPGA president, whilst legends Babe Zaharias, Betty Jameson and others also jumped on board. 29 years later to the day on the LPGA tour, Nancy Lopez reigned as queen of the fairways, clinching her third tournament victory on the trot at the Golden Lights Championship in 1978.

Nearly eight months after his momentous U.S. Open triumph at The Country Club, Francis Ouimet captures the French Amateur title at La Boulie on this day in 1914, although nobody makes such a big deal about this one. Apart from us.