Dow Finsterwald

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox golfer Dow Henry Finsterwald, Sr. (September 6, 1929 – November 4, 2022)[1][2] was an American professional golfer who is best known for winning the 1958 PGA Championship. He won 11 Tour titles between 1955 and 1963, played on four Ryder Cup teams, and served as non-playing captain for the 1977 U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Early life and amateur career

Finsterwald was born and raised in Athens, Ohio. He attended Ohio University in his hometown, where he played on the golf team and graduated in the Class of 1952. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity while at OU. In 1969, he was inducted into the Ohio University Athletics Hall of Fame joining his father, Russ Finsterwald, who was in the first class of inductees as a football player, and later basketball and football head coach.[3]

Professional career

Finsterwald turned professional in 1951 and won 11 times on the PGA Tour during his career. He finished fifth or better more than 50 times in his career. He played on four Ryder Cup Teams (1957, 1959, 1961, 1963) and was the non-playing captain of the 1977 team. He won the Vardon Trophy in 1957, which is awarded to the tour professional with the lowest scoring average. In 1958, he was honored as PGA Player of the Year.[4] Finsterwald finished in the money in 72 consecutive tournaments – second only to Byron Nelson's 113 consecutive cuts. This record stood for many years until eclipsed by Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin and Tiger Woods; however, he is still fifth on the list as of 2019.

The 1958 PGA Championship was held at Llanerch Country Club in Havertown, Pennsylvania. This was the first PGA Championship held after the format was switched from match play to stroke play. Finsterwald finished the tournament with a two-stroke victory over Billy Casper.[5] Four years later, Finsterwald and Gary Player lost the 1962 Masters in a playoff to Arnold Palmer.

Finsterwald was once involved in litigation in which a plaintiff claimed she lost the sight in her right eye as a result of an errant tee shot he hit at the 18th hole at the 1973 Western Open. A jury found Finsterwald not liable; however, Midlothian (Illinois) Country Club's insurers had to pay the woman about $450,000.[6] Finsterwald served as director of golf at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado for 28 years. He simultaneously served as PGA of America vice-president from 1976–1978; and on the USGA Rules of Golf committee from 1979-1981. He was also the Pro Emeritus of the Pikewood National Golf Club, based in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Finsterwald was honored by fellow Ohio native Jack Nicklaus at the 2007 Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. In 2008, he was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.[4] Finsterwald lived in Orlando, Florida during the winter and Colorado Springs during the summer.[4]

Professional wins (13)

PGA Tour wins (11)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (10)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 May 29, 1955 Fort Wayne Invitational −19 (65-66-71-67=269) 3 strokes Template:Flagicon Doug Ford
2 May 13, 1956 Carling Open Invitational −14 (65-71-69-69=274) 3 strokes Template:Flagicon Jack Burke Jr., Template:Flagicon Billy Casper,
Template:Flagicon Billy Maxwell
3 Feb 11, 1957 Tucson Open Invitational −11 (68-67-66-68=269) Playoff Template:Flagicon Don Whitt
4 Jul 20, 1958 PGA Championship −4 (67-72-70-67=276) 2 strokes Template:Flagicon Billy Casper
5 Sep 8, 1958 Utah Open −17 (69-65-67-66=267) 1 stroke Template:Flagicon Fred Hawkins, Template:Flagicon Arnold Palmer
6 Apr 12, 1959 Greater Greensboro Open −6 (68-68-65-77=278) 2 strokes Template:Flagicon Art Wall Jr.
7 Aug 9, 1959 Carling Open Invitational (2) −8 (74-68-66-68=276) 1 stroke Template:Flagicon Gene Littler, Template:Flagicon Mike Souchak
8 Sep 7, 1959 Kansas City Open Invitational −13 (68-69-69-69=275) Playoff Template:Flagicon Don Fairfield
9 Jan 11, 1960 Los Angeles Open −4 (70-68-71-71=280) 3 strokes Template:Flagicon Bill Collins, Template:Flagicon Jay Hebert,
Template:Flagicon Dave Ragan
10 Apr 24, 1960 Greater New Orleans Open Invitational −18 (69-66-66-69=270) 6 strokes Template:Flagicon Al Besselink
11 Jun 3, 1963 500 Festival Open Invitation −16 (68-68-64-68=268) 2 strokes Template:Flagicon Tommy Aaron, Template:Flagicon Julius Boros,
Template:Flagicon Tony Lema, Template:Flagicon Bobby Nichols

PGA Tour playoff record (2–4)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1956 Canadian Open Template:Flagicon Doug Sanders Lost to par on first extra hole
2 1957 Tucson Open Invitational Template:Flagicon Don Whitt Won 18-hole playoff;
Finsterwald: −5 (65),
Whitt: −1 (69)
3 1958 Rubber City Open Invitational Template:Flagicon Art Wall Jr. Lost to birdie on second extra hole
4 1959 Buick Open Invitational Template:Flagicon Art Wall Jr. Lost 18-hole playoff;
Wall: −1 (71),
Finsterwald: +1 (73)
5 1959 Kansas City Open Invitational Template:Flagicon Don Fairfield Won with birdie on first extra hole
6 1962 Masters Tournament Template:Flagicon Arnold Palmer, Template:Flagicon Gary Player Palmer won 18-hole playoff;
Palmer: −4 (68),
Player: −1 (71),
Finsterwald: +5 (77)

Other wins (2)

This list may be incomplete

Major championships

File:Dow Finsterwald 1959.jpg
Finsterwald at the 1959 Buick Open

Wins (1)

Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runner-up
1958 PGA Championship 2 shot deficit −4 (67-72-70-67=276) 2 strokes Template:Flagicon Billy Casper

Results timeline

Tournament 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
Masters Tournament T50 T46 T24 T7 T17 T18
U.S. Open CUT CUT T28 T13 T11
PGA Championship 2 1 4
Tournament 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
Masters Tournament 3 CUT 3 T5 T9 T21 T57 CUT
U.S. Open T3 T6 T12 8 CUT CUT T65
PGA Championship T15 T41 T11 T3 CUT T63 T12 T60 T48 T76
Tournament 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open CUT CUT
PGA Championship CUT CUT T58 CUT CUT T70 70 CUT CUT
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open CUT
PGA Championship CUT CUT

Note: Finsterwald never played in The Open Championship.

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  Win

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  Top 10

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  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 2 3 5 9 14 12
U.S. Open 0 0 1 1 3 6 15 8
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
PGA Championship 1 1 1 4 4 7 24 15
Totals 1 1 4 8 12 22 53 35
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 13 (1955 U.S. Open – 1960 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (twice)

U.S. national team appearances

Professional

See also

References

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External links

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