Dow Finsterwald

Dow Finsterwald
— Golfer —
Personal information
Full name	Dow Henry Finsterwald
Born	(1929-09-06) September 6, 1929 Athens, Ohio
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	160 lb (73 kg; 11 st)
Nationality	United States
Residence	Orlando, Florida Colorado Springs, Colorado
Career
College	Ohio University
Turned professional	1951
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour Senior PGA Tour
Professional wins	13
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	11
Other	2
Best results in major championships (wins: 1)
Masters Tournament	3rd: 1960, 1962
U.S. Open	T3: 1960
The Open Championship	DNP
PGA Championship	Won: 1958
Achievements and awards
PGA Player of the Year	1958
Vardon Trophy	1957

Dow Henry Finsterwald, Sr. (born September 6, 1929) is 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.

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. 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.^[1] He turned professional in 1951.

Finsterwald won 11 times on the PGA Tour during his career. He was known for his superb short game. He was one of the most consistent players on the Tour in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He finished fifth or better more than 50 times in his career. Finsterwald was a close friend of Arnold Palmer, who was also one of the dominant players on the Tour during this same time period.

Finsterwald 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.^[2] 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 today.

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.^[3] Three and one-half years later, Finsterwald and Gary Player lost one of the most epic battles in golf history – 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.^[4]

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 is also the Pro Emeritus of the Pikewood National Golf Club, based in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Finsterwald was honored by fellow Ohioan Jack Nicklaus at the 2007 Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. In 2008, he was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.^[2]

Finsterwald lives in Orlando, Florida during the winter and Colorado Springs during the summer.^[2] His wife Linda died on June 15, 2015. They have three sons and a daughter. His middle son, Dow Jr., is head pro at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, site of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Professional wins (13)

PGA Tour wins (11)

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	Doug Ford
2	May 13, 1956	Carling Open Invitational	−14 (65-71-69-69=274)	3 strokes	Jack Burke, Jr., Billy Casper, Billy Maxwell
3	Feb 11, 1957	Tucson Open Invitational	−11 (68-67-66-68=269)	Playoff	Don Whitt
4	Jul 20, 1958	PGA Championship	−4 (67-72-70-67=276)	2 strokes	Billy Casper
5	Sep 8, 1958	Utah Open	−17 (69-65-67-66=267)	1 stroke	Fred Hawkins, Arnold Palmer
6	Apr 12, 1959	Greater Greensboro Open	−6 (68-68-65-77=278)	2 strokes	Art Wall, Jr.
7	Aug 9, 1959	Carling Open Invitational	−8 (74-68-66-68=276)	1 stroke	Gene Littler, Mike Souchak
8	Sep 7, 1959	Kansas City Open Invitational	−5 (68-69-69-69=275)	Playoff	Don Fairfield
9	Jan 11, 1960	Los Angeles Open	−4 (70-68-71-71=280)	3 strokes	Bill Collins, Jay Hebert, Dave Ragan
10	Apr 24, 1960	Greater New Orleans Open Invitational	−18 (69-66-66-69=270)	6 strokes	Al Besselink
11	Jun 3, 1963	500 Festival Open Invitation	−16 (68-68-64-68=268)	2 strokes	Tommy Aaron, Julius Boros, Tony Lema, Bobby Nichols

Major championship is shown in bold.

PGA Tour playoff record (2–4)

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

Other wins (2)

this list may be incomplete

1954 Carolinas Open
1955 British Columbia Open (Canada)

Major championships

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	Billy Casper

Results timeline

Tournament	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
Masters Tournament	DNP	T50	T46	DNP	DNP	DNP	T24	T7	T17	T18
U.S. Open	CUT	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	T28	DNP	T13	DNP	T11
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	2	1	4

Tournament	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Masters Tournament	3	CUT	3	T5	T9	T21	T57	CUT	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	T3	T6	DNP	T12	8	CUT	DNP	DNP	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	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	CUT	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	CUT	T58	CUT	CUT	T70	DNP	70	CUT	CUT

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT

Note: Finsterwald never played in The Open Championship.
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

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)

References

↑ "Ohio University Athletics Hall of Fame site". Retrieved November 21, 2013.
1 2 3 Baines, Gary (February 28, 2008). "Dow Getting His Due". Colorado Golf Journal. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
↑ "Year by Year History of the PGA Championship – 1958: Bolt was an angel, Dow was a terror". PGA of America. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
↑ Clifford, Robert A. (May 1, 1996). "Getting Teed off Over Golf Balls". Retrieved November 21, 2013.

External links

Dow Finsterwald at the PGA Tour official site

PGA Championship champions

Match play era	1916 Jim Barnes 1917–18 Cancelled due to World War I 1919 Jim Barnes 1920 Jock Hutchison 1921 Walter Hagen 1922 Gene Sarazen 1923 Gene Sarazen 1924 Walter Hagen 1925 Walter Hagen 1926 Walter Hagen 1927 Walter Hagen 1928 Leo Diegel 1929 Leo Diegel 1930 Tommy Armour 1931 Tom Creavy 1932 Olin Dutra 1933 Gene Sarazen 1934 Paul Runyan 1935 Johnny Revolta 1936 Denny Shute 1937 Denny Shute 1938 Paul Runyan 1939 Henry Picard 1940 Byron Nelson 1941 Vic Ghezzi 1942 Sam Snead 1943 Cancelled due to World War II 1944 Bob Hamilton 1945 Byron Nelson 1946 Ben Hogan 1947 Jim Ferrier 1948 Ben Hogan 1949 Sam Snead 1950 Chandler Harper 1951 Sam Snead 1952 Jim Turnesa 1953 Walter Burkemo 1954 Chick Harbert 1955 Doug Ford 1956 Jack Burke, Jr. 1957 Lionel Hebert

Stroke play era	1958 Dow Finsterwald 1959 Bob Rosburg 1960 Jay Hebert 1961 Jerry Barber† 1962 Gary Player 1963 Jack Nicklaus 1964‡ Bobby Nichols 1965 Dave Marr 1966 Al Geiberger 1967 Don January† 1968 Julius Boros 1969‡ Raymond Floyd 1970 Dave Stockton 1971 Jack Nicklaus 1972 Gary Player 1973 Jack Nicklaus 1974 Lee Trevino 1975 Jack Nicklaus 1976 Dave Stockton 1977 Lanny Wadkins† 1978 John Mahaffey† 1979 David Graham† 1980 Jack Nicklaus 1981 Larry Nelson 1982‡ Raymond Floyd 1983‡ Hal Sutton 1984 Lee Trevino 1985 Hubert Green 1986 Bob Tway 1987 Larry Nelson† 1988 Jeff Sluman 1989 Payne Stewart 1990 Wayne Grady 1991 John Daly 1992 Nick Price 1993 Paul Azinger† 1994 Nick Price 1995 Steve Elkington† 1996 Mark Brooks† 1997 Davis Love III 1998 Vijay Singh 1999 Tiger Woods 2000‡ Tiger Woods† 2001 David Toms 2002 Rich Beem 2003 Shaun Micheel 2004 Vijay Singh† 2005 Phil Mickelson 2006 Tiger Woods 2007 Tiger Woods 2008 Pádraig Harrington 2009 Y. E. Yang 2010 Martin Kaymer† 2011 Keegan Bradley† 2012 Rory McIlroy 2013 Jason Dufner 2014 Rory McIlroy 2015 Jason Day 2016 Jimmy Walker

† indicates the event was won in a playoff; ‡ indicates the event was won wire-to-wire

PGA and PGA Tour Players of the Year

PGA Players of the Year

PGA Tour Players of the Year

Dow Finsterwald in the Ryder Cup

American Ryder Cup captains

United States Ryder Cup team – 1957

Tommy Bolt Dow Finsterwald Doug Ford Ed Furgol Fred Hawkins Lionel Hebert Ted Kroll Dick Mayer Art Wall Jr. Jack Burke Jr. (playing captain)

Lost: 4.5 – 7.5

United States Ryder Cup team – 1959

Julius Boros Jack Burke Jr. Dow Finsterwald Doug Ford Jay Hebert Cary Middlecoff Bob Rosburg Mike Souchak Art Wall Jr. Sam Snead (playing captain)

Won: 8.5 – 3.5

United States Ryder Cup team – 1961

Billy Casper Bill Collins Dow Finsterwald Doug Ford Jay Hebert Gene Littler Arnold Palmer Mike Souchak Art Wall Jr. Jerry Barber (playing captain)

Won: 14.5 – 5.5

United States Ryder Cup team – 1963

Julius Boros Billy Casper Dow Finsterwald Bob Goalby Tony Lema Gene Littler Billy Maxwell Johnny Pott Dave Ragan Arnold Palmer (playing captain)

Won: 23 – 9

United States Ryder Cup team – 1977

Raymond Floyd Lou Graham Hubert Green Dave Hill Hale Irwin Don January Jerry McGee Jack Nicklaus Ed Sneed Dave Stockton Lanny Wadkins Tom Watson Dow Finsterwald (non-playing captain)

Won: 12.5 – 7.5

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