Tournament information | |
---|---|
Location | Rancho Mirage, California |
Established | 1953 |
Course(s) | Thunderbird Country Club |
Par | 71 |
Length | 6,680 yards (6,110 m) [1] |
Tour(s) | PGA Tour |
Format | Stroke play |
Prize fund | US$15,000 |
Month played | January |
Final year | 1959 |
Tournament record score | |
Aggregate | 266 Arnold Palmer (1959) |
To par | −20 Fred Haas (1954) |
Final champion | |
Arnold Palmer | |
Location map | |
Location in the
United States Location in
California |
The Thunderbird Invitational was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played from 1952 to 1959 in Rancho Mirage, California. [2] [3] [4] Held in late January at Thunderbird Country Club, the tournament's purse was a modest $15,000; it was the direct predecessor of the Desert Classic, which began in 1960. Thunderbird hosted the Ryder Cup in 1955. [5] [6]
Arnold Palmer, 29, was the event's final champion in 1959; [1] [4] he won the next year at the first edition of the "Palm Springs Desert Classic," which had a $100,000 purse and a winner's share of 12,000, his largest tour check to date. [7]
Ken Venturi, 26, won the 1958 event and was awarded a $1,500 check and a $4,500 automobile. [8] He backed it up with another win the following week at Phoenix. [9]
Jimmy Demaret won the event three times; his first was a 54-hole midweek event in 1953, [10] [11] and the last was an 18-hole playoff on Monday in 1957 for consecutive titles. [12] [13]
The 1952 event was a 36 hole pro-am, played midweek. Dutch Harrison won the best-ball while Jim Ferrier and Cary Middlecoff had the best professional scores. [14] [15]
Year | Winner | Score | To par | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up | Winner's share ( $) |
Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1959 | Arnold Palmer | 266 | −18 | 3 strokes |
Jimmy Demaret Ken Venturi |
1,500 | [1] [4] |
1958 | Ken Venturi | 269 | −15 | 4 strokes |
Jimmy Demaret Gene Littler |
1,500 | [8] |
1957 | Jimmy Demaret (3) | 273 | −11 | Playoff |
Mike Souchak Ken Venturi |
2,000 | [12] [13] |
1956 | Jimmy Demaret (2) | 269 | −15 | 1 stroke | Cary Middlecoff | 2,000 | [16] |
1955 | Shelley Mayfield | 270 | −18 | Playoff |
Fred Haas Mike Souchak |
2,000 | [17] |
1954 | Fred Haas | 268 | −20 | 2 strokes |
Marty Furgol Chandler Harper Bo Wininger |
2,000 | [3] |
1953 | Jimmy Demaret | 201 | −15 | 2 strokes |
Ben Hogan Lloyd Mangrum Jim Turnesa |
1,500 | [10] [11] |
In 1953 it was over 54 holes, midweek. In 1955 Mayfield won with a birdie on second extra hole after 18-hole playoff. Mayfield and Souchak scored 69, Haas 70. In 1957 Demaret won after an 18-hole playoff, scoring 67, Souchak scored 75 and Venturi 76.