The Motor City Open was a PGA Tour event played at various clubs in and around Detroit for just under two decades. The PGA Tour record for the longest sudden-death playoff was established at the 1949 Motor City Open. Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum played 11 holes at Meadowbrook Country Club in Northville, Michigan and were still stalemated when darkness arrived. Tournament officials, with their mutual consent, declared them co-winners.[1][2]
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Detroit, Michigan |
| Established | 1948 |
| Course(s) | Knollwood Country Club |
| Par | 71 |
| Tour(s) | PGA Tour |
| Format | Stroke play |
| Prize fund | US$35,000 |
| Month played | July |
| Final year | 1962 |
| Tournament record score | |
| Aggregate | 267 Bruce Crampton (1962) |
| To par | −17 as above |
| Final champion | |
 Bruce Crampton | |
| Location map | |
  Knollwood CC Location in the United States  Knollwood CC Location in Michigan | |
In 1955, the Motor City Open was originally to be played at Meadowbrook Country Club. This was abandoned however, when Meadowbrook CC professional, Chick Harbert, won the PGA Championship in 1954. Meadowbrook petitioned for and won the opportunity to host the 1955 PGA Championship. Due to this development, the Motor City Open was not held in 1955. This is the only time that a defending champion of a major championship has hosted the tournament the following year.
In 2019 the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club in the city of Detroit replaced The National in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Tournament hosts edit
- 1948, 1949, 1954, 1959 Meadowbrook Country Club (Northville, Michigan)
- 1950, 1952 Red Run Golf Club (Royal Oak, Michigan)
- 1956 Western Golf and Country Club (Redford, Michigan)
- 1962 Knollwood Country Club (West Bloomfield, Michigan)
Winners edit
| Year | Winner | Score | To par | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Bruce Crampton |
267 | −17 | 3 strokes |  Dave Hill Don Massengale
|
| 1960–61: No tournament | |||||
| 1959 | Mike Souchak |
268 | −16 | 9 strokes | Billy Casper Doug Ford
|
| 1957–58: No tournament | |||||
| 1956 | Bob Rosburg |
284 | −4 | Playoff | Ed Furgol
|
| 1955: No tournament | |||||
| 1954 | Cary Middlecoff (3) |
278 | −6 | 2 strokes | Tommy Bolt Marty Furgol Gene Littler
|
| 1953: No tournament | |||||
| 1952 | Cary Middlecoff (2) |
274 | −14 | Playoff | Ted Kroll
|
| 1951: No tournament | |||||
| 1950 | Lloyd Mangrum (2) |
274 | −14 | 1 stroke | Sam Snead
|
| 1949 | Lloyd Mangrum Cary Middlecoff |
273 | −11 | Title shared[a] | |
| 1948 | Ben Hogan |
275 | −9 | Playoff | Dutch Harrison
|
Notes edit
- ^ Title shared when darkness ended play with Mangrum and Middlecoff still tied after eleven holes of a sudden-death playoff.
References edit
- ^ "World Golf Hall of Fame Cary Middlecoff bio". Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- ^ "Longest Sudden-Death Playoffs". Retrieved 2007-11-05.
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