The Waco Turner Open was a PGA Tour event that was played in Burneyville, Oklahoma in the early 1960s.

Waco Turner Open
Tournament information
LocationBurneyville, Oklahoma
Established1961
Course(s)Turner's Lodge
Par72
Tour(s)PGA Tour
FormatStroke play
Prize fundUS$20,000
Month playedApril/May
Final year1964
Tournament record score
Aggregate276 Johnny Pott (1962)
To par−16 as above
Final champion
United States Pete Brown
Location map
Turner's Lodge is located in the United States
Turner's Lodge
Turner's Lodge
Location in the United States
Turner's Lodge is located in Oklahoma
Turner's Lodge
Turner's Lodge
Location in Oklahoma

The founder of the tournament, Waco Turner, was a millionaire Oklahoma oilman with a passion for golf. He started Turner's Lodge, a golf resort on what he hoped would flourish into a 2,700-acre (11 km2) grand development of 3,000 homes with a hotel, restaurants, tennis courts, swimming pools and an airstrip built around three lakes. The project ran into financial difficulties and the PGA left after the 1964 event.[1]

The greatest claim to fame for the tournament is that in 1964 an African American golfer, Pete Brown, won an official PGA Tour event for the first time at this event.[1][2][3]

The development, now called Falconhead Resort, has changed hands repeatedly in the ensuing decades, and only about 400 homes have been built on the 3,000 home sites.[1]

Winners

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Year Winner Score To par Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1964   Pete Brown 280 −8 1 stroke   Dan Sikes
1963   Gay Brewer 280 −12 1 stroke   Ted Ball
1962   Johnny Pott 276 −16 6 strokes   Mason Rudolph
1961   Butch Baird 281 −7 1 stroke   Rex Baxter

References

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  1. ^ a b c Streuli, Ted (April 12, 2006). "500 OK-based Falconhead Resort lots go on auction block". The Oklahoma City Journal Record. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
  2. ^ "The Year in Golf, 1964". Retrieved November 21, 2007.
  3. ^ "Pete Brown the Facts!". Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved November 21, 2007.