1980
Tom Watson is the first golfer to earn $500,000 in prize money in a single season.
The PGA Senior TOUR is born, with four official events.
The U.S. Senior Open is instituted. Roberto De Vicenzo is the first winner.
Jack Nicklaus sets a record of 272 in the U.S. Open at Baltusrol. His mark is equalled in the 1993 U.S. Open by Lee Janzen, also at Baltusrol.
The USGA introduces the Symmetry Standard, banning balls such as the Polaris which correct themselves in flight.
Gary Wright completes 18 holes in a record 28 minutes 9 seconds at Twantin Noosa GC, Australia (6,039 yards).
1981
The Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass opens, with its controversial island green 17th hole, and immediately becomes the permanent host of the Tournament Players Championship. The TPC at Sawgrass becomes the prototype for a dozen “stadium” TPC courses around the United States, built specifically to host PGA TOUR co-sponsored events and affording better viewing for spectators.
The USGA institutes the Mid-Amateur.
Kathy Whitworth becomes the first woman to earn $1 million in career prize money.
1982
Kevin Murray double-eagles the 647-yard second hole at the Guam Navy GC, the longest double-eagle ever recorded.
1983
The PGA TOUR introduces the all-exempt Tour, with the top 125 players exempt from qualifying tournaments.
1984
Desert Highlands opens in Phoenix from a design by Jack Nicklaus utilizing only 80 irrigated acres for 18 holes, instead of the typical 100-150 for a major course. The success of Nicklaus’ concept of “target golf” ushers in the era of environmentally-sensitive desert design.
1985
Nancy Lopez sets the LPGA 72-hole record with 268 in the Henredon Classic.
The United States loses the Ryder Cup matches for the first time since 1957, to the expanded European team.
The USGA introduces the Slope System to allow golfers to adjust their handicaps to allow for the relative difficulty of a golf course compared to players of their own ability.
1986
Bob Tway sinks a miracle bunker shot to beat a stunned Greg Norman in the PGA Championship. Norman had held the lead on Sunday morning in each of the four major championships of 1986, but was able to win only in the British Open. Only Bobby Jones had previously held the Sunday morning lead in each Grand Slam event. Tway’s stroke inaugurated a celebrated series of miracle shots holed by various golfers to defeat Norman.
The Pete Dye-designed PGA West opens amid great controversy concerning the difficulty of the course.
The Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational offers the first $1 million purse.
The PGA TOUR Team Charity Competition debuts. By 1987, TOUR-related contributions to charity exceed $100,000,000, and by 1992 they reach a total of $200,000,000.
1987
The Links at Spanish Bay opens, the first true links course in the Western United States. It is a co-design by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., Tom Watson, and former USGA President Frank “Sandy” Tatum.
Judy Bell becomes the first woman elected to the USGA Executive Committee.
The Nabisco Championships (later the TOUR Championship) debuts as a season-ending event for the top 30 money winners. The first winner is Tom Watson, breaking a three year victory drought.
Walter Dietz, a blind golfer, aces the 155-yard seventh hole at Manakiki G.C., California.
1988
Links Magazine is founded (originally Southern Links), with Mark Brown as editor-in-chief.
Lori Garbacz orders a pizza between holes at the U.S. Women’s Open to protest slow play.
Square-grooved clubs such as the PING Eye2 irons are banned by the USGA, which claims that tests show the clubs give an unfair competitive advantage to PING customers. The PGA TOUR also bans the clubs in 1989. Karsten Manufacturing, maker of the clubs, fights a costly two-year battle with both the USGA and the PGA TOUR to have the ban rescinded after winning a temporary injunction. Eventually both organizations drop the ban, while Karsten acknowledges the right of the organizations to regulate equipment and pledges to make modifications to future designs.
Curtis Strange wins the season-ending Nabisco Championships at Pebble Beach, and his $360,000 paycheck lifts his official 1988 TOUR earnings to $1,147,644, and thus he becomes the first player to win over $1,000,000 in a single season.
1989
Four golfers, Doug Weaver, Mark Wiebe, Jerry Pate and Nick Price, hit aces on the par-three sixth hole on the same day in the U.S. Open at Oak Hill.
Nick Faldo sinks a 100-foot birdie putt on the second hole at Augusta National in the Masters, the longest putt holed to date in a major tournament. Faldo goes on to win the Masters.
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