1969 PGA Tour


The 1969 PGA Tour season was played from January 9 to December 7. The season consisted of 49 official money events. Billy Casper, Raymond Floyd, Dave Hill, and Jack Nicklaus won the most tournaments, three each, and there were 14 first-time winners. Frank Beard was the leading money winner with earnings of $164,707. Orville Moody was voted the PGA Player of the Year and Dave Hill won the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average.
This is generally regarded as the first season of an independent PGA Tour. The tour began to break off from the PGA of America in August 1968. The players formed a Tournament Players Division within the PGA of America, "a freestanding corporation run by a 10-member tournament policy board of four players, three PGA executives and three consulting businessmen."

Tournament results

The following table shows all the official money events for the 1969 season. "Date" is the ending date of the tournament. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event. Majors are shown in bold.
DateTournamentLocationWinnerScore1st prize Notes
Jan 12Los Angeles OpenCalifornia Charlie Sifford 276 20,000
Jan 12Alameda County OpenCalifornia Dick Lotz 290 10,000Alternate event
Jan 20Kaiser International Open InvitationalCalifornia Miller Barber 135 13,500
Jan 27Bing Crosby National Pro-AmCalifornia George Archer 283 25,000
Feb 2Andy Williams-San Diego Open InvitationalCalifornia Jack Nicklaus 284 30,000
Feb 9Bob Hope Desert ClassicCalifornia Billy Casper 345 20,000
Feb 16Phoenix Open InvitationalArizona Gene Littler 263 20,000
Feb 23Tucson Open InvitationalArizona Lee Trevino 271 20,000
Mar 2Doral Open InvitationalFlorida Tom Shaw 276 30,000
Mar 9Florida Citrus Open InvitationalFlorida Ken Still 278 23,000
Mar 18Monsanto Open InvitationalFlorida Jim Colbert 267 20,000
Mar 23Greater Jacksonville OpenFlorida Raymond Floyd 278 20,000
Mar 30National Airlines Open InvitationalFlorida Bunky Henry 278 40,000
Apr 6Greater Greensboro OpenNorth Carolina Gene Littler 274 32,000
Apr 13Masters TournamentGeorgia George Archer 281 20,000
Apr 14Magnolia State ClassicMississippi Larry Mowry272 5,000Satellite event
Apr 20Tournament of ChampionsCalifornia Gary Player 284 30,000
Apr 20Azalea Open InvitationalNorth Carolina Dale Douglass 275 5,000Alternate event
Apr 20Tallahassee Open InvitationalFlorida Chuck Courtney 282 5,000Alternate event
Apr 27Byron Nelson Golf ClassicTexas Bruce Devlin 277 20,000
May 4Greater New Orleans Open InvitationalLouisiana Larry Hinson 275 20,000
May 11Texas Open InvitationalTexas Deane Beman 274 20,000
May 18Colonial National InvitationTexas Gardner Dickinson 278 25,000
May 25Atlanta ClassicGeorgia Bert Yancey 277 23,000
Jun 1Memphis Open InvitationalTennessee Dave Hill 265 30,000
Jun 8Western OpenIllinois Billy Casper 276 26,000
Jun 15U.S. OpenTexas Orville Moody 281 30,000
Jun 22Kemper OpenNorth Carolina Dale Douglass 274 30,000
Jun 29Cleveland Open InvitationalOhio Charles Coody 271 22,000
Jul 6Buick Open InvitationalMichigan Dave Hill 277 25,000
Jul 12British OpenEngland Tony Jacklin 280 10,200
Jul 13Minnesota Golf ClassicMinnesota Frank Beard 269 20,000
Jul 20IVB-Philadelphia Golf ClassicPennsylvania Dave Hill 279 30,000
Jul 27American Golf ClassicOhio Raymond Floyd 268 25,000
Aug 3Westchester ClassicNew York Frank Beard 275 50,000
Aug 10Greater Milwaukee OpenWisconsin Ken Still 277 20,000
Aug 17PGA ChampionshipOhio Raymond Floyd 276 35,000
Aug 17Indian Ridge Hospital Open InvitationalMassachusetts Monty Kaser 274 7,400Alternate event
Aug 24AVCO Golf ClassicMassachusetts Tom Shaw 280 30,000
Sep 2Greater Hartford Open InvitationalConnecticut Bob Lunn 268 20,000
Sep 7Michigan Golf ClassicMichigan Larry Ziegler 272 20,000
Sep 28Alcan OpenOregon Billy Casper 274 55,000
Sep 28Robinson Open Golf ClassicIllinois Bob Goalby 273 15,000Alternate event
Oct 19Sahara InvitationalNevada Jack Nicklaus 272 20,000
Oct 26San Francisco Open InvitationalCalifornia Steve Spray 269 20,000
Nov 3Kaiser International Open InvitationalCalifornia Jack Nicklaus 273 28,000
Nov 9Hawaiian OpenHawaii Bruce Crampton 274 25,000
Nov 30Heritage Golf ClassicSouth Carolina Arnold Palmer 283 20,000
Dec 7Danny Thomas-Diplomat ClassicFlorida Arnold Palmer 270 25,000
Dec 7West End ClassicBahamas Jim Wiechers 274 5,000Satellite event

Source:

Money leaders

Source:

Awards