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Dow Finsterwald

American professional golfer (1929–2022)

Summary

American professional golfer (1929–2022)

Field	Value
name	Dow Finsterwald
image	Dow Finsterwald 1960.jpg
caption	Finsterwald in 1960
fullname	Dow Henry Finsterwald
birth_date
birth_place	Athens, Ohio, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.
height
weight	160 lb
nationality
college	Ohio University
yearpro	1951
extour	PGA Tour
Senior PGA Tour
prowins	13
pgawins	12
otherwins	1
majorwins	1
masters	3rd: 1960, 1962
usopen	T3: 1960
open	DNP
pga	Won: 1958
wghofid
wghofyear
award1	Vardon Trophy
year1	1957
award2	PGA Player of the Year
year2	1958
awardssection
module	{{Infobox person	embed=yes
signature	Dow_Finsterwald_signature.jpg

Senior PGA Tour Dow Henry Finsterwald, Sr. (September 6, 1929 – November 4, 2022) was an American professional golfer. He won twelve PGA Tour titles between 1955 and 1963 including the 1958 PGA Championship. He also played on four Ryder Cup teams and served as non-playing captain for the 1977 U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Early life and amateur career

Finsterwald was born and raised in Athens, Ohio. He attended Ohio University in his hometown, where he played on the golf team and graduated in the Class of 1952. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity while at OU.

Professional career

Finsterwald turned professional in 1951 and won 11 times on the PGA Tour during his career. He finished fifth or better more than 50 times in his career. He played on four Ryder Cup Teams (1957, 1959, 1961, 1963) and was the non-playing captain of the 1977 team. He won the Vardon Trophy in 1957, which is awarded to the tour professional with the lowest scoring average. In 1958, he was honored as PGA Player of the Year. Finsterwald finished in the money in 72 consecutive tournaments – second only to Byron Nelson's 113 consecutive cuts. This record stood for many years until eclipsed by Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin and Tiger Woods; however, he is still fifth on the list as of 2019.

The 1958 PGA Championship was held at Llanerch Country Club in Havertown, Pennsylvania. This was the first PGA Championship held after the format was switched from match play to stroke play. Finsterwald finished the tournament with a two-stroke victory over Billy Casper. Four years later, Finsterwald and Gary Player lost the 1962 Masters in a playoff to Arnold Palmer.

Finsterwald was once involved in litigation in which a plaintiff claimed she lost the sight in her right eye as a result of an errant tee shot he hit at the 18th hole at the 1973 Western Open. A jury found Finsterwald not liable; however, Midlothian (Illinois) Country Club's insurers had to pay the woman about $450,000.

Finsterwald served as director of golf at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado for 28 years. He simultaneously served as PGA of America vice-president from 1976–1978; and on the USGA Rules of Golf committee from 1979-1981. He was also the Pro Emeritus of the Pikewood National Golf Club, based in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Personal life

Finsterwald lived in Orlando, Florida during the winter and Colorado Springs during the summer.

Awards and honors

In 1969, he was inducted into the Ohio University Athletics Hall of Fame.
At the 2007 Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, Finsterwald was honored by fellow Ohio native Jack Nicklaus.
In 2008, he was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

Professional wins (13)

PGA Tour wins (12)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (10)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of
victory	Runner(s)-up
1	May 29, 1955	Fort Wayne Invitational	−19 (65-66-71-67=269)	3 strokes	USA Doug Ford
2	Jul 3, 1955	British Columbia Open	−18 (67-68-65-70270)	1 stroke	USA Bud Holscher
3	May 13, 1956	Carling Open Invitational	−14 (65-71-69-69=274)	3 strokes	USA Jack Burke Jr., USA Billy Casper,
USA Billy Maxwell
4	Feb 11, 1957	Tucson Open Invitational	−11 (68-67-66-68=269)	Playoff	USA Don Whitt
5	Jul 20, 1958	PGA Championship	−4 (67-72-70-67=276)	2 strokes	USA Billy Casper
6	Sep 8, 1958	Utah Open	−17 (69-65-67-66=267)	1 stroke	USA Fred Hawkins, USA Arnold Palmer
7	Apr 12, 1959	Greater Greensboro Open	−6 (68-68-65-77=278)	2 strokes	USA Art Wall Jr.
8	Aug 9, 1959	Carling Open Invitational (2)	−8 (74-68-66-68=276)	1 stroke	USA Gene Littler, USA Mike Souchak
9	Sep 7, 1959	Kansas City Open Invitational	−13 (68-69-69-69=275)	Playoff	USA Don Fairfield
10	Jan 11, 1960	Los Angeles Open	−4 (70-68-71-71=280)	3 strokes	USA Bill Collins, USA Jay Hebert,
USA Dave Ragan
11	Apr 24, 1960	Greater New Orleans Open Invitational	−18 (69-66-66-69=270)	6 strokes	USA Al Besselink
12	Jun 3, 1963	500 Festival Open Invitation	−16 (68-68-64-68=268)	2 strokes	USA Tommy Aaron, USA Julius Boros,
USA Tony Lema, USA Bobby Nichols

PGA Tour playoff record (2–4)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1956	Canadian Open	USA Doug Sanders	Lost to par on first extra hole
2	1957	Tucson Open Invitational	USA Don Whitt	Won 18-hole playoff;
Finsterwald: −5 (65),
Whitt: −1 (69)
3	1958	Rubber City Open Invitational	USA Art Wall Jr.	Lost to birdie on second extra hole
4	1959	Buick Open Invitational	USA Art Wall Jr.	Lost 18-hole playoff;
Wall: −1 (71),
Finsterwald: +1 (73)
5	1959	Kansas City Open Invitational	USA Don Fairfield	Won with birdie on first extra hole
6	1962	Masters Tournament	USA Arnold Palmer, ZAF Gary Player	Palmer won 18-hole playoff;
Palmer: −4 (68),
Player: −1 (71),
Finsterwald: +5 (77)

Source:

Other wins (1)

This list may be incomplete

1954 Carolinas Open

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1958	PGA Championship	2 shot deficit	−4 (67-72-70-67=276)	2 strokes	USA Billy Casper

Results timeline

Tournament	1950	1951	1952	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
Masters Tournament		T50	T46		T24	T7	T17	T18
U.S. Open	CUT		CUT	T28		T13		T11
PGA Championship						2	1	4

Tournament	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Masters Tournament	3	CUT	3	T5	T9	T21	T57	CUT
U.S. Open	T3	T6		T12	8	CUT			CUT	T65
PGA Championship	T15	T41	T11	T3	CUT	T63	T12	T60	T48	T76

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1977	1978	1979
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open	CUT			CUT
PGA Championship	CUT	CUT	T58	CUT	CUT	T70	70	CUT	CUT

Tournament	1980	1984
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open	CUT
PGA Championship	CUT	CUT

Note: Finsterwald never played in The Open Championship.

CUT = missed the halfway cut

"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	2	3	5	9	14	12
U.S. Open	0	0	1	1	3	6	15	8
The Open Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
PGA Championship	1	1	1	4	4	7	24	15

Most consecutive cuts made – 13 (1955 U.S. Open – 1960 PGA)
Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (twice)

U.S. national team appearances

Professional

Ryder Cup: 1957, 1959 (winners), 1961 (winners), 1963 (winners), 1977 (non-playing captain, winners)

References

Ferguson, Doug. (November 5, 2022). "Dow Finsterwald, 1958 PGA champion, dies at age 93". Golf Channel.
(November 5, 2022). "Dow Finsterwald, 11-time PGA Tour winner, dies at age 93". PGA Tour.
Baines, Gary. (February 28, 2008). "Dow Getting His Due". Colorado Golf Journal.
"Year by Year History of the PGA Championship – 1958: Bolt was an angel, Dow was a terror". PGA of America.
Clifford, Robert A.. (May 1, 1996). "Getting Teed off Over Golf Balls".
"Ohio University Athletics Hall of Fame site".
"Dow Finsterwald". PGA Tour.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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