Don January was a pro golfer who won the 1967 PGA Championship.
- Died: May 7, 2023 (Who else died on May 7?)
- Details of death: Died at his home in Dallas at the age of 93.
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Don January’s legacy
January played golf at North Texas State College (now the University of North Texas), winning three NCAA championships with the team. He went on to serve in the U.S. Air Force, then returned home to begin his professional golfing career in 1955. His most notable year came in 1967 when he won the PGA Championship at Colorado’s Columbine Country Club. January had several other notable successes, including playing on the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 1965 and 1977. He won a total of 10 PGA Tour events, and in 1976, he won the Vardon Trophy as the player with the lowest scoring average on the Tour.
At the 1963 Phoenix Open, January had a memorable moment in golf history. One of his putts rolled to the lip of the hole and stopped. Insisting that the ball was still moving, January waited seven minutes for it to drop into the hole. It remained on the green. The following year, PGA officials amended a rule to state that in such cases, the golfer must hit the ball within 10 seconds.
January was among the pros who dreamed up the Senior PGA Tour, now known as PGA Tour Champions, in the late 1970s. He won the first Senior PGA Tour event, and he went on to win two PGA Seniors’ Championships, as well as a number of other events on the Tour. In his honor, the Don January Golf Classic was founded to fund scholarships at his alma mater. January was a member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
Tributes to Don January
Full obituary: The New York Times
