Waco Turner Open
Golf tournament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Waco Turner Open was a PGA Tour event that was played in Burneyville, Oklahoma in the early 1960s.
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Burneyville, Oklahoma |
| Established | 1961 |
| Course | Turner's Lodge |
| Par | 72 |
| Tour | PGA Tour |
| Format | Stroke play |
| Prize fund | US$20,000 |
| Month played | April/May |
| Final year | 1964 |
| Tournament record score | |
| Aggregate | 276 Johnny Pott (1962) |
| To par | −16 as above |
| Final champion | |
 Pete Brown | |
| Location map | |
  Turner's Lodge Location in the United States  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
| 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 |