Motor City Open
The Motor City Open was a PGA Tour event played at various clubs in and around Detroit for just under two decades. The PGA Tour record for the longest sudden-death playoff was established at the 1949 Motor City Open. Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum played 11 holes at Meadowbrook Country Club in Northville, Michigan and were still stalemated when darkness arrived. Tournament officials, with their mutual consent, declared them co-winners.[1][2]
In 1955, the Motor City Open was originally to be played at Meadowbrook Country Club. This was abandoned however, when Meadowbrook CC professional, Chick Harbert, won the PGA Championship in 1954. Meadowbrook petitioned for and won the opportunity to host the 1955 PGA Championship. Due to this development, the Motor City Open was not held in 1955. This is the only time that a defending champion of a major championship has hosted the tournament the following year.
A new successor tournament is expected in 2019 at Detroit Golf Club in the city, to be sponsored by Quicken Loans, replacing The National in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Tournament hosts
- 1948, 1949, 1954, 1959 Meadowbrook Country Club (Northville, Michigan)
- 1950, 1952 Red Run Golf Club (Royal Oak, Michigan)
- 1956 Western Golf and Country Club (Redford, Michigan)
- 1962 Knollwood Country Club (West Bloomfield, Michigan)
Winners
this list is possibly incomplete before 1948
- 1962 Bruce Crampton
- 1960-61 No tournament
- 1959 Mike Souchak
- 1957-58 No tournament
- 1956 Bob Rosburg
- 1955 No tournament
- 1954 Cary Middlecoff
- 1953 No tournament
- 1952 Cary Middlecoff
- 1951 No tournament
- 1950 Lloyd Mangrum
- 1949 Cary Middlecoff, Lloyd Mangrum (co-winners)
- 1948 Ben Hogan
References
- "World Golf Hall of Fame Cary Middlecoff bio". Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- "Longest Sudden-Death Playoffs". Retrieved 2007-11-05.