Douglas Michael Ford Sr. (born Douglas Michael Fortunato; August 6, 1922 – May 14, 2018) was an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

and two-time major golf champion. Ford turned professional in 1949, later going on to win the 1955 PGA Championship and the 1957 Masters Tournament. He was also a member of four

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

teams (1955, 1957, 1959, and 1961) and was inducted into the

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 g ...

in 2011.

Biography

Ford was born in

West Haven, Connecticut West Haven is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. It is located on the coast of Long Island Sound. At the 2020 census, the population of the city was 55,584. History Settled in 1648, West Haven (then known as West Farms) ...

on August 6, 1922. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he served in the Coast Guard Air Division. He turned professional in 1949 and won for the first time in 1952 at the Jacksonville Open. The win in Jacksonville was an unusual one. At the end of regulation play, Ford and Sam Snead were tied for the lead. An 18-hole playoff was scheduled for the next day but rather than play, Snead forfeited. The forfeit stemmed from a ruling Snead received during the tournament's second round of play. On the 10th hole, Snead's drive landed behind an out-of-bounds stake. While Chick Harbert, who was playing with Snead, thought the ball was out-of-bounds, a rules official ruled differently due to the starter not telling players the stakes had been moved since the previous day's play had ended. Afterwards, Snead explained why he forfeited even though Ford suggested they play sudden-death for the title. "I want to be fair about it. I don't want anyone to think I took advantage of the ruling." Ford's first major title was the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

in 1955, which was contested at

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

. He defeated Cary Middlecoff in the 36-hole final, 4 and 3. Ford was that season's PGA Player of the Year. In 1957, he holed out from a plugged lie in the bunker, on the final hole, to come from behind and beat Sam Snead by three strokes at the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first ma ...

. The last of his 19

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

wins came in 1963. Ford played in 49 Masters Tournaments, a record that stood until Arnold Palmer played in his 50th tournament three years later. His final Masters was in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

at age 78; he withdrew after an opening-hole

double-bogey In golf, par is the predetermined number of strokes that a proficient (scratch, or zero handicap) golfer should require to complete a hole, a round (the sum of the pars of the played holes), or a tournament (the sum of the pars of each round). ...

and was asked not to participate in future tournaments. Ford played on four

teams: 1955, 1957, 1959, and 1961. He was inducted into the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame in 1972. He was inducted into the

National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit institution honoring exceptional U.S. athletes of Italian descent. In 1977 George Randazzo created the Italian American Boxing Hall of Fame. This was as a means for ra ...

in 1992. Ford was inducted into the

in 2011. During the induction ceremony, Ford recalled that he showed enough promise as a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

player that he received a contract offer from the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...

. While he was considering the offer, his father asked how long he might expect to play baseball. When Doug said that he might expect to play professional baseball for about 10 years, his father responded, "Why don't you stay with the golf. You'll last forever." At the time of the ceremony, the 88-year-old Ford still regularly played casual golf. Ford died in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida on May 14, 2018 at the age of 95.

Professional wins (34)

PGA Tour wins (19)

PGA Tour playoff record (5–7)

Other wins (12)

*1956 Metropolitan Open *1957 Panama Open,

Metropolitan PGA Championship The Metropolitan PGA Championship is a golf tournament that is the section championship of the Metropolitan section of the PGA of America. It has been played annually since 1926 at a variety of courses around the New York City metropolitan area. It ...

, Westchester PGA Championship *1958

*1959 Eldorado Professional (tied with Sam Snead) *1960

*1961 Westchester Open, Westchester PGA Championship *1963 Westchester Open,

, Westchester PGA Championship

Other senior wins (3)

*1981 Merrill Lynch/Golf Digest Commemorative Pro-Am *1987

Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf The Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar is a golf tournament in Missouri on the PGA Tour Champions. Since 2014, it has been played at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale on the par-3 Top of the Rock course, designed by Jack Nicklaus and the 18 ...

- Legendary Division (with Jerry Barber) *1996

- Demaret Division (with Art Wall Jr.) Sources:

Playoff record

Senior PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

Major championships

Wins (2)

Results timeline

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place. Source:

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 31 (1951 U.S. Open – 1963 Masters) *Longest streak of top-10s – 4 (1955 U.S. Open – 1956 U.S. Open)

U.S. national team appearances

: 1955 (winners),

1957 1957 (Roman numerals, MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday, common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, t ...

, 1959 (winners), 1961 (winners) * Hopkins Trophy: 1952 (winners), 1953 (winners), 1956 (winners)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Doug American male golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Winners of men's major golf championships World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Golfers from Connecticut United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II Military personnel from Connecticut American sportspeople of Italian descent People from West Haven, Connecticut 1922 births 2018 deaths