"PGA Champion" Don January Hand Signed 3X5 Card Todd Mueller COA

Description

Up for auction the
"PGA Champion" Don January Hand Signed 3X5 Card.
This item is certified authentic by Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-1915
Donald Ray January
(born November 20, 1929) is an American retired
professional golfer
, best known for winning the
1967 PGA Championship
. Born in
Plainview, Texas
, January graduated from
Sunset High School
in
Dallas
. He was a member of the
North Texas State
golf team that won four consecutive
NCAA Division I
titles from 1949 to 1952. While in college as a sophomore, as part of his scholarship, he helped teach a beginning golf class, where he met his future wife, Patricia "Pat" Rushing. They both graduated in 1953 and eloped to
Ardmore, Oklahoma
. They lived in
San Antonio
while Don was in the
Air Force
, and began their family — two boys and a girl.
January won 10
PGA Tour
titles, though never more than one in a year, with his most notable at the
1967 PGA Championship
, an 18-hole playoff victory over
Don Massengale
. January had lost the
1961 PGA Championship
in a playoff to
Jerry Barber
when his 68, the lowest losing score ever in an 18-hole playoff for a major championship, was bested by Barber's 67. He won the
Vardon Trophy
for lowest scoring average in 1976 at the age of 47. He was a member of the U.S.
Ryder Cup
team in both 1965 and 1977. January was responsible for a change to the
Rules of Golf
. During the 1963 Phoenix Open, January had a putt roll up to the lip of the hole and stop. January claimed that the ball was still moving, and waited for seven minutes for the ball to drop (it never did).
[2]
Rule 16-2 was revised in 1964 to state that players had to tap the ball in within ten seconds or be penalized.
In the period between his last PGA Tour win and the start of the Senior PGA Tour, January devoted most of his professional efforts to a
golf course design
business, JanMart Enterprises, that he had established with fellow Texan and PGA Tour golfer
Billy Martindale
. January is well known for his success on the Senior PGA Tour (now the
Champions Tour
),
[4]
winning 22 events including two
PGA Seniors' Championships
. He won the first official event on the Senior PGA Tour – the 1980
Atlantic City Senior International
.
The
Don January Golf Classic
is a golf tournament played annually in the
spring
that was established to honor him in 1990 by his alma mater, now known as the
University of North Texas
. In 1961, January appeared as himself on the March 6 episode of the game show to
To Tell the Truth
. He received two votes.