The Most Influential Figures in Bay Area Golf
Between 1959 and 1969, players raised on Bay Area golf won every leg of the professional Grand Slam — the PGA, the U.S. Open, the Open Championship and the Masters. No other American city's muni culture can make that claim. These are the figures who built San Francisco's golf history, from the caddie yards to the broadcast booth.
Ken Venturi (1931–2013)
Learned the game at Harding Park, where his father ran the pro shop; won three City championships and the 1964 U.S. Open in brutal heat at Congressional; then spent 35 years as the voice of CBS golf. Read his story.
Sandy Tatum (1920–2017)
NCAA champion at Stanford, Rhodes Scholar, USGA president — and the man who saved Harding Park from life as a parking lot. Read his story.
Johnny Miller (b. 1947)
San Francisco born and raised; caddied at the San Francisco Golf Club at 12, finished eighth in the U.S. Open at Olympic as a 19-year-old amateur, shot 63 at Oakmont to win the 1973 U.S. Open, then spent 29 years calling golf for NBC. Read his story.
Harvie Ward (1925–2004)
The two-time U.S. Amateur champion who made San Francisco his adopted home — and lost the most famous City final ever played. Read his story.
Jack Fleming
Alister MacKenzie's Irish construction foreman became the caretaker of San Francisco's public golf for decades, and its munis still bear his hand. Read his story.
Tony Lema (1934–1966)
From the Lake Chabot caddie yard in Oakland to Champagne at St Andrews — a career cut short at 32. Read his story.
Bob Rosburg (1926–2009)
Beat Ty Cobb at the Olympic Club at age 12, won the 1959 PGA Championship, then invented the on-course TV reporter at ABC. Read his story.
George Archer (1939–2005)
A San Francisco-born caddie who won his first Tour title at Harding Park and the 1969 Masters — while hiding a secret his whole career. Read his story.
Juli Inkster (b. 1960)
Grew up on Pasatiempo's 14th fairway, won three straight U.S. Women's Amateurs, and built a Hall of Fame career with seven majors. Read her story.
Art Spander (b. 1938)
The Bay Area's golf chronicler since 1965 — the only writer to win the Golf Writers Association's top award in five different decades. Read his story.
