Biography

Ford was born in West Haven, Connecticut on August 6, 1922. 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 was the 1955 PGA Championship. The tournament was still match play at that time, and Ford defeated Cary Middlecoff (4&3) in the final. 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. He is the oldest surviving winner of the Masters. The last of his 19 PGA Tour wins came in 1963.

Ford played on four Ryder Cup 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 in 1992. Ford was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2010 and was inducted in May 2011.

During the induction ceremony, Ford recalled that he showed enough promise as a baseball player that he received a contract offer from the New York Yankees. 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.

Professional wins (33)

PGA Tour wins (19)

• 1952 (1) Jacksonville Open
• 1953 (3) Virginia Beach Open, Labatt Open, Miami Open
• 1954 (2) Greater Greensboro Open, Fort Wayne Open
• 1955 (3) All American Open, Carling Golf Classic, PGA Championship
• 1957 (3) Los Angeles Open, Masters Tournament, Western Open
• 1958 (1) Pensacola Open Invitational
• 1959 (1) Canadian Open
• 1960 (1) 500 Festival Open Invitation
• 1961 (1) 500 Festival Open Invitation
• 1962 (2) Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, Eastern Open Invitational
• 1963 (1) Canadian Open

Other wins (11)

• 1956 Metropolitan Open
• 1957 Panama Open, Metropolitan PGA Championship, Westchester PGA Championship
• 1958 Metropolitan PGA Championship
• 1960 Metropolitan PGA Championship
• 1961 Westchester Open, Westchester PGA Championship
• 1963 Westchester Open, Metropolitan PGA Championship, Westchester PGA Championship

Other senior wins (3)

• 1981 Merrill Lynch/Golf Digest Commemorative Pro-Am
• 1987 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Legendary Division (with Jerry Barber)
• 1996 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Demaret Division (with Art Wall)

Major championships

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1955	PGA Championship	n/a	4 & 3		Cary Middlecoff
1957	Masters Tournament	3 shot deficit	−5 (72-73-72-66=283)	3 strokes	Sam Snead

Results timeline

Tournament	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	DNP	T21	T21	T33	DNP	T6	1	T2	T25
U.S. Open	CUT	CUT	41	T19	T21	T35	T7	T9	T17	34	T5
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	1	R32	R16	T11	T11

Tournament	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Masters Tournament	T25	T32	T44	T11	T46	T31	T17	T31	T48	CUT
U.S. Open	T33	T6	T8	CUT	CUT	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T24	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	T7	T5	5	T27	CUT	T20	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
Masters Tournament	CUT	T46	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	WD
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	CUT	CUT	T56	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament	CUT	CUT	CUT	WD	CUT	WD	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	CUT	WD	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament	CUT	WD	CUT	CUT	WD	WD	CUT	CUT	WD	WD
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	2000	2001
Masters Tournament	WD	WD
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP

DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	1	1	0	2	3	9	49	17
U.S. Open	0	0	0	1	5	8	19	12
The Open Championship	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1
PGA Championship	1	0	0	3	5	9	26	11
Totals	2	1	0	6	13	27	95	41

• 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)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]