Dow Finsterwald, a long-time PGA TOUR professional who won the 1958 PGA Championship and captained the winning 1977 U.S. Ryder Cup team, died November 4. He was 93.
As a young man growing up in Athens, Ohio, born in 1929, Finsterwald played numerous sports but gravitated toward golf even though his father, Russ, was the head basketball and football coach at Ohio University. The younger Finsterwald joined his father as a Bobcat but as a member of the golf team. It was at Ohio University where Finsterwald realized he could make a living playing golf.
“Dow was destined to a career in sports because of his father’s influence, and golf was fortunate to have him as a player, teacher and administrator,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “His contributions to our sport were significant, and we take time today to remember Dow and all of his accomplishments in a well-lived life.”
Finsterwald joined the PGA TOUR in 1952 after playing in eight TOUR tournaments in 1950 and 1951 as an amateur. Finsterwald made his TOUR debut while still an amateur, at the 1950 North and South Open at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, where he tied for 33rd. He played on TOUR as a professional for the first time at the National Celebrities Open, tying for 35th. Finsterwald’s first of 12 PGA TOUR victories came at the 1955 Fort Wayne Invitational. Six weeks later, he won again – at the British Columbia Open in Canada. He enjoyed 10 top-10s in his 28 made cuts that season and finished 14th on the money list. Those 1955 victories began a streak of six years where he won at least one tournament. Finsterwald’s top season came in 1959. That year, he won three times – the Greater Greensboro Open, the Carling Open and the Kansas City Open – and finished second five additional times.
A year earlier, Finsterwald earned his only major championship, winning the PGA Championship at Pennsylvania’s Llanerch Country Club. In the first year the PGA of America contested the tournament at stroke play, Finsterwald shot rounds of 67-72-70-67 to defeat Billy Casper by two strokes. He added the Utah Open title to his resume later in the season and went on to earn PGA Player of the Year honors, a year after capturing his only Vardon Trophy for the lowest stroke average on TOUR.
Of his 28 second-place TOUR finishes, the most excruciating was his playoff loss – with Gary Player – to Arnold Palmer at the Masters Tournament. The trio finished regulation at Augusta National tied at 8-under 280, with Palmer eventually rolling to a three-shot playoff victory over Player and a nine-stroke win over Finsterwald in the 18-hole extra session. Taking away some of the sting from that loss was the fact Palmer was Finsterwald’s closest friend on TOUR. Theirs was a friendship that endured until Palmer’s death in 2016.
While playing the TOUR, Finsterwald also was the Director of Golf at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., a position he held for 28 years. He also served a three-year term as Vice President of the PGA of America. As his PGA TOUR career wound down, he enjoyed a career highlight, captaining the U.S. Ryder Cup team against the Great Britain and Ireland team led by Captain Brian Huggett at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club. Led by Ryder Cup veterans Jack Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd and rookie team members Tom Watson and Lanny Wadkins, the Americans coasted to a five-point triumph.
After his PGA TOUR playing career, Finsterwald enjoyed a busy PGA TOUR Champions schedule, seeing action in 189 career tournaments, including two in the Tour’s inaugural season of 1980. His best performance came in 1982, when he finished second to Don January at the Michelob Senior Classic in Tampa, Florida.
Four years after his father’s induction into the Ohio University Athletics Hall of Fame, Finsterwald followed him for his golf exploits. In 2008, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame also inducted him.
Finsterwald is survived by three sons and a daughter. His wife, Linda, predeceased him in 2015. The couple’s middle son, Dow Finsterwald, Jr., was the long-time head pro at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, before retiring in 2021.
