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Thunderbird Invitational

Former PGA Tour eventsGolf in California

The Thunderbird Invitational was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played from 1952 to 1959 in Rancho Mirage, California. Held in late January at Thunderbird Country Club, the tournament's purse was a modest $15,000; it was the direct predecessor of the Desert Classic, which began in 1960. Thunderbird hosted the Ryder Cup in 1955.Arnold Palmer, 29, was the event's final champion in 1959; he won the next year at the first edition of the "Palm Springs Desert Classic," which had a $100,000 purse and a winner's share of 12,000, his largest tour check to date.Ken Venturi, 26, won the 1958 event and was awarded a $1,500 check and a $4,500 automobile. He backed it up with another win the following week at Phoenix.Jimmy Demaret won the event three times; his first was a 54-hole midweek event in 1953, and the last was an 18-hole playoff on Monday in 1957 for consecutive titles.The 1952 event was a 36 hole pro-am, played midweek. Dutch Harrison won the best-ball while Jim Ferrier and Cary Middlecoff had the best professional scores.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Thunderbird Invitational (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Thunderbird Invitational
Country Club Drive,

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Wikipedia: Thunderbird InvitationalContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

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N 33.756 ° E -116.43 °
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Address

Thunderbird Country Club

Country Club Drive 70-737
92270
California, United States
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Phone number

call(760)3282161

Website
thunderbirdcc.org

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