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Michael Souchak (May 10, 1927 – July 10, 2008) was an American professionalgolfer. He won fifteen events on thePGA Tour in the 1950s and 1960s and represented the United States for theRyder Cup in1959 and1961.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Early life

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Born and raised inBerwick, Pennsylvania,^[1] Souchak served two years as a gunner in theU.S. Navy.^[4] He then attendedDuke University inDurham, North Carolina, and played bothgolf andfootball for theBlue Devils, as anend andplacekicker.^[2]

Professional career

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In his first win at the 1955Texas Open, Souchak set and tied several records. In the first round, he tied the tour's 18-hole record with a 60. This record was finally broken in 1977 byAl Geiberger's 59. This first round also included a record-breaking 27 on the back nine holes. This record was not broken until 2006 byCorey Pavin. He then finished with a 72-hole record of 257 (27-under-par).^[5]^[6] This aggregate total record also stood until the 21st century untilMark Calcavecchia shot 256 at the 2001Phoenix Open.^[7]

Souchak's fifteen PGA Tour wins came between 1955 and 1964, with his best year in 1956 (four victories). He won three tour titles in 1959, and was on an early cover ofSports Illustrated in January 1956, for its preview of theBing Crosby Pro-Am.^[8]

Souchak had eleven top-10 finishes atmajor championships, including third-place finishes at theU.S. Open in1959 and1960.^[9] Souchak led after 36 holes in 1960 with a new record score of 135, which was 7-under-par. But he struggled on the final hole of the third round (which was played on the same day as the fourth round,) making a triple bogey, and couldn't regain his composure.Arnold Palmer, who had been seven strokes behind entering the final round, shot 65 to win the championship.

In 1970, Souchak moved from North Carolina toFlorida and became the first head pro at theInnisbrook Resort and Golf Club inPalm Harbor, Florida, and resided inBelleair.

Souchak played on theSenior PGA Tour from its inception in 1980 until 1990. His best finish was second place in his very first tournament, theAtlantic City Senior International in 1980.

Personal life

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Souchak was married to Nancy. He had four children: sons Mike, Frank, and Chris Souchak and daughter Patti Taylor, as well as five grandchildren. He ran Golf Car Systems, a preventive maintenance firm,^[4] with his business partner Bill Dodd until his death from complications of aheart attack in 2008.

Awards and honors

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Souchak was inducted into the Duke Sports Hall of Fame in 1976.^[10]

Professional wins (19)

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PGA Tour wins (15)

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No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Feb 20, 1955	Texas Open	60-68-64-65=257	−27	7 strokes	Fred Haas
2	Feb 27, 1955	Houston Open	70-71-67-65=273	−15	2 strokes	Jerry Barber
3	Jan 22, 1956	Agua Caliente Open	65-71-74-71=281	−7	2 strokes	Tommy Bolt
4	Apr 1, 1956	Azalea Open Invitational	70-70-65-68=273	−15	1 stroke	Dick Mayer
5	May 6, 1956	Colonial National Invitation	74-72-65-69=280	E	1 stroke	Tommy Bolt
6	Aug 26, 1956	St. Paul Open	70-69-70-62=271	−17	1 stroke	Sam Snead
7	Aug 17,1958	St. Paul Open Invitational (2)	66-64-68-65=263	−25	4 strokes	Julius Boros,Sam Snead
8	Apr 26,1959	Tournament of Champions	66-70-68-77=281	−7	2 strokes	Art Wall Jr.
9	Jul 12, 1959	Western Open	67-67-73-65=272	−8	1 stroke	Arnold Palmer
10	Aug 16, 1959	Motor City Open	69-63-67-69=268	−16	9 strokes	Billy Casper,Doug Ford
11	Jan 31,1960	San Diego Open Invitational	67-68-67-67=269	−19	1 stroke	Johnny Pott
12	Jul 4, 1960	Buick Open Invitational	71-68-74-69=282	−6	1 stroke	Gay Brewer,Art Wall Jr.
13	Apr 16,1961	Greater Greensboro Open	70-68-69-69=276	−8	7 strokes	Sam Snead
14	Apr 19,1964	Houston Classic (2)	71-69-68-70=278	−6	1 stroke	Jack Nicklaus
15	May 24, 1964	Memphis Open Invitational	69-65-67-69=270	−10	1 stroke	Billy Casper,Tommy Jacobs

PGA Tour playoff record (0–3)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1955	Thunderbird Invitational	Fred Haas,Shelley Mayfield	Mayfield won with birdie on second extra hole after 18-hole playoff; Mayfield: −3 (69), Souchak: −3 (69), Haas: −2 (70)
2	1957	Thunderbird Invitational	Jimmy Demaret,Ken Venturi	Demaret won 18-hole playoff; Demaret: −4 (67), Souchak: + 4 (75), Venturi: +5 (76)
3	1963	Hot Springs Open Invitational	Dave Hill	Lost to par on second extra hole

Other wins (4)

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This list is probably incomplete

Results in major championships

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Tournament	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
Masters Tournament			T4	T17	CUT	T14	T25
U.S. Open	CUT	CUT	T10	T29	CUT	CUT	T3
The Open Championship				T8
PGA Championship					R16	T8	T5

Tournament	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Masters Tournament	T16	T28	T5	T11	T9	T35	T33
U.S. Open	T3	T4	T14	T32		CUT	CUT			T42
The Open Championship
PGA Championship	T12	T45	T39	T23	T13	T15	CUT	T20	CUT	T59

Tournament	1971	1972	1976
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open	CUT		CUT
The Open Championship			CUT
PGA Championship		T29

Top 10

Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play

Summary

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Tournament	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	2	3	8	12	11
U.S. Open	2	3	4	5	16	8
The Open Championship	0	0	1	1	2	1
PGA Championship	0	1	3	8	14	12
Totals	2	6	11	22	44	32

Most consecutive cuts made – 19 (1958 PGA – 1965 Masters)
Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)

U.S. national team appearances

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Ryder Cup:1959 (winners),1961 (winners)
Hopkins Trophy: 1956 (winners)

References

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^^a ^bGrimsley, Will (June 18, 1976)."Realist Mike Souchak doesn't miss big time".Schenectady Gazette. (New York)). Associated Press. p. 31.
^^a ^bGoldstein, Richard (July 13, 2008)."Mike Souchak dies at 81".The Day. (New London, Connecticut).(New York Times). p. C6.
^Fields, Bill (July 10, 2008)."Mike Souchak, 1927–2008".Golf Digest. RetrievedAugust 9, 2016.
^^a ^bO'Keefe, John (September 23, 2002)."Mike Souchak, golfer".Sports Illustrated. p. 10.
^"Souchak's 257 cops Texas Open".St. Petersburg Times. (Florida). Associated Press. February 21, 1955. p. 18.
^"Mike Souchak registers record-shattering 257 to win Texas Open by 7 strokes".Youngstown Vindicator. (Ohio). Associated Press. February 21, 1955. p. 13.
^"Calcavecchia sets record in victory".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 29, 2001. p. D6.
^"The Crosby tournament".Sports Illustrated. January 16, 1956. p. 12.
^"Longtime PGA Tour scoring record-holder Souchak dies at 81". PGA Tour. July 10, 2008. RetrievedDecember 10, 2013.
^"Duke Sports Hall of Fame". RetrievedDecember 10, 2013.
^"Souchak wins Havana Invitational tourney".The Pantagraph. Bloomington, Illinois. December 5, 1955. p. 11. RetrievedMarch 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

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Mike Souchak at thePGA Tour official site
Duke University Athletics – Mike Souchak
Mike Souchak atFind a Grave

Mike Souchak in theRyder Cup

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