#9: First PGA TOUR Win
Arnold Palmer’s first professional victory came at the 1955 Canadian Open.
Playing at Weston Golf & Country Club in Toronto, he shot a career-best opening round 64 and his lowest total score of 265 to win a tournament in his career, earning $2,400 and the love of the crowd. Standing at the microphone after the first of his 62 PGA Tour wins, Palmer first thanked the greenskeeper, then the people in the clubhouse, and then the fans: “I don’t think that I could have had any more rooters than if I’d been playing in my hometown,” he said. He ended by embracing his new bride, Winnie, whom he’d married just months before. The couple had driven to the tournament towing a travel trailer, and camped behind the superintendent's shed. At the time neither could have imagined they'd go on to stay in some of the world's finest hotels and to dine with Presidents and royalty, miles from an incredible first win.