It was 53 years ago to the day that South African golfing champion, Gary Player, became the first foreign-born winner of the US Open since 1927.
Player won that tournament, held from June 17-21 1965 at the Bellerive Country Club in Missouri, making it the fourth of his nine major titles. The tournament was also the first US Open broadcast on colour television.
Player beat Australian Kel Nagle to take home the title.
"Gary Player bent over on the 18th green at Bellerive Country Club yesterday as if in prayer and stared into the cup as though it were a wishing well," The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch reported the day after Player's win.
"The American supremacy of the Scotch game of gold went overseas in the bag of a South African. It hadn't been out of this country since Britisher Ted Ray copped it in 1920."
On the 50 anniversary of Player's win, recalling Player's time at the Open in 1965, PGA Tour.com reported:
"Each day when he [Player] arrived at Bellerive to practice, he would stare at a board that listed past U.S. Open winners. At the top was Ken Venturi's name, in gold letters because Venturi was the most recent winner, having conquered the field and near dehydration at Congressional.
But Player wasn't focusing on Venturi's name or any of the others. He was imagining his own name on that board. Like golfers visualising shots during a round, Player was visualising success pre-round. He'd stare at the board and see his name. Gary Player. In gold letters."