Lou Graham
Personal information
Full name	Louis Krebs Graham
Born	(1938-01-07)January 7, 1938 Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	May 11, 2026(2026-05-11) (aged 88)
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st)
Sporting nationality	United States
Career
College	Memphis State University
Turned professional	1964
Former tours	PGA Tour Senior PGA Tour
Professional wins	7
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	6
Other	1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	T6: 1977
PGA Championship	T6: 1977
U.S. Open	Won: 1975
The Open Championship	T47: 1975
Signature

Louis Krebs Graham (January 7, 1938 – May 11, 2026) was an American professional golfer. He won six PGA Tour tournaments including the 1975 U.S. Open.^[1]

Early life

In 1938, Graham was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He started playing golf when he was seven years old. He attended Nashville's Father Ryan High School.

Graham attended Memphis State University. He played on the golf team for three years.

Later, Graham was drafted into the U.S. Army. While in the Army, Graham served as a member of the Old Guard—Company E of the Third U.S. Infantry Regiment—the ceremonial Honor Guard that guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. During his Army career, he made the Army golf team that won the Inter-Service championship in 1961.

Professional career

In September 1964, Graham joined the PGA Tour. His first win was at the 1967 Minnesota Golf Classic at Hazeltine National Golf Club during his third full year on the tour. In 1972, Graham won again at the Liggett Myers Open, followed by the U.S. Open in 1975. Graham had only three wins in fifteen years, and then in 1979, he won three more times in the space of eleven weeks. For this achievement, he won Golf Digest's 1979 Comeback of the Year award.^[2]

Graham played on three Ryder Cup teams (1973, 1975, 1977), and was a member of the victorious 1975 World Cup Team. He was inducted as a charter member of the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame in 1992. During his career, he won over $1.4 million on the PGA Tour and over $600,000 in Senior Tour career earnings.^[2]

His greatest success in major championships came at the U.S. Open. He won in 1975 at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois beating John Mahaffey by two strokes in a playoff. In 1977, he finished second – losing by one stroke to Hubert Green at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also had a previous T-3 finish at the Open in 1974.^[3] On the Senior PGA Tour, his best finish was a T-3 at the AT&T Championship in 1990.

Death

Graham died on May 11, 2026, at the age of 88.^[1]

Awards and honors

• In 1979, Graham won Golf Digest's Comeback of the Year award.^[2]
• In 1992, he was inducted as a charter member of the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame.^[4]

Professional wins (7)

PGA Tour wins (6)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Jul 30, 1967	Minnesota Golf Classic	−2 (76-68-70-72=286)	1 stroke	Bobby Verwey
2	Aug 27, 1972	Liggett & Myers Open	−3 (71-74-70-70=285)	Playoff	David Graham, Hale Irwin, Larry Ziegler
3	Jun 23, 1975	U.S. Open	+3 (74-72-68-73=287)	Playoff	John Mahaffey
4	Jul 22, 1979	IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic	−11 (68-70-71-64=273)	Playoff	Bobby Wadkins
5	Sep 9, 1979	American Optical Classic	−9 (68-67-71-69=275)	1 stroke	Ben Crenshaw
6	Oct 7, 1979	San Antonio Texas Open	−12 (69-64-69-66=268)	1 stroke	Eddie Pearce, Bill Rogers, Doug Tewell

PGA Tour playoff record (3–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1971	Greater Hartford Open	George Archer, J. C. Snead	Archer won with birdie on first extra hole
2	1972	Liggett & Myers Open	David Graham, Hale Irwin, Larry Ziegler	Won with birdie on third extra hole D. Graham and Ziegler eliminated by par on first hole
3	1975	U.S. Open	John Mahaffey	Won 18-hole playoff; Graham: E (71), Mahaffey: +2 (73)
4	1979	IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic	Bobby Wadkins	Won with birdie on first extra hole

Source:^[5]

Other wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Dec 7, 1975	World Cup (with Johnny Miller)	−22 (134-142-140-138=554)	10 strokes	Taiwan − Hsieh Min-Nan and Kuo Chie-Hsiung

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1975	U.S. Open	4 shot deficit	+3 (74-72-68-73=287)	Playoff1	John Mahaffey

¹Defeated Mahaffey in an 18-hole playoff – Graham 71 (E), Mahaffey 73 (+2).

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

U.S. national team appearances

Professional

• Ryder Cup: 1973 (winners), 1975 (winners), 1977 (winners)
• World Cup: 1975 (winners)

References

External links

• Lou Graham at the PGA Tour official site