NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Lou Graham, who won the 1975 U.S. Open and five other PGA Tour events, has died. He was 88.
The PGA Tour and USGA said Graham died Monday. Friend Joe Taggert, a golf pro at Richland Country Club, where Graham was a member, told The Tennessean that Graham had been in hospice care.
Graham won the U.S. Open by beating John Mahaffey by two strokes in an 18-hole Monday playoff at Medinah Country Club.
His other PGA Tour wins were the 1967 Minnesota Golf Classic, the 1972 Liggett and Myers Open and the Valero Texas Open, IVB Philadelphia Golf Classic and CVS Charity Classic — all in 1979. For those victories, he won the Comeback of the Year award presented by Golf Digest.
He finished second in the 1977 U.S. Open, losing by one stroke to Hubert Green at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla.
On the Senior PGA Tour, now known as the PGA Tour Champions, Graham’s best finish was a tie for third in the 1990 AT&T Championship.
He joined the PGA Tour in 1964, winning more than $1.4 million in his career, plus $600,000 on the senior tour, which he joined in 1988. He played on Ryder Cup teams in 1973, 1975 and 1977.
Graham was born in Nashville and attended then-Memphis State University before being drafted into the Army.
