Tournament Highlights
- 1956: Peter Thomson, a five-time winner of The Open Championship shoots a final round 63, then makes birdie on the first two holes of sudden death to defeat Gene Littler and Cary Middlecoff. It was his one and only PGA Tour victory in the United States.
- 1976: Mark Hayes becomes the first wire to wire winner of the Nelson.
- 1981: Bruce Lietzke defeated Tom Watson in a playoff spoiling Watson's bid for a 4th straight Nelson triumph.
- 1985: Bob Eastwood defeated Payne Stewart in a playoff after coming to the 72nd hole trailing Stewart by three shots. Eastwood made birdie on the final hole while Stewart made double bogey. Stewart made yet another double bogey on the first hole of sudden death to give Eastwood the title.
- 1994: Neal Lancaster won the first ever six-player sudden death playoff in PGA Tour history. He made a birdie on the first playoff hole to defeat Tom Byrum, Mark Carnevale, David Edwards, Yoshi Mizumaki, and David Ogrin.
- 2005: Tiger Woods' record streak of 142 cuts made came to an end at this tournament.
- 2008: Australian Adam Scott sank a 48 foot putt on the third playoff hole to clinch victory over American Ryan Moore.
- 2010: At age 16, Jordan Spieth (the defending U.S. Junior Amateur champion, and a student at nearby Jesuit College Preparatory School) became the youngest player to play in the tournament, courtesy of a sponsor's exemption (the first one granted since 1995). Spieth would make the cut (becoming the sixth-youngest person in PGA Tour history to make a professional tour event cut) and finish 16th overall. (In 2011 Spieth would again be granted a sponsor's exemption and would again make the cut, finishing 32nd overall.)
Read more about this topic: HP Byron Nelson Championship