PGA Championship

Fan Teaser: Week 186 Solution

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Who’s making kissy face with the Wanamaker Trophy?

This week’s stop on the PGA Tour takes golfers to the second major champions of 2026 – the PGA Championship – at suburban Philadelphia’s Aronimink Golf Club.

The tournament was last contested on this Donald Ross-designed course in 1962. Yep, 64 years ago some of the world’s best descended upon this course to battle for the Wanamaker Trophy. The winner that day was a then 26-year-old fella from South Africa named Gary Player who’s seen in this week’s Fan Teaser playing kissy face with his well-earned trophy.

Player finished a shot ahead of Bob Goalby three shots clear of George Bayer and Jack Nicklaus.

The PGA Championship was the third of Player’s nine major’s won during his storied career. Three years later he achieved the Career Grand Slam when he won the U.S. Open at Bellerive Country Club in suburban St. Louis, MO. He won one more PGA Championship 10 years later at Oakland Hills Country Club in suburban Detroit.

The last time the PGA Championship was played at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, PA, Gary Player was the winner. Here he makes kissy face with the Wanamaker Trophy as PGA President Lou Strong (left) looks on. (Photo from the Getty Images Bettman Collection)

Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.

The Fan Teaser: Week 134 Solution

DouglasTHillLeave a comment
What blonde bomber is hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy?

Who is this blonde mullet-headed dude bombing drives all over Carmel, IN?

That’s what plenty of golf fans were wondering back in August, 1991, when a little-know PGA Tour rookie named John Daly burst onto the scene by winning the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club and claiming the Wanamaker Trophy.

The story of how Daly even came to be in the tournament is bananas (see the video below). Entering the week he was the ninth alternate to earn a tee time. As of that Tuesday, Daly was still at his home near Memphis, TN, and didn’t even begin the drive to the Indianapolis suburb until Wednesday.

John Daly and the Wanamaker Trophy
A then-25-year-old John Daly went from the ninth alternate to the 1991 PGA
Championship winner thanks to his booming drives and all-around solid
performance at Crooked Stick Golf Club. (Photo by Mike Fender/Indianapolis Star)

His performance was such that his double-bogey on the 71st hole was not even reason for concern as he carried a 5-stroke lead at the time over playing partner – and eventual tournament runner-up – Bruce Lietzke.

Here is an Indianapolis Star retrospective published in 2021 around the 30th anniversary of Daly’s improbable victory.

Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.