Lou Graham, 1975 U.S. Open Champion, Dies at 88

Overview

• The PGA Tour and USGA confirmed Monday that Graham died at 88 after friends said he had entered hospice care.
• He won the 1975 U.S. Open at Medinah in an 18-hole playoff, beating John Mahaffey by two strokes.
• After a post‑Open slump, he surged in 1979 with three PGA Tour wins and earned Golf Digest’s Comeback Player of the Year, boosted by a long‑overdue switch to new irons.
• Across his career he captured six PGA Tour titles, joined the tour in 1964, and played for the United States in the Ryder Cup in 1973, 1975, and 1977.
• Born in Nashville, he played college golf at Memphis State, served as an Army honor guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and later competed on the senior tour with a best of tied for third in 1990.