1949 Palmer dominates National Collegiate golf.

1949: Arnold Palmer, Wake Forest sophomore takes top honors in the National Collegiate golf tournament

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ByHonest Golfers Updated on
Arnold Palmer takes individual collegiate honors in ’49

On Tuesday, June 28th, 1949 a young Wake Forest sophomore named Arnold Palmer took top honors in the annual National Collegiate golf tournament.

The Latrobe, PA native fired a par 71 to go along with his 1st round of one under 70 to defeat Fred Wampler of Purdue.

Wampler was up after the 1st round firing a 69 but then skidded to a 73 the following day.

Palmer was already making headlines by winning the 1948 Southern Conference Championship, Sunnehanna Invitational, and Western Pennsylvania Junior.

That year, North Texas State won the team championship, edging Purdue by ten strokes.

The 1949 Wake Forest golf team

Hey, my name is Kolter, and I run Honest Golfers. I’m a Colorado family man who spends my "me-time" on the golf course. I golfed collegiately and was honored to serve as team captain twice.