Jimmy Demaret trailed Dr. Cary Middlecoff by one stroke with five holes to go in the fourth and final round of the Thunderbird tournament at Palm Springs on Jan. 22, 1956.

Jimmie Newton Demaret was born the fourth of ten children in 1910 in Houston.  He was bitten by the golf bug at an early age, when an army officer asked the seven year old to lug his clubs around the military course at Camp Logan.

Demaret grew up caddying and playing on the public links in the Bayou City.  He studied the swing...