Career firsts: Jim Thorpe

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Jim Thorpe won 13 times on the Champions Tour and three times on the PGA TOUR.

Even professional golfers had to start somewhere. With the 2009 season just around the corner, PGATOUR.COM will take a look at some important firsts -- including their first golf lesson and PGA TOUR win -- for popular Champions Tour golfers and PGA TOUR veterans. Learn more about Jim Thorpe.

FIRST GOLF LESSON. "I started caddying when I was seven years old and met a guy named Wheeler Newell. He gave me my first set of golf clubs. I used to play cross-handed and he reversed my grip when I was about 10. I grew up on a golf course and my dad was a greenskeeper, but (Wheeler) was the one who really introduced me to the game. Between him and guys named Frank Watson and O.Y. Clayton, I learned the basics. Those were the guys that got me where I am today. My swing is homemade because I never had a lesson from a professional golfer. It hasn't been bad though."

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Thorpe's unique swing was influenced by several teachers.

FIRST START IN A PGA TOUR EVENT. 1976 Magnolia Classic. Thorpe, then 27 years old, tied for ninth in his first start ever on the PGA TOUR. He lost by five strokes to Dennis Meyer.

FIRST PGA TOUR VICTORY. 1985 Greater Milwaukee Open. After almost a decade on the PGA TOUR, Thorpe finally took home his first title at Tuckaway CC in Franklin, Wis. For beating runner-up Jack Nicklaus by three strokes, Thorpe earned a $54,000 paycheck. That win also kicked off an impressive run for Thorpe, who went on to win another title that year at the Seiko-Tucson Match Play Championship. He finished fourth on the PGA TOUR money list that season with $379,091.

FIRST MILLION-DOLLAR SEASON. 2000. In 459 starts on the PGA TOUR, Thorpe earned a combined $1.9 million over 21 years. In just 73 starts and two seasons on the Champions Tour, he earned much more than that. His first million-dollar season came in 2000, when he pocketed $1,656,747 and had two wins.

FIRST CHAMPIONS TOUR START. 1999 Royal Caribbean Classic. His first official start as a 50-year-old Champions Tour member came at the tournament in Key Biscayne, Fla., where Thorpe tied for fifth after posting rounds of 72, 69 and 68. But, in order to make it to that point, Thorpe had participated in the National Qualifying Tournament several months before and earned full exemption for 1999. He carded a 3-under par 69 to tie for sixth and secure his card.

FIRST CHAMPIONS TOUR WIN. 2000 The Transamerica. When it rains, it pours. At least that was the case when Thorpe captured his first Champions Tour title. He won the Transamerica in Napa Valley -- his first win in over 14 years -- with an 18-under-par 198 that set a tournament record. The Tour stayed in Northern California for the next week's event, the Gold Rush Classic, and Thorpe won again with a 21-under 195. With those two wins, Thorpe became the first player since Gibby Gilbert in 1992 to win in back-to-back starts with sub-200 scores.

OTHER FIRSTS. Thorpe won three times on the PGA TOUR and has 13 victories on the Champions Tour, but golf wasn't his first -- or, at least, it wasn't his only -- sport in college. He played for Morgan State's football team and earned a scholarship as a running back...Thorpe made his first hole-in-one on the Champions Tour in, appropriately, his first Champions Tour event. His ace occurred on the par-3 eighth hole during the third round of the tournament. Thorpe made three birdies on the front nine, as well, and carded a 30. ...His first and only major championship came at The Tradition in 2002. Thorpe birdied the first extra hole to beat John Jacobs. In a weird twist, that was the first time in his career that Thorpe had ever won before Sept. 1 on the PGA TOUR or Champions Tour. He tends to play better towards the end of the year, as evidenced by his three victories at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.