Lou Graham, the talented veteran from Tennessee who won the 1975 U.S. Open as well as five other PGA TOUR events, died on May 11, 2026, at the age of 88.

Graham’s most successful year on TOUR came in 1979, when he closed out his season with three wins in a span of just eight starts. But his signature victory happened at Medinah four years earlier when he beat John Mahaffey 71-73 in an 18-hole playoff to capture his lone major championship.

The Nashville native was known for accuracy off the tee and well-struck irons, and nowhere is that more important than at a U.S. Open. Graham had other strong runs at the U.S. Open – in addition to his victory, he tied for third in 1974 and finished second, one stroke behind Hubert Green, in 1977.

Even so, Graham struggled in the damp, humid conditions at Medinah in the first two rounds, shooting 74-73 to find himself 11 strokes behind leader Tom Watson at the midway point. But a third-round 68 propelled him into a tie for fourth entering Sunday’s final 18 holes.

Medinah exacted its pound of flesh in the final round as overnight leader Frank Beard shot 78, just as Watson had done the previous day. Ben Crenshaw’s challenge ended with a double-bogey at the 17th hole while Jack Nicklaus bogeyed his final three holes.

Just three players broke par in the final round. As it turned out, Graham and Mahaffey didn’t need to – shooting 73 and 71, respectively, to finish tied at 3 over. Their scores were reversed in the 18-hole playoff, with Graham making three birdies on the front nine en route to the biggest victory of his career.

“My goal was to play for pars,” Graham said to reporters after the playoff. “I know when I do that … I’ll get a (birdie) or two.”

Graham’s 11-stroke comeback after 36 holes remains the largest in U.S. Open history. To put that in even more perspective, he was tied for 40th after the first round.

Graham, who was born on Jan. 7, 1938, started playing golf at the age of 7. He didn’t exactly take to the game immediately – in fact, he shot 113 the first time he played an 18-hole tournament three years later.

“I was so mad about it, and I tell people I’m still mad about it today,” Graham said in an article in The Tennessean in 2015.

But that performance spurred him to work on his game and get better. Five years later, the teenage Graham won the same tournament for the first time – and he followed that victory with wins the next two years.

Graham went on to play golf for three years at Memphis State (now the University of Memphis) before being drafted into the military. He served in Company E of the Third Infantry Regiment, which guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. While in the Army, he was a member of the team that won the 1961 Inter-Service Championship.

Graham’s first full season on the PGA TOUR was 1965, and he went on to play 23 seasons. He picked up his first victory at the 1967 Minnesota Golf Classic, then added the Liggett & Myers Open in 1971, beating David Graham, Larry Ziegler and Hale Irwin in a playoff.

Graham’s final three TOUR wins came in a remarkable 71-day span in 1979 at the IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic, American Optical Classic and San Antonio Texas Open. He also played on three winning Ryder Cup teams and teamed with Johnny Miller to win the 1975 World Cup.

After turning 50 in January of 1988, Graham joined what is now known as PGA TOUR Champions, where he finished third on six occasions. In total, Graham made 623 starts on the PGA TOUR and 239 starts on PGA TOUR Champions.