Seven-time PGA Tour winner Paul Harney passed away August 24 at the age of 82. The Massachusetts golf legend died in Falmouth surrounded by his wife, Patricia, and the couple’s six children.
Family was everything to Harney, who left the tour as a full-time player in 1964, when his oldest child started school. About his decision to leave the tour after eight years for full-time work as a club pro, Harney told then-Boston Globe golf writer Jim McCabe in 2001 that he had no regrets.
“I was so very lucky,” Harney said to McCabe. “I enjoyed playing, and when I played well, which I did an awful lot of times, it was so enjoyable.”
Harney’s first tour victory was the 1957 Carling World Open and he played some of his best golf in major championships. He had six top-10 finishes in the majors, including a fourth at the 1963 U.S. Open and four top-8s at The Masters in the 1960s.
After retiring as a full-time tour golfer, the Worcester native became the head professional at a California course and a few years later at the storied Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton, Mass. As a club pro, he appeared in tour events on a part-time basis, a status that did not seem to limit his abilities. He won consecutive Los Angeles Open titles in 1964 and 1965 and captured his final tour crown at the 1972 Andy Williams-San Diego Open, defeating Hale Irwin by one shot.
After that win, Harney and his family moved to East Falmouth on Cape Cod to run his own course, the par-61 Paul Harney Golf Course, which he bought in 1965. The family still owns and operates the club, where son Mike Harney is the head pro and daughter Erin Harney is general manager.
Harney participated in his final tour event, the 1973 Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open, which is now the Travelers Championship. After he turned 50, Harney played in 70 Champions Tour events, with his best showing a playoff loss to Arnold Palmer at the 1980 PGA Seniors Championship.
In addition to his on-course achievements, Harney earned a slew of awards, including “Most Improved Golfer” in 1957 after back-to-back wins at the Carling and Labatt Open.
Closer to home, Harney was one of the best golfers Massachusetts has ever produced. He was a five-time Massachusetts Open winner, the first golfer inducted into the New England PGA Hall of Fame, and a 2005 inductee into the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame.
Related posts:
- Massachusetts Will Be Well Represented on the 2010 PGA Tour; Three Bay Staters Earn Tour Card and Others Still in the Hunt at Qualifying
- Greenbrier winner Stallings circles Boston on his PGA Tour golf calendar
- BILLY POWELL DIES
- Paul Fireman to buy back Willowbend Country Club
- Titleist golf clubs are in the bag for Doral winner Nick Watney
