Thunderbird Invitational
Year Player Country Score To par Margin of victory Runner ( s ) -up Winner 's share ( $ )
1959 Arnold Palmer United States 266 −18 3 strokes Jimmy Demaret Ken Venturi 1,500
1958 Ken Venturi United States 269 −15 4 strokes Jimmy Demaret Gene Littler 1,500
1957 Jimmy Demaret United States 273 −11 Playoff Mike Souchak Ken Venturi 2,000
1956 Jimmy Demaret United States 269 −15 1 stroke Cary Middlecoff 2,000
1955 Shelley Mayfield United States 270 −18 Playoff Fred Haas Mike Souchak 2,000
1954 Fred Haas United States 268 −20 2 strokes Marty Furgol Chandler Harper Bo Wininger 2,000
1953 Jimmy Demaret United States 201 −15 2 strokes Ben Hogan Lloyd Mangrum Jim Turnesa 1,500
Winners
The Thunderbird Invitational was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played from 1952 to 1959 in Rancho Mirage, California. Held in late January at Thunderbird Country Club, the tournament's purse was a modest $15,000; it was the direct predecessor of today's CareerBuilder Challenge, which began in 1960. Thunderbird hosted the Ryder Cup in 1955. Arnold Palmer, 29, was the event's final champion in 1959; he won the next year at the first edition of the Palm Springs Desert Classic, which had a $100,000 purse and a winner's share of 12,000, his largest tour check to date. Ken Venturi, 26, won the 1958 event and was awarded a $1,500 check and a $4,500 automobile. He backed it up with another win the following week at Phoenix. Jimmy Demaret won the event three times; his first was a 54-hole midweek event in 1953, and the last was an 18-hole playoff on Monday in 1957 for consecutive titles.