The best golfer from every U.S. state
Michigan: Leo Diegel
After playing well in the state of Michigan, first winning the Michigan Open in 1916, Leo Diegel finally started to break through on the PGA Tour finally in 1920 when he was able to get his first victory. He would then go on to win at least one PGA Tour event in each of the next nine years, including winning three in 1924, five in 1925, four in both 1928 and 1929, and winning three in 1930.
Perhaps Diegel’s best accomplishment was his 1928 season as a whole. The Gratiot Township native was able to pull off two tremendous feats. First, he was able to end the historic four-year winning streak of Walter Hagen in the PGA Championship, which was then a match play tournament, by defeating him in the quarterfinals of the tournament. He would then go on to win the whole tournament, etching his name in history.
Diegel didn’t stop there in terms of PGA Championships, as he would go on to win the next year in 1929 as well. The following year, Diegel came close to winning The Open Championship, but was bested by the great Bobby Jones in the tournament. Thus, the two PGAs were the only major championship victories for Diegel in his career.
However, Diegel won 30 times on the PGA Tour throughout his career and has two majors to his credit, which helped earned him entry into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003. That’s more than enough to give him the nod from Michigan.