Hubert Green (1946-2018) was a well-known golfer from Alabama who won more than 70 amateur and 19 Professional Golfers Association (PGA) tournaments between the 1960s and the 1990s. He won both the coveted U.S. Open and the PGA tournaments and was inducted into the Alabama Golf Hall of Fame and the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Green attended and played golf for Shades Valley High School in Birmingham and then Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, Florida. While in college, he won the Southern Amateur Championship in 1966 on his home course at the Country Club of Birmingham. The next year he became the Alabama State Golf Amateur Champion, a title he took again in 1968. While at FSU, Green won the Cape Coral Inter-Collegiate Tournament by eight strokes and the Miami Invitational, the largest collegiate tournament, by five strokes. He led the nation in qualifying for the National Amateur Championship with course records at Atlanta's Standard Country Club, shooting a 67 and 66. In the National Amateur Tournament in 1968 in Columbus, Ohio, he finished fourth and earned an invitation to the Masters as an amateur and a position as an alternate in the World Cup. Green graduated from FSU in 1968 with a degree in marketing. That year he also enlisted in the Alabama National Guard at Enterprise, Alabama.

In 1975 Green won the Japanese Dunlop-Phoenix Open, which brought him international fame. Then he captured three titles in a row: the Doral-Eastern Open in Miami, the Greater Jacksonville Open, and the Heritage Classic in Hilton Head, South Carolina. No other player has won these three championships back-to-back. In 1977 at age 30, Green won his first major tournament on the professional circuit, the U.S. Open at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Despite a death threat during his round from an unknown telephone caller and immediate undercover police protection, Green shot a sub-par round, winning by one stroke over Lou Graham. His performance under pressure won praise from golf officials and sportswriters alike.

In 1985, after suffering something of a dry spell, Green out-dueled defending champion Lee Trevino for the Professional Golf Association (PGA) title at Cherry Hills Country Club near Denver. In one memorable moment, Green hit a spectacular shot out of a sand trap on the 18th hole that stopped a foot away from the cup. In the head-to-head, two-man struggle, Green won by two strokes in a driving rainstorm. That PGA win at age 39 was Green's 19th professional tour victory. Afterward, he played less often and began designing golf courses in his home state as well as in Georgia, Nevada, and even Japan.
When Green turned 50 in 1996, he qualified for the senior players' Champions Tour and won the Bruno's Memorial Classic in Birmingham in 1998. In his first senior victory, Green completed his final round with 64, playing the last six holes with an eagle, four birdies, and one par to beat Hale Irwin by one stroke. Coming from behind, he basked in the moment as the home crowd swelled and shouted encouragement.

Additional Resources
Satterfield, Carolyn Green. The Country Club of Birmingham, A Centennial History. Birmingham, Ala.: Country Club of Birmingham, 1999.