“Our life was Mid Pines” she continued. “At Christmas every year, Mom would say something like ‘Well, instead of a new mink coat this year, we’ll get a walk-in refrigerator. They were happy times, believe me.”

In 1953, the Cosgroves expanded their golf operations by becoming partners with their son-in-law, Julius Boros, and newlyweds Peggy and Warren Bell in purchasing the Pine Needles golf course across the road. Warren operated the course on a day-to-day basis, as the Cosgroves had their hands full with Mid Pines and as Julius and Peggy played their respective pro golf tours. The Cosgroves brought complementary skills and personalities to Mid Pines: the golf course was Frank’s (“Pop’s”) and the hotel was Masie’s. Though both consorted amicably with the guests, Pop was the one who played golf with them and made them feel at home.

“It wasn’t like you were working there,” says Ernie Boros, Julius’s brother and his assistant pro at Mid Pines for twenty years from the early 1950s until the Cosgroves sold the resort in 1973. “And the guests, they got treated more like friends than paying customers.”

“It’s the only place I ever worked where the help had as much fun as the guests” says Jim Boros, Julius’ nephew and long-time golf shop staffer, assistant pro and later head pro. “During the season, you were working seven days a week. But no one ever complained”

Julius Boros relinquished his amateur status in December 1949, and took over running the golf shop at Mid Pines while directing his competitive attentions to the PGA Tour and married Ann “Buttons” Cosgroves, in May 1950. Peggy Kirk Bell fondly recalled, “Jay (one of Boros’ many nicknames that included Big Jules, Big Julie, Bear and Moose) was a very quiet man, very shy, he said very little. But Buttons was crazy about him. She’d say, ‘Let’s go over to Southern Pines Country Club and see Jay.’”

Boros gave conflicting accounts of what finally prompted him to turn pro. He told one reporter he pulled the trigger after viewing a driving snowstorm outside his Hartford office window. He also wrote that the encouragement from a few friends at a tournament was all he needed. But Peggy Bell claimed it was Buttons who did the pushing, even asking Snead to convince him. There may well be truth to all three versions. In any event, Boros turned pro on Dec. 15, 1949.

In 1951, Buttons suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while giving birth to a healthy son, Jay Nicholas (Nick) Boros, and died the following day. His wife’s death, “really shook him up,” says Boros’ brother, Ernie. But Julius kept his pain to himself. Two-time major champion Doug Ford traveled with Boros countless hours, coast to coast, during the ’50s. Quiet as a church mouse anyway, Ford says Boros never spoke to him about losing Buttons, nor did Boros mention it in any of several books. Nick, now in his mid-60s, says his father never discussed the death of his mother. Pop and Maisie Cosgrove offered to help raise the boy. Nick would rotate with his grandparents between the Cosgrove homes in North Carolina and Massachusetts for the next three years. Following a two month hiatus after the loss of his wife, Boros played a home game in Pinehurst at the North and South Open. Showing little rust, he finished six shots behind Tommy Bolt in the event’s final edition.

In 1952, Boros made his first career victory the United States Open, shooting 281 to defeat Ed (Porky) Oliver by four strokes at Northwood Country Club in Dallas. Ben Hogan finished third. It was often said after that victory that Boros, because of his ability to drive the ball straight and to hit soft pitch shots when he missed greens, had the ideal game for the rigorous course setup of the United States Open.

Indeed, his record was extraordinary. From his first Open in 1950 through 1960, he placed fifth or better six times. And in 1963, he won again, this time defeating Arnold Palmer and Jacky Cupit in a playoff at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

He won the Westchester Classic and the PGA Championship at the age of 48 and nearly won the Westchester again at the age of 55, losing a playoff to Gene Littler in 1975.

Boros, who played on four Ryder Cup teams and was named to the PGA Hall of Fame in 1974 and the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1982, competed on the regular PGA Tour until 1977, when he was 57, entering 13 tournaments that year. He had been the leading money winner on tour in 1952 and 1955, and won more than $1 million on the regular tour.