Butch Buchholz buys Boca house for $1.7M

1693 Sabal Palm Drive (inset: Butch Buchholz)
1693 Sabal Palm Drive (inset: Butch Buchholz)

Tennis Hall of Famer Earl “Butch” Buchholz, the founder of the annual Key Biscayne tournament now known as the Sony Open, purchased a Boca Raton residence for nearly $1.7 million, The Real Deal has learned.

Buchholz and his wife Marilyn bought the 1693 Sabal Palm Drive home on April 14, according to Palm Beach County records. The county recorded the transaction on Wednesday. The couple did not obtain financing for the purchase of the four-bedroom residence, which was built in 1971.

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Michael and Doris Hannon of Great Falls, Va. were the sellers. The couple paid $1.4 million for the nearly 5,000-square-foot house in September 2013. The home is located within Boca’s Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club.

Buchholz had a distinguished amateur and professional tennis career during the 1950s and 1960s. He launched the Lipton International Players Championships in South Florida during the mid-1980s. The tournament went through several sponsors, name changes and venues before Buchholz sold the event to IMG in 1999.