These are the Legends of the Game.
(social) Golf Concentrate
(social) Golf Concentrate
www.subeagle.com
Social Golf by Social Golfers
Bobby Jones
1902 - 1971
Between 1926 and 1930, no one had a finer major championship record than Bobby Jones. Despite being an amateur, Jones was the supreme champion. He played in four British Opens winning three of them, he also won four US Opens. And in a total of 12 US and British Opens in which he played from 1922 to 1930, he only once finished lower than second. Jones, however, is best remembered for achieving, what used to be referred to, as the old Grand Slam. In 1930, he won the British Amateur Championship, British Open, US Open and US Amateur Championship, in that order. Nowadays, being an amateur champion is considered as merely the final step before turning professional. Yet back in the 1920s and 30s, many of the world's best players held amateur status throughout their golfing life. After completing the Grand Slam, Jones retired from tournament golf. He was only 28. A successful career in law followed, not that Jones turned his back on golf completely. Together with Clifford Roberts, he founded Augusta National and in the early years of the US Masters he made rare appearances in the tournament. He also made a number of instructional films on golf.
More on Robert Tyre Jones here.
1902 - 1971
Between 1926 and 1930, no one had a finer major championship record than Bobby Jones. Despite being an amateur, Jones was the supreme champion. He played in four British Opens winning three of them, he also won four US Opens. And in a total of 12 US and British Opens in which he played from 1922 to 1930, he only once finished lower than second. Jones, however, is best remembered for achieving, what used to be referred to, as the old Grand Slam. In 1930, he won the British Amateur Championship, British Open, US Open and US Amateur Championship, in that order. Nowadays, being an amateur champion is considered as merely the final step before turning professional. Yet back in the 1920s and 30s, many of the world's best players held amateur status throughout their golfing life. After completing the Grand Slam, Jones retired from tournament golf. He was only 28. A successful career in law followed, not that Jones turned his back on golf completely. Together with Clifford Roberts, he founded Augusta National and in the early years of the US Masters he made rare appearances in the tournament. He also made a number of instructional films on golf.
More on Robert Tyre Jones here.
Ben Hogan
13 August 1912 - 25 July 1997
Ben Hogan's career did not get off to a fast start. He had to wait seven years for his first win after turning professional in 1931, and he had to wait until after the Second World War to win his first major, the 1946 US PGA Championship. Hogan won the PGA again in 1948, and won his first US Open that summer. Eight months later, he was lucky to be alive. Hogan was fortunate to survive an appalling car crash in February 1949. He might never walk again, said the doctors, much less play golf. They reckoned without considering their patient's indomitable spirit and iron strength, that in better times branded him as cold and aloof. By January 1950, he was able to take Sam Snead to a playoff in the Los Angeles Open. By that June, sentimentally, improbably, he was US Open champion again. Most remarkable of all was the fact that he was a more dominant figure after the crash than before it. Hogan retained his US Open title in 1951, after winning his first Masters. In 1953, he won five of the six tournaments he entered: the Masters for a second time, the US Open for a record-equaling fourth time, and the Open at Carnoustie in his only bid for golf's oldest title.
"If I miss one day's practice I know it; if I miss two days the spectators know it and if I miss three days the world knows it."
More on William Ben Hogan here.
13 August 1912 - 25 July 1997
Ben Hogan's career did not get off to a fast start. He had to wait seven years for his first win after turning professional in 1931, and he had to wait until after the Second World War to win his first major, the 1946 US PGA Championship. Hogan won the PGA again in 1948, and won his first US Open that summer. Eight months later, he was lucky to be alive. Hogan was fortunate to survive an appalling car crash in February 1949. He might never walk again, said the doctors, much less play golf. They reckoned without considering their patient's indomitable spirit and iron strength, that in better times branded him as cold and aloof. By January 1950, he was able to take Sam Snead to a playoff in the Los Angeles Open. By that June, sentimentally, improbably, he was US Open champion again. Most remarkable of all was the fact that he was a more dominant figure after the crash than before it. Hogan retained his US Open title in 1951, after winning his first Masters. In 1953, he won five of the six tournaments he entered: the Masters for a second time, the US Open for a record-equaling fourth time, and the Open at Carnoustie in his only bid for golf's oldest title.
"If I miss one day's practice I know it; if I miss two days the spectators know it and if I miss three days the world knows it."
More on William Ben Hogan here.
Sam Snead (Slamming Sammy)
27 May 1912 - 23 May 2002
With Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, Sam Snead might be said to have completed an American version of The Great Triumvirate. They were all born in 1912 and they all left an indelible mark on the game.
Snead, raised in the backwoods of West Virginia, liked to cultivate his rustic image as the hillbilly boy from the mountain country, but he was no bucolic hick when the stakes got serious, whether that be for a private bet - Snead was a notoriously ruthless adversary when his own money was on the line - or when a major title was at stake. He won the Masters and the US PGA Championship three times each, and the Open - at St Andrews in 1946, on one of only three appearances in the championship - once. But he never won the US Open. That latter fact is the one that is eternally recalled in any evaluation of Snead's record, largely because he quite often contrived to squander his chances of victory, and often quite spectacularly. However, it is unfair to dwell on the one blemish in a career which features a record 84 official US tour victories, a figure that the man himself reckons should be doubled to take account of regional events. Snead had the most natural, fluid swing the game has ever seen. The physical ease with which he could generate immense power enabled him to become the first golfer to break 60 in a significant competition (a 59 at his home course, The Greenbrier, in 1959).)
27 May 1912 - 23 May 2002
With Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, Sam Snead might be said to have completed an American version of The Great Triumvirate. They were all born in 1912 and they all left an indelible mark on the game.
Snead, raised in the backwoods of West Virginia, liked to cultivate his rustic image as the hillbilly boy from the mountain country, but he was no bucolic hick when the stakes got serious, whether that be for a private bet - Snead was a notoriously ruthless adversary when his own money was on the line - or when a major title was at stake. He won the Masters and the US PGA Championship three times each, and the Open - at St Andrews in 1946, on one of only three appearances in the championship - once. But he never won the US Open. That latter fact is the one that is eternally recalled in any evaluation of Snead's record, largely because he quite often contrived to squander his chances of victory, and often quite spectacularly. However, it is unfair to dwell on the one blemish in a career which features a record 84 official US tour victories, a figure that the man himself reckons should be doubled to take account of regional events. Snead had the most natural, fluid swing the game has ever seen. The physical ease with which he could generate immense power enabled him to become the first golfer to break 60 in a significant competition (a 59 at his home course, The Greenbrier, in 1959).)
He was the oldest winner of a US tournament (52 years 10 months at Greensboro in 1965); to finish tied third when aged 62 in the 1974 US PGA Championship; and to be the first man to beat his age on the US tour (scoring 66 when he was 67 at the Quad Cities Open in 1979). Rather like Hogan, Snead suffered terrible putting problems (the 'yips') as his career progressed, leading him to try several different techniques on the greens.
Quote for Sam; "There's an old saying: If a man comes home with sand in his cuffs and cockleburs in his pants, don't ask him what he shot."
More on Samuel Jackson Snead here.
Quote for Sam; "There's an old saying: If a man comes home with sand in his cuffs and cockleburs in his pants, don't ask him what he shot."
More on Samuel Jackson Snead here.
Lord Byron Nelson
4 February 1912 - 26 September 2006
If John Ball's total of eight Amateur Championships and Bobby Jones's remarkable Grand Slam will never be matched, then surely neither will the phenomenal exploits of Byron Nelson in 1945. He won 18 of the 30 US tour events he entered, was second in another seven and was never worse than ninth. Included in this annus mirabilis was a streak of 11 consecutive tournament victories. He smashed pretty well all the circuit's scoring records. For example, he had a stroke average of 68.33 shots and was a cumulative 320 under par for the season. He earned the equivalent of $63,335 in War Bonds, a staggering 14.5 per cent of the total prize money on offer. That would translate to around $8.7 million on the 1993 US PGA Tour. Nobody has won that much in an entire career. Nelson's fabulous run through the 1940s created a tour record of 113 consecutive tournaments in the money (without missing a cut) and another record of 19 successive rounds in the 1960s. It was golf of that calibre that established Nelson's reputation as a superlative ball-striker, a fact which has been confirmed by the USGA, naming its repetitive ball-testing machine 'Iron Byron'. Such an unbelievably high standard of sustained performance also explains why Nelson's five major championships - two Masters, two US PGAs and one US Open- are comparatively ignored, even though they were dramatic affairs. He beat Ben Hogan in a playoff for one of his Masters titles and had to endure a two round playoff for the 1939 US Open after failing to shake off Craig Wood at the first attempt.
4 February 1912 - 26 September 2006
If John Ball's total of eight Amateur Championships and Bobby Jones's remarkable Grand Slam will never be matched, then surely neither will the phenomenal exploits of Byron Nelson in 1945. He won 18 of the 30 US tour events he entered, was second in another seven and was never worse than ninth. Included in this annus mirabilis was a streak of 11 consecutive tournament victories. He smashed pretty well all the circuit's scoring records. For example, he had a stroke average of 68.33 shots and was a cumulative 320 under par for the season. He earned the equivalent of $63,335 in War Bonds, a staggering 14.5 per cent of the total prize money on offer. That would translate to around $8.7 million on the 1993 US PGA Tour. Nobody has won that much in an entire career. Nelson's fabulous run through the 1940s created a tour record of 113 consecutive tournaments in the money (without missing a cut) and another record of 19 successive rounds in the 1960s. It was golf of that calibre that established Nelson's reputation as a superlative ball-striker, a fact which has been confirmed by the USGA, naming its repetitive ball-testing machine 'Iron Byron'. Such an unbelievably high standard of sustained performance also explains why Nelson's five major championships - two Masters, two US PGAs and one US Open- are comparatively ignored, even though they were dramatic affairs. He beat Ben Hogan in a playoff for one of his Masters titles and had to endure a two round playoff for the 1939 US Open after failing to shake off Craig Wood at the first attempt.
Had the Second World War not intervened, many more majors would surely have fallen to 'Lord Byron', yet, ironically, he was only free to do what he did in 1945 because he was exempted from National Service as a hemophiliac. Like Hogan, Nelson was introduced to golf as a caddie at Fort Worth in Texas, so from their earliest days on a golf course they had been keen rivals, and friends. It requires an exceptional talent to have lived one's career with the potentially daunting shadow of Hogan's accomplishments hovering over your every achievement, but Nelson has done that with not only his reputation but also his records intact, and likely to remain so forever.
More on John Byron Nelson Jr here.
More on John Byron Nelson Jr here.
Walter Hagen
December 1892 - October 1969
Walter Hagen was golf's first extrovert character, flamboyant in everything he did. He had a chauffeur-driven limousine, enjoyed partying well into the early hours - even during tournaments - and he always wore the most fashionable clothes. He was a showman in every sense.
Yet behind that glitzy exterior lay a tough competitor. In a career that spanned over 20 years, Walter Hagen collected 11 professional major titles - only Jack Nicklaus has won more. And bear in mind that Hagen never had the opportunity to play in as many major tournaments as the likes of Nicklaus, Hogan, Palmer or Watson. When Hagen was at his peak, between 1913 and 1930, the US Masters didn't exist. He also lost a couple of years to the First World War. But his record was still outstanding. Despite being one of golf's all-time greats, Hagen was never a particularly good ball striker. His driving was erratic and it was once said that he played more bad shots in one year than Harry Vardon did in his career. But his short game was a revelation. His powers of recovery were immense. If he missed a green in regulation he would usually get up and down in two. He was also an excellent putter and had great nerve on the green. Hagen won two US Opens and four British Opens but where he really excelled was at matchplay. He triumphed in five USPGA Championships including four in a row from 1924. And he holds the USPGA record for winning most successive matches - 22 in all. He also had a good Ryder Cup record, winning seven of his nine contests and losing only once. That defeat came at the hands of George Duncan who thrashed Hagen 10&8 (over 36 holes) at Moortown, Leeds, in 1929. Hagen was credited with raising the status of professional golf. In the early years of this century, professional golfers were simply servants of the clubs that employed them to teach wealthy members. When Hagen first came to England to play in the 1920 British Open at Deal, he shocked the game's establishment by ordering champagne to be delivered to his limousine which was parked in the club's driveway. At the time, professionals were not allowed to enter the clubhouse through the front door, they had to use either a side or back entrance. So Hagen made a point of not going into the clubhouse at all. Everything he needed was delivered to his car. He refused to accept second class treatment. His clashes with the establishment, both sides of the Atlantic, was legendary yet it helped to give golf a higher profile, as did his colourful personality. This, in turn, brought greater sponsorship into the game. And as Hagen's great friend and rival, Gene Sarazen, once commented: "All the players who have a chance to go after big money should say a silent prayer to Walter Hagen. It was Walter who made professional golf what it is."
"That's the easiest sixty-nine I ever made" - Walter Hagen, on turning sixty-nine
More on Walter Charles Hagen here.
December 1892 - October 1969
Walter Hagen was golf's first extrovert character, flamboyant in everything he did. He had a chauffeur-driven limousine, enjoyed partying well into the early hours - even during tournaments - and he always wore the most fashionable clothes. He was a showman in every sense.
Yet behind that glitzy exterior lay a tough competitor. In a career that spanned over 20 years, Walter Hagen collected 11 professional major titles - only Jack Nicklaus has won more. And bear in mind that Hagen never had the opportunity to play in as many major tournaments as the likes of Nicklaus, Hogan, Palmer or Watson. When Hagen was at his peak, between 1913 and 1930, the US Masters didn't exist. He also lost a couple of years to the First World War. But his record was still outstanding. Despite being one of golf's all-time greats, Hagen was never a particularly good ball striker. His driving was erratic and it was once said that he played more bad shots in one year than Harry Vardon did in his career. But his short game was a revelation. His powers of recovery were immense. If he missed a green in regulation he would usually get up and down in two. He was also an excellent putter and had great nerve on the green. Hagen won two US Opens and four British Opens but where he really excelled was at matchplay. He triumphed in five USPGA Championships including four in a row from 1924. And he holds the USPGA record for winning most successive matches - 22 in all. He also had a good Ryder Cup record, winning seven of his nine contests and losing only once. That defeat came at the hands of George Duncan who thrashed Hagen 10&8 (over 36 holes) at Moortown, Leeds, in 1929. Hagen was credited with raising the status of professional golf. In the early years of this century, professional golfers were simply servants of the clubs that employed them to teach wealthy members. When Hagen first came to England to play in the 1920 British Open at Deal, he shocked the game's establishment by ordering champagne to be delivered to his limousine which was parked in the club's driveway. At the time, professionals were not allowed to enter the clubhouse through the front door, they had to use either a side or back entrance. So Hagen made a point of not going into the clubhouse at all. Everything he needed was delivered to his car. He refused to accept second class treatment. His clashes with the establishment, both sides of the Atlantic, was legendary yet it helped to give golf a higher profile, as did his colourful personality. This, in turn, brought greater sponsorship into the game. And as Hagen's great friend and rival, Gene Sarazen, once commented: "All the players who have a chance to go after big money should say a silent prayer to Walter Hagen. It was Walter who made professional golf what it is."
"That's the easiest sixty-nine I ever made" - Walter Hagen, on turning sixty-nine
More on Walter Charles Hagen here.
Gene Sarazen
27 February 1902 - 13 May 1999
Going into the 1922 season, 20-year-old Gene Sarazen (christened Eugenio Saraceni, the son of a New York Italian carpenter) was the archetypal 'unknown'. His anonymity survived only a matter of months. By July he was US Open champion, making a birdie on the 72nd hole for a closing 68 and thereby becoming the first winner to break 70 in the last round. He won by a shot from John Black and the as yet unfulfilled Bobby Jones. The following month he added the US PGA title to his collection, the second of the seven majors he would win.
In 1923, 'the Squire' beat 'the Haig' (Walter Hagen) at the second extra hole to win the US PGA Championship after 36 holes had failed to separate them. But Sarazen's career then went into comparative decline until he enjoyed a marvellous renaissance in 1932 with victory in both Opens. His revival was helped by his 'invention' of the sand wedge, a feat he performed by the simple expedient of soldering extra metal on to his niblick in order to make its sole heavier and broader. Sarazen took a third PGA the next year, and would surely have retained his Open crown had he not taken triple-bogeys at the short 11th and the long 14th hole during that week at St Andrews. 'The Squire' took a total of five shots in Hill and Hell bunkers and lost by a stroke to Denny Shute. Well, no one ever said this new sand wedge was absolutely foolproof. Although at 5'4" Sarazen was the shortest of any great golfer, his accomplishments were gargantuan. And they have become the stuff of legend. In 1935 he won the second Masters ever held, thus becoming the first player to win all four professional major championships, and he won it with the invaluable assistance of probably the most famous golf shot in history when he holed out a 4-wood approach to Augusta's 15th green in the last round for an albatross, or double-eagle, two (three under on a par-5 hole).
27 February 1902 - 13 May 1999
Going into the 1922 season, 20-year-old Gene Sarazen (christened Eugenio Saraceni, the son of a New York Italian carpenter) was the archetypal 'unknown'. His anonymity survived only a matter of months. By July he was US Open champion, making a birdie on the 72nd hole for a closing 68 and thereby becoming the first winner to break 70 in the last round. He won by a shot from John Black and the as yet unfulfilled Bobby Jones. The following month he added the US PGA title to his collection, the second of the seven majors he would win.
In 1923, 'the Squire' beat 'the Haig' (Walter Hagen) at the second extra hole to win the US PGA Championship after 36 holes had failed to separate them. But Sarazen's career then went into comparative decline until he enjoyed a marvellous renaissance in 1932 with victory in both Opens. His revival was helped by his 'invention' of the sand wedge, a feat he performed by the simple expedient of soldering extra metal on to his niblick in order to make its sole heavier and broader. Sarazen took a third PGA the next year, and would surely have retained his Open crown had he not taken triple-bogeys at the short 11th and the long 14th hole during that week at St Andrews. 'The Squire' took a total of five shots in Hill and Hell bunkers and lost by a stroke to Denny Shute. Well, no one ever said this new sand wedge was absolutely foolproof. Although at 5'4" Sarazen was the shortest of any great golfer, his accomplishments were gargantuan. And they have become the stuff of legend. In 1935 he won the second Masters ever held, thus becoming the first player to win all four professional major championships, and he won it with the invaluable assistance of probably the most famous golf shot in history when he holed out a 4-wood approach to Augusta's 15th green in the last round for an albatross, or double-eagle, two (three under on a par-5 hole).
"That double-eagle wouldn't have meant a thing if I hadn't won the playoff the next day," said Sarazen. " The aspect I cherish most is that both Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones witnessed the shot." That was the most important single stroke of his life, but not the only memorable one.
At the age of 71, on the 50th anniversary of his first appearance in Britain, Sarazen holed-in-one at the 'Postage Stamp' 8th hole in the 1973 Open Championship at Troon, where in 1923 - as the coming star of American golf- he had failed to qualify for the championship. Half a century after dominating the headlines, Sarazen was still making news.
More on Eugenio Saraceni here.
At the age of 71, on the 50th anniversary of his first appearance in Britain, Sarazen holed-in-one at the 'Postage Stamp' 8th hole in the 1973 Open Championship at Troon, where in 1923 - as the coming star of American golf- he had failed to qualify for the championship. Half a century after dominating the headlines, Sarazen was still making news.
More on Eugenio Saraceni here.
Legends of the Game
Players
.jpg)