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1956 Masters Tournament
The 1956 Masters Tournament was the 20th Masters Tournament, held April 5–8 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Jack Burke Jr. won his first major championship and only Masters, one stroke ahead of amateur Ken Venturi. It was the final Masters played without a 36-hole cut. CBS televised the third and fourth rounds of the tournament for the first time, and has done so every year since. Burke shot a 71 (−1) on Sunday, one of only two players to break par in the final round; he rallied from a tournament record eight shots back to pass Venturi, who had led the entire tournament. Then a 24-year-old amateur, Venturi opened with a first round 66 (−6), the best round to date at the Masters by an amateur. But on Sunday, he shot a 42 (+6) on the final nine holes to card a disappointing 80 (+8). Burke's 289, along with Sam Snead in 1954 and Zach Johnson in 2007, remains the highest winning total in Masters history. Burke was late arriving at the course for his final ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third most populous city in Georgia (following Columbus, Georgia, Columbus), is situated in the Fall Line region of the state. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Augusta had a 2020 population of 202,081, not counting the independent cities of Blythe, Georgia, Blythe and Hephzibah, Georgia, Hephzibah located within the boundaries of Augusta-Richmond County. It is the List of United States cities by population, 124th most populous city in the United States and the List of metropolitan statistical areas, 92nd-largest metropolitan area. The process of consolidation between the city of Augusta and Richmond County, Georgia, Richmond County began with a 1995 referendum in the two jurisdictions. The merger was completed on July 1, 1996, but it excluded t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zach Johnson
Zachary Harris Johnson (born February 24, 1976) is an American professional golfer who has 12 victories on the PGA Tour, including two major championships, the 2007 Masters and the 2015 Open Championship. At the 2023 Ryder Cup, Johnson captained the U.S. squad against Europe in Rome, Italy. Early life The son of a chiropractor, Johnson was born in Iowa City, Iowa and raised in Cedar Rapids, the eldest of Dave and Julie Johnson's three children. Playing many sports as a youth (baseball, basketball, football, and soccer), Johnson took up golf at age 10 and developed his skills at Elmcrest Country Club. He played number-two on the Regis High School golf team and led them to an Iowa 3A state championship in 1992, his sophomore year. Following graduation from high school in 1994, Johnson enrolled at Drake University in Des Moines. As the number-two player on the Drake golf team, he led the Bulldogs to three NCAA regional meets and two Missouri Valley championships. Johnson' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Guldahl
Ralph J. Guldahl (November 22, 1911 – June 11, 1987) was an American professional golfer, one of the top five players in the sport from 1936 to 1940. He won sixteen PGA Tour-sanctioned tournaments, including three majors (two U.S. Opens and one Masters). Early life and education Born in Dallas, Texas, Guhldahl was a 1930 graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School. Professional tournament career Initial success, slump Guldahl started playing on the professional tournament circuit in 1931, and won an event in his rookie season before turning 20 years of age, setting a record that would not be matched until 2013, when Jordan Spieth won the John Deere Classic. In 1933, at the age of 21, Guldahl went into the last hole of the U.S. Open tied for the lead with Johnny Goodman. A par would have taken him into a playoff, but he made bogey and finished second. After further frustrating failures, Guldahl quit the sport temporarily in 1935 and became a car salesman. Comeback Guldahl made a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Craig Wood (golfer)
Craig Ralph Wood (November 18, 1901 – May 7, 1968) was an American professional golfer in the 1930s and 1940s, the winner of 21 PGA Tour titles including two major championships and a member of three Ryder Cup teams . Wood was the first player to lose all four major championships in extra holes. His major wins came late in his career at age 39, winning the first two of 1941, the Masters and U.S. Open. Early life Born in Lake Placid, New York, Wood turned professional in 1920 at age 18. Professional career Despite his two major championships, he is probably most well known as the victim of Gene Sarazen's famous double eagle in the 1935 Augusta National Invitational (now known as the Masters Tournament). The shot left the two players tied at the end of regulation and Sarazen went on to victory in a 36-hole playoff. This was Wood's fourth runner-up and third playoff loss in a major in just two years. In the 1933 British Open at St Andrews, Denny Shute had defeated Wood ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horton Smith
Horton Smith (May 22, 1908 – October 15, 1963) was an American professional golfer, best known as the winner of the first and third Masters Tournaments. Tournament career Born in Springfield, Missouri, Smith turned professional in 1926 and won his first tournament, the Oklahoma City Open in 1928. In 1929 he won eight titles. This was an era of expansion and reorganization for professional golf. The PGA Tour was founded in 1934, and Smith was one of the leading players of the early years of the tour, topping the money list in 1936. He accumulated 30 PGA Tour titles in total, the last of them in 1941, and his two major championships came at the Masters, at the inaugural tournament in 1934 and again in 1936 (the latter was the first Masters to end on a Monday due to rain). Smith was a member of five Ryder Cup teams: 1929, 1931, 1933, 1935, and 1937. His career Ryder Cup record was , his only blemish a halved singles match against Bill Cox in 1935 at Ridgewood Country C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Sarazen
Gene Sarazen (; born Eugenio Saraceni, February 27, 1902 – May 13, 1999) was an American professional golfer, one of the world's top players in the 1920s and 1930s, and the winner of seven major championships. He is one of six players (along with Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Rory McIlroy) to win each of the four majors at least once, now known as the Career Grand Slam: U.S. Open ( 1922, 1932), PGA Championship ( 1922, 1923, 1933), The Open Championship (1932), and Masters Tournament (1935). Early life Eugenio Saraceni was born on February 27, 1902, in Harrison, New York. He was an Italian American as his parents were poor Sicilian immigrants. He began caddying at age ten at local golf clubs, took up golf himself, and gradually developed his skills; Sarazen was essentially self-taught. Somewhat novel at the time, he used the interlocking grip to hold the club. Amateur career Sarazen has a plaque in his honor placed 195 yards out from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Picard
Henry Gilford Picard (November 28, 1906 – April 30, 1997) was an American professional golfer. Born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Picard learned to play golf while caddying at the Plymouth Country Club. Already a talented player by his early 20s, he came to prominence after coaching from the leading instructor Alex Morrison. A leading player on the PGA Tour in the 1930s and early 1940s, he won two major championships: the Masters in 1938 and the PGA Championship in 1939, where he defeated Byron Nelson on the 37th hole of the final. Picard ("Pick" to friends) played on both the 1935 and 1937 Ryder Cup teams, winning both singles matches and one of two pairs matches. Picard helped a struggling Ben Hogan with his game in the late 1930s, advising him to weaken his grip, and Hogan combined this advice with his own hard work to become one of golf's all-time great players. When he left the sought-after pro's position at Hershey Country Club in early 1941, Picard recommended Hogan a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byron Nelson
John Byron Nelson Jr. (February 4, 1912 – September 26, 2006) was an American professional golfer between 1935 and 1946, widely considered one of the greatest golfers of all time. Nelson and two other legendary champions of the time, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, were born within seven months of each other in 1912. Although he won many tournaments in the course of his relatively brief career, he is mostly remembered today for having won 11 consecutive tournaments and 18 total tournaments in 1945. He retired officially at the age of 34 to be a rancher, later becoming a commentator and lending his name to the Byron Nelson Classic, the first PGA Tour event to be named for a professional golfer. As a former Masters champion he continued to play in that annual tournament, placing in the top-10 six times between 1947 and 1955 and as high as 15th in 1965. In 1974, Nelson received the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of disti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cary Middlecoff
Emmett Cary Middlecoff (January 6, 1921 – September 1, 1998) was an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour from 1947 to 1961. His 39 Tour wins place him tied for tenth all-time, and he won three major championships. Middlecoff graduated as a dentist, but gave up his practice at age 26 to become a full-time Tour golfer. Early life and amateur career Middlecoff was born January 6, 1921, in Halls, Tennessee. He graduated from Christian Brothers High School. He played collegiate golf at the University of Mississippi, becoming that school's first golf All-American in 1939. First as an undergraduate and active member of Kappa Alpha Order, then as a dental student at the University of Tennessee, Middlecoff won the Tennessee State Amateur Championship for four straight years (1940–1943). After obtaining his Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree in 1944, he entered the United States Army Dental Corps during World War II. He won a PGA Tour tournament as an amateur in 1945 Pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Hogan
William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory, his assiduous practice, and his ball-striking skill. Hogan's nine career professional Men's major golf championships, major championships tie him with Gary Player for fourth all-time, trailing only Jack Nicklaus (18), Tiger Woods (15) and Walter Hagen (11). He is one of only six players to have won all four majors: the Masters Tournament, The Open Championship (despite only playing once), the U.S. Open (golf), U.S. Open, and the PGA Championship. The other five are Nicklaus, Woods, Player, Gene Sarazen, and Rory McIlroy. Hogan's 1946 PGA Championship, first major win came at age 34. Golf.com proclaimed, "Ben is more respected for the quality of his shots than any golfer ever in history and that includes Woods or Nicklaus—-nobody has been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claude Harmon
Eugene Claude Harmon Sr. (July 14, 1916 – July 23, 1989) was an American professional golfer and golf instructor. Early life and amateur career Harmon was born in Savannah, Georgia. He spent much of his boyhood in Florida, in the Orlando area. A youthful prodigy, he qualified for the U.S. Amateur at age 15 in 1931. Professional career Harmon was a club professional when he won the 1948 Masters Tournament by five shots to earn $2,500. He was a semi-finalist three times in the PGA Championship competing as a club pro against full-time tour players. Claude Harmon also finished in third place at the 1959 U.S. Open, which was held at his home course at Winged Foot. From 1945 to 1978, Harmon was the head professional at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York, and also served as the winter professional for many years at the Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida. In 1959, Harmon played in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot and placed third. In 1959, he was hired as th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Demaret
James Newton Demaret (May 24, 1910 – December 28, 1983) was an American professional golfer. He won 31 PGA Tour events in a long career between 1935 and 1957, and was the first three-time winner of the Masters, with titles in 1940, 1947, and 1950. Life and career Born in Houston, Texas, Demaret reached his peak in the late 1940s with wins in the Masters in 1947, runner-up to Ben Hogan in the 1948 U.S. Open, and leading money winner and Vardon Trophy winner in 1947. He reached the semifinals of the PGA Championship four times, but never made the finals. He was one stroke short of making the playoff for the 1957 U.S. Open, at age 47. He played on three Ryder Cup teams: 1947, 1949, and 1951. His career declined in the 1950s, although he managed several key wins including the 1952 Bing Crosby Pro-Am. His last Tour win came in 1957 at age 47, although he also teamed at age 51 with Sam Snead to win the Canada Cup for the U.S. in Puerto Rico. Demaret's playing style was developed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
