John Guthrie Bulla (June 2, 1914 – December 7, 2003) was an American professional golfer.

Early life

Bulla was born in Newell, West Virginia.

Professional career

Bulla played on what is now called the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

. His only win was at the 1941

Los Angeles Open The Genesis Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in Southern California, first played in 1926 as the Los Angeles Open. Other previous names include Genesis Open, Northern Trust Open and Nissan Open. Played annually in ...

. Bulla was the first to endorse merchandise sold outside the golf pro shop. He won the L.A. Open in 1941 with a discount golf ball, which sold for a quarter at Walgreens. Bulla had extraordinary success at the major golf championships. He finished runner-up three times in the majors, including twice to Sam Snead; at the British Open in

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

and the Masters in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

. Bulla's greatest moment might have been the British Open in

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

. In miserable conditions, he drove flawlessly and never missed a fairway. The driver is on display in the Royal & Ancient Golf Club Museum, but his name is missing from the

Claret Jug The Golf Champion Trophy, commonly known as the Claret Jug, is the trophy presented to the winner of The Open Championship (also called the "British Open"), one of the four major championships in golf. The awarding of the Claret Jug dates ...

. Bulla finished early that day and was the leader in the clubhouse, which he held until Dick Burton, in the final group, caught him and won with a birdie on the last hole. Although Bulla never won a major, he finished in the top-10 twelve times; twice each in the Masters and

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. The PGA is one of the four men's major golf champi ...

and four times each at the British Open and U.S. Open.

Pilot career

Bulla was a private pilot and before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he flew himself to various tournaments. He was later a commercial pilot with

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines (also colloquially known as Eastern) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade ...

, and shortly after the war, Bulla and several other touring pros bought a

C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...

cargo plane from the

U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

to fly themselves and their wives to golf tournaments, with Bulla at the controls. He then co-founded

Arizona Airways Arizona Airways was an Arizona intrastate airline that operated 1946–1948, making substantial losses. About the time it ceased operations, it was federally certificated as a local service carrier to fly smaller routes in Arizona, New Mexico an ...

, which became

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines, Inc. is a major American ultra low-cost airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 120 destinations in the United States, Caribbean, Mexico and Central America, and employs more than 5,000 staff. ...

in 1950.

Awards and honors

In 2000, the Carolinas Golf Reporters Association inducted Bulla into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame

Professional wins (8)

PGA Tour wins (1)

*1941

Source:

Other wins (7)

*1947 Arizona Open *1950 Arizona Open *1951 Pennsylvania Open Championship, Arizona Open *1958 Southern California PGA Championship, Arizona Open *1959 Arizona Open

Results in major championships

NT = no tournament
DQ = disqualified
CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1959 PGA Championship)
R32, R16, QF, SF = round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 23 (1941 Masters – 1951 PGA) *Longest streak of top-10s – 4 (1948 U.S. Open – 1949 Masters)

References

External links

Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame profileArizona Gravestones
– Johnny Bulla obituary {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulla, Johnny American male golfers PGA Tour golfers Golfers from West Virginia American commercial aviators Sportspeople from Hancock County, West Virginia People from Newell, West Virginia 1914 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American sportsmen