DAILY NOTES - April 24, 2008
- The Game’s Greatest Gentleman: The field at this week’s EDS Byron Nelson Classic may not rival a Major championship, but any event honoring the late Lord Byron is automatically worthy of note. Nelson was certainly one of the game’s great players but he was also one of its finest gentleman, a humble, old-fashioned sort the likes of which is seldom seen anywhere in today’s world, let alone among professional athletes. Rather then wax on lyrically in attempts at doing so special a man justice, I thought I’d simply reprint his entry from my Book of Golfers – which, of course, may also fail to adequately portray him, but at least has the advantage of having been well thought out. First, however, a personal story: At the 1995 PGA Championship at Riviera, Nelson attended the early rounds as a guest of the PGA of America. I was introduced to him briefly as PGA officials led him into a club dining room reserved for the organization's VIPs, joining several other people in watching a genuine living legend disappear into the private dining area. Moments later, the door reopened and Nelson alone stepped out, quietly removed his cap and left it – entirely unguarded – on a piano just outside the room. In Byron Nelson’s world, one didn’t wear a cap in the dining room – and I suppose it didn’t matter that 50 other people inside had kept theirs on. A special, special man indeed.
Anyway, from The Book of Golfers: A Biographical History of the Royal & Ancient Game:
A product of the same Glen Garden CC caddie yard that produced Ben Hogan, John Byron Nelson, Jr. (b.Ft Worth 2/4/1912) was the polar opposite of the dour young Hogan, his courtly manners and pleasing personality winning over outsiders from an early age. Nelson’s golfing talents were similarly impressive and considerably more advanced than Hogan’s – and not simply because he beat his smaller rival, in a playoff, in Glen Garden’s 1927 caddie tournament. Quitting school early, Nelson prepared himself for a career in golf, though his main reason for playing was decidedly different from the norm. Where most young players wanted to build their fortunes by winning as many championships as possible, Nelson’s goal, never wavering, was simply to amass enough money to buy himself a ranch.
After winning the 1930 Southwestern Amateur and failing to qualify for match play at the 1931 U.S. Amateur (three-putting 13 times on unfamiliar bentgrass greens), Nelson turned professional in late 1932 but found little immediate success. His first PGA Tour-recognized victory, in fact, wouldn’t come until the 1935 New Jersey Open, claimed while working as an assistant at Ridgewood CC. The following year it was the far more prestigious Metropolitan Open (played at Quaker Ridge GC) and by 1937 Nelson was off and running, winning his first Masters that spring by riding an opening 66 to a two-shot victory over Ralph Guldahl.
In 1939, as war was breaking out in Europe, Nelson ascended to the summit of American golf, winning first in Phoenix, then later at the North & South and the U.S. and Western Opens. In the U.S. Open (played at Philadelphia CC) he closed with a fine 68 to finish tied with Craig Wood and Denny Shute. Shute disappeared after an 18-hole playoff with 76 while Nelson and Wood both carded 68s, necessitating another 18 during which Nelson holed a full 1-iron to eagle the fourth and ultimately triumphed by three. Also finishing runner-up in the PGA Championship at New York’s old Pomonok CC (when Henry Picard blocked an apparent tap-in victory with a stymie at the 36th, then holed a 20-footer to win at the 37th), Nelson completed his stellar season by claiming the Vardon Trophy.
The following year, 1940, was relatively undistinguished save for coming back to win the PGA Championship in Hershey, PA, beating Guldahl in the semis and Sam Snead in the final, both 1 up. Nelson also took the 1942 Masters when his 280 total tied with Hogan, and a six-under-par run over an 11-hole stretch allowed him to claim one of golf’s more dramatic playoffs 69-70. Later that year Nelson was turned away by the military for a condition known as “free bleeding” (his blood failing to coagulate quickly enough) but his winning nevertheless ceased when professional golf essentially ground to a halt until early 1944.
By this time, however, Nelson was reaching peak form, winning eight events in 1944, then roaring through golf’s greatest-ever statistical season in 1945, a peerless epic which saw him claim an incredible 18 victories in 31 starts, seven second-place finishes and, from early March through early August, a streak of 11 straight wins, perhaps the most unbreakable record in all of sports. Detractors have long pointed out several factors that might mitigate these accomplishments, primarily that fields were undeniably shorter during wartime. But a telling statistic is that in stroke play, Nelson’s average margin of victory was 6.3 shots, a remarkable number which might suggest dominance over any field.
In 1946, with everyone back in the lineup, Nelson won eight more times including the one top event that he’d been missing, the Los Angeles Open. Thus at season’s end he made good on his longstanding promise and retired to his Roanoke, TX ranch, playing only in occasional events thereafter. One of note was his final American victory at the 1951 Bing Crosby (by three over Cary Middlecoff). A second came in 1955 when his good friend Eddie Lowery (of Francis Ouimet caddying fame) invited Nelson to join him in trying to qualify for the Open Championship at St Andrews. Having only once entered the world’s oldest event (finishing fifth at Carnoustie when visiting with the Ryder Cup team in 1937), Nelson accepted, qualified, then finished 12th. The next week, in his final competitive outing, he won the French Open at La Boulie, then retired for good.
Byron Nelson won a total of 52 official PGA Tour events (fifth all-time) and five Major championships, the latter number unquestionably surpressed by the wartime cancellation of eight American events at the very peak of his career. Similarly, he retired at the ripe old age of 34, still very much in form but tired of the touring life. If travel conditions and higher purses had matched those of our modern era, how many more events might Nelson have won had he played until, say, age 40? And how many more Majors might he have entered, a là Hogan, had there been a better awareness of their long-term historical importance?
Nelson did continue competing at the Masters, and remained quite active both as a broadcaster and a teacher, playing a major role in the careers of both Ken Venturi and Tom Watson. This is hardly surprising, however, given that Nelson’s own swing – built around a full shoulder turn, remarkable left-side extension and an aggressive driving of the lower body – was the model for much of what would be considered ideal in the modern era (not to mention the PGA Tour’s current logo). Arguably the finest long iron player of all-time, Nelson also drove the ball with exceptional accuracy and plenty of length, with only his putting falling anywhere near “average” in description.
Above all, Byron Nelson has long stood out as one of golf’s finest gentlemen, an extraordinarily modest and kind man who, when playing exhibitions, would always inquire as to what the course record was and who held it – for if the answer was the club’s resident professional, it was Lord Byron’s rule never, ever to break it.
Daniel
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