Byron Nelson

Byron Nelson

Personal Information
Birth	February 4, 1912 Waxahachie, Texas
Death	September 26, 2006 Roanoke, Texas
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Nationality	United States
Career
Turned Pro	1932
Retired	1946
Professional wins	63 (PGA Tour: 52, Other: 11)
Best Results in Major Championships Wins: 5
Masters	Won (2) 1937, 1942
U.S. Open	Won (1) 1939
British Open	5th: 1937
PGA Championship	Won (2) 1940, 1945
Awards
PGA Tour Money Winner	1944, 1945
Vardon Trophy	1939

John Byron Nelson, Jr. (February 4, 1912 – September 26, 2006) was an American PGA Tour golfer between 1935 and 1946.

A Texas native, Nelson and two other well-known golfers of the time, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, were born within six months of each other in 1912. From a young age, Nelson showed a gift for the game. As a 14-year-old caddy, he beat the great golfer Ben Hogan by a stroke.

In 1932, Nelson began a relatively professional career during which he won many tournaments, including 52 PGA Tour wins. Today, he is mostly remembered today for having won a record-number 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 EDS Byron Nelson Championship, the first PGA Tour event to be named for a professional golfer. Nelson died in 2006 at his Texas home at the age of 94.

In 1974, Byron Nelson received the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. He became the second recipient of the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997, and has been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Nelson received the Congressional Gold Medal shortly after his death in 2006.

Early life and career

Born on February 4, 1912 near Waxahachie, Texas, Byron Nelson was the son of Madge Allen Nelson and John Byron Nelson, Sr. His parents set a precedent for him not only in their long lives — Madge Nelson lived to age 98, and her husband to age 77 — but also in their religious commitment. Madge, who had grown up Baptist, was baptized in a Church of Christ at age 18, and John Byron Sr., raised Presbyterian, was baptized in a Church of Christ soon after meeting Madge. The senior Byron Nelson went on to serve as an elder in the Roanoke Church of Christ, and the younger Byron Nelson was a committed member of that congregation, even performing janitorial services there from time to time long after he became famous. He was a member of the Hilltop Church of Christ in Roanoke from 1989 until 2000, when he moved his membership to the Richland Hills Church of Christ in North Richland Hills, Texas in later life.

When Nelson was 11 years old, the family moved to Fort Worth, where he barely survived typhoid fever after losing nearly half his body weight to the disease, which also left him unable to sire children. Soon after his baptism at age 12, he started caddying at Glen Garden Country Club. An article on Nelson in Sports Illustrated noted that initially caddies were not permitted to play at the club: "[H]e would often practice in the dark, putting his white handkerchief over the hole so he could find it in the darkness." The club later changed its policy and sponsored the Glen Garden Caddie Tournament, where a 14-year-old Nelson beat fellow caddy and future golf great Ben Hogan by a single stroke after a nine-hole playoff.

In 1934, Nelson was working as a golf pro in Texarkana, Texas, when he met future wife Louise Shofner, to whom he was married 50 years before she died in 1985 after two severe strokes.

Championship heyday

After turning professional in 1932, Nelson waited until 1935 to post his first victory at the New Jersey State Open. He followed this up with a win at the Metropolitan Open the following year. He reportedly won this tournament with "$5 in my pocket". Nelson won his first major event at The Masters in 1937, winning by two shots over Ralph Guldahl. During this tournament he shot a first-round 66, which stood as a record as the lowest round in the Masters history until Raymond Floyd had 65 in the 1976 event.

Nelson would subsequently win four more major tournaments, the U.S. Open in 1939, the PGA Championship in 1940 and 1945, and a second Masters in 1942. Nelson had a blood disorder that caused his blood to clot four times slower than normal, which kept him out of military service during World War II. It has sometimes mistakenly been reported that he had hemophilia; this is not true.

In his career, Nelson won 52 professional events. He also won the Vardon Trophy in 1939. In 1937, Nelson played on the U.S. Ryder Cup teams, and in 1947, he was non-playing captain of the team in 1965. After 1946, Nelson curtailed his schedule although he continued to make regular appearances at The Masters as a ceremonial starter for many years.

Record-breaking year

In 1945, Nelson enjoyed a record-breaking year, winning 18 tournaments including 11 in a row. Both records are still yet to be beaten. Nelson however lost many chances at major championships during this year, and previous years, because of the war, and only won the 1945 PGA Championship. There has been debate to how impressive these results are, as it was believed to be a weakened tour due to the war. But in reality, many of the leading golfers of that time, including Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, still played a full or at least part schedule that year. Both Snead and Hogan won multiple times on the tour in 1945.

During this year Nelson finished second another seven times, set a record for the scoring average that was only recently broken (68.33, broken by Tiger Woods in 2000), a record 18-hole score (62), and a record 72-hole score (259, which beat the previous record set by Ben Hogan earlier that year). This year is now known as the greatest single year by a player on the PGA Tour, as Arnold Palmer said: "I don't think that anyone will ever exceed the things that Byron did by winning 11 tournaments in a row in one year." Even more recently, Tiger Woods referred to the year as "one of the greatest years in the history of the sport"

Cut streak

Nelson's record of 113 consecutive cuts made is second only to Tiger Woods' 142. It should be noted that the PGA Tour defines a "cut" as receiving a paycheck, even if an event has no cut per se. In Nelson's era, only the top 20 in a tournament received a check. In reality, Nelson's "113 consecutive cuts made" are representative of his unequaled 113 consecutive top-20 tournament finishes.

Death and legacy

Nelson died on September 26, 2006, at the age of 94, at his Roanoke, Texas home. He was survived by Peggy, his wife of nearly 20 years, sister Margaret Ellen Sherman, and brother Charles, a professor emeritus at Abilene Christian University, where Nelson had been a trustee and benefactor. Nelson met his second wife, the former Peggy Simmons, when she volunteered at the Bogie Busters celebrity golf tournament in Dayton, Ohio in 1985.

Nelson was often referred to as "Lord Byron," after the English poet by that name, in recognition of his reputation for gentlemanly conduct, a nickname given him by Atlanta sports journalist O. B. Keeler. Many of his obituaries referenced this reputation.

Several of the obituary columns mentioned Nelson's Christian beliefs, and one widely quoted column by PGA.com's Grant Boone drew a direct connection between these beliefs and Nelson's positive reputation: "Byron Nelson wasn't randomly respectable, not generically good. He was a follower of Christ, and his discipleship dictated his decency, demeanor, decision-making, and the way he dealt with people. ... But Nelson never brandished his faith as a weapon, choosing instead to extend an empty and open hand in friendship to all comers. And did they ever come. Wherever the debate over which golfer is the best of all time ends, Byron Nelson was the game's finest man, hands down."

Legacy

Byron Nelson is remembered today for having won 11 consecutive tournaments out of a total of 18 in 1945, a winning streak that has never been matched. Yet beyond his golfing prowess, he was known by his fellow golfers and those in his community as a perfect gentleman. For this he received the nickname, "Lord Byron," setting the model for sportsman-like conduct for generations of golfers to follow.

• State Highway 114 Business through Roanoke is named Byron Nelson Boulevard, in honor of Nelson's residence; the street he lived on was recently changed to Eleven Straight Lane in honor of his 1945 record. In Irving, Texas a street immediately adjacent to the Four Seasons Resort and Club, where the EDS Byron Nelson Championship is played each year, is named Byron Nelson Lane. A street in Southlake, Texas, Byron Nelson Parkway, was named in his honor, as was a street in a residential neighborhood in McAllen, Texas.

• On October 16, 2006, President George W. Bush approved H.R. 4902 awarding Byron Nelson the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award that can be bestowed by the Legislative Branch of the United States government. The resolution cites Mr. Nelson's "significant contributions to the game of golf as a player, a teacher, and a commentator." Representative Michael C. Burgess (R-TX) sponsored the resolution, originally proposed March 8, 2006, well before Nelson's death. Senate Resolution 602 memorialized Nelson on September 29, 2006.

• On April 23, 2007 the Northwest Independent School District named their second high school Byron Nelson High School. This is the first high school named in honor of Byron Nelson, and is expected to open in 2009. The school will be located in Trophy Club, Texas, near Nelson's hometown of Roanoke.

• Byron Nelson was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.

PGA Tour wins (52)

• 1935 (1) New Jersey State Open
• 1936 (1) Metropolitan Open
• 1937 (2) The Masters, Belmont Country Club Match Play
• 1938 (2) Thomasville Open, Hollywood Open
• 1939 (4) Phoenix Open, North and South Open, U.S. Open, Western Open
• 1940 (3) Texas Open, Miami Open, PGA Championship
• 1941 (3) Greater Greensboro Open, Tam O'Shanter Open, Miami Open
• 1942 (3) Oakland Open, The Masters, Tam O'Shanter Open
• 1944 (8) San Francisco Victory Open, Knoxville War Bond Tournament, New York Red Cross Tourney, Minneapolis Four-Ball (with Harold "Jug" McSpaden), Tam O'Shanter Open, Nashville Open, Texas Victory Open, San Francisco Open
• 1945 (18) Phoenix Open, Corpus Christi Open, New Orleans Open, Miami Four-Ball (with Harold "Jug" McSpaden), Charlotte Open, Greater Greensboro Open, Durham Open, Atlanta Open, Montreal Open, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Victory National Open, PGA Championship, Tam O'Shanter Open, Canadian Open, Knoxville Invitational, Esmeralda Open, Seattle Open, Glen Garden Open
• 1946 (6) Los Angeles Open, San Francisco Open, New Orleans Open, Houston Open, Columbus Invitational, Chicago Victory National Open
• 1951 (1) Bing Crosby Pro-Am

Major championships are shown in bold.

Major Championships

Wins (5)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin	Runners Up
1937	The Masters	4 shot deficit	-5 (66-72-75-70=283)	2 strokes	Ralph Guldahl
1939	U.S. Open	5 shot deficit	+8 (72-73-71-68=284)	Playoff 1	Craig Wood, Denny Shute
1940	PGA Championship	N/A	1 up	1 stroke	Sam Snead
1942	The Masters (2)	2 shot lead	-6 (68-67-72-73=280)	Playoff 2	Ben Hogan
1945	PGA Championship (2)	N/A	4 & 3	4 strokes	Sam Byrd

Note: The PGA Championship was match play until 1958
¹ Defeated Craig Wood and Denny Shute in 36-hole playoff - Nelson (68-70=138), Wood (68-73=141), Shute (76) (eliminated after first 18)
² Defeated Ben Hogan in 18-hole playoff - Nelson (69), Hogan (70)

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Nelson, Byron. The Little Black Book, Summit Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN 978-1565302362
• Nelson, Byron. How I Played the Game, Taylor Trade Publishing, 1993. ISBN 978-0878338191
• Companiotte, John. Byron Nelson: The Most Remarkable Year in the History of Golf, Triumph Books, 2006. ISBN 978-1572438132
• Golf Channel. Byron Nelson: A Texas Gentleman (DVD), Golf Channel, 2006. B000KC8MQW

External links

• Byron Nelson profile
• Byron Nelson profile at Golf Legends
• http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/golf/stories/092706dnmetnelsonob.1bd747e3.html Golf legend Nelson dies], Dallas Morning News, 26 Sep 2006
• American Golf Legend Nelson Dies BBC Sport, 26 Sep 2006

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