And yet another OT: Golfers - this.
- Thread starter MtNittany
- Start date
Eleven straight. Guys have been chasing that for almost 70 years and nobody has gotten within sniffing distance.
One of the greatest ball strikers of all time.
One of the greatest ball strikers of all time.
Right state, wrong Texan. Byron Nelson had the 11 straight. Ben Hogan only came back from a near-death car crash to win an Open. Equally as good.
Oh crap. Thanks. Never listen to anything I say. Ive pulled some rocks before but that was a boulder.
I promise I'll be smarter after I get back from watching Penn State win the Orange Bowl. Can't wait to get down to Florida.
And Byron was the head pro at Reading CC from 1937-40
Little known fact about Nelson and Hogan - they were born in the same year (1912) and Nelson was by far the more dominant golfer while both were playing on tour. In fact, Nelson won all 5 of his majors prior to Hogan's first and had announced that he was retiring after the 1945 season (i.e., that 1946, the year of Hogan's first Major, would be his last). Both Hogan and Nelson were 33 and in the prime of their careers when Nelson announced his retirement to become a full-time cattle rancher prior to the 1946 season. Nelson announced that 1946 would be his last season after a 1945 campaign that saw him win his 5th Major (PGA) as well as record 18 wins in the 35 officially sanctioned PGA Tour events - 11 of them consecutively - both records that will never be broken.
In a very brief 12 year professional career, Nelson won 52 Official PGA Tour Events (12 other tournaments for a career total of 64) - his 52 Tour wins still ranks him 6th all-time despite retiring in his prime. Again, Nelson recorded all 5 of his majors before Hogan recorded his first major win in 1946, Nelson's pre-announced farewell year on tour after his historic 1945 season. Nelson may well have been the greatest golfer to ever live - he certainly dominated Hogan during their early years on tour and when their careers crossed - but we will never know as Nelson retired when he was not only the most dominant golfer on tour, but likely would have remained so for at least another decade as evidenced by his finishing top 10 in the Masters 6 times in the 9 years following his retirement despite it being the only PGA tournament he played after his retirement! (he finished as high as 15th at the Masters in 1965 at the age of 53 again despite this being the only PGA event he played annually since his retirement - IOW, accomplished these finishes while treating golf as an off-time hobby rather than a profession!).
Again, both were born in 1912, Hogan turned professional and began playing on PGA Tour in 1930 at age of 17 (birth month of August) - Nelson did not turn pro until 1932 at age of 20 (birth month of February) - so their careers crossed over from 1932 - 1942 (Hogan was in the AF from 1943-1945 serving domestically in Texas). During this time, Nelson absolutely dominated Hogan in terms of PGA wins and Major wins (4 to none). Hogan was a great golfer, but Nelson can be argued to be the most dominant golfer on Tour while he played and that he retired while easily the most dominant golfer at the time, in his prime and would have continued to dominate had he kept playing golf as his primary occupation.
