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Gene Sarazen

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Gene Sarazen
Personal information
Full nameEugenio Saraceni
NicknameThe Squire
Height5 ft 5.5 in (1.66 m)
Weight162 lb (73 kg; 11.6 st)
Sporting nationality United States
Career
Turned professional1920
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Professional wins41
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour39 (Tied 10th all time)
Best results in major championships
(wins: 7)
Masters TournamentWon: 1935
PGA ChampionshipWon: 1922, 1923, 1933
U.S. OpenWon: 1922, 1932
The Open ChampionshipWon: 1932
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame1974 (member page)
PGA Tour Lifetime
Achievement Award		1996
Bob Jones Award1992
Associated Press
Male Athlete of the Year		1932

Gene Sarazen (February 27, 1902 – May 13, 1999) is one of only five golfers (along with Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Tiger Woods) to win all the current major championships in his career, the Career Grand Slam: U.S. Open in 1922, 1932, PGA Championship in 1922, 1923, 1933, British Open in 1932, and The Masters in 1935.

Career

He was born in Harrison, New York as Eugenio Saraceni.[1] Sarazen began caddying at age ten at local golf clubs, took up golf himself, and gradually developed his skills; he was essentially self-taught. He used the somewhat unusual, at the time, interlocking grip to hold the club.

Sarazen won his first major championships -- the 1922 U.S. Open and PGA Championship -- at age 20. He was a contemporary and great rival of Bobby Jones, who was born in the same year.

The winner of 39 PGA Tournaments, Sarazen was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. He was the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1932, a charter member of the World Golf Hall of Fame (1974), and won the PGA Tour's first Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. He played on six U.S. Ryder Cup teams: 1927, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1935, and 1937.

Sarazen invented the modern sand wedge and debuted the club at the British Open at Prince's Golf Club in 1932 (which he won). He called it the sand iron and his original club is still on display at Prince's. There had been previous sand-specific clubs, but Sarazen's innovation was to weld solder onto the lower back of the club, building up the flange so that it sat lower than the leading edge when soled. The flange, not the leading edge, would contact the sand first, and explode sand as the shot was played. The additional weight provided punch to power through the thick sand. Sarazen's new developed technique with the new club was to contact the sand a couple of inches behind the ball, not actually contacting the ball at all. Every top-class golfer since has utilized this wedge design and technique.

Sarazen hit "The shot heard 'round the world" in the 1935 Masters Tournament. It was a final round 235-yard 4-wood on the par-5 15th hole that went in, giving him a very rare albatross 2 on the hole. He trailed the leader by three shots at the time, and made them up all at once. It led to his later winning the tournament in a playoff over Craig Wood. At the time of his second shot a check for $1,500, the winning prize, had already been written to Craig Wood.

In spite of his height – he only stood 5 feet 5.5 inches (1.66 m) tall[2] – Sarazen could hit the ball a very long way, even when compared with larger, stronger players. As a multiple past champion, he was eligible to continue competing after his best years were past, and occasionally did so in the top events, well into the 1960s, and occasionally into the 1970s. Throughout his life, Sarazen competed wearing knickers or plus-fours, which were the fashion when he broke into the top level.

For many years after his retirement, Sarazen was a familiar figure as an honorary starter at the Masters. From 1981-1999, he joined Byron Nelson and Sam Snead in hitting a ceremonial tee shot before each Masters tournament. He also popularized the sport with his role as a commentator on the Wonderful World of Golf television show.

At the age of 71, Sarazan made a hole-in-one at the 1973 British Open Championship. In 1992, he was voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. Asked how to say his name, he told the Literary Digest "Veteran Gene Sarazen/ Aims to play par again": (/ˈsɑrəzɛn/). (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)

Sarazen had what is still the longest-running endorsement contract in professional sports - with Wilson Sporting Goods from 1923 until his death, a total of 75 years.

He received an honorary degree in 1978 from Siena College, in Loudonville, New York. In 1998, shortly before his death, the Sarazen Student Union was named in his honor. He also established an endowed scholarship fund at the college, The Gene and Mary Sarazen Scholarship, which is awarded annually to students reflecting the high personal, athletic, and intellectual ideals of Dr. Sarazen. For many years, kitted in his plus-fours, he hit the first ball in an annual golf tournament, held to raise funds for the scholarship.[3]

Sarazen died in Naples, Florida in 1999 from complications of pneumonia, aged 97.

In 2000, Sarazen was ranked as the 11th greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.[4]

PGA Tour wins (39)

(missing one win)

Major championships are shown in bold.

Source: (Barkow 1989, pp. 266)

Other wins

this list may be incomplete

Senior wins

Major championships

Wins (7)

Year Championship 54 Holes Winning Score Margin Runner(s)-up
1922 U.S. Open 4 shot deficit +8 (72-73-75-68=288) 1 stroke United States Bobby Jones
1922 PGA Championship n/a 4 & 3 n/a United States Emmet French
1923 PGA Championship (2) n/a 38 holes n/a United States Walter Hagen
1932 U.S. Open (2) 1 shot deficit +6 (74-76-70-66=286) 3 strokes Scotland Bobby Cruickshank, England Phil Perkins
1932 The Open Championship 4 shot lead (70-69-70-74=283) 5 strokes United States Macdonald Smith
1933 PGA Championship (3) n/a 5 & 4 n/a United States Willie Goggin
1935 The Masters 3 shot deficit -6 (68-71-73-70=282) Playoff 1 United States Craig Wood

Note: The PGA Championship was match play until 1958
1 Defeated Craig Wood in 36-hole playoff - Sarazen (144), Wood (149)

Results timeline

Tournament 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
The Masters NYF NYF NYF NYF NYF NYF NYF NYF NYF NYF
U.S. Open T30 17 1 T16 T17 T5 T3 3 T6 T3
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP T41 DNP DNP DNP 2 T8
PGA Championship DNP QF 1 1 R16 R32 R16 QF SF QF
Tournament 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
The Masters NYF NYF NYF NYF DNP 1 3 T24 T13 5
U.S. Open T28 T4 1 T26 2 T6 T28 T10 10 T47
The Open Championship DNP T3 1 T3 T21 DNP T5 CUT DNP DNP
PGA Championship F SF DNP 1 R16 R32 R64 R32 QF R64
Tournament 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
The Masters T21 T19 T29 NT NT NT DNP T26 T23 T39
U.S. Open 2 T7 NT NT NT NT CUT T39 CUT CUT
The Open Championship NT NT NT NT NT NT DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship QF SF DNP NT DNP R64 DNP R16 R16 R32
Tournament 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
The Masters T10 T12 WD T36 T53 WD T49 CUT CUT CUT
U.S. Open T38 T35 T33 CUT WD DNP DNP CUT CUT DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP T17 DNP T17 DNP WD DNP T16 DNP
PGA Championship DNP R64 DNP DNP DNP R64 QF DNP CUT CUT
Tournament 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
The Masters CUT CUT WD 49 WD CUT CUT WD DNP CUT
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship WD DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976
The Masters CUT CUT CUT CUT DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship CUT DNP DNP CUT DNP DNP WD
PGA Championship DNP CUT WD DNP DNP DNP DNP

NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF, F = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Gene Sarazen, 97, Golf Champion, Dies". The New York Times. May 14, 1999. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
  2. ^ Elliott, Len. Who's Who in Golf. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House. p. 168. ISBN 0870002252. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ http://lw.siena.edu/campaign/SarazenNamingOpps.asp
  4. ^ Yocom, Guy (2000). "50 Greatest Golfers of All Time: And What They Taught Us". Golf Digest. Retrieved 2007-12-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

Barkow, Al (1989), The History of the PGA TOUR, Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-26145-4

Preceded by Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year
1932 		Succeeded by
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