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27.09 Byron Nelson:
Dette skriver pressen om den store golfspilleren
Golf Press Asociation har skrevet følgende om legenden Byron Nelson:

Nelson Lived A Life Of Golf
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - John Byron Nelson Jr., a World Golf Hall of Fame inductee, PGA of America life member and one of the most dominating and gracious players to ever play the game, died on Tuesday. He was 94.

Nelson became a member of the PGA of America on May 6, 1935, while an assistant golf professional at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. His 71 years of service as a PGA member ranked sixth-longest among all current PGA members, and he was the 12th-oldest PGA member at the time of his death.

Nelson is survived by his wife of 20 years, Peggy.

"Byron Nelson symbolized golf with a grace that embodied the game," said Roger Warren, president of the PGA of America. "He was a true champion and a consummate gentleman both on and off the course. The PGA of America and the game of golf have lost one of our teaching and playing giants, as well as one of the greatest ambassadors the game has ever known."

Nicknamed "Lord Byron," Nelson will forever be remembered for the year of the streak, in which he won a record 11 consecutive tournaments (Miami Open Four Ball, March 8, 1945-Canadian Open, Aug. 4, 1945), en route to capturing 18 victories and seven second-place finishes on tour in 1945.

That year alone, Nelson broke the tour's 72-hole scoring record in three different tournaments. Nelson also shot an amazing 19 consecutive competitive rounds of golf under 70. His stroke average of 68.33 over a course of 120 rounds in 1945 set a record that would stand for 55 years.

Many have described Nelson's 1945 performance as the greatest year in golf.

"Eleven straight victories is one of the great accomplishments in all of sports," Jack Nicklaus said to CBS Sports, reflecting on the 60th anniversary of the streak in 2005.

"That to me is incredible," added Tiger Woods in his comments to CBS Sports during the 60th anniversary celebration.

The streak came just one year after Nelson won eight tournaments in 1944. Still not satisfied with his play, he declared a New Year's resolution to reduce careless shots and improve his chipping game in 1945.

Stretching from the 1942 Texas Open through the 1946 New Orleans Open, Nelson would garner 65 consecutive Top-10 finishes on tour, including 34 victories and 16 runners-up finishes. During that span, he finished out of the Top 10 only once, as he was distracted by the closing of his dream ranch home. He would end his full schedule of touring days in the prime of his career at age 34, following six victories in 1946. Nelson would go on to play in just one event in 1947 (finishing second at the Masters) and two events in 1948 (finishing sixth at the Masters and eight at the Colonial).

"Byron Nelson accomplished things on the pro tour that never have been and never will be approached again," Arnold Palmer once said.

The namesake of the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, in Irving, Texas, Nelson is sixth on the all-time list for victories, winning 54 tournaments, including five majors during his playing career. Starting with the 1941 Bing Crosby Pro-Am, Nelson made 113 consecutive cuts, during a time when only the top 20 or 25 finishers were in the money. His cut record would stand until 2004, when it was eclipsed by Woods. Nelson's cut streak ended in 1949 at Pebble Beach, when he declined to turn in his scorecard.

Nelson captured the PGA Championship in both 1940 and 1945, shooting 37-under par for the 204 holes he played during the 1945 Championship. He would appear in five PGA Championship match play finals during his storied career, tying Sam Snead for the second-most finals appearances ever. His 82 percent winning percentage is one of the highest winning margins for match play competition in PGA Championship history.

Nelson won the Masters twice in 1937 and 1942, and was the first golfer ever to play 100 rounds in the tournament. He earned $1,500 for his first Masters title.

"I had a 3-wood to the [13th] green and decided to go for it, even with a breeze against me The Lord hates a coward," said Nelson as he reflected on his play at Augusta National's famous Amen Corner.

Nelson won the U.S. Open in 1939, using a one-iron to hole out from 220-yards on the second playoff hole, defeating Craig Wood.

The 1939 Vardon Trophy winner, Nelson played for two victorious U.S. Ryder Cup teams as a player (1937 and 1947). In all likelihood, he would have played in as many as four additional Ryder Cups, had World War II not broken out. Nelson was also selected as a non-playing captain for the winning U.S. team in 1965.

He is one on only seven people to be named Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press twice. Nelson and Woods are the only two golfers to ever accomplish this feat.

"Whether someone comes along and beats eleven in a row, it doesn't matter," former President George Herbert Walker Bush once said. "Byron Nelson was a real champion."

Nelson was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974, the Texas Sports Hall of Game in 1955, and The PGA Hall of Fame in 1953 (now known as The PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame.)

"The consistency was the thing I liked about my game more than any one thing," Nelson said.

A PGA Lifetime Member, Nelson was a mentor to numerous PGA Professionals and players including Ken Venturi and Tom Watson. His name adorns the Byron Nelson Golf School at his home course at the TPC Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas.

Nelson was renown for his dignified matter and gracious demeanor. The EDS Byron Nelson Championship has raised more than $88 million for charitable causes, more than any other tournament on the Tour. Meanwhile, during World War II, Nelson would play with the same golf ball for days at a time, to help stamp out the worldwide rubber shortage. His golf winnings during the War were often paid in the form of U.S. War Bonds.

When the legendary Walter Hagen was blinded by the sun during the 1927 PGA Championship, the gracious Nelson lent him his hat to help block the rays.

In 1993, Nelson received the PGA of America's highest honor, the PGA Distinguished Service Award, for his outstanding leadership and humanitarian qualities, including integrity, sportsmanship and enthusiasm for the game of golf.

"You can always argue who was the greatest player, but Byron Nelson is the finest gentleman the game has ever known," Venturi once said.

Using the muscles in his hips and legs rather than his wrists, in addition to an upright swing, full shoulder turn and bent knees, Nelson is generally credited for creating the modern golf swing. Nelson is also credited with being the first golfer to create a golf swing for steel shafted golf clubs, as the game switched over from clubs made out of hickory.

"Every great player has learned the two C's: How to concentrate and how to maintain composure," Nelson said.

In 1966, True Temper created the "Iron Byron Swing Machine," a robot that replicated Nelson's famous swing and was used to create True Temper golf equipment and align other manufacturers clubs with True Temper shafts. The U.S. Golf Association would also use the Iron Byron for golf equipment and ball testing.

"If somebody asked me the question sometime back -- if you played now with the equipment and stuff that they play (today), how many millions do you think you'd win?" Nelson said in 2005. "And it didn't take me long to answer it. I said, 'Well, there's one thing, I wouldn't go hungry.'"

Nelson was born Feb. 4, 1912, on a cotton farm near Waxahachie, Texas. He started his golf career as a caddie at nearby Glen Garden Country Club in Ft. Worth, Texas, where he met another fellow caddie, Ben Hogan. In 1927, Nelson defeated Hogan in the club's caddie championship.

Nelson became a touring professional in 1932. In 1935, Nelson earned his first tour victory at the New Jersey State Open, pocketing $400. During that year's Masters, he also witnessed Gene Sarazen's famous "Shot Heard Round the World," as Sarazen sank a 4-wood from the fairway into the hole on No. 15 for a miraculous double eagle.

A golf innovator, starting in 1935, Nelson would carry around his "Little Black Book," in which he recorded his playing scores and made notes on how he could improve his game. In 1942, he worked with the Hass-Jordan Company to develop his original oversized golf umbrella.

After Nelson retired from the tour, he later partnered with Chris Schenkel to become a fixture on ABC television's golf broadcasts. Nelson is recognized as the game's first television analyst. In addition, he was a regular honorary starter for the Masters.



 

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