Horton Smith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Horton Smith (May 22, 1908 – October 15, 1963) was an American golfer, who is probably best known as the first man to win the Masters Tournament. He was born in Springfield, Missouri and died in Detroit, Michigan of Hodgkin's Disease.

Contents 1 Tournament career 2 PGA Tour wins (32) 3 Results in major championships 4 Miscellaneous 5 See also

[edit] Tournament career

Smith's turned professional in 1926 and won his first tournament, the Oklahoma City Open in 1928. In 1929 he won eight titles. This was an era of expansion and reorganisation for professional golf. The PGA Tour was founded in 1934, and Smith was one of the leading players of the early years of the tour, topping the money list in 1936. He accumulated 32 PGA Tour titles in total, the last of them in 1941. Smith's two major championships both came at The Masters, the first at the inaugural tournament in 1934 and the second in 1936. He played in every Masters until his death in 1963. He played for the United States in the Ryder Cup five times: 1929, 1931, 1933, 1935, and 1937.

[edit] PGA Tour wins (32)

• 1928 (2) Oklahoma City Open, Catalina Island Open
• 1929 (8) Berkeley Open Championship, Pensacola Open Invitational, Florida Open, La Gorce Open, Fort Myers Open, North and South Open, Oregon Open, Pasadena Open
• 1930 (4) Central Florida Open, Savannah Open, Berkeley Open, Bay District Open
• 1931 (1) St. Paul Open
• 1932 (1) National Capital City Open
• 1933 (1) International Four-Ball (with Paul Runyan)
• 1934 (3) The Masters, Grand Slam Open, California Open
• 1935 (3) Palm Springs Invitational, Miami Biltmore Open, Pasadena Open
• 1936 (2) The Masters, Victoria Open
• 1937 (3) North and South Open, Inverness Invitational (with Harry Cooper), Oklahoma Four-Ball (with Harry Cooper)
• 1941 (2) Florida West Coast Open, St. Paul Open

(missing two wins?)

Major championships are shown in bold.

[edit] Results in major championships

Tournament	1927	1928	1929
The Masters	NYF	NYF	NYF
U.S. Open	T44	T28	10
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	T24
PGA Championship	DNP	T3	T17

Tournament	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939
The Masters	NYF	NYF	NYF	NYF	1	T19	1	T19	T22	T26
U.S. Open	3	T27	T55	T24	T17	T6	T22	T36	T19	15
The Open Championship	T4	T12	DNP	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP	10	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	T5	T5	T17	T17	DNP	T5	T5	T9	T5	T5

Tournament	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949
The Masters	T47	T19	5	NT	NT	NT	T21	T22	34	T23
U.S. Open	3	T13	NT	NT	NT	NT	CUT	WD	CUT	T23
The Open Championship	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	T33	T9	DNP	NT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T33	T17

Tournament	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
The Masters	T12	T32	T30	T46	T38	T59	76	CUT	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	CUT	CUT	T15	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	T33	DNP	T9	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Tournament	1960	1961	1962	1963
The Masters	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

[edit] Miscellaneous

• Rated as the finest chipper and putter of his era by Byron Nelson. Co-author of a 1961 book, The Secret of Holing Puts.
• Smith was the last man to defeat Bobby Jones in match play before Jones retired in 1930.
• According to the World Golf Hall of Fame Smith was the first man to use a sand wedge, although the concave wedge he invented was later banned by the USGA and superseded by a style introduced by Gene Sarazen.
• Smith was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990.
• President of the Professional Golfers' Association of America 1952-1954
• In 1962, he was voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.
• The PGA of America annually grants the Horton Smith Award to a PGA professional who has made "outstanding and continuing contributions to PGA education."

[edit] See also

• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• Most PGA Tour wins in a year