Lawson Little

William Lawson Little, Jr. (June 23, 1910 – February 1, 1968) was an American professional golfer who also had a distinguished amateur career.

Little was born in Newport, Rhode Island, and lived much of his early life in the San Francisco area, where his father was a senior military officer. Little was one of the most dominant amateur players in the history of the sport, capturing both the British Amateur and the U.S. Amateur, then regarded as major championships, consecutively in 1934 and 1935. He remains the only player to have won both titles in the same year more than once. Little's winning margin of 14 and 13 in the 1934 British final remains the record for dominance. Bob Dickson, Harold Hilton and Bobby Jones are the only other golfers to have won the two titles in the same year.

Little graduated from Stanford University in 1934 and is a member of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame. He won the James E. Sullivan Award for outstanding amateur athlete in 1935. Little was a student of golf instructor Ernest Jones.

Little turned professional in April 1936, and he won eight times on the PGA Tour including one professional major, the 1940 U.S. Open. This tally was considered somewhat disappointing; he was said to have lost interest in golf during World War II, when the major championships were cancelled, and to have focused his attention more on the stock market. He carried up to 26 clubs in his bag, and this prompted the United States Golf Association to introduce the 14-club limit in 1938.

Little died in Monterey, California in 1968. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1980.

Amateur wins (8)

• 1928 Northern California Amateur
• 1930 Northern California Amateur
• 1932 Broadmoor Invitational
• 1933 Colorado Closed Amateur
• 1934 U.S. Amateur, British Amateur
• 1935 U.S. Amateur, British Amateur

Professional wins

PGA Tour wins (8)

• 1936 (1) Canadian Open
• 1937 (2) Shawnee Open, San Francisco Open Match Play
• 1940 (2) U.S. Open, Los Angeles Open
• 1941 (1) Texas Open
• 1942 (1) Inverness Invitational Four-Ball (with Lloyd Mangrum)
• 1948 (1) St. Petersburg Open

Professional major championship is shown in bold.

Other wins

• 1934 Northern California Open (as an amateur)

Major championships

Professional wins (1)

¹ Defeated Gene Sarazen in an 18-hole playoff - Little 70 (-2), Sarazen 73 (+1).

Amateur wins (4)

Results timeline

Amateur

Professional

LA = Low Amateur
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion of U.S. Amateur
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Source for The Masters: www.masters.com

Source for U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur: USGA Championship Database

Source for British Open: www.opengolf.com

See also

• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins

External links

• World Golf Hall of Fame profile